Anna Burrous - Designer

The Southern Harvest Cookbook: Recipes Celebrating Four Seasons (American Palate)

Cathy Cleary

The southern garden produces delights in all four seasons, from asparagus to tomatoes, apples to collard greens. Make use of the bounty of your garden or farmers' market with new twists on familiar favorites. Recipes for Apple Radish Salad and Bacon Apple Burgers break up a fall parade of crisps and crumbles. Instead of roasting, make Whiskey Braised Sweet Potatoes or Sweet Potato Peanut Stew ... read more

Richmond Independent Press:: A History of the Underground Zine Scene

Dale M. Brumfield

During the political and cultural upheaval of the 1960s, even the sleepy southern town of Richmond was not immune to the emergence of radical counterculturalism. A change in the traditional ideas of objective journalism spurred an underground movement in the press. The" "Sunflower," Richmond's first underground newspaper, appeared in 1967 and set the stage for a host of alternative Richmond me... read more

Staten Island Slayings:: Murderers & Mysteries of the Forgotten Borough (Murder & Mayhem)

Patricia M. Salmon

Staten Island saw its share of violence and murder as it transformed from a sleepy community to an urban outer borough. The 1920 discovery of a woman's body by two young boys walking their dog remains unsolved. An inmate at Sailors' Snug Harbor--a retirement home for seamen--shot a preacher in cold blood. Shocking and horrific stories of killers and their victims such as these plague Staten Is... read more

Los Angeles Street Food:: A History from Tamaleros to Taco Trucks (American Palate)

Farley Elliott

Los Angeles is the uncontested street food champion of the United States, and it isn't even a fair fight. Millions of hungry locals and wide-eyed tourists take to the streets to eat tacos, down bacon-wrapped hot dogs and indulge in the latest offerings from a fleet of gourmet food trucks and vendors. Dating back to the late nineteenth century when tamale men first hawked their fare from pushca... read more

New York City Coffee: A Caffeinated History (American Palate)

Erin Meister

The coffee industry was made for New York: complex, diverse, fascinating and with plenty of attitude. Since arriving in the 1600s, coffee held patriotic significance during wartime, fueled industrial revolution and transformed the city's foodways. The New York Coffee Exchange opened tumultuously in the 1880s. Alice Foote MacDougall founded a 1920s coffeehouse empire. In the same decade, Brookl... read more

The Oregon Shanghaiers:: Columbia River Crimping from Astoria to Portland

Barney Blalock

In the hardscrabble early days of Portland's seaport, shanghaiing" or "crimping" ran rampant. The proprietors of crooked saloons and sailors' boardinghouses coerced unwitting patrons to work on commercial ships. Shanghaiers like James Turk, Bunko Kelley and Billy Smith unashamedly forced men into service and stole the wages of their victims. By the 1890s, these shanghaiers had become powerful ... read more

Oregon Prizefighters: Forgotten Bare-knuckle Champions of Portland & Astoria (Sports)

Barney Blalock

In 1884, London's prizefighting craze spread to Portland. Since the fights were illegal throughout the States, matches were fought in inconspicuous venues away from unwanted spectators. A winner could be hanged if the loser died. Champions like Dave Campbell, Jack "Nonpareil" Dempsey and "Mysterious" Billy Smith were just a few contenders for the brutal, nearly forgotten sport. Join author Bar... read more

Chicago Rink Rats: The Roller Capital in Its Heyday (Sports)

Tom Russo

By 1950, roller skating had emerged as the number-one participatory sport in America. Ironically, the war years launched the Golden Age of Roller Skating. Soldiers serving overseas pleaded for skates along with their usual requests for cigarettes and letters from home. Stateside, skating uplifted morale and kept war factory workers exercising. By the end of the decade, five thousand rinks oper... read more

All the F*cks I Cannot Give

Michael Carlon

Kelly Carson is one of those ‘Clark Kent’ like guys who just can’t stand up for himself. His wife doesn’t love him, his boss doesn’t respect him, and his father refers to Kelly’s twin sister as the son he always wanted. With three weeks to go before Christmas, Kelly receives the shock of his life when he’s fired over the telephone while waiting to catch a flight home.Terri Flynn, a free-spirit... read more

Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium (Landmarks)

Eileen Wirth

Long ranked as one of the top zoos in America and even the world, Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium's history has remained untold, until now. Beginning as little more than a menagerie, the zoo transformed into a spectacular attraction that now draws two million visitors per year. Supporters responded to innovative features such as the iconic desert dome, the new African Grasslands exhibit, t... read more

American Polygamy: A History of Fundamentalist Mormon Faith

Craig L. Foster, Marianne T. Watson

Today's Fundamentalist Mormons in the American West resist assimilation like their forefathers. Centered on faith, they survive despite efforts to permanently end their cherished plural family arrangements. While some Fundamentalists like Warren Jeffs go rogue and corrupt their beliefs in heinous crimes, most hold steadfastly to a religion they say is biblical and restored by the first Latter-... read more

New Orleans Voodoo: A Cultural History

Rory O'Neill Schmitt, Rosary Hartel O'Neill

There is no more compelling nor more spiritual city than New Orleans. The city's Roman Catholic roots and its blended French, Spanish, Creole and American Indian populations heavily influenced the rites and rituals that West Africans brought to Louisiana as enslaved laborers. The resulting unique Voodoo tradition is now deeply rooted in the area. Enslaved practitioners in the nineteenth centur... read more

George Washington's Virginia

John R Maass

George Washington was first and foremost a Virginian. Born in the state's Tidewater region, he was reared near Fredericksburg and took up residence at Mount Vernon along the Potomac River. As a young surveyor, he worked in Virginia's backcountry. He began his military career as a Virginia militia officer on the colony's frontier. The majority of his widespread landholdings were in his native s... read more

A Guide to Thomas Jefferson's Virginia (History & Guide)

Laura A. Macaluso

Few prominent Americans are as associated with a place as Thomas Jefferson is with Virginia. The heart of "Jefferson Country" is his house and plantation at Monticello, but Jefferson traveled the breadth of his home state, from his time at William & Mary in Williamsburg to the new state capital at Richmond and his retreat and plantation at Poplar Forest, near Lynchburg. In the beauty of the Bl... read more

Football and Integration in Plano, Texas: Stay in there, Wildcats! (Sports)

Inc. The Plano Conservancy for Historic Preservation

The year 1964 was momentous for civil rights as Congress passed the Twenty-fourth Amendment and Texas's own Lyndon B. Johnson unveiled his plan for the Great Society. That same year, the Plano school district integrated, setting an example for the state and nation. The tightknit community banded together through a language fluent to everyone--football. The Wildcats had few winning seasons and ... read more

The Los Angeles Sugar Ring: Inside the World of Old Money, Bootleggers & Gambling Barons (True Crime)

J. Michael Niotta PhD

Early movers and shakers of Los Angeles didn't always operate within the confines of the law, including opportunist and family man Big George Niotta, who supplied sugar to make illegal liquor. Niotta rose to prominence thanks to his magnetic charm and collaborations with infamous bootlegger Frank Borgia and influential gambling baron Jack Dragna. But the fall is hard for those soaring high. Bl... read more

Finger Lakes Wine and the Legacy of Dr. Konstantin Frank (American Palate)

Tom Russ

Dr. Konstantin Frank forever changed the palate of American wine. Forced from his home in Soviet Ukraine during World War II, he was astounded by the terroir when he arrived in the Finger Lakes region. Against popular notions, he believed that the vinifera grapes that produced some of Europe's and California's finest wines would prosper in New York. He proved his detractors wrong, and by shari... read more

New Orleans Rum: A Decadent History (American Palate)

Mikko Macchione

Like a drunken Mardi Gras parade, the history of New Orleans lurches from electrifying highs to heart-rending lows. Through it all, good drink was a constant--especially rum. The victory at the Battle of New Orleans was sealed with a barrel of rum, and a half-hearted implementation of Prohibition a century later certainly didn't dampen the city's spirits. From priests making tafia to modern de... read more

Detroit's Birwood Wall: Hatred and Healing in the West Eight Mile Community

Gerald C. Van Dusen

In 1941, a real estate developer in northwest Detroit faced a dilemma. He needed federal financing for white clients purchasing lots in a new subdivision abutting a community of mostly African Americans. When the banks deemed the development too risky because of potential racial tension, the developer proposed a novel solution. He built a six-foot-tall, one-foot-thick concrete barrier extendin... read more

The Life and Legacy of B.B. King: A Mississippi Blues Icon

Diane Williams

Blues legend B.B. King spent his life sharing the music of his soul, which shone relentlessly through hardship and triumph alike. He never wavered from his vocation, even as he gathered up other musicians in his wake and melded them into the harmony of his animating passion. In this intimate portrait of King, author Diane Williams offers a brief account of the monumental blues man's life befor... read more

The Maceos and The Free State of Galveston: An Authorized History

Kimber Fountain

Throughout the long and colorful history of Galveston, no name has embodied the "Spirit of the Island" quite like the name Maceo. Two penniless Sicilian immigrants rose from modest beginnings to lead an entire city to prosperity, yet the nature of their industry and its abrupt and embarrassing end resulted in a legacy cloaked in stereotypes and rumor. For nearly forty years, Sam and Rose Maceo... read more

Three Desert Stories

Jeffrey William Aubuchon

The Sahara, with its harsh emptiness, is a place that even Ovid in his Metamorphoses harnessed symbol to describe. Images—or perhaps mirages—of endless wind-swept ergs, an oftentimes murderous sun, and vast stretches of rock-strewn hamada perversely tantalize the imagination. Bordered to the north by the Atlas Mountains, the Great Desert is also home to the indigenous Berbers and their camels,... read more

Unbridled Spirit: The Untold Story of the 2018 Extraordinary Palio in Siena, Italy

Paradis, Thomas W

Flight School: Lessons With Peter Pan

Aubuchon, Jeffrey W.