The hamlet of Syosset, located on Long Island�s North Shore, was settled by the Dutch and English in 1648 and was known as Eastwoods. It was not until 1854, when the Long Island Rail Road named its new stop, that the hamlet was given the name Syosset. The presence of the railroad led to a continued population expansion as local farmers prospered and newcomers discovered and joined the desirable community. By the last half of the 20th century, the excellence of Syosset�s schools drew new re...

"A page-turning narrative . . . offers an excitingly fresh look at a heady, foundational moment in American history." ― The Gleaner"[A] fantastic story . . . the wild, turbulent, sometimes murderous construction of the greatest engineering project since the pyramids, built through an America bubbling with religious revivals, get-rich-quick schemes, and manifest destiny." ―Kevin Baker, New York Times

New York City boasts a higher rate of unionization than any other major U.S. city—roughly double the national average—but the city's unions have suffered steady and relentless decline, especially in the private sector. With higher levels of income inequality than any other large city in the nation, New York today is home to a large and growing precariat—workers with little or no employment security who are often excluded from the basic legal protections that unions struggl...

Originally known as Ruthenians, Ukrainians began to immigrate to western Pennsylvania in the late 1800s. Attracted by the region�s growing importance as an industrial center, they settled in cities and towns close to their work. Like other immigrants, they faced many economic and social hardships, but they were proud to call themselves Americans as they firmly preserved and celebrated their ethnic heritage. Their dispersion among the hills and valleys of western Pennsylvania prevented the ...

This story of the young city of Washington coming up in the international scene is populated with presidents, foreign diplomats, civil servants, architects, artists, and influential hosts and hostesses who were enamored of the idea of world power but had little idea of the responsibilities involved.Between the Spanish American War and World War I, the thrill of America's new international role in the world held the nation's capital in rapture. Visionaries gravitate...

This account of the infamous asylum is "an excellent record of greed and corruption, but it is also a powerful testimonial to compassion and kindness" ( Hidden City).The Quaker City and its hospitals were pioneers in the field of mental health. Yet by the end of the nineteenth century, its institutions were crowded and patients lived in shocking conditions. The mentally ill were quartered with the dangerously criminal. By 1906, the city had purchased a vast...

Before Pearl Harbor, before polio and his entry into politics, FDR was a handsome, pampered, but strong-willed youth, the center of a rarefied world. In Before the Trumpet, the award-winning historian Geoffrey C. Ward transports the reader to that world—Hyde Park on the Hudson and Campobello Island, Groton and Harvard and the Continent—to recreate as never before the formative years of the man who would become the 20th century’s greatest president. Here, drawn from thousands of or...

In The Ellis Island Snow Globe, Erica Rand, author of the smart and entertaining book Barbie’s Queer Accessories, takes readers on an unconventional tour of Ellis Island, the migration station turned heritage museum, and its neighbor, the Statue of Liberty. By pausing to reflect on what is and is not on display at these two iconic national monuments, Rand focuses attention on whose heritage is honored and whose obscured. She also reveals the shifting connections between s...

A vacation destination and a historic small town: two places that make Maryland great—and ghostly. More chills from the author of Haunted Eastern Shore.A ghostly sea captain, an ill-fated lover and jazz musicians who go on playing long after their last songs—these are the spirits that make their presence known from Ocean City's Boardwalk to the picturesque town square of Berlin. The phantom scent of a woman's perfume floats from Trimper's carousel, while t...

Since its founding in 1925, the University of Baltimore has become one of Maryland's premier educational institutions. Originally organized as a practical solution for working men and women seeking a college degree, the institution developed rapidly-the School of Law and the College of Business Administration, begun in the founding year as evening professional schools, were joined by a day division and, in 1937, a junior college. Finally, in 1961, the university began its College of Libera...

Yardley revisits the 200 year history of the borough through photographs. In the eighteenth century, a ferry and mill marked the crossroads beginnings of Yardleyville in Makefield Township. New modes of transportation transformed the village, commerce and industry flourished, and the population increased substantially. Soon the people of Yardley yearned for their own government--their own town--and Yardley, Pennsylvania, was incorporated in 1895. When Yardley Borough celebrated its centenn...