A historical tour of fun and frolic in the five boroughs—including photos from the good old days.Coney Island is an iconic symbol of turn-of-the-century New York—but many other amusement parks have thrilled the residents of the five boroughs.Strategically placed at the end of trolley lines, railways, public beaches, and waterways, these playgrounds for the rich and poor alike first appeared in 1767. From humble beginnings, they developed into huge sites lik...

For generations, boaters and train passengers have been mystified and intrigued by the sight of a castlelike structure looming in the Hudson River, near Fishkill. Bannerman Castle unveils the history of this site: an island arsenal, built to resemble a Scottish castle. The story begins in 1900, when Francis Bannerman VI purchased the island�officially Pollepel but later called Bannerman�s Island�for storing used military goods purchased from the government. A native of Scotland, Bannerman ...

**Equal parts true crime, twentieth-century history, and science thriller, The Poisoner's Handbook is "a vicious, page-turning story that reads more like Raymond Chandler than Madame Curie." —**The New York Observer**“The Poisoner’s Handbook breathes deadly life into the Roaring Twenties.” —Financial Times“Reads like science fiction, complete with suspense, mystery and foolhardy guys in lab coats tipping test tubes of mys...

The definitive biography of the iconic skyscrapers and the ambitions that shaped them--from their dizzying rise to their unforgettable fallMore than a year after the nation began mourning the lives lost in the attacks on the World Trade Center, it became clear that something else was being mourned: the towers themselves. They were the biggest and brashest icons that New York, and possibly America, has ever produced--magnificent giants that became intimately familiar around the globe...

In the late 1860s, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) pushed its first tracks westward from Virginia's Tidewater region across the mountains into what was then the new state of West Virginia. Ultimately its tracks stretched across a half-dozen states and even into Canada. Appalachian coal was the C&O's primary cargo, but its fast freights carried shipments of all kinds, and its crack passenger trains were marvels of their day. In 1963, the C&O merged with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad...

Experience the history of America's capitol with this uniquely engaging and informative guidebook.Alternating between site visits and brief historical narratives, this guide tells the story of Washington, DC, from its origins to current times. From George Washington's Mount Vernon to the Kennedy Center, trek through each era of the federal district, on a tour of America's most beloved sites. Go inside the White House, the only executive home in the world regularly ...

The Kingdom of New York is rollicking insider;s history of contemporary New York, as seen through the lens of the city's most irreverent newspaper, the New York Observer. Handsomely designed with great drawings, cartoons, and other illustrations throughout and filled with the paper's unique attention to politics, status, and wealth, this unique insider's view features essays by Cynthia Ozick, Gay Talese, Woody Allen, and Martin Scorsese, and covers such iconic New York pe...

From the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century, African Americans in the Washington, D.C. area sought leisure destinations where they could relax without the burden of racial oppression. Local picnic parks such as Eureka and Madre's were accessible by streetcars. Black-owned steamboats ferried passengers seeking sun and sand to places like Collingwood Beach, and African American families settled into quiet beach-side communities along the Western Shore of Maryland. Author and public...

The Jersey Devil isn't the only supernatural entity that stalks the Garden State: Here are tales of pirates, patients, and prisoners, oh my!Few places are as obsessed with the paranormal as New Jersey, and the area once known as West Jersey is a hotbed of supernatural activity. The ghost of a young boy in Mannington appears to welcome guests and partygoers to a historic bed-and-breakfast. The tortured soul of a weathered sea pirate remains in Greenwich, still impri...

Noted for its picturesque historic districts and venerable homes, the village of Montgomery is nestled into northern Orange County, bounded by the Wallkill River in the shadow of the Comfort Hills. Filled with rare photographs dating from the 1870s to the present, Village of Montgomery focuses on the history of the hamlet and its churches, roads, businesses, schools, and cemeteries, providing insight into how village residents lived, worked, and played in years past. The insightful text ac...

Through innovative interdisciplinary methodologies and fresh avenues of inquiry, the nine essays collected in A Peculiar Mixture endeavor to transform how we understand the bewildering multiplicity and complexity that characterized the experience of German-speaking people in the middle colonies. They explore how the various cultural expressions of German speakers helped them bridge regional, religious, and denominational divides and eventually find a way to partake in America’s em...

The author of the popular blog "The Streets of Washington" shares new vignettes and reader favorites exploring the colorful history of America's capitol.In Lost Washington, D.C., John DeFerrari investigates the bygone institutions and local haunts of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Washington may seem eternal and unchanging with its grand avenues and stately monuments, but longtime locals and earlier generations knew a very different place....