From 1920's Speakeasy to mid-century haunt of the famous and infamous, discover the tantalizing history of a legendary New Jersey Nightclub. Where did Frank Sinatra, Mickey Mantle, Sugar Ray Robinson, Joan Crawford and hundreds of other A-listers along with mobsters like Meyer Lansky eat, drink and dance? It wasn't in Hollywood or at the Copacabana but at Bill Miller's Riviera in Fort Lee. The Riviera's breathtaking views of New York, its stunning showgirls and its gambling hall drew the f...

Situated in northern New Jersey, the Meadowlands region is one of stark contrasts as more than thirty square miles of protected wetlands sit close to MetLife Stadium and across the Hudson from Midtown Manhattan. From the time the Dutch arrived in the 1600s, the area has had a storied and mysterious history as fortunes were made and lost. Beloved performers like Frank Sinatra and Bruce Springsteen graced Meadowlands stages, and some of the most legendary athletes played its stadiums. Nearly...

In 1848, farmer Peter Ramsey sold part of his land to the Paterson and Ramapo Railroad for a right-of-way and a station. The Ramsey family had been local landholders since the 1740s, and the railroad timetables called the stop Ramsey's Station. A town developed around the station, and Main Street, which bisected the railroad tracks, became a bustling hub of commerce that supported a growing population. Hotels, general and specialty stores, blacksmithshops, and other businesses offered good...

An extraordinarily beautiful mixed-race woman travels through the 1930s from the Prohibition era to the dawn of World War II, moving from domestic servant to mistress of a wealthy industrialist and on to a loving relationship with maestro George Gershwin while he completes the operatic masterpiece Porgy and Bess. Filled with the history of Tampas exotic Ybor City, the home of Cuban culture in America, readers are introduced to the place and the people that produced legendary handmade clear...

“A lively, exciting, and definitely thought-provoking book.” —BooklistThings looked grim for American energy in 2006, but a handful of wildcatters were determined to tap massive deposits of oil and gas that giants like Exxon and Chevron had ignored. They risked everything on a new process called fracking. Within a few years, they solved America’s dependence on imported energy, triggered a global environmental controversy, and made and lost astonishing fort...

The bestselling author of Perfectly Legal returns with a powerful new exposéHow does a strong and growing economy lend itself to job uncertainty, debt, bankruptcy, and economic fear for a vast number of Americans? Free Lunch provides answers to this great economic mystery of our time, revealing how today's government policies and spending reach deep into the wallets of the many for the benefit of the wealthy few.Johnston cuts through the o...

At its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, Detroit's status as epicenter of the American auto industry made it a vibrant, populous, commercial hub—and then the bottom fell out. Detroit : A Biography takes a long, unflinching look at the evolution of one of America's great cities and one of the nation's greatest urban failures. This authoritative yet accessible narrative seeks to explain how the city grew to become the heart of American industry and how its utter collapse—from ...

An insider's "indispensible" behind-the-scenes history of the transit system of San Francisco and surrounding counties ( Houston Chronicle).In the first-ever history book about BART, longtime agency spokesman Michael C. Healy gives an insider's account of the rapid transit system's inception, hard-won approval, construction, and operations, warts and all.With a master storyteller's wit and sharp attention to detail, Healy recreates the politically ...

**"A wise, illuminating survey." —Henry Grabar, author of Paved ParadiseAn eye-opening exploration of one of the little-known levers that controls our world—zoning codes—and a call-to-arms for using them to improve American society at every level.**Zoning codes dictate how and where we can build housing, factories, restaurants, and parks. They limit how tall buildings can be and where trees can be planted. They have become the most significant regulatory power of l...

More than forty million visitors per year travel to Sin City to visit the gambling mecca of the world. But gambling is only one part of the city’s story. In this carefully documented history, Geoff Schumacher tracks the rise of Las Vegas, including its vital role during World War II; the rise of the Strip in the 1950s; the explosive growth of the 1990s; and the colossal collapse triggered by the real estate bust and economic crisis of the mid-2000s. Schumacher surveys the history of the ic...

This century has seen the costliest hurricanes in U.S. history—but who bears the brunt of these monster storms?Consider this: Five of the most expensive hurricanes in history have made landfall since 2005: Katrina ($160 billion), Ike ($40 billion), Sandy ($72 billion), Harvey ($125 billion), and Maria ($90 billion). With more property than ever in harm's way, and the planet and oceans warming dangerously, it won't be long before we see a $250 billion hurricane. Why?...

Suggests ways for Detroit to become a smaller but better city in the twenty first century and proposes productive uses for the city's vacant spaces.Experts estimate that perhaps forty square miles of Detroit are vacant-from a quarter to a third of the city -a level of emptiness that creates a landscape unlike any other big city. Author John Gallagher, who has covered urban redevelopment for the Detroit Free Press for two decades, spent a year researching w...