Ghost Courts of the War Between the StatesIn 1860, news of Abraham Lincoln's election arrived in Charleston like a fire alarm. In the United States courtroom on Chalmers Street, the grand jury simply refused to go on. All eyes are on the judge. In a dramatic moment, Judge A.G. Magrath, tears off his robes and tells jurors and spectators that, rather than continuing under tyranny, his Temple of Justice is forever closed. Thus in this long-since forgotten room took p...

The "compelling" story behind the 1995 Chicago weather disaster that killed hundreds—and what it revealed about our broken society ( Boston Globe).On July 13, 1995, Chicagoans awoke to a blistering day in which the temperature would reach 106 degrees. The heat index—how the temperature actually feels on the body—would hit 126. When the heat wave broke a week later, city streets had buckled; records for electrical use were shattered; and power grids had fail...

Think gunfighter, and Wyatt Earp or Billy the Kid may come to mind, but what of Jim Moon? Joel Fowler? Zack Light? A host of other figures helped forge the gunfighter persona, but their stories have been lost to time. In a sequel to his Deadly Dozen, celebrated western historian Robert K. DeArment now offers more biographical portraits of lesser-known gunfighters—men who perhaps weren’t glorified in legend or song, but who were rightfully notorious in their day.DeArment ha...

In "Indian Depredations in Texas," John Wesley Wilbarger crafts a meticulous historical narrative that chronicles the tumultuous encounters between Native American tribes and early Texan settlers during the 19th century. Employing a detailed documentary style, Wilbarger incorporates firsthand accounts, personal experiences, and a rich array of primary sources to provide readers with an immersive exploration of this often-overlooked aspect of American history. The book situates itself withi...

A Brief history of the Indian uprising and depredations in Minnesota during 1862.

The Tragedy at the Loomis Street Crossing After five years of intense research, Author Chuck Spinner has written the definitive story of the Naperville Train Wreck of April 25, 1946. He has uncovered the histories of the 45 victims of the tragedy, interviewed two surviving eye witnesses of the event, and talked with survivors and helpers at the scene. His family lived just a block from the crossing where the accident occurred. Spinner was born at St. Charles Hospital in Aurora, Illinois on...

A biographic sketch of the German that came to America and became the richest American of his time through fur trading and real estate investments.

A detailed account of the historical events that took place in California. Missions that were undertaken in different times have been described in detail. The chronological information imparted in a dramatic style captures the attention of the reader.

From the simplest slab of weathered stone to the most imposing mausoleum, every marker in a Texas cemetery bears witness to a life that—in ways small or large—helped shape the history and culture of the state. Telling the stories of some of these significant lives is the purpose of this book. Within its pages, you'll meet not only the heroes of the Texas Revolution, for example, but also one of the great African American cowboys of the traildriving era (Bose Ikard) and the first woman in T...

From woolly mammoths, through wolves and mountain lions, to the largest elk herd in the East. It begins in the heat of the tropics and continues through Ice Age Pennsylvania, from "King Coal" to Marcellus Shale. It is a story of Native Americans, pioneers and immigrants struggling for survival. Warriors, patriots, murderers and terrorists are all part of the history of a small town in Northcentral Pennsylvania. It is a unique story of men and women carving a home out of the wilderness, yet...

Cracker Culture is a provocative study of social life in the Old South that probes the origin of cultural differences between the South and the North throughout American history.Among Scotch-Irish settlers the term “Cracker” initially designated a person who boasted, but in American usage the word has come to designate poor whites. McWhiney uses the term to define culture rather than to signify an economic condition. Although all poor whites were Crackers,...

• Above-ground graves resembling small, outdoor ovens furnished the name for the Mariposa County village of Hornitos. Hornitos is a Spanish word that means “little ovens.”• In 1885, Alexander Kirkwood founded a hotel called Rattlesnake House in Tuolumne County. After his death, Mrs. Kirkwood remarried a fellow named William Priest. The hotel was generally called Priest’s Station after that and the locality is still known as Priest.• The community of Groveland was once calle...