Local history Books

Book SynopsisGuest edited by T. Dionne Bailey and Garrett Felber, this issue of Southern Cultures makes visible a radical US South which has long envisioned a world without policing, prisons, or other forms of punishment.

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Book SynopsisRecovers the forgotten and erased history of gay men and lesbians in North Florida, a region often overlooked in the story of the LGBTQ experience. Jerry Watkins reveals both the challenges these men and women faced in the years following World War II and the essential role they played in making the Emerald Coast a major tourist destination.Trade ReviewWatkins' book shares with us for the first time the many first hand accounts, in great detail, of gay men navigating a gay lifestyle in Florida's panhandle. . . . Many of the stories in the book are as entertaining as they are educational and informative."—South Florida Gay News

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Book SynopsisExamines the complexities of life for African Americans in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley from the antebellum period through Reconstruction. Although the Valley was a site of fierce conflicts during the Civil War and its military activity has been extensively studied, scholars have largely ignored the Black experience in the region until now.

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Book SynopsisIn Spaces of Enslavement, Andrea C. Mosterman addresses the persistent myth that the colonial Dutch system of slavery was more humane.Investigating practices of enslavement in New Netherland and then in New York, Mosterman shows that these ways of racialized spatial control held much in common with the southern plantation societies.In the 1620s, Dutch colonial settlers brought slavery to the banks of the Hudson River and founded communities from New Amsterdam in the south to Beverwijck near the terminus of the navigable river. When Dutch power in North America collapsed and the colony came under English control in 1664, Dutch descendants continued to rely on enslaved labor. Until 1827, when slavery was abolished in New York State, slavery expanded in the region, with all free New Yorkers benefitting from that servitude.Mosterman describes how the movements of enslaved persons were controlled in homes and in public spaces such as worksTable of ContentsIntroduction: A Spatial Analysis of Slavery in Dutch New York 1. Enslaved Labor and the Settling of New Netherland 2. The Geography of Enslaved Life in New Netherland 3. Control and Resistance in the Public Space 4. Enslavement and the Dual Nature of the Home 5. Slavery and Social Power in Dutch Reformed Churches Conclusion: A More Benign System of Slavery?

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Book SynopsisThe University Archives was established in 1634. Based in the Bodleian Library, it is the institutional archive of Oxford University, holding records which span just over 800 years, documenting the University’s activities and decisions throughout that time. Fifty-two documents and objects from the University Archives are showcased here, telling a wide range of intriguing stories about the University. Arranged chronologically, they deal with the University’s relations with governments and monarchs; the effects of war; teaching and student behaviour; the University’s buildings and institutions; widening access to university education; and the impact it has had on the city of Oxford and its people. Also documented here are fascinating insights into the University’s erstwhile police force, a hidden time capsule, brewing licences, brawls and illicit steeplechasing. The items – all illustrated – also often unlock human stories to which we can relate today, opening a window on the individuals (from University, city, or even further afield) whose lives the University has touched, including people who would perhaps not be expected to feature in a history of Oxford University, but whose stories are preserved forever in its magnificent archives.Table of ContentsContents Introduction 1. The University returns to Oxford 2. The University and the book trade 3. Chancellor’s book 4. St Scholastica’s Day riot 5. Oxford and the Trojans 6. The Great Burglary of 1544 7. Langdon Hills, Essex 8. Thomas Bodley refounds the Library 9. ‘Strangers’ at the Bodleian Library 10. Beginnings of a copyright library 11. Selecting the Proctors 12. Laudian Statutes 13. ‘Mechanicall persons’ 14. The earliest honorary degrees 15. The Civil War 16. Keeping the city clean 17. Brewing 18. Ampthill Hospital 19. The brawl at the visit of Queen Anne 20. Religious uniformity 21. The Extraordinary Examination 22. Visit of the allied sovereigns 23. Daniel Robertson and the new press 24. The University Police 25. The coming of the railway 26. Horsing around 27. A cathedral of science 28. The first black student at Oxford 29. The ‘mischievous consequences’ of lodging houses 30. Oscar Wilde in the Chancellor’s Court 31. The problem of prostitutes 32. Working class education in North Staffordshire 33. Illicit goings on 34. Pioneer women in anthropology 35. War and the 1914 Vacation course for foreign students 36. Admission of women 37. Women and honorary degrees 38. Green lamps for undergraduates’ cars 39. Honorary degree for Albert Einstein 40. William Morris and the Nuffield Medical Benefaction 41. Appointment opportunities 42. Ashmolean fire-watching 43. War and Occupied Europe 44. University MPs 45. Oxford and West Africa 46. Town-gown reconciliation 47. Welcoming the new universities 48. The new Pitt Rivers Museum 49. Student protest 50. The Sheldonian time capsule 51. The New Bodleian Library remodelled 52. Admission of the first female Vice-Chancellor Further Reading Picture Credits Index

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Book SynopsisThe best tales from around the country, chosen from our popular series of Folk Tales

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Book SynopsisFinalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in History Winner of Columbia University's 2024 Bancroft Prize in American History Winner of the 2024 Caughey Western History Prize Winner of the 2024 Spur Award Named a Best Civil War Book of 2023 byCivil War Monitor In Continental Reckoning renowned historian Elliott West presents a sweeping narrative of the American West and its vital role in the transformation of the nation. In the 1840s, by which time the United States had expanded to the Pacific, what would become the West was home to numerous vibrant Native cultures and vague claims by other nations. Thirty years later it was organized into states and territories and bound into the nation and world by an infrastructure of rails, telegraph wires, and roads and by a racial and ethnic order, with its Indigenous peoples largely dispossessed and confined to reservations. Unprecedented exploration uncovered the West's extraordinary resources, beginning with the discovery of gold in California within days of the United States acquiring the territory following the Mexican-American War. As those resources were developed, often by the most modern methods and through modern corporate enterprise, half of the contiguous United States was physically transformed. Continental Reckoning guides the reader through the rippling, multiplying changes wrought in the western half of the country, arguing that these changes should be given equal billing with the Civil War in this crucial transition of national life. As the West was acquired, integrated into the nation, and made over physically and culturally, the United States shifted onto a course of accelerated economic growth, a racial reordering and redefinition of citizenship, engagement with global revolutions of science and technology, and invigorated involvement with the larger world. The creation of the West and the emergence of modern America were intimately related. Neither can be understood without the other. With masterful prose and a critical eye, West presents a fresh approach to the dawn of the American West, one of the most pivotal periods of American history.Trade Review"By the final chapter of Continental Reckoning, the reader should pause and realize they have read one of the most important contributions to the American historiography published in the past half-century. Historians of America and the West will recognize that Elliott West, one of the most respected scholars in his field the past 40 years, has accomplished a great deal in his career, but will remember Continental Reckoning as his master work, truly a magnum opus of his highly lauded scholarly career."—Stuart Rosebrook, True West"Elliott West has written an engaging and innovative synthesis that will be of interest to all readers of history. It is a gift to anyone who writes lectures; teachers will find illuminating examples, useful metaphors, and an extraordinary amount of data to wield in the service of helping students make sense of the middle decades of the nineteenth century."—Amy Kohout, Missouri Historical Review"With its scope, sophistication, and engaging prose, this marvelous book deserves wide readership."—Sherry L. Smith, South Dakota History"Elliott West's Continental Reckoning vividly shows the importance of looking at the American West when studying the Civil War era. West makes sweeping arguments crucial to advancing Civil War West historiography, and his accessible writing style also makes the read enjoyable for the general public interested in the American West or nineteenth-century U.S. history more broadly. Rather than seeing the West as a "safety valve" for the East, Continental Reckoning demonstrates how the region became inextricably linked to the rise of the modern and robust U.S. nation state."—John R. Legg, Civil War Monitor"The West is a big canvas. West uses brush strokes small and large to depict his engaging and thought-provoking perspective."—Tom Carpenter, RoundUp Magazine"A comprehensive, lucid, and often surprising history of western settlement in America."—Kirkus Reviews, starred"Readers who appreciate history and are privileged by having been born and lived in the Western United States should plan to allocate an appropriate portion of their remaining time to perusal of Continental Reckoning. They will be amazed by the impact which our region has exerted upon the development of both our own country and the rest of today's global community."—J. Kemper Campbell, Lincoln Journal Star"Continental Reckoning is massive and brilliantly constructed, scholarly and literary, meant to be read beyond academic conferences by a public that—in these contentious times—needs to understand America's past."—David Luhrssen, Shepherd Express"Westerners will do well to have this new anthology handy as a standard reference work of the expansionist period."—John Monnett, Denver Posse of Westerners“Encyclopedic in its coverage, wonderfully written, full of revealing details, shrewd and funny in its analysis, Continental Reckoning will become the standard work on the creation of the American West. Elliott West remains astute and fair in covering a place and period often reduced to ideology and polemic. No one knows the nineteenth-century American West better than he does.”—Richard White, author of The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865–1896Table of ContentsContents List of Illustrations List of Maps Series Editor’s Introduction, by Richard Etulain Prelude: 773,510,680 Acres Acknowledgments Part 1. Unsettling America 1. The Great Coincidence 2. Division and Multiplication 3. Letting Blood 4. The Horse and the Hammer 5. Conquest in Stutter-Step 6. Carnal Property 7. The Fluid West 8. Continental Reckoning 9. Civil War and the “Indian Problem” Part 2. Things Come Together 10. Iron Bands and Tongues of Fire 11. Connections Real and Imagined 12. Maps 13. The “Science of Man” and the American Sublime 14. The World’s Convention 15. Crew Cultures, Cribs and Schoolhouses, Women on the Fringe Part 3. Worked into Being 16. Cattle and the New America 17. Wind, Fever, and Indians Unhorsed 18. Breaking the Land 19. Domination and Extinction 20. When the West Turned Inside Out 21. Legal Wrestling, the Land Convulsed 22. The Final Undoing 23. Creating the West Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe first book to detail the forgotten work of the Royal Navy Auxiliary Patrol Station on the Isles of Scilly.

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Book SynopsisGhost stories old and new from Chester's popular ghost walk leaderTrade Review"This new book by Chester-based author Mary Ann Cameron shows how Chester can easily claim to be the most actively haunted town in the country with stories from Chester's popular ghost walk leader, along with images of the local maps and buildings."

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Book SynopsisNation Within is the complex history of the events between the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi in 1893 and its annexation to the United States in 1898. Highlighting the native Hawaiians' resistance during that five year span, Tom Coffman shows why occupying Hawaiʻi was crucial to American imperial ambitions.Trade Review"Nation Within explores those 'strange five years' from 1893–1898 during which a cabal of 'missionary boys' hijacked a sovereign nation, deposed its monarch, prostituted the words 'republic' and 'democracy' as badly as any Third World Communist dictator ever has, and handed over an unwilling native people to the care and keeping of the breast-beating, muscle-flexing expansionist United States. (And if you think I overwrite, then I challenge you to read the book.) . . . weep, grow angry . . . " -- Dan Boylan, Professor of History, University of Hawaii, * MidWeek *"[A] page-turner—and an eye-opener." * Honolulu Weekly *"Tom Coffman has gracefully constructed a new vision of Hawaiian history, broader perhaps than any produced in the last 100 years. . . . A stunning, transoceanic story." -- Kehaulani Lum * Honolulu Star-Bulletin *"The best single book on annexation." * The Nation *Table of ContentsForeword ix Introduction xiii 1. A False Spring 1 2. Retrieving History 7 3. Coping with Great Powers 23 4. Roosevelt's Frontier 33 5. The Queen's Dilemma 39 6. American Expanisionism 53 7. A Two-Layered Conspiracy 69 8. Trade-off for Pearl Harbor 91 9. An American Coup 109 10. Hawaiian Resistance 135 11. Battle on the Potomac 141 12. A Republic in Name 149 13. The Hawaiian Revolt 167 14. Conjuring the Yellow Peril 183 15. The Doorway to Imperialism 205 16. Hawaiian Protests 235 17. The Treay of Annexation 245 18. The Queen in Winter 263 19. The Hawaiian Petition 273 20. Cuba and the Philippines 289 21. Raising Old Glory 315 Notes and Acknowledgments 325 Endnotes 329 Index 339

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Book SynopsisToday Kensington Palace is synonymous with young royals; it is the official home of TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their family, and of TRH The Duke and Duchess of Sussex. It is also famous for being the residence of Diana, Princess of Wales, during the last years of her life, and visitors still flock to the palace to learn about her story. But the history of Kensington stretches back much further. It boasts more than three centuries of continuous royal occupation, making it unique among the Historic Royal Palaces. Formerly a private house enlarged by Christopher Wren in the late 17th century to suit the needs of William and Mary, Kensington Palace was the favoured home of five sovereigns until the death of George II in 1760. Even after its conversion into a royal residence, the palace remained a rather unprepossessing building, fashioned out of reddish-grey brick. However, this belied its architectural significance, for it was shaped and decorated by some of the country's leading architects, artists, craftsmen and designers, and is now a major national monument. The palace's social and political significance is arguably even greater. Kensington has played host to some of the most important personalities and events in the long history of the royal family. It was the birthplace and childhood home of Queen Victoria, and it was here that she held her first council meeting as monarch in 1837. During the previous century, Kensington had been divided into apartments for the younger generation of royals - an arrangement that continues today. From the late 19th century onwards, it became a visitor attraction, a museum and home to the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection. Today the palace attracts more than 400,000 visitors a year. In this new illustrated account, Tracy Borman tells the fascinating story of Kensington from private residence to modern-day royal palace, describing not only the development of the building and its magnificent gardens, but also the dramas and intrigues of court life. Its history is set against a backdrop of events that shaped both Britain and its monarchy: from the Jacobite uprisings of the mid-18th century to the rise of industrialisation in the 19th, and the turbulence of world war in the 20th. Here, in the domestic surrounds of the palace, the monarchy evolved and modernised in tandem with the times. The story of Kensington Palace is, in short, the story of the modern monarchy. AUTHOR: Tracy Borman is joint Chief Curator of Historic Royal Palaces. She has worked for various national heritage organisations, including the Heritage Lottery Fund, the National Archives and English Heritage. An acclaimed writer and historian 200 illustrations, 1 plan

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Book SynopsisFrom fan dancers to fan belts--the compelling, untold stories of Chicago's 1933 world fairTrade ReviewRecipient of the Smithsonian Institution Secretary's Research Prize, 2010."Well researched and beautifully illustrated. . . . This will be an eye-opening book for people who care to learn more about how, during the dark days of the Great Depression, the political economy was reinvented through mass culture, and how, as a result, Americans came to see themselves in a new way."--Journal of Illinois History"This book on Chicago's second big show is a welcome addition to world’s fairs collections. Recommended."--Choice"With graceful prose and beautiful illustrations, Ganz demonstrates the fair's central themes of modernist architectural design, financial economy, and material progress."--The Journal of American History"Engaging social and cultural history."--Illinois Times"A highly analytical social and cultural history of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair containing many wonderful illustrations."--Left History"A formidable history. . . . This beautifully illustrated book tells the story of the fair not simply from the perspective of its architecture . . . but from the perspective of women's history, ethnic history, and the social and political background of organizers."--Indiana Magazine of History"Ganz's detailed and interesting text provides an in-depth look at the individuals and forces behind the 1933 Chicago Fair, and it should please many of those interested in fair history."--Reviews in American History"Beginning and ending with controversial fan dancer Sally Rand, The 1933 Chicago World's Fair gives readers a distinctive and authoritative take on this important exposition. Cheryl R. Ganz's thorough research and very readable writing style ensure that this will remain the standard history of A Century of Progress for years to come."--John E. Findling, coeditor of Encyclopedia of World's Fairs and Expositions "Cheryl R. Ganz gives a fascinating behind-the-scenes view of the 1933 Chicago world's fair, with interesting angles on the infighting among various interest groups. A significant addition to world's fair studies, with novel contributions regarding gender, race, ethnicity, and class."--Arthur P. Molella, director of the Smithsonian's Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation "This book's strength lies in its exploration of what 'progress' meant to the various world's fair stakeholders and to the fair's historical narrative. Ganz enriches the history of world's fairs and expands our understanding of the early twentieth century."--Bonnie Lilienfeld, deputy chair and curator of the Division of Home and Community Life at the National Museum of American HistoryTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. Sally Rand and the Midway 7 2. Chicago Boosters Set the Stage 28 3. A New Vision for a World's Fair 52 4. The Vision on Display 67 5. Women's Spaces at the Fair 85 6. African Americans and the Du Sable Legacy 108 7. Ethnic Identity and Nationalistic Representations of Progress 123 8. Aviation, Nationalism, and Progress 137 Epilogue 151 Notes 159 Index 199 Illustrations:Black-and-white section 1 follows page 14 Black-and-white section2 follows page 66 Color section follows page 80 Black-and-white section 3 follows page 116 Black-and-white section 4 follows page 136

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Book SynopsisRome is not one city but many, each with its own history unfolding from a different center. Beginning with the shaping of the ground on which Rome first rose, this book conjures all these cities, conducting the reader through time and space to the complex and shifting realitiesarchitectural, historical, political, and socialthat constitute Rome.Trade ReviewRome from the Ground Up is an enthralling book. McGregor's sensitive, lively writing rises to the beauties of the city and, miraculously, does so with the same economy that characterizes Roman Baroque architecture. McGregor obviously sees Rome's most sublime realms and writes a sublime prose to match, as far away from Rococo ornament as it is from the Rome that is grubby, gruff, crowded, boorish and bureaucratic—and this is perfectly true to the city, for that remarkably pure vision that is the Rome of the imagination has always floated above the Rome of reality, certainly since the time of Cicero and Vergil, probably since Romulus emerged from his mud hut alongside the Forum stream. -- Ingrid Rowland, author of From Heaven to ArcadiaMcGregor has produced a guide to Rome like no other known to me. An astonishing feat of exposition and compression, Rome from the Ground Up would be immensely useful for any intelligent visitor in Rome for the first time. -- Anthony Grafton, author of Bring out Your Dead This intricate, literary traveler's guide explores the contiguous cities of Rome built on the Tiber floodplain over the centuries. McGregor, co-head of the University of Georgia's department of comparative literature, chronologically traces the successive periods of intense architecture and planning that helped Rome achieve strategic greatness, from the Etruscan management of the Tiber Island ford 3,000 years ago, to the city's unparalleled artistic stamp by Bramante and Michelangelo during the Renaissance, to Mussolini's monumental Fascist vision, to the precarious repairs heralding the Jubilee Year of 2000. The ancient historian Strabo remarked that while Greek cities were esteemed for their beauty and wealth, Rome excelled in the construction of roads, aqueducts and sewers, and on this theme McGregor dwells expertly, giving readers an excellent tour of ancient landmarks. As an official residence of emperors until the fourth-century displacement of the capital to Constantinople, Rome gushed with water in the form of baths and fountains; with the return of the popes from Avignon in 1377, the Vatican assumed prominence, and Bramante's restructuring of Old St. Peter's became a beacon for Rome's new mission. Here is a walking tour in stately, inviting prose that renders wonderfully manageable a massive history lesson for the intellectually curious and adept. * Publishers Weekly *A pleasing history of Rome from antiquity to the modern era, tied to monuments, buildings and other structures throughout the city...Well worth consulting before planning a tour of the Eternal City. * Kirkus Reviews *Where history, architecture, and travel find common ground is where this author dwells... The text, peppered with crisp illustrations, is recommended for the erudite traveler. -- Brad Hooper * Booklist *Rome from the Ground Up is splendid. It is an informative and intriguing introduction to the city, not only for those on their first visit but also for many who have been beguiled by the city but have wanted a guide to lead them step by step, illuminating buildings as they go, who may not need (nor want) the quantities of information supplied by a more thoroughgoing architectural guide. As such it fills a distinct need and has done it handsomely. I will certainly recommend it to our students-- and to anyone else heading to Rome. -- Alexander Purves, Professor, Yale University School of ArchitectureDespite the organized chaos of its streets and squares, Rome was not a planned city, but a group of cities that gradually became one. In Rome From the Ground Up, James H. S. McGregor describes how this happened in prose so clear you'll think it came from one of Rome's many springs. -- John Freeman * Milwaukee Journal Sentinel *McGregor has written an informative architectural history of Rome, a cumulative portrait that can serve as a walking guide to the city as well. Some have described Rome as a palimpsest, a metaphor McGregor believes is of limited use. Rome was not a sequence of cities built on top of another, but a series of power centers that shifted location across the Tiber floodplain over some 2800 years. The author begins at Tiber Island, with its river ford, and at the river port that served this most ancient of Romes. After an excellent description of the structures in the area and the activities that took place around them, McGregor relates the changes that have occurred in the region over the centuries. This successful formula is applied through the end of the 20th century in chapters on the Roman forums, the imperial palaces, the early Christian churches, the Vatican, the Renaissance City, and the Baroque expansion of Rome. -- Robert Andrews * Library Journal *This survey of Rome's past, as it evolved over 3,000 years from a string of small cities that sprung up along the Tiber into the seat of empire and finally today's city, is part history, part architecture, part travelogue...McGregor metaphorically digs into the soil beneath Rome's present-day monuments to 'reconnect the modern city with its ancient counterparts.' Each chapter considers the monuments in the order that a visitor would encounter them while walking through the city, resulting in a guide for the thoughtful traveler as well. Color photos, engravings, historical maps, architectural plans and drawings bring Rome's past to life. -- Christine Delsol * San Francisco Chronicle *An important addition to the already jam-packed library of books on Rome...Unlike the standard Baedecker guide--which leads the reader through meticulously detailed tours of specific sites--McGregor takes on the whole magnificent sweep of Roman history, from Romulus to Rutelli (to quote my cicerone friend). In a novel approach, he tells the city's story by taking you on a neighborhood by neighborhood visit, starting with the oldest part, the Tiber Island and the Ancient Port, and then moving slowly away from the river and into the Forum, the Imperial City, the Vatican, Trastevere and the Quirinale hill...Rome from the Ground Up provides just the kind of overarching structure that the visitor to Rome needs, either on the way to or back from the Italian capital. It is also a beautifully-written work, providing a prose that is a very fitting tribute to the sights that it describes. So while the politicians are slugging it out in buildings with glorious names like Palazzo Madama and Montecitorio, why not take an excursion through history, in the comfort of your own armchair? -- Michael Moore * US Italia Weekly *While no single book can ever do justice to such a city, McGregor's study provides an illuminating and practical introduction to Rome...For those lucky enough to find themselves in Rome for the first time, McGregor's integrated approach to the architecture, culture and history of the city would be a useful and reliable aid to understanding its manifold complexities. -- Peter Keegan * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *I can't really have a favorite book on Rome, can I? No, but...well, this comes close. In three hundred pages of clean, muscular prose, McGregor has done the almost impossible task of pulling the glories of this city together in a neat, readable, incredibly well informed study. He takes us through the history of Rome as reflected through its physical presence, as he briskly describes with a wonderful eye what we can still see around us, and how we can place these wonders into a coherent sense of the city. -- Robert Barret * SlowTravel *The author chronicles Rome's evolution over 3,000 years from a group of small cities along the Tiber River, showcasing the architecture, history and culture that made it what it is today. The lush images and maps are unusually rich for a paperback edition. Planning a trip to Rome this year? Be sure to slip this book into your valise. -- Steve Goddard * History Wire *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Tiber Island and the Ancient Port 2. The Roman Forum 3. The Imperial City 4. Early Christian Churches 5. Vatican Revival 6. Renaissance in the River Bend 7. Baroque Expansion 8. The Survival of History Information Further Reading Acknowledgments Illustration Credits Index

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Book SynopsisThe resilient people of Kent have taken it all in their stride and this story encompasses how they lived, worked and played through hundreds of years of colourful history.

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Book SynopsisSheffield Past & Present gives a fascinating insight into the dramatic changes that have taken place in the city during the 20th century. The book recalls houses and public buildings, shops, factories and pubs that have vanished or been changed almost beyond recognition. The pictures show changing types of transport and fashion, and the developing character of streets and districts as they took on the form that is familiar today. The astonishing periods of growth that occurred during the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, and since the Second World War, are particularly well illustrated. Many aspects of the changing city are recalled - hospitals and schools, places of work and recreation, parks and squares, suburban streets and the main thoroughfares - and the pictures record the ceaseless building and rebuilding that characterises the city today. The author has combined a remarkable selection of archive photographs with modern views of the same scenes in order to record the transfo

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Book SynopsisThis fascinating collection highlights some of the changes and developments that have taken place in Dudley over the last 150 years. Originally a medieval market town, Dudley was shaped by the Industrial Revolution and occupied an integral place at the heart of the Black Country. Every aspect of Dudley is explored, from the people and buildings of this strong community to market days, transport and shops; from the highest tower of the castle to the subterranean limestone caverns beneath Castle Hill.Table of ContentsIntroduction; Acknowledgements; 1 About Dudley; 2 The Castle; 3 Market Place; 4 The Shops; 5 Dudley Folk; 6 Entertainments; 7 Notable buildings; 8 Road, Rail and a Day Out

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Book SynopsisThe Cornwall Village Book is a celebration of the unique communities at the heart of a diverse and fascinating county. Compiled by the Cornwall Federation of Women's Institutes, it gathers together descriptions of 150 villages, recalling the history, people and events that make each one unique, and how their collective identity has shaped Cornwall as a county known for its rich cultural heritage. From the wild moorland landscapes to the picturesque harbour villages, this is truly a region of contrasting lives and communities. Despite the changes brought about by the modern age, these villages continue to thrive, providing a source of pride and delight to villagers and visitors alike. The Cornwall Village Book will appeal to those who have lived in the county all their lives and those visiting for the first time.

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Book SynopsisA vibrant collection of local tales handed down through generations

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Book SynopsisThe anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania once prospered. Today, very little mining or industry remains, although residents have made valiant efforts to restore the fabric of their communities. In The Face of Decline, the noted historians Thomas...Trade ReviewThe Face of Decline is a fine work of social history, broadly based in its approach, painstaking in its research, innovative in its methodology, and thoughtful in its conclusions. Like Dublin's When the Mines Closed, this work is essential for students both of deindustrialization and of the recent history of northeastern Pennsylvania. Just as significantly, The Face of Decline accomplishes the social historian's most difficult task: communicating with a wide audience while still challenging scholars. * Business History Review *A sweeping history of this area over the course of the 20th century.... The book is not only a history lesson. It's a human tragedy story, about people who worked hard, and long, in dangerous conditions, only to be let down, not only by their profession, but by their government also. Dublin and Licht paint an honest picture, of despair, of resourcefulness, and then more despair. It's a book that belongs in every coal region home and library, and in the hands of every school kid who has heard countless stories of the way it used to be in this area. * Lehighton Times News *History Professor Thomas Dublin and colleague Walter Licht offer a sweeping history of Pennsylvania's anthracite coal region during the 20th century in their new book, The Face of Decline.... Since some of the material touches on recent history, Dublin interviewed former miners about their experiences. He said these conversations complemented the data and gave it a human context. 'I found it wonderful to be able to interview people who have lived through the history,' he said.... The Face of Decline also has much to offer politicians and business leaders in areas facing similar economic shifts. * INSIDE Binghamton University *In an era when many historians are settling for symbols and representations to understand complex historical changes, Dublin and Licht have succeeded not only in explaining industrial decline and approximating its effects on the lives of their subjects but also in providing a model and a new standard for social historical research. Their narrative and analysis will certainly garner due attention and praise, but it would be good to think that their methods will also get the attention they deserve. * Journal of Social History *This book is an excellent piece of scholarship, combining institutional and social history. The authors should be commended for their exhaustive research and expert merging of many different sources into a vigorous and readable narrative. It is no exaggeration to say that this book will very quickly become a classic in the fields of labor studies and economic history. * Journal of American History *Thomas Dublin and Walter Licht's The Face of Decline is essential reading for anyone concerned with the economic development or redevelopment of a community, region, or state. It is also a definitive history of the anthracite region of northeastern Pennsylvania that by 1890 was supplying 16 percent of the nation's energy. The book's handsome large-format pages conceal its great length, including detailed chapters that narrate the early decades when the industry was raking in profits. These provide ballast for what follows—an account of eighty years of decline, ending in regional economic collapse. * Technology and Culture *Table of ContentsIntroduction1. Creating the Anthracite Region: From Prehistoric Times to 19002. Apogee and Descent: The Anthracite Region in the Early Twentieth Century3. The Anthracite Miners' New Deal: The Thirties4. Reprieve and Final Collapse, 1940–1970: Capital and Labor Respond5. Industrial Development Efforts: Community and Governmental Responses6. Personal Responses to Decline: Fathers and Mothers, 1945–19907. Personal Responses to Decline: Sons and Daughters, 1945–19908. Legacies

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Book SynopsisThis is the account of one person's experience among the Inupiat, who live in a treeless land far north of the Arctic Circle. It records occurrences of healing, spirit manifestation, and premonition in her narrative in a year in the life of an Eskimo community.Table of ContentsTable of Contents Acknowledgments Families and Persons Mentioned in the Text Introduction 1 Arrival 2 A Dream of the Loss of Childhood 3 The Healer 4 Embattled Politics: The Ancient Master Returns 5 The Taste of Sea Mammal Awakens I\u00f1upiat History 6 The Seal and Its Organs: A Prophetic Seeing 7 Winter: Western Celebration Converted 8 Winter Solstice 9 The Messenger Feast: The Work of the Eagle 10 A Man Lost in the Tundra: The Finding 11 The Grandmother Speaks a Word 12 The Laughing Mask 13 Preparations for Whaling 14 The Bowhead Whale: Balaena Mysticetus 15 The Whale's Head: Presence and Absence 16 Rich Parka and Festival Food 17 The Whaling Festival: Qagruq, the Beaching 18 The Shaman's Four-Day Syndrome 19 Reconnecting After Absence Conclusion: The Threads of Connectedness Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisPresents a pictorial history of Newtown through a series of photographs and images.

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Book SynopsisPersistent problems have left Illinois the butt of jokes and threatened it with fiscal catastrophe. The authors use their four decades of experience as public servants, Springfield veterans, and government observers to present a program of almost one hundred specific policy ideas aimed at rescuing the state from its long list of problems.Trade Review"Jim Nowlan and Tom Johnson are two of the most knowledgeable people in understanding Illinois state government as a result of their many years in and around Illinois government. Their new book, Fixing Illinois, is an excellent overview of the many problems facing Illinois, and more importantly, how to fix those problems. Fixing Illinois is a must read for anyone who cares about the future of Illinois." --Governor Jim Edgar"Fixing Illinois by James Nowlan and Thomas Johnson is a prodigious effort to diagnose the ailments of a fundamentally strong state and prescribe a wide range of measures to improve the accountability of government and diminish widespread perceptions of corruption. It is objective and reflects extensive research and the real-world experience of its authors. Fixing Illinois should be read by all concerned Illinois citizens and especially those who seek and occupy public office." --Senator Adlai E. Stevenson III"We are truly in a sad state of affairs, and the authors mince no words in describing the problems we face. . . . But the authors are not in such despair that they don't have a bounty of suggestions as to how we can recover."--Ronald D. Michaelson, visiting professor of political studies at the University of Illinois at Springfield

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Book Synopsis"Amazing & Extraordinary Facts: London at War" is a unique collection of surprising revelations, heroic deeds and other quirky pieces of trivia from the conflicts that have shaped London’s fascinating past. From British wartime commanders and other characters who called London their home, through the privations of war and their social impact, to the devastation caused by the Blitz in World War II and London’s subsequently resilience, an intriguing history is revealed. With stories of human endeavour in the face of adversity, the rich history of this great capital city at war is revealed. Table of Contents1 Introduction 8 2 Cousins at war 10 3 Essex rebels 11 4 Curious encounter 14 5 Scathing reports 16 6 Mafeking is relieved 18 7 Concealing German spies? 20 8 Don't upset the family 21 9 Underground refuges 22 10 Preferable to hobbledehoys 23 11 Wearing the trousers 25 12 Standing in line 26 13 London to the Lake District 27 14 What did they live on? 30 15 Spivs at your service 32 16 Man of vision 33 17 Nowhere is sacred 36 18 Not fine dining 37 19 Covering costs 40 20 Miracles of science 42 21 Unduly pessimistic 43 22 Shelter from Hitler's wrath 45 23 Spitfires from saucepans? 47 24 Against the odds 49 25 Making the best of it 51 26 No guarantee of safety 54 27 Troglodytic existence 55 28 'Sardines in a gigantic tin' 57 29 On the Nazi death list 59 30 Origins of 007 60 31 Ministry of Truth 61 32 Closely guarded secrets 64 33 Famously taciturn 65 34 Dynamic force 67 35 Mickey the Midget 69 36 Cover at home 71 37 Looking the East End in the face 73 38 Bull and Bush 75 39 World's longest factory 77 40 Mysterious tunnels 78 41 Evacuating London 80 42 'Patron of our age' 83 43 Phoney war 84 44 Back and forth 85 45 Attendant inconveniences 87 46 'Clear Hospitals' 89 47 Increasingly irritating 90 48 Owing it all to Hitler 91 49 Mass audience 94 50 Philosophy and health 96 51 Asserting 'eternal values' 98 52 Paternoster Row hit 99 53 Obvious exception 101 54 Publishing success 104 55 Not forgotten 106 56 Not all heroes 108 57 Valued allies 110 58 Rather ambiguous 111 59 Little America 113 60 Knights errant 117 61 Question of colour 119 62 Making a point 121 63 Sheer necessity 122 64 In uniform 124 65 Khaki brigade 125 66 Valiant warriors 128 67 Amazing devices 130 68 At ease, Home Guard 132 69 Index

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Book SynopsisThis is the story of a Scottish island as it has never been told before. While many books on the Hebrides are a litany of agricultural statistics and population movements, this is the story of the landlords, tacksmen, cottars and others who actually lived on or visited the island of Mull. It is based on research into a vast archive of rarely seen or previously unknown documents, particularly the original correspondence of the principal families, Macleans and Maclaines. In this book Jo Currie relates how the emigration that led to the disappearance of most of the island's native population during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries did not follow the pattern of clearance seen in other parts of the country. It was instead caused by the long deterioration in relationships between the gentry, the 'half gentry' and commoners and the inexorable forces of economic change during these centuries. This is the first serious history ever written of one of the most beautiful and most visited of Hebridean islands and is the product of fifteen years' research. It is lavishly illustrated with a wealth of previously unpublished pictures. The result is one of the most important books on Hebridean history yet written, told throughout with humour and masterful characterisation.Trade Review'meticulously researched' * Independent *

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Book Synopsis200 years ago handball was a national obsession. People travelled to watch matches and won or lost fortunes through illegal gambling. Welsh player/official Kevin Dicks'' meticulous research traces the long history of this folk sport from its medieval churchyard roots, through its glory years in the 18th and 19th centuries to its modernisation today. Over 60 images.

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Foreword / Tony A. Johnson, Chair, Chinook Indian Nation Acknowledgments Introduction | Places of Protocol, Places of Heritage 1. “Still, today, we listen to our elders”: Long Histories, Colonial Invasion, and Cultural Resilience 2. “We feel the responsibility”: A Multiplicity of Voices at Cathlapotle 3. “Where is your history?”: Explorers, Anthropologists, and Mapping Native Identity 4. “We honor the house”: Memory and Ambiguity at the Cathlapotle Plankhouse 5. “There’s no way to overstate how important Tribal Journeys is”: The Return of the Canoes and the Decolonization of Heritage Conclusion | Places of Heritage, Places of Protocol Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisCombining rich historical detail and a harrowing, pulse-pounding narrative, Close to Shore brilliantly re-creates the summer of 1916, when a rogue Great White shark attacked swimmers along the New Jersey shore, triggering mass hysteria and launching the most extensive shark hunt in history. In July 1916 a lone Great White left its usual deep-ocean habitat and headed in the direction of the New Jersey shoreline. There, near the towns of Beach Haven and Spring Lake--and, incredibly, a farming community eleven miles inland--the most ferocious and unpredictable of predators began a deadly rampage: the first shark attacks on swimmers in U.S. history. Capuzzo interweaves a vivid portrait of the era and meticulously drawn characters with chilling accounts of the shark's five attacks and the frenzied hunt that ensued. From the unnerving inevitability of the first attack on the esteemed son of a prosperous Philadelphia physician to the

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Book SynopsisCatherine Rothwell has gathered together more than 130 traditional Cornish recipes in her latest book. Cornwall has always had a strong culinary tradition, with many dishes having their origins in the county. Some of those featured have wonderful names such as Star-Gazey Pie and Bill?s Treacle Dunkers to name but two. Of course there are the more recognizable treats, too, like Cornish Pasties and regional variations of jam, bread, and wine recipes. As one would expect, she has featured lots of fish dishes?the coastal towns and villages relied heavily on the sea for sustenance in days gone by?and celebrity chef Rick Stein has even contributed one of his own famous recipes for Monkfish with Garlic and Fennel. Interwoven with Catherine?s recipes are stories and anecdotes from her contributors, as well as historical tales of the places featured. The whole of the county from Anthony to Zennor is covered, and is a fascinating read not only for those interested in regional cookery, but also in local history, customs, and traditions.

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Book SynopsisIn Bridgwater & the River Parrett, Rod Fitzhugh presents an invaluable record of the heyday of trade on the river when the prosperity of much of Somerset was dependent on access to the sea. From 1200 to 1971 when Bridgwater Docks finally closed, the river was a trading route for cargo. Early wooden craft, then schooners, ketches, other tall-masted ships, and finally steamships, made Bridgwater a leading industrial centre with high employment for ship building as well as brick- and tile-making. Imports, from wine to coal as needs changed through the centuries, ensured the wealth of the area, only declining with the development of the railways. The clanking of cranes was silenced, and the wooden pillars against which the ships had moored at the wharves, slowly sank in the mud. From the Bristol Channel through Burnham-on-Sea, Highbridge, Combwich, Dunball, Bridgwater, Somerset Bridge, Burrowbridge and finally into Langport, this fascinating selection of photographs, comprising the work

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Book SynopsisLynching was a national crime. But it obsessed the South. W. Fitzhugh Brundage''s multidisciplinary approach to the complex nature of lynching delves into the such extrajudicial murders in two states: Virginia, the southern state with the fewest lynchings; and Georgia, where 460 lynchings made the state a measure of race relations in the Deep South. Brundage''s analysis addresses three central questions: How can we explain variations in lynching over regions and time periods? To what extent was lynching a social ritual that affirmed traditional white values and white supremacy? And, what were the causes of the decline of lynching at the end of the 1920s? A groundbreaking study, Lynching in the New South is a classic portrait of the tradition of violence that poisoned American life.Trade ReviewWinner of the Merle Curti Social History Award given by the Organization of American Historians, 1994. "The research is formidable, the analysis sophisticated. Clearly, this is the best work ever written on lynching."--Numan V. Bartley, author of The Rise of Massive Resistance: Race and Politics in the South during the 1950sTable of ContentsAcknowledgments / xi Introduction / 1 1 Mobs and Ritual / 17 2 "To Draw the Line": Crimes and Victims / 49 3 "When White Men Merit Lynching" / 86 4 The Geography of Lynching in Georgia / 103 5 The Geography of Lynching in Virginia / 140 6 "We Live in an Age of Lawlessness": The Response to Lynching in Virginia / 161 7 The Struggle against Lynching in Georgia, 1880-1910 / 191 8 Turning the Tide: Opposition to Lynching in Georgia, 1910-30 / 208 Epilogue The Passing of a Tradition / 245 Appendixes / 261 Notes / 303 Index / 369

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Book SynopsisThe Little Book of London

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Book SynopsisThe market for works of civil rights history and civil rights biographies continues to be strong, this is a key, early biography of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., one that’s been out of print for decades; used copies go for hundreds of dollars. New research presented in the book’s introduction on the personal relationship of the author, L.D. Reddick, to Dr. King will interest scholars. 2018 is the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. King. Published to critical acclaim in 1959 and long out of print, Crusader Without Violence was the first biography of the dynamic leader who emerged from the 1955–56 Montgomery Bus Boycott as the spokesman of the twentieth-century American civil rights movement. NewSouth's 60th Anniversary Edition, with a new introduction containing new biographical details about its author, returns to general circulation a valuable, rare, and engaging account of Martin Luther King Jr. before he became an American phenomenon.The author, L. D. Reddick, had known the young King in Atlanta. They became reacquainted when Reddick moved to Montgomery in 1956, where King pastored the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church. Reddick became a congregant and King's friend and was active with him during the bus protest. He was thus able to report firsthand and at length on King within the setting of the young minister's early career and family life.Paradox and contrast marked King from the first. Born and schooled in a relatively comfortable segment of Atlanta's black community, he decided to take the part of the underdog. With a Ph.D. from Boston University and a likely career in teaching or a northern ministry, he chose instead to return to a Southern community. Short, soft-spoken, and scholarly, he was thrown into a situation that required stature, tough-mindedness, and ability to move the masses.How he emerged into an unsought role of mentor, strategist, spokesman, and leader of a movement that took a major stride toward freedom is the story Reddick tells in Crusader Without Violence. The book peers intimately into the lives of African Americans in the South at that critical juncture—a few years after the Brown decision but before the sit-ins, freedom rides, and voting rights demonstrations resulted in sweeping change in the 1960s.Reddick himself was noteworthy, a distinguished historian who would soon fall victim to Alabama's rigidly segregationist state government. Derryn Moten, the champion of this new edition, provides an introduction that puts Reddick's biography of King into context, updates Reddick's life after he was forced to leave his teaching position in Montgomery, and explains why Crusader Without Violence—notwithstanding the hundreds of books published on King's life since this one—remains a significant historical document.

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Book SynopsisThe first substantial history of Urmston, Flixton and Davyhulme since 1898

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