Search results for ""fonthill media llc""

An enriching history that surpasses, at least in lore, any other city in the world, Tales of Manhattan Through Time is an exploration of a utopia of art and architecture, world peacekeepers and the opportune sanctuary for immigrant, plus a community that produces theatrical extravaganzas to celebrating it all. Tales of Manhattan Through Time connects the past with the present via the yellowed archival photos and the closest we have to time travel. Historical, yes; hysterical, but of course. As perhaps the most photographed, via box and brownie, digital and selfie or cinema, silent and sound, captured environs on the planet. The underbelly of the underworld and the fanatical terrorists may be constantly testing the resolve of that Manhattan spirit. But tourist will continue to yearn to join the long term resident or the "born and breads", for there is a pride of tenacious survival that comes with the title "I'm a New Yorker!" Purchased by the Dutch in 1626 reportedly for mere bobbles of shiny jewelry for farmland, the island would eventually be the "jewel of a metropolis called Manhattan, (Manahactanienk), Native American for "place of inebriation" but 300 years later the little village was unstoppable and would intoxicate the world with its wonder to become one of, if not the greatest cities in the world.... ever!

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In 1659, the General Court of Massachusetts Bay Colony banned by law the celebration of Christmas as it was deemed to be a time of seasonal excess with no Biblical authority. Though repealed in 1681, it would not be until 1856 that Christmas Day became a state holiday in Massachusetts. In this book Christmas Traditions in Boston, Anthony Sammarco outlines the celebration (or lack thereof) of Christmas in the first two centuries after the city was settled in 1630. By the mid 19th century a German immigrant named Charles Follen introduced the Christmas tree to Boston, and shortly thereafter Louis Prang introduced his colorful Christmas cards, the first in Boston. During the next century, Boston would see caroling and hand bell ringing on Beacon Hill, a Nativity scene and other traditional New England displays on Boston Common and in the many department stores, as well as the once popular Enchanted Village of Saint Nicholas at Jordan Marsh, New England’s largest store. What could have been better than after a day seeing Santa, the seasonal displays and lights on Boston Common than to enjoy a hot fudge sundae at Bailey’s? Christmas Traditions in Boston revisits the memories of the past and brings together the shared tradition of how Bostonians celebrated the holiday season.

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Most of Oregon east of the Cascade Mountains is a raw and inhospitable land, largely the product of recent volcanic activity. Railroad builders constructed a couple mainlines skirting the edges of the region and some branch lines into agricultural communities, but found very little else to attract their interest. Over time, however, a small collection of interesting shortline railroads built or bought rail lines, either in conjunction with the developing timber industry in the Blue, Ochoco, and Wallowa mountains or to connect a few existing communities with the mainline that bypassed the town. This book tells the stories of these small railroads and the roles they played in the development and economies of the region; covered railroads includes the Big Creek & Telocaset; City of Prineville; Condon, Kinzua & Southern; Idaho, Northern & Pacific; Klamath Northern; Oregon & Northwestern; Oregon, California & Eastern; Oregon Eastern Division of the Wyoming/Colorado; Sumpter Valley; Union Railroad of Oregon; Wallowa Union; and others.

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The William E. Boeing Story - A Gift of Flight is the first-ever full-length biography of William E. Boeing; the father of commercial aviation. Boeing’s story is an exciting one complete with bootleggers, kidnappers and a disastrous run-in with President Franklin Roosevelt and future Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black. Boeing’s story covers every aspect of early aviation starting with his first ride in a balloon in 1896 to the christening of the revolutionary jet-powered Dash-80 / 707 in 1955. Along the way, Boeing developed some of the world’s most iconic airplanes including the P-26 Peashooter, the Boeing 247, the B-17 Flying Fortress and the mighty B-29 Superfortress. The Boeing Family gave author David D. Williams unprecedented access to the Boeing Family Archives which contained thousands of never before seen photos, diaries, and personal letters. This treasure trove of primary sources allowed Williams to create an extraordinarily vivid and accurate portrait of this influential yet private man.

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On August 7, 2011, former Pennsylvania Railroad type E8A diesel units No. 5711 and No. 5809 are passing through the borough of Greenville in Mercer County, Pennsylvania on the former Erie Railroad now Norfolk Southern Railway on a rail excursion in this photograph by the author. The Erie and Pittsburgh line of the Pennsylvania Railroad once served Greenville. Kenneth Springirth, with a lifelong interest in rail transportation, has been researching the Pennsylvania Railroad since 1960. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he commuted to Drexel Institute of Technology (now Drexel University) in Philadelphia by trolley car, subway, and sometimes Pennsylvania Railroad commuter train. His father was a trolley car motorman in Philadelphia, and his grandfather was a trolley car motorman in Washington D.C. This book is a photographic essay documenting the Pennsylvania Railroad, which considered itself the standard railroad of the world. Classic scenes of the Pennsylvania Railroad's amazing GG1 electric locomotives operating on the most successful electrification project in the United States are included. This book provides an insight to an extensive railroad system that survives today with the Norfolk Southern Railway owning much of former mainline trackage in Pennsylvania and Amtrak owning the Northeast Corridor plus trackage between Philadelphia and Harrisburg. In addition, there are a variety of regional and shortline railroads that contribute to Remembering the Pennsylvania Railroad.

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"Driving through Northern California, you will find sprawling military bases, immense wineries, gold mining towns, and amusement parks all lying abandoned. The combination of different people and industries this part of the state has been home to over the years is intriguingly odd. The ruins that lie in the area today reflect the various ways people attempted to build their future in Northern California--not unlike the innovative ways people still try to build their future in the area today. Whether that involves a cool new start-up, a prominent place in the local, internationally respected wine industry, or seeking inspiration for an amazing new book, all kinds of diverse characters come here to dream and innovate. If there is one thing this cross-section of humanity who flocked to the state had in common, it is the will to forge ahead into the unknown. Inventors, military men, gold prospectors, entrepreneurs--they all, in their own ways, took their risks and chances in this newer part of the USA, to create a life, a business, a work of art or science that had never been done before. This is the legacy that has formed Northern California today."

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Detroit's Streetcar Heritage is a photographic essay of the Detroit, Michigan, streetcar system. Replacement of slow moving horsecar service began with the opening of an electric street railway by the Detroit Citizens Street Railway in 1892. By 1900, all of the Detroit streetcar systems were consolidated into the Detroit United Railway (DUR). Following voter approval, the City of Detroit purchased DUR in 1922, becoming the first large United States city to own and operate public transit under Detroit Department of Street Railways (DSR). Between 1921 and 1930, DSR purchased 781 Peter Witt type streetcars. Although DSR purchased 186 modern Presidents' Conference Committee (PCC) cars between 1945 and 1949, many streetcar lines were converted to bus operation. The last streetcar line on Woodward Avenue was converted to bus operation in 1956 with 183 PCC cars sold to Mexico City. Detroit's Streetcar Heritage documents the city's streetcar era plus scenes of the PCC cars in Mexico City, the Washington Boulevard Line which operated from 1976 to 2003, and the QLINE streetcar which opened in 2017 on Woodward Avenue linking Grand Boulevard with downtown Detroit.

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Weak maritime nations have always sought to augment the strength of their coastal defenses and navies by the use of "diabolical" contrivances for destroying an invader's ships. The history of the adoption of the torpedo as a recognized implement of warfare is not unlike that of gunpowder or of exploding shells. Each in its turn was met by the cry, "Inhuman, barbarous, unchivalrous." During the American Civil War, the Confederate Navy employed submerged mines, called torpedoes, and explosive charges mounted on a long pole referred to as the "spar torpedo" which was bumped into the hull of an enemy vessel exploding on contact. These weapons enjoyed great success during the conflict. In July 1869, the Secretary of the Navy announced the establishment of the Naval Torpedo Station on Goat Island in the harbor of Newport, Rhode Island, for development of a more sophisticated and deadlier self-propelled torpedo. From its founding until the end of the Second World War, the Naval Torpedo Station has been the Navy's principal center for the design of torpedoes. Newport continues as the home of the U.S. Navy's most important laboratory for research and development of modern weapons' systems.

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The Great Northern Railway Through Time takes us on a tour of the American Northwest-the last American frontier-from St. Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington. The Great Northern opened up the Dakotas, Montana, Idaho, the dramatic Cascade Mountains of Washington and the Continental Divide at Marias Pass. President James J. Hill intended the Great Northern to be a freight hauling road, but tourists riding on the GN's premier passenger train, The Empire Builder were delighted by the prairie, the farmland, the Big Sky Country, the mountains, and Glacier National Park. The G.N.'s reputation grew. Today, Amtrak's Empire Builder traverses the same territory. The Great Northern Railway Through Time presents photos taken over the course of seventy five years by photographers of the era. The author has provided ample photo captions pointing out features that have changed over the years and features that have ​stayed the same. The early photos are fresh-never before published. The more recent shots were made by twenty of America's finest rail enthusiast photographers.

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San Francisco's first cable car line opened in 1873. The successful development of the electric streetcar by Frank Sprague in 1888 plus the 1906 San Francisco earthquake resulted in the decline of the cable car system. Concerned that the cable car system would vanish, San Francisco resident Friedel Klussmann rallied public support to save the cars. The 1982 shutdown of the cable car lines for their rebuilding led to Trolley Festivals beginning in 1983 until 1987 using a variety of historic streetcars on Market Street.Those successful festivals resulted in rebuilding the streetcar track on Market Street and the establishment of the F streetcar line in 1995 using Presidents' Conference Committee streetcars purchased from Philadelphia and refurbished in a variety of paint schemes that represented cities that once had streetcar service. In addition, the line features vintage Peter Witt streetcars from Milan, Italy; a boat like streetcar from England; and other unique cars. During 2000, the F line was extended to Fisherman's wharf and has become one of the most successful streetcar lines in the United States. This book is a photographic essay of "San Francisco's Magnificent Streetcars" along with its historic cable cars and hill climbing trolley coaches.

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The first street railway opened in New Orleans in 1835. Over the years various methods of powering the streetcars including horses, stream locomotives, overhead cable system, and fireless locomotives were tried. In 1893, electric streetcar operation began. At its peak in 1922, New Orleans had 225 miles of electric streetcar lines in operation. Ridership and streetcar lines declined with increased use of automobiles and the hard economic times of the Great Depression. While ridership surged during World War II, following the war the decline in transit riding continued the conversion of streetcar lines to bus operation. With the end of the Canal streetcar line in 1964, only the St. Charles streetcar line remained. In 1983, the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority acquired the public transit system. With increased public awareness of the important heritage of the St. Charles streetcar line, the first new streetcar line in 60 years in New Orleans opened on the Riverfront during 1988. Its success contributed to the restoration of streetcars on Canal Street in 2004. This book provides a photographic essay of the New Orleans streetcar system including the new Loyola streetcar line that opened in 2013 and is part of "New Orleans Fabulous Streetcars."

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River, iron, and rail when intertwined make up a rope that links the tri-state river cities of Huntington, West Virginia; Ashland, Kentucky; Ironton, Ohio; and Portsmouth, Ohio. The Ohio River provided a quicker and convenient way for the pre-industrial settlers in eastern United States to move westward in their unending search for land, riches, and prominence. Iron manufacturing in the Hocking Valley brought jobs and stability that seemed at the time as inexhaustible as the sun itself. The railroads brought further wealth to the hills and deep valleys where at one time farming had been the major source of income. Huntington is the largest of the area cities. The population is now approaching 50,000 inhabitants.

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Winston-Salem Through Time will present in archival photographs and descriptive captions the effects of the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution, Prohibition, the Great Depression and Cold War period upon thge Twin City. Our readers will compare the old with new photographs showing the natural evolvement of the Moravian Salem and Industrial Winston forward to the merged two cities of today.

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The Texans from Hood's Texas Brigade and other regiments who fought at Antietam on 16-17 September 1862 described their experiences of the battle in personal diaries, interviews, newspaper articles, letters, and speeches. Their reminiscences provide a fascinating and harrowing account of the battle as they fought the Army of the Potomac. This book collates their writings alongside speeches that were given in the decades after the battle, during the annual reunions of Hood's Brigade Association and the dedication of the Hood's Brigade Monument at the state capital in Austin, Texas. These accounts describe their actions at the East Woods, Dunker's Church and Miller's Cornfield, and other areas during the battle. For the first time ever, their experiences are compiled in Texans at Antietam: A Terrible Clash of Arms, 16-17 September 1862.

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When human's learned, in 1903, they could cruise over land in a heaver than air flying machine, they never dreamed of using an advanced model of the aeroplane as an instrument of war. The novelty of flying intrigued a young Glenn H. Curtiss-an inventor obsessed with speed. In the decade before World War One, Curtiss a dedicated tinkerer developed speedy float planes and flying boats which came to the attention of the U.S. Navy. During the run-up to America's involvement in the European war, ships carrying supplies to allies were being destroyed by the German U-boats. It was because of these losses of men and material that Navy brass decided a long range bomber should be developed to counter the German submarine menace. It was then Glenn Curtiss was contracted to draw plans for a large flying boat capable of flying across the Atlantic. Initially, four flying boats were built, but by this time the war had ended ant the mission of the flying boats no longer existed. However, America decided to send its new giant flying machines across the Atlantic as a show of Yankee know-how.

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Thomas Lipton's America's Cup Campaigns is the saga of one man's 30 year obsession with winning the America's Cup. It includes brief stories of the most interesting of the early races for the Cup which lead up to the Lipton challenges and then gives the account of the Lipton and Herreshoff face-offs in a fascinating and illustrated narrative.

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When modern readers think of Hermann Goring, what probably comes to mind is the overweight drug addict and convicted war criminal who cheated the hangman's noose at Nuremberg by committing suicide just hours before he was due to be hanged. Or perhaps there is the image of his powerful German air force in the Second World War---the Luftwaffe---bombing defenceless European cities and towns in the early part of the war, until it was defeated by the British Royal Air Force in the epic Battle of Britain in 1940. Perhaps the reader might think of Goring the debauched art collector who pirated captured collections all over Nazi Europe during the Occupation years. All of these images are correct, but here we see another Hermann Goring: the slim, dashing fighter pilot and combat ace of an earlier struggle, the Great War, or World War I of 1914-18, which he began as an infantry officer fighting the French Army in the 1914 Battle of the Frontiers. During a hospitalization, his friend Bruno Lorzer convinced him to become an aerial observer-photographer, photographing the mighty French fortress of Verdun. He did, and began these never-before-seen personal photo albums of men and aircraft at war: up close.

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"Early settlers first arrived in this area in 1847 because of the numerous springs and fertile soil. Through the Peters Colony, many more families arrived in 1848-1850 and helped establish Ellis County. Several local men were elected to county offices in 1850. The earliest village in the vicinity was called Lebanon. The name Barkersville was used briefly because Rev. Charles Barker's home served as the first post office. The first railroad, Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe, came through in 1883, and the Houston & Texas Central arrived in 1886, leading to Midlothian's incorporation in 1888. Many surrounding country villages became engulfed by Midlothian, such as Mt. Zion, Christian Chapel, Auger Hole, Onward, Walnut Grove, Long Branch, and Mountain Peak. Cotton was the chief crop grown in Ellis County for many years. World War II pulled Midlothian out of the depression, along with the rest of the country. Many returning servicemen chose to commute to Fort Worth or Dallas to do other things besides farming. Nowadays Midlothian is home to three cement plants that use the abundant limestone in cement production."

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Some of the richest gold strikes in California history were found in the areas of Randsburg and Johannesburg, located in the Mojave Desert section of Kern County. The desert is a graveyard of abandoned mines, shafts, pits and tailing dumps. Fortunately, some of these historic old mines are still standing, providing us with a rare and valuable glimpse into the world of those who sought to uncover the hidden treasure of gold in the earth. Few got rich and many died paupers in the search for the shiny yellow mineral, yet the burning fever to hit that big strike kept luring men and women to California from all points of the globe. It was a time of "all or nothing." The King Solomon Mine is one of those relics of another era still standing, rising from the mountain and casting its long shadow over the debris and abandoned junk cluttering the ground around it. It sits quiet, a sentinel in the desert, waiting in hope for the day when it will come to life again for modern-day gold hunters.

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"No chapter in the annals of the most important battle of America's national epic has been more celebrated than the key struggle for possession of the rocky hill at the extreme southern flank of the battle line at Gettysburg, Little Round Top. And no contest during the battle of Gettysburg was deadlier or as dramatic as the high stakes showdown for Little Round Top on the afternoon of July 2, 1863. Gettysburg was the decisive turning point of America's history, and Little Round Top was the crucial turning point of that three-day struggle in Adams County, Pennsylvania. Little Round Top was indeed the bloody Hill of Destiny, when the fate of America hung in the balance and was ultimately determined on the most decisive day of the three days at Gettysburg, July 2. However, some of the most important aspects of the famous struggle for Little Round Top have been distorted by misconceptions, myths, and layers of romance. For the first time, this ground-breaking book, America's Bloody Hill of Destiny, A New Look at the Struggle for Little Round Top, July 2, 1863, has presented a fresh and new look at the key leaders and hard-fighting common soldiers on both sides, who played the most important roles during the climactic struggle that decided the fate of America during one of the most pivotal moments in American history."

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Berthed today at NAUTICUS, the National Maritime Center, the USS Wisconsin (BB-64) was the last authorized of the four Iowa-class battleships, the largest American dreadnoughts ever built. Wisconsin saw action in World War II and the Korean Conflict for which the Big Wisky earned a collective six battle stars. Brought out of mothballs and recommissioned a second time on October 22, 1988, the Wisconsin saw action again during the Persian Gulf War but was decommissioned a third time on September 30, 1991. But this great piece of American history was not destined for a lengthy slumber. Resurrected by the city of Norfolk and USS Wisconsin Foundation, working in lockstep with the Navy, it has become a museum ship and Navy heritage site that continues the legacy of duty, honor, and country that was the calling card of Wisconsin's crew, and to inspire future generations of Americans.

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Plymouth is known world-wide because of the Pilgrim story and its considerable significance for the history of the United States. Visitors have made their own pilgrimages to Plymouth for hundreds of years to "see where it all began", gaze at Plymouth Rock, and visit Pilgrim Hall and Plimoth Plantation. However, Plymouth isn't just the Pilgrims. It is a living community where residents still live on the site of the 1620 settlement as well as throughout the entire 103-square-mile township. The town evolved from a coastal fishing, farming and trading center to become a factory town attracting immigrants who followed the Pilgrims in a search for a better life, and has grown three-fold since 1950 to be a commuting and commercial community that hosts millions of visitors annually. Regrettably, images do not survive from the town's earliest history, but even photographs from the past century or so reveal a very different Plymouth - a Plymouth hard to imagine today. In Plymouth Then and Now, we focus on what has disappeared to compare that vanished landscape with the vibrant community of today.

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Located near the geographic heart of North Carolina, Seagrove is known as the pottery town. Though not the only place where pottery has been made in the state, when you say Seagrove to people, they suspect that you're talking about pottery. From its modest 18th century beginnings with a few Quaker potters from Pennsylvania and Nantucket, the Seagrove region today hosts more than one hundred potters.

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More than just a farming community turned residential over time, Southern Lehigh has a diverse past the includes mines, mills, factories, taverns, and baseball. A trip through the area today is like looking through a scrapbook of early American towns and the industries and the pasttimes that fueled them. No one identifier can be used to describe the area.

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Just south of Boston and embracing the coastline, Quincy has been home to two American presidents, one of the country's most important World War II shipbuilding firms and the first operational railroad in American history. Quincy granite is renowned the world over, used in such iconic landmarks as the Women's Memorial to the Titanic victims in Washington, D.C.

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The year 1938–39 was when Hitler set out on the road of pre-war bloodless conquests, which led to the actual shooting combat over Poland in September 1939. Both willing and unwilling, Hermann Goering was his main acolyte in achieving the peaceful military occupations of Austria and the Czech–German Sudetenland in 1938, followed by that of Bohemia and Moravia, plus Memel in 1939.¶ Prior to this, Goering played perhaps the key role in the Nazi overthrow of the Third Reich’s conservative military and foreign services, being named field marshal as his reward. Having helped Franco win the Spanish Civil War, Goering’s Air Force Legion Kondor also returned home victorious, having acquired valuable air war experience in aces, aircraft, and tactics, which served Goering well in the first phase of World War II. A major factor in making the Allies back down to Germany at the infamous Munich Pact Conference, Goering’s Luftwaffe was the key bargaining chip that gained these unprecedented territorial acquisitions for Hitler—all without a shot being fired. He also helped achieve alliances with Fascist Slovakia and Italy.

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In 1919, Hermann Goering went to Denmark as a stunt flyer, then on to Sweden to fly passengers, one of whom introduced the daredevil to his future first wife, a then married Swedish Countess; they scandalized Stockholm. Goering joined the Nazi Party, as commander of the early SA Stormtroopers. In the celebrated Beer Hall Putsch of 1923, Goering was severely wounded, and fled. Thus began a four-year exile in which Goering became a practising morphine addict in Austria, Italy, and Sweden, and was committed to an insane asylum in a straitjacket. Goering returned to Germany under a political amnesty, and blackmailed Hitler into putting him up for election to the Reichstag as a Nazi candidate in 1928. He won, and four years later, was elected its President.He helped convince Germany's power elite to name Hitler Reich Chancellor on 30 January 1933. Taking over Prussia's police force-and during the upheaval of the Reichstag fire and trial-Goering ruthlessly smashed all non-Nazi parties. Then came the inter-Party Blood Purge of the Night of the Long Knives of 30 June 1934 that Goering directed in Berlin.This cemented his position as the Fuhrer's second-in-command, after having been declared insane!

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Brighton and Allston Through Time outlines a neighborhood of the city of Boston which was once known as Little Cambridge before it became an independent town from Cambridge in 1807. With contemporary photographs by Peter B. Kingman, Anthony M. Sammarco has created a fascinating book of 19th- and 20th-century images that chronicles the history and development over the last hundred years. Once renowned throughout New England for its cattle industry as well as its horticultural gardens, Brighton and Allston became a well-known town. With prosperity, an ever-increasing population and proximity to the city of Boston, Brighton and Allston was annexed to the city in 1874 and henceforth became known as Ward 25. Over the century that followed, the neighborhood saw new places of worship, public and parochial schools, and housing ranging from one-family and two-family houses which were quickly augmented by three deckers and the largescale building of apartment buildings. During the first three decades of the 20th century, Brighton and Allston saw its population double, from 27,000 residents in 1910 to 47,000 residents by 1925 and today, with a population of 75,000 people, Brighton and Allston has a rich and ever evolving history, with demographics which are constantly in flux.

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Abandoned structures are places that open the imagination and invite interpretation. Distressed wood and weathered remnants of human life are crossed by time and animal tracks, inviting one to picture what once was. Abandoned homes and buildings offer a unique, distressed beauty. While often overlooked by passers-by, their skeletal remains act as the perfect subject for the lens of a camera, quietly waiting to be captured and shared. Abandoned Kentucky explores this haunting narrative through its display of photos by abandoned building photographer Jay Farrell. Readers are encouraged to explore the forgotten corners of the state, see the world through different eyes, and take the long road home.

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`Cincinnati Streetcar Heritage’ is a photographic essay of the Cincinnati, Ohio, streetcar system. Cincinnati’s first electric streetcar line was the conversion of the Mt. Adams & Eden Park Inclined Railway Company cable car line to electric operation in 1888, which became part of the Cincinnati Street Railway Co. in 1896. Because of concern over corrosion of underground conduits and water pipes, Cincinnati’s streetcar lines were required to have a double overhead wire within city limits. Cincinnati, along with Merrill, Wisconsin, and Havana, Cuba, were the only streetcar systems in North America with a double overhead wire system. Two open observation streetcars were placed in sightseeing service during 1939. The only Presidents’ Conference Committee (PCC) cars ever built with two trolley poles were operated in Cincinnati. Although Cincinnati’s streetcars made their last run in 1951, the Toronto Transit Commission purchased 52 of Cincinnati’s PCC cars with the last one taken out of service in 1982. `Cincinnati Streetcar Heritage’ documents the city’s streetcar era, including the Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar line which opened in 2016, linking downtown Cincinnati with the Over the Rhine neighborhood.

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Reading Railroad Heritage is a photographic essay of the history of a well-run system up to its acquisition by the Consolidated Rail Corporation in 1976, and its legacy that includes the Reading & Northern Railroad, certain electrified commuter lines operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority in the Philadelphia area, and a sampling of a number of short line railroads that were initiated to preserve rail service. The Philadelphia & Reading Railroad opened its first line from Philadelphia to Reading in 1839. Within a few years, it constructed railroad lines throughout the coal fields of eastern Pennsylvania and in 1893 became the Reading Company. The railroad was noted for its design and building of steam locomotives, which culminated in the fabulous T1 class of steam locomotives placed in service in 1945-1946. Some of these freight locomotives, with their classic arched cab windows, powered the Iron Horse Rambles of the 1960s. Circumstances beyond its control, including the decline in the hauling of anthracite coal and passenger business, ended in the bankruptcy of the railroad.

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You might be surprised to learn that many of the consumer brands and products enjoyed in the USA today exist because of streetcar advertising. The Industrial Revolution of the early 1900s and a massive consumer audience riding over 50,000 streetcars in nearly 3,000 cities and towns in every state of the union provided a great opportunity for Barron Collier, a native of Memphis, Tennessee. He simply used streetcar advertising to bring these two forces together and created the largest streetcar advertising empire in the world. Most of these advertising cards have remarkable colour graphics; over 250 of them are included in this book for your viewing pleasure. While streetcar advertising is definitely not a major advertising medium today, the advertising community might be surprised to learn that the basic principles of consumer advertising have not changed that much in the last 100 years. Investors might do well to review Streetcar Advertising in America to see which companies are still producing these popular products and brands as they represent some of the most successful businesses in America today.

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Paterson was the gem in the crown of the American Industrial Revolution. The shadow of Paterson's past can still be seen in the remnants of the silk mills and dye houses; the grand architecture of the downtown and Eastside sections. The industry is long gone, but the history remains. The skyline of steeples and smokestacks not only frame its past but the extended landscape.

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During the 1930s, four Swift River Valley towns were abandoned and flooded during the creation of Quabbin Reservoir, Boston's water supply. Today, the reservation and other watershed lands are part of an extensive wilderness corridor that stands as a marked contrast with the landscape of the past. Historic photographs and postcards offer evidence of the valley's remarkable transformation.

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In 1933 Germany became a dictatorship under the Great War veteran Adolf Hitler. He pulled the country out of depression and set it to work, reducing unemployment by undertaking extensive public works and building the first autoroutes in the world. He then resumed conscription and rearmament. All opposition had been eliminated and all power centred in that one man, whose boasted promise was a German Empire that would last 'a Thousand Years'. The author was born in 1935. Ten years later millions had died, much of the continent lay in ruins, his country was shamed and the 'thousand years' came to a fiery end. Others experienced worse, but for a ten-year-old with explosions all about him and with the world seeming to be burning the war made a vivid impression. His Westphalian village consisted largely of traditional farms and homesteads built of wattle and daub--often still shared by livestock. Most of the male population had been called up to fight Hitler's wars and foreigners made up much of the workforce. General Patton's Third Army lit up the village with phosphor grenades from several mountains away. The world seemed to be coming to an end.

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Ravenna has eight World Heritages sites--churches, baptisteries, chapels and monuments dating from the fifth and sixth centuries AD which are renowned especially for exquisite mosaics portraying biblical scenes and figures. They were designed, constructed and decorated over decades during the era of the fall of the western Roman empire, against a tide of invasion, regime change, conflict and a destructive Italian civil war. How did Ravenna achieve such architectural and artistic glory in this era? The book recounts the city's unique experience as the capital both of the late western Roman empire and of its successor Gothic kingdoms. It shows the central role played by its bishops as the early Christian Church detached itself from the crumbling imperial government. It brings out the important cultural contribution of the kingdom of Italy headed by Theodoric the Ostrogoth and the strong links between Ravenna and the emerging Byzantine empire of the eastern emperor Justinian.

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In its first century and counting, NASA Langley Research Center [LaRC] has had a remarkable history that has stood out not only for the many outstanding achievements in flight and space exploration but the people who made it happen. "If there were a list of 100 people who contributed the most the progress in the world of flight, I believe Langley would provide the most names. Without question," observed astronaut, aeronautical engineer and the first man to walk on the Moon, Neil Alden Armstrong (1930 - 2012) on LaRC's nineteenth anniversary, "many of the giants of aero research spent their careers here, and many others, who learned their craft here, went on to lead other research efforts at other governments labs in the industry. Langley has been a powerhouse of creative thinking." With a centennial theme of "inventing the future," NASA LaRC is poised to enter its second century of ingenuity and invention with a wealth of pending and proposed research, and near-term prognostication may prove a bit easier.

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