- ARCHITECTURE / Buildings / Landmarks & Monuments
- ARCHITECTURE / Buildings / Public, Commercial & Industrial
- BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Criminals & Outlaws
- BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Entertainment & Performing Arts
- BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / General
- BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Corporate & Business History
- BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Industries / Retailing
- COOKING / Beverages / Beer
- COOKING / History
- EDUCATION / Organizations & Institutions
- HISTORY / Military / Pictorial
- HISTORY / Military / World War II
- HISTORY / Native American
- HISTORY / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877)
- HISTORY / United States / General
- HISTORY / United States / State & Local / General
- HISTORY / United States / State & Local / Middle Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA)
- HISTORY / United States / State & Local / Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI)
- HISTORY / United States / State & Local / New England (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)
- HISTORY / United States / State & Local / Pacific Northwest (OR, WA)
- HISTORY / United States / State & Local / South (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV)
- HISTORY / United States / State & Local / Southwest (AZ, NM, OK, TX)
- HISTORY / United States / State & Local / West (AK, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, NV, UT, WY)
- JUVENILE FICTION / Animals / General
- JUVENILE FICTION / Animals / Insects, Spiders, etc.
- JUVENILE FICTION / People & Places / United States / General
- JUVENILE FICTION / Readers / Beginner
- JUVENILE NONFICTION / Body, Mind & Spirit
- NATURE / Natural Disasters
- PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Aerial
- PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Architectural & Industrial
- PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Celebrations & Events
- PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Historical
- PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Regional (see also TRAVEL / Pictorials)
- RELIGION / Christianity / Catholic
- SOCIAL SCIENCE / Agriculture & Food (see also POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Agriculture & Food Policy)
- SOCIAL SCIENCE / Disasters & Disaster Relief
- SOCIAL SCIENCE / Ethnic Studies / African American Studies
- SOCIAL SCIENCE / Folklore & Mythology
- SPORTS & RECREATION / Baseball / History
- SPORTS & RECREATION / Fishing
- SPORTS & RECREATION / Football
- SPORTS & RECREATION / Horse Racing
- TRANSPORTATION / Aviation / History
- TRANSPORTATION / Railroads / History
- TRANSPORTATION / Railroads / Pictorial
- TRANSPORTATION / Ships & Shipbuilding / History
- TRAVEL / Food, Lodging & Transportation / Hotels, Inns & Hostels
- TRAVEL / Food, Lodging & Transportation / Road Travel
- TRAVEL / Museums, Tours, Points of Interest
- TRAVEL / Parks & Campgrounds
- TRAVEL / Pictorials (see also PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Regional)
- TRAVEL / United States / General
- TRAVEL / United States / Midwest / West North Central (IA, KS, MN, MO, ND, NE, SD)
- TRAVEL / United States / Northeast / Middle Atlantic (NJ, NY, PA)
- TRAVEL / United States / Northeast / New England (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)
- TRAVEL / United States / South / South Atlantic (DC, DE, FL, GA, MD, NC, SC, VA, WV)
- TRAVEL / United States / South / West South Central (AR, LA, OK, TX)
- TRAVEL / United States / West / Pacific (AK, CA, HI, OR, WA)
- TRUE CRIME / General
- TRUE CRIME / Murder / General
- TRUE CRIME / Organized Crime
- Alabama
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- ABC Series
- America Through Time
- American Chronicles
- American Heritage
- American Legends
- American Palate
- Arcadia Kids
- Black America Series
- Brief History
- Campus History
- Civil War Series
- Clovis Crawfish
- Disaster
- Gaston Series
- Haunted America
- History & Guide
- Images of America
- Images of Rail
- Images of Sports
- Jenny Giraffe
- Landmarks
- Legendary Locals
- Lost
- Military
- Murder & Mayhem
- Natural History
- Postcard History Series
- Spooky America
- Sports
- The Night Before Christmas
- Transportation
- True Crime
- Vintage Images
- Voices of History
- Wicked
- ARCHITECTURE / Buildings / Landmarks & Monuments
- ARCHITECTURE / Buildings / Public, Commercial & Industrial
- BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Criminals & Outlaws
- BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Entertainment & Performing Arts
- BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / General
- BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Corporate & Business History
- BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Industries / Retailing
- COOKING / Beverages / Beer
- COOKING / History
- EDUCATION / Organizations & Institutions
- HISTORY / Military / Pictorial
- HISTORY / Military / World War II
- HISTORY / Native American
- HISTORY / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877)
- HISTORY / United States / General
- HISTORY / United States / State & Local / General
- HISTORY / United States / State & Local / Middle Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA)
- HISTORY / United States / State & Local / Midwest (IA, IL, IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, SD, WI)
- HISTORY / United States / State & Local / New England (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)
- HISTORY / United States / State & Local / Pacific Northwest (OR, WA)
- HISTORY / United States / State & Local / South (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV)
- HISTORY / United States / State & Local / Southwest (AZ, NM, OK, TX)
- HISTORY / United States / State & Local / West (AK, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, NV, UT, WY)
- JUVENILE FICTION / Animals / General
- JUVENILE FICTION / Animals / Insects, Spiders, etc.
- JUVENILE FICTION / People & Places / United States / General
- JUVENILE FICTION / Readers / Beginner
- JUVENILE NONFICTION / Body, Mind & Spirit
- NATURE / Natural Disasters
- PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Aerial
- PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Architectural & Industrial
- PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Celebrations & Events
- PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Historical
- PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Regional (see also TRAVEL / Pictorials)
- RELIGION / Christianity / Catholic
- SOCIAL SCIENCE / Agriculture & Food (see also POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Agriculture & Food Policy)
- SOCIAL SCIENCE / Disasters & Disaster Relief
- SOCIAL SCIENCE / Ethnic Studies / African American Studies
- SOCIAL SCIENCE / Folklore & Mythology
- SPORTS & RECREATION / Baseball / History
- SPORTS & RECREATION / Fishing
- SPORTS & RECREATION / Football
- SPORTS & RECREATION / Horse Racing
- TRANSPORTATION / Aviation / History
- TRANSPORTATION / Railroads / History
- TRANSPORTATION / Railroads / Pictorial
- TRANSPORTATION / Ships & Shipbuilding / History
- TRAVEL / Food, Lodging & Transportation / Hotels, Inns & Hostels
- TRAVEL / Food, Lodging & Transportation / Road Travel
- TRAVEL / Museums, Tours, Points of Interest
- TRAVEL / Parks & Campgrounds
- TRAVEL / Pictorials (see also PHOTOGRAPHY / Subjects & Themes / Regional)
- TRAVEL / United States / General
- TRAVEL / United States / Midwest / West North Central (IA, KS, MN, MO, ND, NE, SD)
- TRAVEL / United States / Northeast / Middle Atlantic (NJ, NY, PA)
- TRAVEL / United States / Northeast / New England (CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT)
- TRAVEL / United States / South / South Atlantic (DC, DE, FL, GA, MD, NC, SC, VA, WV)
- TRAVEL / United States / South / West South Central (AR, LA, OK, TX)
- TRAVEL / United States / West / Pacific (AK, CA, HI, OR, WA)
- TRUE CRIME / General
- TRUE CRIME / Murder / General
- TRUE CRIME / Organized Crime
- Alabama
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- ABC Series
- America Through Time
- American Chronicles
- American Heritage
- American Legends
- American Palate
- Arcadia Kids
- Black America Series
- Brief History
- Campus History
- Civil War Series
- Clovis Crawfish
- Disaster
- Gaston Series
- Haunted America
- History & Guide
- Images of America
- Images of Rail
- Images of Sports
- Jenny Giraffe
- Landmarks
- Legendary Locals
- Lost
- Military
- Murder & Mayhem
- Natural History
- Postcard History Series
- Spooky America
- Sports
- The Night Before Christmas
- Transportation
- True Crime
- Vintage Images
- Voices of History
- Wicked
The Detroit Neighborhood Guidebook
9780998904139
Regular price $20.00 Sale price $15.00 Save 25%Part of Belt's Neighborhood Guidebook Series, The Detroit Neighborhood Guidebook is an exploration of the Motor City's hidden corners told by the people who live and work there.
It seems like everybody in Detroit thinks they know the city's neighborhoods, but because there are so many, their characteristics often become muddled and the stories that define them are often lost. Edited by Aaron Foley, the author of How to Live in Detroit Without Being a Jackass, The Detroit Neighborhood Guidebook is a genuinely felt, wide-ranging collection that gives unique perspective on a city that many people think they have figured out. A homegrown portrait about the lesser-known parts of the city, it showcases the voices and people who make up:
- Cass Corridor
- West Village
- Minock Park
- Warrendale
- Hamtramck
- and almost every other spot in the city.
With short essays and poems by Zoe Villegas, Drew Philip, Hakeem Weatherspoon, Marsha Music, Ian Thibodeau, and dozens of others.
In this guidebook, Detroiters will recognize their hometown and the stories it tells, while readers from outside Detroit will get an insiders' look at an oft-misunderstood American city.
Red State Blues
9781948742061
Regular price $20.00 Sale price $15.00 Save 25%Much was made of the 2016 electoral flip when traditionally Democratic states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Ohio tipped the presidency to Donald Trump. Countless think pieces explored this newfound exotic constituency of blue voters who suddenly swung red. But what about those in the Midwest who remain true blue?
Red State Blues speaks to the lived experience of progressives, activists, and ordinary Democrats who are pushing back against simplistic narratives of the Midwest as "Trump Country"--a narrative that has erased the region's rich history of grassroots, progressive politics. They've been living there all along, and as the essays in this collection demonstrate, they're not leaving anytime soon.
Edited by Martha Bayne (Rust Belt Chicago, The Chicago Neighborhood Guidebook), the collection includes work from:
- Sarah Kendzior, author of The View from Flyover Country
- Kenyon College president Sean Decatur
- Pittsburgh city councilman Dan Gilman
- Phil Christman, and many more.
A nuanced look at the true complexity of a region that has always refused to submit to stereotypes about it.
How to Live in Detroit Without Being a Jackass
9781948742313
Regular price $20.00 Sale price $15.00 Save 25%In one of Curbed: Detroit's Top 11 Books about Detroit, Aaron Foley, editor of The Detroit Neighborhood Guidebook, offers the definitive inside look at one of America's most talked-about and least understood cities.
With a wry sense of humor, Foley, a native Detroiter, walks you through the most difficult questions about the Motor City, offering seven simple rules for making it there. Perfect for coastal transplants, wary suburbanites, unwitting gentrifiers, or start-up disruptors, this recently updated guidebook offers advice on everything from the glories of Vernors ginger ale to how to rehab a house to how to not sound like an uninformed racist. In twenty short chapters, Foley walks you through:
- How Detroiters do business
- The unofficial guide to enjoying Faygo
- How to be gay in Detroit
- How to raise a Detroit kid
- How to party in Detroit.
Both hilarious and insightful, this no-frills look at Motown is written for those who live there but also, as Vanity Fair put it, "for anyone participating in contemporary global urbanization who would like to avoid behaving like a subjugating dick."
Rust Belt Chicago
9780997774375
Regular price $20.00 Sale price $15.00 Save 25%A part of Belt's City Anthology Series. "A lively grab bag of essays, fiction and poetry that reads at times like a who's who of contemporary Chicago writers/residents."--The Chicago Tribune
Chicago is a city built on meat, railroads, and steel, on opportunity and exploitation. But its identity has long involved so much more than manufacturing. Today, the city continues to lure new residents from around the world, and from across a region rocked by recession and deindustrialization.
The problems that plague the region don't disappear once you pass the Indiana border, though. In fact, they're often amplified. And Chicago is a complicated city because of that, defined by movement that's the anchor of the Midwest, but bound to its neighbors by a shared ecosystem and economy.
Rust Belt Chicago collects essays, fiction, and poetry from more than fifty writers who speak directly to the concerns the city shares with the region at large, and the elements that set it apart. With contributions from writers like Aleksandar Hemon, Kathleen Rooney, and Zoe Zolbrod, and here you'll find stories about:
- Buying Bread on Devon Street
- The Cantinas of Pilsen
- Bike commutes through the North Side
- Adventures on the El.
Writing with affection, frustration, anger, and joy, the writers in this collection capture all the harmony and dissonance that define one cacophonous place.
A wide-ranging insider's look at one of the world's most iconic cities.
How to Be Normal: Essays
9781953368294
Regular price $17.95 Sale price $13.46 Save 25%Grand Rapids Grassroots
9780998018829
Regular price $20.00 Sale price $15.00 Save 25%Part of Belt's City Anthology Series.
While Grand Rapids, Michigan is known for large-scale events like ArtPrize; major businesses like Meijer, Steelcase, and Amway; and the philanthropic and political contributions of its wealthiest residents, there are hundreds--if not thousands--of grassroots activists working day-in and day-out to make Grand Rapids what it is. This collection seeks to raise the voices of those individuals and grassroots groups. The editors have joined forces to compile articles, poetry, and personal narratives about and by the grassroots activists of Grand Rapids. Edited by Ashley E. Nickels and Dani Vilella, in this collection, readers will find first-hand stories about:
- The lasting effects of discrimination in the city's Southeast community
- Disability advocacy and food justice
- Traversing the city on moped
- The furniture workers strike of 1911.
A complex portrait of an American city in transition and the tireless work of activists to make it a wonderful, just place to live.
What You Are Getting Wrong about Appalachia
9780998904146
Regular price $18.95 Sale price $14.21 Save 25%In 2016, headlines declared Appalachia ground zero for America's "forgotten tribe" of white working class voters. Journalists flocked to the region to extract sympathetic profiles of families devastated by poverty, abandoned by establishment politics, and eager to consume cheap campaign promises. What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia is a frank assessment of America's recent fascination with the people and problems of the region. The book analyzes trends in contemporary writing on Appalachia, presents a brief history of Appalachia with an eye toward unpacking Appalachian stereotypes, and provides examples of writing, art, and policy created by Appalachians as opposed to for Appalachians. The book offers a must-needed insider's perspective on the region.
Pure America
9781953368195
Regular price $17.95 Sale price $13.46 Save 25%Longlisted for the 2022 PEN America John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction, a "riveting and tightly argued" history of eugenics and its ripple effects, by acclaimed historian Elizabeth Catte.
Between 1927 and 1979, more than 8,000 people were involuntarily sterilized in five hospitals across the state of Virginia. From this plain and terrible fact springs Elizabeth Catte’s Pure America, a sweeping, unsparing history of eugenics in Virginia, and by extension the United States. Virginia’s eugenics program was not the misguided initiative of well-meaning men of the day, writes Catte, it was a manifestation of white supremacy. It was a form of employment insurance. It was a means of controlling “troublesome” women and a philosophy that helped remove poor people from valuable land. It was cruel and it was wrong. As was amply evidenced by her acclaimed 2018 book What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia, Catte has no room for excuses; no patience for equivocation. What does it mean for modern America, she asks here, that such buildings are given the second chance that 8,000 citizens never got?
“Grounded, well-rendered, and highly disturbing,” Pure America is another necessary corrective to the historical record, a must-read for anyone concerned with how to repair its damage.
The Marrow of Tradition
9781948742344
Regular price $14.95 Sale price $11.21 Save 25%Part of Belt's Revivals Series and an undisputed classic of African American literature. With a new introduction by Wiley Cash (When Ghosts Come Home).
On November 10, 1898, a mob of 400 people rampaged through the streets of Wilmington, North Carolina, killing as many as 60 citizens, burning down the newspaper office, overthrowing the newly elected leaders, and installing a new white supremacist government. In a violent reaction prompted by the increasing political powers African Americans in the town were gaining during Reconstruction, the Wilmington Race Riots--also known as the Wilmington Insurrection and the Wilmington Massacre--was the only successful coup d'etat on American soil.
The Marrow of Tradition is a fictionalized account of this important, under-studied event. Charles W. Chesnutt, an African American writer from North Carolina who lived in Cleveland as an adult and was the first black professional writer in the nation, narrates the story of "Wellington" North Carolina through William Miller, a black doctor, and his wife, Janet, who is both black and the unclaimed daughter of a prominent white businessman. Along with dozens of other characters, including a black domestic servant whose speech is rendered in vernacular dialect, they create a composite of Reconstruction and the violent racial politics created in backlash. The novel is also a masterful work of art that stands on its own: gripping, nuanced, and wholly original.
An unsung American classic with startling resonance for America's racial issues today.
Rust Belt Arcana
9781948742122
Regular price $16.95 Sale price $12.71 Save 25%An insightful take on the Tarot through the lens of the industrial Midwest, and a beautiful piece of nature writing in its own right.
What can the Tarot tell us about the flora and fauna of the industrial Midwest? In what ways might this ancient practice connect us to the Rust Belt today? Rust Belt Arcana uses the Tarot's time-tested structure to answer these questions, juxtaposing the characteristics of the cards with the creatures and plants that surround us every day. The 22 idiosyncratic essays here--one for every card in the Major Arcana--bridge biology, natural history, and the human condition. They tell stories of abundance and loss, and they remind us of the Rust Belt's persistent remnant wilderness, a landscape often dismissed as unremarkable.
A magical book both for Tarot enthusiasts and for those who are seeking to see beauty in a beleaguered landscape and define their remarkable place within it.
The Artificial Man and Other Stories
9781948742320
Regular price $14.95 Sale price $11.21 Save 25%A new collection from a trailblazing writer of science fiction. Part of Belt's Revival Series and with an introduction by Brad Ricca.
Science fiction has historically been seen as a man's game, but from the very beginning, women have made their indelible mark on the genre. Alongside sci-fi pioneers like Mary Shelley and C. L. Moore, we should now add Clare Winger Harris, whose pulp stories in the early twentieth century paved the way for modern woman sci-fi writers such as Ursula K. Le Guin and Margaret Atwood.
In Harris's world, you'll find gigantic insects, martians looking to steal Earth's water, and time travel to ancient Rome. Scholar Brad Ricca assembles ten of Harris's greatest short stories here, including "The Fifth Dimension," "The Fate of the Poseidonia," "The Menace of Mars," and "The Vibrometer." Their ideas are as fresh today as when Harris originally wrote them a century ago.
A wonderful collection by a little-known master of science fiction, this book will hold interest for feminist readers and scholars of sci-fi alike.
Boys Come First
9781953368256
Regular price $21.95 Sale price $16.46 Save 25%This hilarious, touching debut novel by Aaron Foley, author of How to Live in Detroit Without Being a Jackass, follows three Black gay millennial men looking for love, friendship, and professional success in the Motor City.
Suddenly jobless and single after a devastating layoff and a breakup with his cheating ex, advertising copywriter Dominick Gibson flees his life in Hell's Kitchen to try and get back on track in his hometown of Detroit. He’s got one objective — exit the shallow dating pool ASAP and get married by thirty-five — and the deadline’s approaching fast.
Meanwhile, Dom's best friend, Troy Clements, an idealistic teacher who never left Michigan, finds himself at odds with all the men in his life: a troubled boyfriend he's desperate to hold onto, a perpetually dissatisfied father, and his other friend, Remy Patton. Remy, a rags-to-riches real estate agent known as “Mr. Detroit,” has his own problems — namely choosing between making it work with a long-distance lover or settling for a local Mr. Right Now who’s not quite Mr. Right. And when a high-stakes real estate deal threatens to blow up his friendship with Troy, the three men have to figure out how to navigate the pitfalls of friendship and a city that seems to be changing overnight.
Full of unforgettable characters, Boys Come First is about the trials and tribulations of real friendship, but also about the highlights and hiccups —late nights at the wine bar, awkward Grindr hookups, workplace microaggressions, situationships, frenemies, family drama, and of course, the group chat — that define Black, gay, millennial life in today’s Detroit.
Arab Indianapolis
9781953368270
Regular price $30.00 Sale price $22.50 Save 25%An accessible, intimate look at the oft-neglected history of Arab Americans in Greater Indianapolis who have made a remarkable impact on the region since the late 1800s.From establishing local businesses to working in the fields of health care and education, Arab Americans have made indelible contributions to the cultural vitality, economic growth, and social fabric of central Indiana. Arab Indianapolis features the stories of Arab Americans--some famous, some not--who have shaped the Capital City's past and will continue to define its future. It details a history hidden in plain sight, one sometimes buried beneath Indianapolis's most iconic landmarks such as Lucas Oil Stadium, Monument Circle, the Indiana War Memorials, the Governor's Residence, and Riverside Park. Highlights include: Helen Corey, the first Arab American to hold statewide elected office and the author of one of the most famous books on Syrian cuisine
- Jeff George, a Syrian American from the region who went on to play quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts
- The Syrian Christian community and the building of St. George Orthodox Church
- Indianapolis's connection to St. Jude Children's Hospital
- Governor Mitch Daniels, Indiana governor and grandson to Syrian immigrants
Through short essays, over eighty beautiful photographs, interviews, and even a few recipes, this collection embraces the full humanity of Arab Americans in the Midwest. It will give you a deeper sense of the myriad lives of Arab-descended Hoosiers who call Indianapolis home. Arab Indianapolis is an indispensable resource for anyone looking to know the full story of how Arab Americans continue to shape one of the Midwest's most iconic cities.
The Battle of Lincoln Park
9781948742092
Regular price $19.95 Sale price $14.96 Save 25%"A brief, cogent analysis of gentrification in Chicago ... an incisive and useful narrative on the puzzle of urban development."--Kirkus Reviews
In the years after World War II, a movement began to bring the middle class back from the Chicago suburbs to the Lincoln Park neighborhood on the city's North Side. In place of the old, poorly maintained apartments and dense streetscapes of taverns and butchers, "rehabbers" imagined a new kind of neighborhood--a renovated, modern community that held on to the convenience, diversity, and character of a historic urban quarter, but also enjoyed the prosperity and privileges of a new subdivision.
But as the old buildings came down, cheap studios were combined to create ever more spacious, luxurious homes. Property values swiftly rose, and the people who were being evicted to make room for progress began to assert their own ideas about the future of Lincoln Park. Over the course of the 1960s, divisions within the community deepened. Letters and picket lines gave way to increasingly violent strikes and counterstrikes as each camp tried to settle the same existential questions that beguile so many cities today: Who is a neighborhood for? And who gets to decide?
A riveting historical look at gentrification and urban renewal projects that still resonates across every American city today.
A Lovely Place, a Fighting Place, a Charmer
9781953368263
Regular price $20.00 Sale price $15.00 Save 25%A part of Belt's City Anthology Series, a unique take on Charm City through the eyes of those who live there every day.To many outsiders, Baltimore--sometimes derisively called "Mobtown" or "Bodymore"--is a city famous for its poverty and violence, twin ills that have been compounded by decades of racial segregation and the loss of manufacturing jobs. But that portrait has only given us a skewed view of a truly unique and diverse American city, the place that produced Babe Ruth, Elijah Cummings, Nancy Pelosi, Edgar Allan Poe, John Waters, and Thurgood Marshall, and a city that's completely its own. In the over thirty-five essays, poems, and short stories collected here, the authors take an unfiltered look at the ins and outs of Baltimore's past and present. You'll hear about the first time an umbrella appeared in the Inner Harbor, nineteenth-century grave robbers, and the city's history with redlining and blockbusting. But you'll also get a deeper sense of what life is like in Baltimore today, including stories about urban gardening in Bolton Hill, the slow demise of local journalism, what life was like in the city during COVID, and the legacy of Freddie Gray. As Ron Kipling Williams writes in his essay about the city's magnetic appeal, "Baltimore has always been a city worth fighting for," and running through all these essays is the story of Baltimore's resilience. From Pigtown to Pimlico, this anthology captures the sights, sounds, and feel of this city that so many people have come to discover is truly a lovely place, a fighting place, a charmer. Edited by Gary M. Almeter and Rafael Alvarez, this anthology offers an unfiltered look at Baltimore that will appeal to anyone looking for a portrait of an American city that's far more nuanced than the stories that are generally told about it.
Clutter
9781953368096
Regular price $16.95 Sale price $12.71 Save 25%“I’m sitting on the floor in my mother’s house, surrounded by stuff.”
So begins Jennifer Howard’s Clutter, an expansive assessment of our relationship to the things that share and shape our lives. Sparked by the painful two-year process of cleaning out her mother’s house in the wake of a devastating physical and emotional collapse, Howard sets her own personal struggle with clutter against a meticulously researched history of just how the developed world came to drown in material goods. With sharp prose and an eye for telling detail, she connects the dots between the Industrial Revolution, the Sears & Roebuck catalog, and the Container Store, and shines unsparing light on clutter’s darker connections to environmental devastation and hoarding disorder. In a confounding age when Amazon can deliver anything at the click of a mouse and decluttering guru Marie Kondo can become a reality TV star, Howard’s bracing analysis has never been more timely.
The Gary Anthology
9781948742757
Regular price $20.00 Sale price $15.00 Save 25%Part of Belt's City Anthology Series. "A strong series of personal essays, historical exploration, nature writing, and photography. ... Love's anthology gathers [Gary's] resilience without shying away from the city's hard realities."?Chicago Review of Books
Once the second-largest city in Indiana, and home to the world's largest steel mill, Gary has suffered greatly in the postindustrial global economy. Population numbers now approach pre-Great Depression lows. Large swathes of its land are urban prairie, and a recent survey found a quarter of its built environment is in a dilapidated or dangerous condition. But Gary is also a national center of Black culture and political power. It is home to the Indiana Dunes National Park and globally rare ecosystems. Union, community organizing, and environmental justice struggles there have profoundly shaped social and political life in the United States.
Edited by Samuel A. Love, The Gary Anthology's contributors include essayists, poets, and journalists, but also graffiti writers, ministers, activists, organizers, and steel workers. Their insights into the city complicate our simplified narratives about violence and urban decay, offering readers the chance to hear from those who are reshaping the city from the bottom up.
A nuanced look of a city that is full of everyday joys and tragedies and a vibrant rebuke to stale notions that Gary is "dead."
Conspiracy to Riot
9781953368225
Regular price $16.95 Sale price $12.71 Save 25%A memoir of a life in activism by one of the original defendants in the Trial of the Chicago 7, subject of the 2020 Oscar-nominated Aaron Sorkin film of the same name.
In March 1969, eight young men were indicted by the federal government for conspiracy to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. First dubbed the "Conspiracy 8" and later the "Chicago 7," the group included firebrands like Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and Bobby Seale. But it also included a little-known community activist and social worker from the South Side of Chicago named Lee Weiner, who was just as surprised as the rest of the country when his name was included in the indictment. The ensuing trial of the Chicago 7 became a media sensation, and it changed Weiner's life forever. In this irreverent, freewheeling memoir of an indelible moment in history--which Kirkus Reviews called "a welcome addition to the library of the countercultural 1960s left"--Conspiracy to Riot shows how a commitment to your ideals can change your destiny forever.
With startling relevance to today's polarized political climate, Conspiracy to Riot is a book for anyone who hopes for a better, more just world, and offers a blueprint for how to make it happen.
Conspiracy to Riot
9781948742689
Regular price $26.00 Sale price $19.50 Save 25%A memoir of a life in activism by one of the original defendants in the Trial of the Chicago 7, subject of the 2020 Oscar-nominated Aaron Sorkin film of the same name.
In March 1969, eight young men were indicted by the federal government for conspiracy to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. First dubbed the "Conspiracy 8" and later the "Chicago 7," the group included firebrands like Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, and Bobby Seale. But it also included a little-known community activist and social worker from the South Side of Chicago named Lee Weiner, who was just as surprised as the rest of the country when his name was included in the indictment. The ensuing trial of the Chicago 7 became a media sensation, and it changed Weiner's life forever. In this irreverent, freewheeling memoir of an indelible moment in history--which Kirkus Reviews called "a welcome addition to the library of the countercultural 1960s left"--Conspiracy to Riot shows how a commitment to your ideals can change your destiny forever.
With startling relevance to today's polarized political climate, Conspiracy to Riot is a book for anyone who hopes for a better, more just world, and offers a blueprint for how to make it happen.
City of Hustle
9781953368355
Regular price $26.00 Sale price $19.50 Save 25%A part of Belt's City Anthology Series, a unique take on the South Dakota town residents call "the Best Little City in America."
In 1992, Money magazine named Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the best place to live in America. This rich anthology offers an inside look at the city through the eyes of both longtime residents and recent transplants. In over forty-five essays, you'll hear stories about the city's past, including the region's legacy of violence against Native Americans and Sioux Falls's status as a "divorce destination" in the late 1800s. But you'll also discover the ways the city's savvy planning and entrepreneurial gumption have helped it navigate twenty-first-century challenges. You'll read about: - the end of George McGovern's presidential run at a Sioux Falls Holiday Inn - the vibrant Jewish and Syrian-Muslim communities that helped form the city - the first sit-down strike in American labor history - firsthand accounts of how South Sudanese refugees are shaping the city today Edited by Patrick Hicks and Jon K. Lauck, City of Hustle: A Sioux Falls Anthology gives an insider's perspective on what's really going on in so-called "flyover country," and it shows why that name misses so much of the true richness that makes up life there every day.
Runaway
9781953368317
Regular price $28.00 Sale price $21.00 Save 25%From Erin Keane, editor in chief at Salon, comes a touching memoir about the search for truths in the stories families tell. In 1970, Erin Keane's mother ran away from home for the first time. She was thirteen years old. Over the next several years, and under two assumed identities, she hitchhiked her way across America, experiencing freedom, hardship, and tragedy. At fifteen, she met a man in New York City and married him. He was thirty-six. Though a deft balance of journalistic digging, cultural criticism, and poetic reimagining, Keane pieces together the true story of her mother's teenage years, questioning almost everything she's been told about her parents and their relationship. Along the way, she also considers how pop culture has kept similar narratives alive in her. At stake are some of the most profound questions we can ask ourselves: What's true? What gets remembered? Who gets to tell the stories that make us who we are? Whether it's talking about painful family history, #MeToo, Star Wars, true crime forensics, or The Gilmore Girls, Runaway is an unforgettable look at all the different ways the stories we tell--both personal and pop cultural--create us.
The History of Democracy Has Yet to Be Written
9781953368386
Regular price $17.95 Sale price $13.46 Save 25%"This book made me laugh out loud and also gave me glimpses of an entire horizon of possibility I hadn't seen before."--Chris Hayes, host of MSNBC's All In with Chris Hayes
End the filibuster. Abolish the Senate. Make everyone vote. Only if we do this (and then some), says Thomas Geoghegan, might we heal our fractured democracy.
In 2008, Geoghegan?then an established labor lawyer and prolific writer?embarked on a campaign to represent Chicago's Fifth District in Congress, in a special election called when Rahm Emanuel stepped down to serve as President Barack Obama's chief of staff. For ninety days leading up to the election, Geoghegan, a political neophyte at age sixty, knocked on doors, shook hands at train stations, and made fundraising calls. On election night he lost, badly.
But this humbling experience helped him develop a framework for reimagining American government in a way that is truly just, fair, and constitutional. Taking its title from Walt Whitman, The History of Democracy Is Yet to Be Written: How We Have to Learn to Govern All Over Again, combines hilarious tales from his time on the campaign trail with an incisive vision of how we might be able to create an America that fulfills its great promise. In a polarized country, where 100 million citizens don't vote, and those who do are otherwise rarely politically engaged, he makes an impassioned case for the possibility of a truly representative democracy, one built on the ideals of the House of Representatives, the true chamber of the people, and inspired by the poet who gives the book its name.
At once an engaging memoir and a call to arms, The History of Democracy Is Yet to Be Written will inspire and invigorate political veterans and young activists alike.
Sweeter Voices Still
9781948742818
Regular price $20.00 Sale price $15.00 Save 25%A groundbreaking nonfiction collection about queer life in the Midwest. "A marvelous ode to humanity and its passions."--Little Village
The middle of America?the Midwest, Appalachia, the Rust Belt, the Great Plains, the Upper South?is a queer place, and it always has been. The queer people of its cities, farms, and suburbs can't be reduced to just "blue dots" within "red states." Every story about a kid from Iowa who steps off the bus in Manhattan, ready to "finally" live, is a story about a kid who was already living in Iowa. Sweeter Voices Still is a collection full of stories about that kid, written by people just like them.
This collection, edited by Ryan Schuessler (The St. Louis Anthology) and Kevin Whiteneir, Jr., features queer voices you might recognize?established and successful writers and thinkers like Aaron Foley and Jeffery Bean?and others you might not. You'll find sex, love, and heartbreak and all the other beings we meet along the way: trees, deer, cicadas, sturgeon. Most of all, you'll find real people.
Perfect for anyone looking for fully realized stories about the nuanced, joyous complexity of queer identity in the Midwest.
The Cincinnati Neighborhood Guidebook
9781953368447
Regular price $24.00 Sale price $18.00 Save 25%Part of Belt's Neighborhood Guidebook Series, The Cincinnati Neighborhood Guidebook is an in-depth look at the City of Seven Hills, written by the people who live and work there every day.Cincinnati, Ohio, is a complex mix of many different things: its present and its past, its transitions and its legacies; what defines it and distinguishes it; what makes people love it and what makes some eventually leave it. This collection, written by both lifelong Cincinnatians and recent transplants, offers a sampling of life there today--the tensions, debates, the life-and-death battles, and, not least of all, the joys that make this city so alive. It's a genuinely felt collection that offers a unique perspective on an evolving and energized city, a homegrown portrait showcasing the voices of people who know something about the way life feels--and why it feels that way--in their communities. It's about all the ways Cincinnati's differences are the very things that make the city so alive.
Here, you'll find stories that look at: How Mount Auburn changed in the aftermath of the police shooting of Samuel DuBose - The Catholic legacy in Mount Adams - A busy intersection in gentrifying Over-the-Rhine - The fading rural landscape of Camp Dennison - How life by the Ohio River defines and shapes life in Ludlow Edited by Nick Swartsell and with short essays by Gail Finke, Pauletta Hansel, Dani McClain, Ronny Salerno, Katie Vogel, and many others, this collection offers an intimate tour of the city's seven hills, its fifty-two neighborhoods, and its countless stories. Natives of Cincinnati will recognize both their streets and their histories, and readers from outside the city will get an unfiltered look at the locale known as "The Queen City."
The Dayton Anthology
9781948742801
Regular price $20.00 Sale price $15.00 Save 25%A part of Belt's City Anthology Series, The Dayton Anthology offers a portrait of a city recovering from the twin 2019 crises of devastating tornadoes and the mass shooting that took the lives of nine residents in the Oregon District.
In over fifty essays and poems, contributors reflect on these traumas and the longer-term ills of disinvestment and decay that have plagued Dayton and the Miami Valley for years. But they also draw our attention to the resilience of the people who call Dayton home. This is the city that brought the world the Wright brothers' invention of flight, the cash register, and the hydraulic pump. It also gave us the soaring poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar and the comedy of Dave Chappelle. Edited by Shannon Shelton Miller and with contributions from Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley and former Ohio Governor Bob Taft.
A delightful tour of a city that never counts itself out, that captures the true diversity of Dayton's residents.
The Louisville Anthology
9781948742702
Regular price $20.00 Sale price $15.00 Save 25%"A book that looks to stir emotions. It holds a lot of anger."--LEO Weekly. Part of Belt's City Anthology Series.
What is Louisville's identity in the twenty-first century? Is it the southernmost midwestern city, the midwestiest southern town, or somewhere in between? Living on the border of two regions creates a hybrid sensibility full of contradictions that can be difficult to articulate beyond "from Louisville, not Kentucky." In this collection of evocative essays and poems by natives and transplants, The Louisville Anthology offers locals and visitors a closer look at compelling private and public spaces around town. It's an attempt to articulate what defines Louisville beyond its most recognized cultural exports. Edited by Erin Keene, editor-in-chief at Salon.com, this is a portrait of a city caught between onward and remember-when. Here, readers will encounter stories about:
- Louisville's early punk scene
- Life as a transplant in Butcherville
- A Trip to Cave Hill Cemetery
- A Trek to find Muhammad Ali's Louisville.
A perfect book for Louisville natives or for those looking for a more nuanced look at an often-stereotyped region of the country.
The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World
9781953368546
Regular price $38.00 Sale price $28.50 Save 25%The true story of Marshall "Major" Taylor, who overcame racial prejudice to become one of the most dominant cyclists in history. Part of Belt's Revival series and with an introduction by Zito Madu.
The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World, which Taylor self-published in 1928, gives a riveting first-person account of his rise to the highest echelons of professional cycling. Born in Indianapolis, he eventually became the first African American cycling world champion, going on to set seven world records in the sport. Readers will learn about Taylor's exploits as an athlete, including his early taste of success in a grueling six-day race, his unparalleled dominance as a sprinter, and some of his most bitter defeats. But the man who achieved international fame as the "Black Cyclone" also details the extreme prejudice he faced both on and off the track. It's a story about one of the greatest athletes in American history but also a moving testament to Taylor's resilience and determination in the face of overt racism and seemingly impossible odds.
As he tells us himself, "I am writing my memoirs . . . in the spirit calculated to solicit simple justice, equal rights, and a square deal for the posterity of my down-trodden but brave people, not only in athletic games and sports, but in every honorable game of human endeavor."
(Mis)Diagnosed
9781948742993
Regular price $16.95 Sale price $12.71 Save 25%"A passionate and well-informed study on the importance of improving inclusiveness in mental health evaluations."―Kirkus Reviews
In a clear, empathetic style, Jonathan Foiles, author of the critically acclaimed This City Is Killing Me, takes us through troubling examples of bias in mental health work. Placing them in context of past blunders in the history of psychiatry and the DSM, he looks closely at questions that lay bare the intersections between mental health care, race, gender, and sexuality:
- Why are women more likely to be labeled borderline personalities?
- Is transphobia being treated today like homosexuality was in the past?
- Has "protest psychosis," a term used to diagnose Black men during the civil rights era, simply been renamed schizoaffective disorder?
- How different is our current label of "intellectual disability" from the history of eugenics?
- What does it actually mean to be diagnosed with a "mental illness"?
This slim but wide-ranging collection of essays wrestles with these questions and offers potential ways forward in a world where mental health diagnoses can be helpful, but not necessarily absolute.
A pragmatic and sympathetic guide to how we might craft a better and more just therapeutic future for all people.
Pure America
9781948742733
Regular price $26.00 Sale price $19.50 Save 25%Longlisted for the 2022 PEN America John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction, a "riveting and tightly argued" history of eugenics and its ripple effects, by acclaimed historian Elizabeth Catte.
Between 1927 and 1979, more than 8,000 people were involuntarily sterilized in five hospitals across the state of Virginia. From this plain and terrible fact springs Elizabeth Catte's Pure America, a sweeping, unsparing history of eugenics in Virginia, and by extension the United States. Virginia's eugenics program was not the misguided initiative of well-meaning men of the day, writes Catte, it was a manifestation of white supremacy. It was a form of employment insurance. It was a means of controlling "troublesome" women and a philosophy that helped remove poor people from valuable land. It was cruel and it was wrong. As was amply evidenced by her acclaimed 2018 book What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia, Catte has no room for excuses; no patience for equivocation. What does it mean for modern America, she asks here, that such buildings are given the second chance that 8,000 citizens never got?
"Grounded, well-rendered, and highly disturbing," Pure America is another necessary corrective to the historical record, a must-read for anyone concerned with how to repair its damage.
Radical Humility
9781948742962
Regular price $16.95 Sale price $12.71 Save 25%This innovative essay collection explores the personal and civic function of humility from a range of popular and scholarly perspectives.
What does humility mean and why does it matter in an age of golden escalators and billionaire entrepreneurs? How can the cultivation of humility empower us to see success in failure, to fight against injustice, to stretch beyond our usual ways of thinking, and to foster a culture of listening in an age of digital shouting?
Edited by Rebekah Modrak and Jamie Vander Broek, Radical Humility: Essays on Ordinary Acts brings together contributions from scholars, psychologists, and artists to offer some answers to these questions. Contributions include:
- Charles M. Blow on Trump's arrogance
- Lynette Clemetson on doing good journalism in an age of the attention economy
- Tyler Denmead on whiteness's lack of humility
- Eranda Jayawickreme on learning how to admit what you don't know.
Having witnessed the personal and civic costs of narcissism and arrogance, these and other writers consider humility as a valuable process?a state of being?with the power to impact institutions, systems, families, and individuals, and give voice to the ways in which humility is practiced in many ordinary but extraordinary actions.
This groundbreaking collection deserves a place in the library of anyone seeking alternatives to a culture of self-aggrandizing excess.
A Pandemic in Residence
9781948742931
Regular price $16.95 Sale price $12.71 Save 25%A debut essay collection of remarkable breadth and erudition by a young Pakistani American doctor and writer. "Wry and smart."―The New York Times Book Review
During the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Selina Mahmood―in the middle of the first year of a neurology residency―found scraps of time between grueling shifts to write. The resulting collection is her personal and meticulous chronicle of an unprecedented year in medicine. It's also the debut of a young and uncommon talent.
In the tradition of Oliver Sacks and Paul Kalanithi, Dr. Mahmood takes the science of neurology and spins it into poetry, exploring theories of the mind, Pakistani-American identity, immigration, family, the history of medicine, and, of course, the challenges of becoming a physician in the midst of a global health crisis. Skipping nimbly across continents and drawing inspiration from an array of sources ranging from Thomas Edison to Yuval Harari to Beyoncé, she has crafted an elegant, incisive, and utterly original investigation. As Salon put it, this book is "A profound, moving and unfiltered account of not just a frontline worker's experience at an unprecedented moment, but a story of family and identity, of pop songs and PPE."
A must-read for anyone seeking insight into the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as a broader understanding of our universal search for meaning.
The Indianapolis Anthology
9781948742917
Regular price $20.00 Sale price $15.00 Save 25%Part of Belt's city anthology series, a reconsideration of one of America's most misunderstood cities.
Is Indianapolis just another midwestern city to fly over on the way to bigger and better destinations? Or is it, as locals know, a place where different peoples and ideals converge to create a rich cultural center? The Indianapolis Anthology showcases Naptown's vibrancy and diversity with pieces from journalists, poets, historians, established community voices, and first-time writers. The Circle City is more than the home of the Indianapolis 500, John Dillinger, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Kurt Vonnegut, Prozac, and Wonder Bread. In these pages, you'll find:
- lawn chairs in the beds of pick-ups
- Punk rock in Naptown
- suffragists and entrepreneurs
- cement pietàs
- dog bakeries and yoga studios
- red brick bungalows and war memorials
- steakburgers and Mexican seafood; pho and sauerbraten.
In other words, you'll find images from a city that is truly a cross section of today's America. Edited by Norman "Buzz" Minnick and with contributions from Etheridge Knight, Terrance Hayes, Michael Martone, and Karen Kovacik.
An insiders' look that will make you see a great midwestern city in a brand-new light.
Stories of Ohio
9781948742214
Regular price $14.95 Sale price $11.21 Save 25%The Pocket Pawpaw Cookbook
9780998018898
Regular price $16.95 Sale price $12.71 Save 25%"I have yet to meet a person who is drawn to pawpaws who is not a good person."
Pawpaws are found in the fleeting, honeyed weeks between August and October. They are fleshy and awkward to eat, sweetly fragrant, and they do not travel well at all. But they were once a favorite of Native Americans, and George Washington presumably loved them for dessert. Today, they are beloved by foragers, keepers of regional food traditions, and anyone seeking relief from the industrial food chain.
In The Pocket Pawpaw Cookbook, Sara Bir sets the humble pawpaw center stage, with detailed information on how to harvest, source, store, and?of course?cook with these uniquely midwestern delicacies. Here you'll find recipes for:
- pawpaw cornbread
- pawpaw pudding
- key lime pawpaw cheesecake
- banana-pawpaw ketchup
Sidebars address questions as varied as "Where can I buy frozen pawpaws?" and "How do I use pawpaw in a cocktail?" Written with humor and love for a curious subject, The Pocket Pawpaw Cookbook will inspire you to experiment in the kitchen and get out into the woods. With an introduction by Alexis Nikole Nelson, TikTok star and @blackforager.
The Milwaukee Anthology
9781948742382
Regular price $20.00 Sale price $15.00 Save 25%Part of Belt's City Anthology Series. "[A] mosaic of a book."--Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The Milwaukee Anthology is a book about hope and hurt in one of America's toughest zip codes. In the essays, narratives, poems, and art included here, you won't find Summerfest or Laverne and Shirley, but you will find honest first-hand stories about Riverwest, Sherman Park, Hmong New Year's shows, 7 Mile Fair, and the Rolling Mill commemoration. Edited by Justin Kern, and with more than 50 contributors including Dasha Kelly, Pardeep Kaleka, and Michael Perry, this collection includes stories about:
- Redlining in the city
- Painting a community mural in Sherman Park
- Reflections after the Oak Creek Sikh Temple Shooting
- The city's upstart microbrewing industry
- The rise of Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.
It's an anthology about a place on the lake that can make you say "yes" and wonder "why" in the same thought. A place that's both a big town and small city, run down and redeveloped, tararrel and terror.
A collection that shows the Cream City is much weirder and more wonderful than you may think it is.