Long Island is a heartbeat away from Manhattan, the center of the publishing universe, yet a remarkable number of books about Long Island are produced by a small company in Charleston, S.C., Arcadia Publishing.

Through local photos, the book acknowledges the Ice Age archeological digs in Saltville, the Saltville production of hydrazine fuel used to send Apollo 11 to the moon, Curtis Turner, better known as "Babe Ruth of NASCAR," racing at the Smyth County Speedway, the creation of Mountain Dew, the impact of company towns, the role of our veterans and much more.

As a young boy, Bruce Raiffe had two "life goals." He wanted to have 12 children, and he wanted to grow up to be the president of the Gund teddy bear company. The 12-kids idea was a bit far-fetched. (He ended up with six.) But his Gund goal was in his grasp, and in his genes. His grandfather and great-uncles bought Gund from founder Adolf Gund in 1925. And his parents built it into a leading toy and stuffed-animal company.

For nearly three decades, John Kovach has been coaching baseball. In 1991, he began coaching women's baseball and that pursuit became a passion. The South Bend native and current New Carlisle resident has been at the helm of the South Bend Blue Sox of the Great Lakes Women's Baseball League since that organization was founded a decade ago. In 2002, he became the first male honored by the National Women Baseball Hall of Fame as its Manager of the Year. He received the same honor again in 2004.

Croushore joined Idlewild in 1993 as a seasonal team member and later served as a supervisor in the revenue, operations, and human resource departments. Prior to his promotion, he was a picnic coordinator for group events. In addition, he is the park's principal archivist and in 2004, authored a book, Images of America: Idlewild (Arcadia Publishing) detailing the park's rich history.

The Outer Banks History Center Associates will hold its annual meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, at the Outer Banks History Center. The public is invited to attend. The evening will begin with a short business meeting, followed by election of a new slate of the Board of Directors of the OBHC Associates. Light refreshments will be served, and a two-part program will follow.

It's one of the state's oldest industries, and a new book put out by Arcadia Publishing celebrates that work. Take a photographic tour of the history of maple sugaring in New Hampshire tonight.

The authors of this book have done a favor to the Archdiocese and the city of Chicago in rescuing this piece of history and bringing it to the public notice. Though the Chicago Nurse Parade continued for no more than a decade, it succeeded “in placing nursing on a national pedestal”.

Beginning with the cover photo and description that open Chicago's Mansions by John Graf (Arcadia Publishing, $19.99), the author takes readers on a compelling journey through Chicago's streets and great houses and indirectly, through the history of a great city.

Boston’s Bridges, written by Boston native Yanni Tsipis, is the latest edition in Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America Series. The book explains that the abundance of rivers and ocean inlets around the city required Bostonians to build more bridges per acre of city land than any other American city.

Arcadia Publishing has done noble work by publishing more than a score of intensely focused local history titles for New York City alone (thousands nationwide). Who else would publish books on the East Bronx, on New York's harbor defenses, and on Long Island City, and keep them in print and widely available?