Name: Florida's Historic Capitol Building
Brand: Tiffany Baker
SKU: 9781467160933
Price: 24.99 USD
Availability: InStock

Florida's Historic Capitol Building

9781467160933

$24.99

Between 1824 and 1840, Florida's government functioned out of several log cabins and rented rooms in the newly established territorial capital of Tallahassee. In 1839, the federal government gave $20,000 to construct a permanent capitol building; the bones of the structure were laid by enslaved craftsmen. The first session took place in 1841, and additional funds requested each year ensured the capitol was complete when Florida entered the Union as the 27th state on March 3, 1845. Over the years, four significant capitol expansions reflected the needs of a growing state until a new and modern Capitol Complex, designed by architect Edward Durrell Stone, was completed in 1977. The aging former capitol was slated for demolition until the people of Florida spoke out in a successful campaign to save the historic building and restore it to its 1902 appearance. Highlighting the photographic collection of the State Archives of Florida, Florida's Historic Capitol Building reveals stories about the state's political past, the development of a capital city, and the legacy of an iconic Florida building.

Cover image for Florida's Historic Capitol Building, isbn: 9781467160933

Mississippi Moonshine Politics:

9781626197602

$21.99

For most states, the repeal of prohibition meant a return to a state of legally drunken normalcy, but not so in Mississippi. The Magnolia State went dry over a decade before the nation, leaving bootleggers to establish political and financial holds they were unwilling to lose. For nearly sixty years, bootlegging flourished, and Mississippi became known as the "wettest dry state in the country." Law enforcement tried in vain to control crime that followed each empty bottle. Until statewide prohibition was finally repealed in 1966, illegal booze fueled a corrupt political machine that intimidated journalists who dared to speak against it and fixed juries that threatened its interests. Author and native Mississippian Janice Branch Tracy delivers an intimate look at the story of Mississippi's moonshine empire.

The Benicia State Capitol

9781467143844

$21.99

In February 1853, Benicia was chosen as the third capital of the new state of California. Along with San Jose, Vallejo and Sacramento, Benicia had been vying for the honor of hosting the legislature, and competition was fierce. Benicia was not the first choice, nor did it have what many politicians considered critical amenities, but it had something the others didn’t: a beautiful, Greek-style capitol building available for use. Political rivalries and land disputes would eventually cause Sacramento to be awarded the capital, but for nearly thirteen months, Benicia held that distinction. Author James E. Lessenger provides an inside look at the politics at play in the fledgling Golden State and their effect on the ambitions of Benicia.

Cover image for The Benicia State Capitol, isbn: 9781467143844

The Shame of the Cities

9781948742511

$14.95 $7.48 Save 50%

Lincoln Steffens's Tweed Days in St. Louis, published in McClure's magazine in October 1902, is considered the first work of muckraking journalism, exposing corruption between businessmen, politicians, police officers and other municipal actor, as well as how apathetic citizens allow machine politics to proceed unfettered.

The article also highlights residents who do fight back, including civil rights lawyer Joseph W. Folk and the workers involved in the St. Louis Streetcar Strike of 1900. Tweed Days was so successful that Steffens traveled on to Minneapolis to report The Shame of Minneapolis, which appeared in the same 1903 issue of McClure's as another muckraking classic, Ida Tarbell's The History of the Standard Oil Company.

Steffens would go on to expose machine politics in Pittsburgh, Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York City. In 1904, McClure's published the series as a book, The Shame of the Cities, which remains stubbornly timely and prescient more than a century later.

The Virginia Way

9781467143684

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

For four hundred years, Virginia's politicians have preached a "Virginia Way" of honor, gentility and democracy. In reality, this ideology bred a corrupt political class, a runaway electricity company, a university that reflected the values of donors and a school system that suffered from cronyism. This Virginia Way prevented rather than promoted the success of its stated democratic ideals. Readers from the right, left and middle will learn much about how their government operates and understand Virginia in a whole new way. Author Jeff Thomas explodes the myth of the Virginia Way with an insightful portrait of the people, politics and power that run the Commonwealth.

Thomas Jefferson and the Kentucky Constitution

9781467158282

$24.99

A Major Influence in Kentucky Life

Founding Father Thomas Jefferson had a strong but little-known connection with the constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He had personal and politically motivated influence on the 1792 charter and secretly wrote some controversial state resolutions. Author Denis Fleming draws on firsthand accounts from Jefferson, John Breckinridge and the rarely used papers of George Nicholas, the brain behind Kentucky’s first constitution, to uncover a huge influence from these men. He also demonstrates that modern reforms in job creation, education and the structure of government are rooted in parts of the document favored by Jefferson but dramatically interpreted by today’s governors, legislators and judges.

Cover image for Thomas Jefferson and the Kentucky Constitution, isbn: 9781467158282

True Tales of Old-Time Kentucky Politics

9781596296367

$21.99

Did you know that William Goebel of Kentucky remains the only state governor to be assassinated while in office? Or that Abraham Lincoln, now a favorite son of the Bluegrass State, garnered less than 1 percent of the state's vote in 1860? How about Matthew Lyon, the congressman who won reelection from a jail cell and once bit off the thumb of a voter during a brawl on the House floor? These are but three of the fascinating and little-known stories from Kentucky's political past found in True Tales of Old-Time Kentucky Politics. Join longtime columnist Berry Craig as he shares tales of a time when votes could be bought with a drink and political differences were resolved with ten paces and a pistol.

True Tales of Old-Time Kentucky Politics

Yuma and La Paz Counties

9781467102568

$24.99

Yuma County was created in 1864, following the organization of the Arizona Territory in 1862, and was one of the four original counties along with Yavapai, Mohave, and Pima. With the arrival of E.F. Sanguinetti and John Gandolfo in the late 19th century, a business empire was born and a community developed. Due to the creation of stores, farms, and the mining industry, the area's population grew from 4,415 in 1900 to 224,427 in 2015. Now a ghost town, the original county seat was formed in La Paz. By 1871, it was relocated 100 miles south to Arizona City, which was renamed Yuma in 1873. In 1982, Yuma County was divided in half, creating Yuma and La Paz Counties.