Arcadia Bestsellers

America's leading authority on Halloween presents interviews with spooky rock groups, amateur vampires, haunted house creators, champion pumpkin carvers, and more, all in the quest of explaining the nation's unique love affair with this holiday. The collection of essays and interviews explores the pop culture phenomenon that is Halloween, and why we celebrate it the way we do today.

From the bloody Battle of Wilson's Creek in August 1861 until surrender in June 1865, the Civil War in the Indian Territory proved to be a test of valor and endurance.

Explore the events and characters that make up the more unusual aspects of Cleveland's history. A must-read for fans of fantastic, peculiar, and nontraditional history.

Eliot Ness might come busting in and take all of you crooks to jail - or more likely he won't, even if you've been robbing banks all over Cleveland and bragging about it to the media, like self-proclaimed last of the big-time bank robbersEddie Watkins.

This isn't your Kevin Costner version of Eliot Ness, and this isn't your standard collection of Cleveland eccentrics. Join author Ted Schwarz on this romp celebrating bizarre misdeeds and noteworthy accomplishments of Clevelanders large and small. Learn of the burlesque star who created the striptease and the con woman who claimed to be Andrew Carnegie's illegitimate daughter. Get to know present-day street musician Maurice Reedus Jr. and the remaining cast of loving souls, offbeat characters and one-of-a-kind Clevelanders.

As the Cleveland Plain Dealerput it in April 2009, Ted Schwarz may be the most prolific author you've never heard of.He's been freelancing full time for nearly forty years. During that time, he's written well over one hundred books and more than three thousand articles and short stories for publications throughout the world. His books have been translated into more than a half dozen languages, and several have been made into documentaries and/or television movies. He has appeared on over three hundred television and radio programs in the United States and Canada.

Preserved in these pages are the rich and storied history of the scenic waterfront town of Panama City Beach.

In a collection of nostalgic and lighthearted vignettes, local author Jeannie Weller Cooper recounts the history of Panama City Beach, the barrier islands and beach for old Panama City. First inhabited by Native Americans in the years before the Spanish arrived in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Panama City Beach has always proved a good hideout for fugitives, from Native Americans fleeing from European invaders to runaway slaves, Civil War soldiers, outlaws and rumrunners. In 1929, the first Hathaway Bridge was completed; connecting Greater Panama City to the beach, but the lagoon and the beach remained a sleepy curiosity until the bombing of Pearl Harbor mobilized the United States to war. Now Panama City Beach is home to thousands of residents, as well as being a renowned tourist destination.

Many never seem to have the time to make good-quality meals for their families. A slow cooker is a great solution. In this convenient cookbook, favorite New Orleans recipes have been adapted for cooking in this popular appliance.

The definitive guide to all things Mardi Gras . . . past and present! From Twelfth Night to Ash Wednesday, New Orleans is transformed. Queens and fools, demons and dragons reign over the Crescent City. This vividly photographed book is a lively, comprehensive history of Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Fascinating and intimate, this book seamlessly intertwines the past with the present.

Marie Lathers wades into the history and legends of the Okefenokee Swamp. The Okefenokee, nearly 440,000 acres of bog and swamp lying in south Georgia and north Florida, is the largest blackwater wetland in North America. Almost all of these acres are protected by a National Wildlife Refuge, one of three access points to a land characterized by cypress, Spanish moss, and alligators. This book, with its broad overview of the Swamp and more detailed focus on certain aspects, has something for everyone, the nature-minded, history buffs, and regional culture enthusiasts. Read about the animals named for the Swamp—the Okefenokee fishing spider and zale moth—the history of lumbermen in the Swamp, the religious and musical practices of Swampers, and the novels and movies set in the Land of the Trembling Earth, including, of course, the infamous opossum, Pogo.

things are looking grim for Santa on Christmas Eve as he loses his voice and all his reindeer get sick before the night�s duties are done. He sends his reindeer off to bed and chooses eight cows to pull his sleigh instead. When Santa overlooks the shivering calf, Sugar Lump raises his voice to let Santa know he can pull the sleigh. A hoarse Santa appreciates the calf�s strong voice and invites him into the sleigh to command the cows.

An elegant hardcover gift edition of President Abraham Lincoln's landmark January 1, 1863 Executive Order—the Emancipation Proclamation—which declared the freedom of 3.1 million of the nation's slaves. Including the draft, preliminary, and final versions of the text, this lovely version is a perfect gift for any reader.

During the 19th century, Paterson, New Jersey, grew from an idea of Alexander Hamilton into a manufacturing and commercial powerhouse. Paterson was a city characterized as “an arm of iron in a sleeve of silk.” A major producer of locomotives and the largest source of silk products in the nation became a fast-growing center of business and commerce. The architecture of the period displays a confidence in the city’s long-term future that created a distinctive and noteworthy urban environment. In addition, Paterson was a gateway city for thousands of immigrant families. Although its long-term prominence as a manufacturing center did not endure, the city’s products and people impacted the nation and the world. The photographs in this book, largely from the archives of the Paterson Museum, highlight the city’s progression during its period of greatest growth and prominence. Focusing on the city’s architectural heritage in a variety of building types, the images illuminate the city’s growth, fortunes, and the heritage of a complex community during its most dynamic period. 

Author Richard Polton is a Paterson native trained in architecture, planning, and urban history. He has compiled photographs from the period to reveal the evolution of the nation’s first intentional industrial city’s transforming the ideas of Alexander Hamilton into a vibrant place that reflects its economic prowess. 

Tales from North Carolina's high country.

The Toe River winds its way past the peaks of Mount Mitchell and into the valley that bears its name. Mineral mines go back to the earliest days of Yancey County and encouraged some of the first settlers to come to the region. Mitchell County's Bakersville experienced violent unrest, with a riot and a lynching, in 1892--but did it actually happen? The section of the Blue Ridge Parkway that runs through Avery County was left incomplete for years because of a property dispute with the owner of Grandfather Mountain. Take a journey along forgotten rail lines, through abandoned communities and past sites whose histories have shaped this valley's story just as the river has shaped its landscape.

North Carolina historian and author Michael C. Hardy explores the hidden historical gems of the region.

Go behind the scenes with never before reported stories of intrigue from some of the most colorful characters in Virginia politics over the last half century.

Read about the changes that political figures have brought to the Old Dominion, from Henry Howell's legendary gubernatorial run in the 1970s through 2020's successful battle for Richmond Public Schools against the Dominion Coliseum. Along the way, see how visionaries challenged Virginia to overcome her legacy of segregation and how that history still affects our destiny today.

Hailed by the New York Times as part of "a major revolution in racial politics in America'? for running the groundbreaking campaigns of Governor Doug Wilder, author Paul Goldman has spent decades on the leading edge of Virginia politics.