Name: Wicked Ann Arbor
Brand: James Thomas Mann
SKU: 9781609493431
Price: 21.99 USD
Availability: InStock

Wicked Ann Arbor

9781609493431

$21.99

Ann Arbor is known as a center of culture and education, but that hasn't prevented various tyrants and scoundrels from sullying the sophistication with base and murderous deeds. Revisit the case of Jacke the Hugger," a turn-of-the-century deviant who routinely accosted and squeezed the women of Ann Arbor. In an effort to lure him from hiding, young men dressed as women and walked city streets. In 1903, UM student Albert Patterson disappeared in what was compared to a dime novel manner. Was he kidnapped by the Mexican Mafia? Carried off in a flying machine? Or did he flee because he was promised to marry two women at the same time? The first panty raid is said to have been carried out at the University of Michigan in March of 1952, starting the fad of the 1950's. It even made the cover of Life magazine. This is only a hint of the wickedness to be found in the history of Ann Arbor."

The Oxford Hills

9780738536743

$24.99

The Oxford Hills have always been unique in the history of Maine. They were not settled until after the French and Indian War of 1763, and their isolation allowed the communities to develop distinct identities apart from external influences. The arrival of the railroad connected the area to Portland and Boston, sparking the development of a thriving wood products industry to complement the region's agricultural economy. As transportation developed, so did the outside world's awareness of the pristine natural beauty of the Oxford Hills, and the resulting influx of tourists and sportsmen brought further growth and diversity to the area. Despite the many changes that have transpired since the sound of the first axe resounded through the valley of the Little Androscoggin River, the Oxford Hills remain one of the most rugged, independent, and beautiful regions in all of Maine.

Frederick in the Civil War

9781609490782

$21.99

Just south of the Mason-Dixon Line, Frederick, Maryland, was poised at the crossroads of the Civil War.

Here, Confederate troops passed west to the Battles of Antietam and South Monocacy, while Union troops marched north to Gettysburg and south to raid the resources of the Shenandoah Valley. Both heroes and villains were made in the spired city, such as Dame Barbara Fritchie, who is said to defied General Jackson; General Jubal Early, who threatened to put the town to the torch; and the local doctors and nurses who cared for thousands of wounded soldiers. Join local historian John Schildt as he recounts the fascinating history of Frederick in the Civil War.

Gamecock 2

9781609495992

$21.99

The Gamecocks baseball team's surprising, heart-pounding run to the 2010 College World Series title seemed to many as if it could not be paralleled, in its excitement or its overall meaning to the school and the state of South Carolina. In 2011, though, they topped what they had already done, returning home champions and parading in style to the State House steps. In 2010, they honored the life of 7-year-old Bayler Teal, a cancer victim who died during the College World Series. In 2011, they celebrated the life of Omaha native Charlie Peters, a 13-year-old cancer survivor who served as a batboy for the team. The Gamecocks celebrated with a traditional dogpile near the pitcher's mound, Peters jumped on top of the mass of players and coaches.

Frederick Douglass in Washington, D.C.

9781609495770

$21.99

John Muller explores Frederick Douglass's final years in Washington D.C., a part of Douglass's life rarely written about.

The remarkable journey of Frederick Douglass from fugitive slave to famed orator and author is well recorded. Yet little has been written about Douglass's final years in Washington, D.C. Journalist John Muller explores how Douglass spent the last eighteen years of his life professionally and personally in his home, Cedar Hill, in Anacostia. The ever-active Douglass was involved in local politics, from aiding in the early formation of Howard University to editing a groundbreaking newspaper to serving as marshal of the District. During this time, his wife of forty-four years, Anna Murray, passed away, and eighteen months later, he married Helen Pitts, a white woman. Unapologetic for his controversial marriage, Douglass continued his unabashed advocacy for the rights of African Americans and women and his belief in American exceptionalism. Through meticulous research, Muller has created a fresh and intimate portrait of Frederick Douglass of Anacostia.

Union County

9780738515885

$24.99

Nestled in the heart of the Northeast Georgia Mountains, Union County is a unique blend of modern America that maintains the charm of the legendary Appalachian era, a developing community surrounded by pristine forests, a land of scenic beauty, and friendly people. It was formed from land once inhabited by the Cherokees and came into existence in the early 1800s. Descendants of Scottish, Irish, and English lineage became the predominant settlers in the area. Many generations of "mountain people" in Union County have led lives filled with determination, endurance, resourcefulness, and self sufficiency.

Those character traits continue to be evident among those who call one of America's most scenic areas home. Part of the Chattahoochee National Forest covers approximately one-half of the land in Union County-much of it wilderness as it has been for centuries. From the mountain peaks to the lakes, along the roadways and wilderness trails, Union County features flowing streams, waterfalls, native animals, spectacular flora, and magnificent views of abundant forests. This volume will delight readers as they journey through the history of such areas as Choestoe, Arkaquah, Brasstown, Gum Log, Ivy Log, Dooley, Young Cane, Coosa, Owltown, Cooper's Creek, Gaddistown, Suches, and Blairsville. This pictorial chronicle brings to life the perseverance of those who have gone before, providing a record of their contributions and accomplishments.

Historic Inns of Southern West Virginia

9780738552859

$24.99

Southern West Virginia possesses great natural beauty and a rich history in which lodging has played a significant role. This book traces the evolution of lodging in the area from the late 1700s to the present. The various types of accommodations included log cabins; lodging in rail, coal, and lumber communities; picturesque stagecoach stops; state parks; bed-and-breakfasts; and opulent mineral springs hotels. During the Civil War, many of the springs hotels and stagecoach stops were used for army hospitals and headquarters. This volume provides glimpses of quaint towns such as Bramwell, Fayetteville, Union, and Lewisburg, as well as the more commercial towns of Princeton, Bluefield, Hinton, Beckley, Glen Jean, Gary, Cass, Ronceverte, Marlinton, Coalwood, Rainelle, and Glen Rogers.

Wicked Atlanta

9781626191051

$21.99

Atlanta is the only American city to have been destroyed by fire as an act of war, and it has its share of salacious stories. Wealthy felons hosted elaborate parties inside the federal penitentiary.

Billionaire bootleggers and murderous rich boys practiced corruption that reached all the way to the White House. Fast and fearless drivers, complete with glamorous reputations and criminal careers, gave rise to auto racing. Join author Laurel-Ann Dooley as she navigates the underworld of Atlanta's past filled with kidnapping, bribery, wives hiring hit men and all sorts of criminal debauchery.

Marcy

9780738555249

$24.99

Marcy is not a town but rather a township made up of several hamlets, Stittville being the largest. These hamlets originated with groups of various religions and nationalities, such as Welch, Methodist, and Baptist. The one thing they all had in common was their desire to survive and prosper. The answer was in farming and all the hard work that had to be done every day. In the late 1850s, everything changed when the railroad came to town. Travel outside the farm fences became easy and enjoyable. Residents could catch the train and, in only 20 minutes, be in Utica, a whole different world, with stores and merchandise unlike anything on the farm. Today the farming has all but gone, and Marcy is largely a bedroom community with a mixture of small shops, electricity and water distribution systems, and higher education institutions.

Wicked Joplin

9781609490935

$21.99

A strange sort of pride tends to embellish infamy, like the notion that Frank and Jesse James robbed every bank in Missouri. But the citizens of Joplin need not exaggerate their community's unsavory past. Founded in the 1870s as a booming lead-mining camp, Joplin was a wide-open town from the start, and its wild reputation persisted into the mid-twentieth century. A neighboring town's newspaper aptly described Joplin as a naughty place."? Join author Larry Wood on a colorful tour of the city's raucous past."

Wicked Conduct:

9781596298026

$21.99

This scribbled note belonged to Sarah M. Cornell, written the day her body was found hanged in a rural pasture in Tiverton, Rhode Island. An unmarried young woman of limited means, Sarah was four months pregnant, and a married Methodist minister stood accused as the father. Local authorities grew skeptical of Sarah's apparent suicide as Reverend Avery's conduct appeared increasingly suspect, and eventually the extensive evidence of their tortured relationship set off a groundswell of public interest and media attention never before seen in 1830s New England. This tragic crime left the nation clamoring for justice and became one of early America's most sensational murder trials.

Skiing in Southern California

9780738555683

$24.99

Known for its sunshine and sandy beaches filled with bathing beauties and musclemen, Southern California is a Mediterranean-climate haven for winter-weary Americans from Michigan to Maine. But for those with a hankering for winter sports, one could scarcely ignore the snowcapped peaks of Mount Baldy and San Gorgonio shimmering in the bright California sunshine. By the 1930s, skiing was all the rage, with the towns of Big Pines, Lake Arrowhead, and Big Bear Lake evolving into popular snow-sport locales. Southern California was also home to many who made their mark in the world of American skiing: Walter Mosauer, the father of skiing in Southern California; Tyler Van Degrift, owner of Los Angeles's first ski shop; Clarita Heath Bright, talented member of the first U.S. Women's Olympic ski team; Dorothy McClung Wullich, first woman member of the National Ski Patrol; and Sepp Benedikter and Tommi Tyndall, both leading the way with ski schools and instruction. These and many others are documented here in this collection of rare and vintage images of Southern California skiing.

Wicked Charleston

9781596290761

$21.99

Wicked Charleston: The Dark Side of the Holy City, by local resident and tour guide Mark R. Jones, explores the dark alleys and seedy characters not often associated with the Charleston of today.

A beautiful Southern city distinguished by its opulent homes, towering church steeples and hospitality, Charleston, South Carolina, has long been associated with the genteel side of Southern living. However, beyond the outward appearances that most people associate with Charleston, there is another side that most visitors and residents would dare not believe is part of the very fabric from which the city's history was woven. From the sexual escapades of an original Lord Proprietor and the comings and goings of the most notorious pirates, to secret brothels and nightclubs, Jones leads the reader back to a time when "drinking, eating and whoring with more than fifty wenches" was perhaps more common in the Holy City than one may imagine.

Wicked Charlotte

9781596291607

$21.99

Bootleggers, swindlers, gold miners and serial killers--Charlotte has courted them all. The Queen City is renowned for its skyline, sports teams and dizzying growth, but just below its smooth, polished exterior lies a dark past full of crime and myriad misdeeds. This second history of Charlotte has been concealed and denied by those who retell the city's story, and by those who have lived it. Until now.

In Wicked Charlotte, discover the tale of the Chicago gangsters who invaded the city looking to pull a heist to fund sinister maneuverings in their boss's criminal trial. Learn how a golden nugget found in a nearby creek changed Charlotte from a trading crossroads into a rough and tumble town full of fortune seekers bent on finding a quick dollar and instant riches. And read about the details of the death of one of Charlotte's most gifted writers, who met his end in a seedy hotel room in Mexico.

This raucous book sheds light on these incidents and many more, revealing a side of Charlotte's history that few will recognize. The sordid events described here took place on familiar streets and in well known neighborhoods, but rarely have the stories passed beyond the circles of those who lived them. Charlotte has played host to a multitude of villainous characters, and has seen scores of unsavory deeds played out on its shadowy streets. Wicked Charlotte brings it all to the forefront, as never before.

Volusia County's West Side

9781596295629

$21.99

This collection of popular "Sense of Place" columns by Daytona Beach News-Journal award-winning writer Ronald Williamson chronicles the sleepy streams, poignant passages and timeless traditions of the hilly western side of Volusia County--a place quite different from the hustle and bustle of the Daytona Beach area. Majestic St. Johns River steamboats replace speeding racecars, and subdued séances at an old spiritualist camp replace brash biker bashes and spring break revelry. From slavery and segregation to Madame Clarissa Zaraza and mayhaw jelly from swampy creeks, these stories are a moving account from a master storyteller.

Rockford & Interurban Railway

9781467112390

$24.99

With today's America dominated by the automobile, it is difficult to believe that until the 1920s nearly 100 percent of the US population traveled via rail. Conventional passenger-train service spread rapidly by the 1850s, but another form of rail transportation did not emerge until the turn of the 20th century: the interurban. Almost always electric, interurbans linked cities with burghs. Rockford, one of Illinois's three largest urban centers during the 20th century, enjoyed a system appropriately named the Rockford & Interurban, dating from the city's horse-drawn streetcars of the 1880s. By World War I, the Rockford & Interurban ran from downtown Rockford to Cherry Valley and Belvidere; Winnebago, Pecatonica, and Freeport; Roscoe and Rockton; and Beloit and Janesville, Wisconsin. The Rockford & Interurban enjoyed a supernova of success, rising quickly in popularity before slowly dying when the automobile became widespread in the 1920s; the Great Depression finished the job in 1936.

Tarpon Springs, Florida

9780738515977

$24.99

African Americans originally came to Tarpon Springs in the mid-1880s to work in the lumber mills. In the 1890s, a number of sponge divers arrived from the Bahamas and Key West to harvest and prepare the wealth of sponges found in the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Anclote River. Devoutly religious, these pioneers founded the African American Episcopal Church in 1887 and the Baptist Church in 1892. Union Academy School, the first African-American school in Tarpon Springs, was established in the early 1900s. The dedicated work ethic of early African-American settlers continues today. Many of their descendants serve as educators, politicians, and ministers.

Georgia High School Football

9781609492953

$21.99

Jon Nelson guides readers through an unparalleled history of coaches, towns and dynasties that led Georgia to become one of America's most competitive football states.

Georgia is known as one of the most competitive proving grounds in America for high school football. The league that began as a few city teams in the late nineteenth century blossomed to the four hundred-plus schools that put teams on the field today. These teams have given college football and the professional ranks their share of champions. As schools across the state continue to chase--and break--records, a century of winning is only the beginning of Georgia's dynamic high school football legacy.

Franklin County

9780738554822

$24.99

When America was in its formative years, Franklin County was a frontier resting in the heart of the Cumberland Valley. Scots-Irish, German, and other immigrants moved into the area, some settling in Franklin County and others moving on to settle in areas farther west and south. On September 9, 1784, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania established Franklin County as its 14th county. Franklin County has a considerable amount of villages and hamlets close to the main communities of Chambersburg, Greencastle, Mercersburg, Shippensburg, and Waynesboro. From photographs of a railroad tycoon's festive celebration to the Liberty Bell passing through Franklin County or the arrival of the first automobile, Franklin County captures life in these main communities and the surrounding countryside, as well as the people and events that have shaped this area.

Logging in Mason County

9781467132923

$24.99

In 1946, the US Forest Service and Simpson Logging Company agreed to a sustained yield unit, cooperatively managing lands for 100 years for "community stability." Championed by USFS chief William Greeley and dubbed the "Sustained Steal" by detractors, the Shelton Cooperative Sustained Yield Unit nonetheless provided jobs for returning World War II veterans. Simpson Logging built the largest logging camp in the continental United States, Camp Grisdale, which had a two-room school and a two-lane bowling alley. Shelton and McCleary were saved from becoming ghosts towns, and downtown Shelton was modernized with a shopping center, parks, and schools. Mason County's Forest Festival was a weekend celebration for 30,000 visitors that included a parade and logging shows. As the only cooperative unit established in the United States, it attracted national attention, including TV personality Arthur Godfrey. In 1961, the movie Ring of Fire was filmed above Camp Grisdale. As World War II memories faded, logging practices were challenged by notions of wilderness and recreation. Improved equipment reduced the jobs, and when Simpson withdrew from the sustained yield agreement, employees were disenfranchised.

Around Greensboro

9780738553726

$24.99

The quaint town of Greensboro, Maryland, is nestled in the middle of the Delmarva Peninsula on Maryland's Eastern Shore where its American roots travel across the Choptank River and reach deep into the agricultural soil of Caroline County. The Choptank River's path meanders up the peninsula from the Chesapeake Bay, cutting through Caroline County, and it is at the great bend in the river that Peter Harrington brought into full bloom his grandfather Peter Rich's vision of a town. This location was vital to the movement of products to and from people living in the middle of the peninsula, and Greensboro quickly grew into a thriving small port town where businesses, including tanneries and shipbuilding, appeared. Greensboro's accessibility to Washington, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Wilmington makes this quiet town a convenient bedroom community with big-town access and rural serenity.

Soccer in Oneonta

9780738536460

$24.99

Soccer in Oneonta was practically nonexistent until the 1950s. Rural schools in the region played the game because it was inexpensive and, in many cases, because the schools could not field six- or eleven-man football teams. The first organized soccer team began in 1955 at what was then called Oneonta State Teachers College, today's State University of New York College at Oneonta, and a year later, a team formed at Hartwick College. Both teams improved their skills in the 1960s and 1970s, and eventually the town was home to national champions from both schools. Interest spread to Oneonta High School, and youth soccer leagues became tremendously popular. Soccer in Oneonta depicts the teams, the players, the sport, and how this city in the northern Catskills got its nickname, "Soccertown, USA."

Wicked Edisto:

9781626192348

$21.99

For many, Edisto is a little slice of heaven--live oaks festooned with Spanish moss, winding waterways and crashing surf. Yet the waterways were pathways for privateers, smugglers and gunboats. Marauders terrorized residents. Privateers made life uncertain during the War of 1812. John Wilson and Andrew Gillon dueled to the death on the sands of Edingsville. The Civil War brought repeated skirmishes between Union and Confederate scouting parties. Join historian Alexia Jones Helsley as she recounts lost lives, early widows, dashed dreams, unseen secrets--the dark side of Eden.

Wabash County Chronicles:

9781596299344

$21.99

Just about fifty years before lights atop the courthouse put Wabash in the record books, a gang of squirrels came marauding through the area, denuding the trees and crops.

Of course, the farmers fought back with guns; the kids with clubs. This happened just about the time of the Irish canal worker infighting; those boys attacked one another with everything they had. Oh, and there are the unexplained monster sightings and things of that nature. But really, it's not all bizarre. After all, Wabash was the first electrically lighted city, and there are scores of heroes and important businesses. There's just so much to hear about. Come along with authors Ron Woodward and Gladys Harvey as they share the strange and important history of this old Indiana county.

Whitehall and Coplay

9780738536279

$24.99

When the first German, Huguenot, and Scotch-Irish settlers arrived in what is now Whitehall Township nearly three hundred years ago, their lives were fraught with peril. Some of the first families were nearly wiped out in raids during the French and Indian War. After the United States was established, the township settled into a long tranquil farming period, which lasted until the arrival of iron and the iron horse in the 1850s. Then, the Lehigh Valley became the cradle of the Industrial Revolution. Communities such as Egypt, Hokendauqua, Coplay, and Fullerton sprang up around iron mills, cement plants, and railroads. The new industries brought entrepreneurs, innovators, and immigrants to Whitehall and Coplay, changing the face of the township in many ways that are still visible today.

Cover image for Whitehall and Coplay, isbn: 9780738536279

Madison County

9780738587202

$24.99

This fertile and beautiful land, with its small rivers and valleys and surrounding mountains, was designated Madison County in 1792. The county was named for the family of James Madison, fourth president of the United States and the father of the Constitution. His family ran a mill on the Rapidan River, which is now located in the southern section of Madison County. Early in the 18th century, descendants of English and French colonials settled the southern sections of the county, and Quakers and German Lutherans settled the northern sections. Madison County's first church, Hebron Lutheran, was built in 1740, and its public church school was opened in 1748. Archaeologists have gathered evidence that Native Americans hunted and gathered in the region thousands of years earlier.

Wicked Crescenta Valley

9781626193062

$21.99

From illegal gambling and prostitution to claims of alien abduction, Crescenta Valley has seen it all. Once home to thriving moonshine operations and shocking Nazi rallies, the valley's past is riddled with scandalous tales that many would prefer to forget. Yet not all of Crescenta Valley's tawdry history could remain forgotten or hidden in its day. The infamous C.C. Julian oil scandal made national headlines. Even today, recent information reveals a local internment camp for Japanese and Germans that opened the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed. Join Gary Keyes and Mike Lawler, authors of Murder & Mayhem in the Crescenta Valley," as they reveal the seamy underbelly that belies the valley's beautifully pleasant exterior."

Cape Hatteras National Seashore

9781467123075

$24.99

Cape Hatteras National Seashore was authorized by Congress on August 17, 1937, and established on January 12, 1953. As the nation's first national seashore, it encompasses 30,000 acres and crosses three islands, Bodie, Hatteras, and Ocracoke, for approximately 70 miles. Nearby Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, located within the authorized seashore boundary, is 5,880 acres. Over the centuries, the seashore has witnessed major historic events, including the landing of the first English explorers, the death of Blackbeard the pirate, Civil War battles, German U-boat attacks, hundreds of shipwrecks, and devastating hurricanes. Descended from horses brought over by Spanish explorers, the Ocracoke ponies still roam the landscape. This National Park Service unit also includes the majestic Bodie Island, Cape Hatteras, and Ocracoke Lighthouses. The seashore is a haven for wildlife and recreational beachgoers. Cape Hatteras National Seashore showcases the rich natural and cultural heritage of America's first national seashore.

Stanton County

9780738561271

$24.99

The boldest and bravest of pioneers headed west, by covered wagon and on foot, to carve out new lives from verdant prairie sod, near the riverbanks in the beautiful Elkhorn Valley. French fur trappers called the river Corne de Cerf, French for the "horn of the elk," due to the river and its tributaries resembling the antlers of a stag. It then became known as the Elkhorn River. Catfish, bullheads, perch, and bass provided a welcomed change in sparse diets. Here settlers established churches, schools, and towns in a raw wilderness where Ponca, Omaha, Sioux, and Pawnee tribes lived. The prairie grasses fed herds of buffalo, elk, deer, and bighorn sheep. Coyotes, foxes, and wolves roamed in abundance. This land was named Stanton County in honor of Edward M. Stanton, Abraham Lincoln's ex-secretary of war. Germans, Scandinavians, Bohemians, and Canadians settled in the picturesque river valley and were joined by settlers from Wisconsin and Virginia, as well as the Hoosiers from Indiana.

Michigan Memorial Park

9780738551593

$24.99

In 1926, a former two-time University of Michigan All-American football hero decided that a pastoral area of Huron Township could be transformed into a cemetery. Two years later, Michigan Memorial Park opened its gates to begin serving the needs of this growing community tucked away in a corner of the township located southwest of Detroit. Bordering on the peaceful Huron River, this former home to the Wyandott tribe and later French settlers has become a sprawling 300-acre parcel of land still surrounded by woods and farmland. It is Michigan's largest nondenominational cemetery whose ownership has remained in the same family for four generations. Thousands of trees, a plethora of sculptures and fountains, and swan-filled ponds adorn the gardenlike grounds adding to the tranquility experienced by all those who visit. Michigan Memorial Park has remained one of the pillars of the community, not only providing a resting place for many thousands who have passed away but also giving back to the community through its involvement in civic activities.

Wicked Hamtramck:

9781596298965

$21.99

Hamtramck's population bulged to 56,000 from a mere 3,500 in the early twentieth century, a sixteen-fold increase that created the perfect environment for crime and corruption to flourish. Post-Prohibition, bars sprang up in quick order, until there were at least two hundred within this wide-open town's 2.1 square miles, giving it more bars per capita than any other city in America; even the Dodge brothers served barrels of beer to their workers. Follow local historian Greg Kowalski through the underbelly of Hamtramck, from the painted women openly flaunting their tainted charms from undraped windows" to the nefarious plots crafted behind the walls of the International Workers Home on Yemens Street. Welcome to the height of Hamtramck's infamy, where anything could happen--for a price."

Wicked Denver

9781609491536

$21.99

The Mile-High City was never above fatal bar brawls, poison plots or any of the other transgressions history would like to ignore. From the moment it sprang from the frontier, Denver was a hotbed of violent money disputes, acts of criminal insanity and every manner of wickedness associated with street and saloon life. Men posed as women while committing crimes, and murderous madams left trails of scarred girls and ruined lives. Some sordid tales are common Mile-High lore, like the case of the Denver Strangler, while others, like the Capitol Hill Slugger, who plagued the well-to-do neighborhood at the turn of the century, have disappeared from note...until now. Follow Sheila O'Hare and Alphild Dick through the tantalizing and wicked tales that undeniably sculpted the city.

The Washington Arsenal Explosion: Civil War Disaster in the Capital

9781609497934

$21.99

In 1864, residents of Washington, D.C., mourned together at the largest funeral the district had ever seen. In the midst of the Civil War, the poor Irish neighborhood of the Island lost twenty-one mothers, sisters and daughters. On June 17, dangerous working conditions and a series of unfortunate events led to the deadly explosion of a Federal arsenal at Fort McNair, where the young women made cartridges to assist the war effort. In the wake of the horrific event, a monument was erected at Congressional Cemetery to honor those who were lost. Author Brian Bergin similarly memorializes these women through his book, detailing the poor working conditions, the investigation into the avoidable events leading to the tragedy and the reaction of a community already battered by the Civil War.

The Washington Arsenal Explosion: Civil War Disaster in the Capital

Thais in Los Angeles

9780738581842

$24.99

Los Angeles is home to the largest Thai population outside of Thailand. With a relatively recent history of immigration to the United States dating to 1965, reports estimate that 80,000 Thais make their home in Southern California. In spite of its brief history in the United States, the Thai community in Los Angeles has already left its mark on the city. While the proliferation of Thai-owned businesses and shops has converted East Hollywood and some San Fernando Valley neighborhoods to destinations for cultural tourism, the Thai community in Los Angeles County reverberates still from global attention over the 1995 El Monte human trafficking case. The great popularity of Thai cuisine, textiles, and cultural festivals continues to preserve, enrich, and showcase one of Asia's most distinctive cultures.

Wicked Grand Rapids

9781626192966

$21.99

Investigate the citizens of Grand Rapids, even those above suspicion, with author and local history enthusiast Amberrose Hammond as she uncovers a seedy cast of characters from the city's past. Meet career criminals like Clem Blood, who tore off all his clothes during sentencing, only to be presented with a new suit at public expense. Open a love letter from Grand Rapids' own Lonely Hearts killer, who lured his victims by direct mail. Unseal the habeas corpus proceedings for the gruesome details of what the Grand Rapids Press" called "the most cold blooded crime in the history of the city." Stay out of the shadows, keep your doors locked and enjoy delving into the wicked side of the Furniture City."