Arcadia Bestsellers

From the crossroads of the American Revolution to the construction of the George Washington Bridge, New Jersey's Bergen County has a history that has shaped not only the metropolitan area, but the nation itself.

Featuring narratives of key historical moments, legendary personalities and fascinating landmarks, this guide to Bergen County's past is essential for any resident or visitor alike. Take a copy along as you traverse the county and discover the historic sites within and the stories behind them.

Authors Bob Nesoff and Howard Joseph Cohn take readers on a fascinating journey through Bergen County's incredible past.

Discover a lost world of farmers cutting hay with scythes and dancing to fiddle music on barn floors through the Long Island paintings of William Sidney Mount.

Explore vivid depictions of people of color, presented with great humanity when racist caricatures were the norm.

This landmark book reveals the lives of Rachel, the eel spearer; Henry Brazier, the left-handed fiddler; George Freeman, model for the jaunty banjo player, and other agricultural laborers, domestic workers, and musicians who posed for the artist.

Authors Katherine Kirkpatrick and Vivian Nicholson-Mueller take readers on a fascinating historical journey as they publicly honor, by name, the once-anonymous Black and mixed-race models whose images have achieved international recognition.

Hula girls, palm trees and Tiki gods beckoned Ohioans of the 1950s and '60s as tropical hot spots sprang up in suburban neighborhoods and concrete jungles alike.

The Kon Tiki restaurants of Cleveland and Cincinnati slung rum cocktails to patrons eager for escape to a South Seas paradise. Visitors to the famed Kahiki Supper Club of Columbus, the Tropics in Dayton and Toledo's Aku-Aku could spot celebrities swaying to the exotic sounds of steel guitars and native percussion. Venturing a step beyond restaurants and bars, others decked out theaters, bowling alleys and even a McDonald's in sultry island décor. Join author and Tiki veteran Jeff Chenault on an excursion into a bygone era when the South Pacific came to Ohio.

While legislators were writing the first laws in Alabama, some miscreant citizens were already breaking them, causing disorder and fleeing the hands of justice.

Among these were cult-leader-turned-murderer "Bloody" Bob Sims, social-activist-turned-anarchist Albert Parsons, the mysterious hobo bandit Railroad Bill and the nefarious outlaw sheriff Steve Renfroe, who was credited with countless prison escapes, thefts and arson. Legendary Wild West figures Frank and Jesse James also appeared in Alabama, along with numerous other well-known gunslingers, pirates, crooks and desperados. Bushwhackers caused widespread chaos during the Civil War and were considered outlaws depending on which side you supported. Join real-life partners in crime Kelly Kazek and Wil Elrick as they recount the atrocities of some of Alabama's most infamous lawbreakers.

In the Footsteps of Oregon’s beloved U.S. Olympic Athlete, Activist, and Icon

Born in the small town of Coos Bay, Oregon, Steve “Pre” Prefontaine’s meteoric rise to cross-country and track superstardom included national recognition in high school followed by state, national, and world records. From the University of Oregon track to a fourth-place finish in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, he never stopped striving to make his mark on the world. Even today, his name conjures up images of athleticism, activism, and charisma. While his life tragically ended in a car accident at the youthful age of 24 – at which time he owned every American record from 2,000 to 10,000 meters and two to six miles – his legacy lives on.

Join author and runner Paul C. Clerici as he brings you this legendary Oregon athlete.

This collection of twenty-four legendary murders spans 160 years of Upper Michigan's history and dispels the notion that murder in the Upper Peninsula is an anomaly.

Residents of the idyllic villages scattered throughout the Upper Peninsula's richly forested paradise live in quiet comfort for the most part, believing that murder rarely happens in their secluded sanctuary3/4but it does, and more often than they realize. From the bank robber who killed the warden and deputy warden of the Marquette Branch Prison to the unknown assailant who gunned down James Schoolcraft in Sault Ste. Marie, Sonny Longtine explores the tragic events that turned peaceful communities into fear-ridden crime scenes.

A haunted history of one of Western Michigan's oldest cities

Once a booming lumber town, Muskegon today harbors not just ghosts of long-gone industry but maybe actual ghosts, too. An apparition in Victorian clothing walks past Hackley Library patrons and disappears into a wall. Some believe him to be none other than philanthropist and lumber baron Charles Hackley. In the Hume House, the ghost of a young woman gloomily peers down at visitors from an upstairs window. Visitors to the museum on LST 393 often see a shadowy figure or hear someone walking behind them as they walk through the hallways, but when they turned around to look, no one's there.

Join author Marie Helena Cisneros delves into thirteen spine-tingling supernatural tales from Muskegon's past.

The Voodoo tradition continues in the Crescent City even today. Rory Schmitt and Rosary O'Neill study the altars, art, history and ceremonies that anchor Voodoo in New Orleans culture.

There is no more compelling nor more spiritual city than New Orleans. The city's Roman Catholic roots and its blended French, Spanish, Creole and American Indian populations heavily influenced the rites and rituals that West Africans brought to Louisiana as enslaved laborers. The resulting unique Voodoo tradition is now deeply rooted in the area. Enslaved practitioners in the nineteenth century held Voodoo dances in designated public areas like Congo Square but conducted their secret rituals away from the prying eyes of the city. By 1874, some twelve thousand New Orleanians attended Voodoo queen Marie Laveau's St. John's Eve rites on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain. The Voodoo tradition continues in the Crescent City even today.

From the rocky slopes of Kings Mountain to the plains of Hannah's Cowpens, the Carolina backcountry hosted two of the Revolutionary War's most critical battles

On October 7, 1780, the Battle of Kings Mountain utilized guerilla techniques - American Over Mountain Men wearing buckskin and hunting shirts and armed with hunting rifles attacked Loyalist troops from behind trees, resulting in an overwhelming Patriot victory. In January of the next year, the Battle of Cowpens saw a different strategy but a similar outcome: with brilliant military precision, Continental Regulars, dragoons, and Patriot militia executed the war's only successful double envelopment maneuver to defeat the British. Using firsthand accounts and careful analysis of the best classic and modern scholarship on the subject, historian Robert Brown demonstrates how the combination of both battles facilitated the downfall of General Charles Cornwallis and led to the Patriot victory in America.

No trip to the Jersey Shore would be complete without indulging in the cuisine that helps make it famous.

These foods we enjoy today are part of a long tradition beginning in the Victorian era, when big oceanfront hotels served elaborate meals. Diverse dishes and restaurants emerged during prohibition and the Great Depression, when fast food appeared and iconic boardwalk treats developed. Predating the farm to table movement, fancy and fast eateries have been supplied by local fishermen and farmers for decades. So whether you indulge in a tomato pie, pork roll or salt water taffy, take a mouthwatering historical tour and discover timeless treats from Sandy Hook to Cape May.

With interviews from key witnesses, authors Dave Shampine and Daniel Boyer recount the grisly story of this New Year's Eve North Country nightmare, which is still shrouded in mystery today.

The names Peter, Barbara Ann and Gerald Egan were familiar to Watertown police before December 31, 1964. The police suspected the trio in a long string of burglaries, and they were under investigation by the FBI for grand theft auto. But on that New Year's night, the Egans were shot execution style at a rest stop off Interstate 81. The gruesome gangland-style killings puzzled local and state police. Theories ranged from a simple confrontation gone awry to a premeditated act of retribution by hardened criminals who feared the Egans would turn state's witness.

Inspired by Florida's famed Mai-Kai restaurant, Bill Sapp and Lee Henry opened the Kahiki Supper Club in 1961. Patrons lined up for hours to see the celebrities who dined there--everyone from Betty White to Raymond Burr.

Sapp and Henry set out simply to build a nice Polynesian restaurant and ended up establishing the most magnificent one of them all. Outside, two giant Easter Island heads with flames spouting from their topknots stood guard while customers dined in a faux tribal village with thatched huts, palm trees and a towering fireplace moai. One wall featured aquariums of exotic fish and another had windows overlooking a tropical rainforest with periodic thunderstorms. For nearly forty years, the Kahiki was the undisputed center of tiki culture.