New Book Releases

We’re always on the hunt for the next great American history book. When we find it, you’ll see about it here, with our new book releases. We release new history books each month in a variety of subjects and series. Browse through all of our newest titles below, and discover your next favorite history book at Arcadia Publishing! [View all New Book Releases]
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St. Louis Casa Loma Ballroom
St. Louis Casa Loma Ballroom
$21.99
The 1984 New Orleans World's Fair
The 1984 New Orleans World's Fair
$24.99
The 1939-1940 New York World's Fair
The 1939-1940 New York World's Fair
$24.99
National Hard Crab Derby
National Hard Crab Derby
$24.99
Christmas in Birmingham
Christmas in Birmingham
$24.99
San Francisco's Panama-Pacific International Exposition
San Francisco's Panama-Pacific International Exposition
$24.99
From Christmas to Twelfth Night in Southern Illinois
From Christmas to Twelfth Night in Southern Illinois
$24.99
Portland Rose Festival
Portland Rose Festival
$24.99
The Oregon State Fair
The Oregon State Fair
$24.99
Nebraska State Fair
Nebraska State Fair
$24.99
The 1936-1937 Great Lakes Exposition
The 1936-1937 Great Lakes Exposition
$24.99
Escondido Grape Day Festivals
Escondido Grape Day Festivals
$24.99
The Aurora Farmers Fair
The Aurora Farmers Fair
$24.99
The Charlottesville Dogwood Festival
The Charlottesville Dogwood Festival
$24.99
New Orleans Carnival Krewes
New Orleans Carnival Krewes
$23.99

St. Louis Casa Loma Ballroom

9780738533780

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In 1927, on the northeast corner of Cherokee and Iowa Streets in south St. Louis, a multistory, multipurpose building was erected. Retail shops and a bowling alley occupied the first floor, while upstairs was a place that defied the imagination of someone driving by in their brand new Model T Ford. Today, that upstairs space, with its lofty ceiling, huge maple tongue-in-groove dance floor, and wraparound balcony, is the Casa Loma Ballroom--St. Louis' last grand ballroom. Today, one gets the feeling that the ghosts of the big bands and the vocalists still linger there--and with good reason. Just about everybody who was anybody played there at one time or another. Ol' Blue Eyes himself, before he was the idol of millions, received just a meager "Featured Singer, Frank Sinatra" note at the bottom of the Casa Loma bill the night he played with the Harry James Orchestra.
St. Louis Casa Loma Ballroom

The 1984 New Orleans World's Fair

9780738568560

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In 1984, the city of New Orleans hosted the last world's fair held in the United States.

Conceived as part of an ambitious effort to revitalize a dilapidated section of the city and establish New Orleans as a year-round tourist destination, it took more than 12 years of political intrigue and design changes before the gates finally opened. Stretching 84 acres along the Mississippi River, the fair entertained more than seven million guests with a colorful collection of pavilions, rides, and restaurants during its six-month run. While most world's fairs lose money, the 1984 New Orleans World's Fair had the dubious distinction of going bankrupt and almost closing early. However, the $350-million investment did succeed in bringing new life to the area, which is now home to the city's convention center and a bustling arts district.

The 1984 New Orleans World's Fair

The 1939-1940 New York World's Fair

9780738565347

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Bill Cotter is a longtime world's fair enthusiast and his collection of world's fairs photographs, the world's largest, has been featured in museum exhibits.

After enduring 10 harrowing years of the Great Depression, visitors to the 1939-1940 New York World's Fair found welcome relief in the fair's optimistic presentation of the ""World of Tomorrow."" Pavilions from America's largest corporations and dozens of countries were spread across a 1,216-acre site, showcasing the latest industrial marvels and predictions for the future intermingled with cultural displays from around the world. Well known for its theme structures, the Trylon and Perisphere, the fair was an intriguing mixture of technology, science, architecture, showmanship, and politics. Proclaimed by many as the most memorable world's fair ever held, it predicted wonderful times were ahead for the world even as the clouds of war were gathering. Through vintage photographs, most never published before, The 1939-1940 New York World's Fair recaptures those days when the eyes of the world were on New York and on the future.

The 1939-1940 New York World's Fair

National Hard Crab Derby

9780738542539

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In 1947, The Crisfield Times published an editorial prompting an annual crab derby, a sort of Kentucky Derby spotlighting one of Crisfield's greatest natural resources: the Chesapeake Bay blue crab. The next year, the National Hard Crab Derby began. Since that brief crab race in front of the Crisfield Post Office in 1948, the annual Labor Day weekend event has grown into one of the most recognized festivals in the United States. The entire country participates each year through the Governor's Cup crab race, and all eyes are on contestants as they attempt to break world records in crab picking and boat docking. Champion chefs from throughout the Eastern Seaboard hone their skills during the annual crab cooking contest. Skiff races recall days of the past when work boats sped in from Tangier Sound to sell their day's catch to the area's seafood packers. And Crisfield may be the only city in America where little girls grow up with the dream of someday being called Miss Crustacean!
National Hard Crab Derby

Christmas in Birmingham

9781626197022

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For decades, the Christmas season in Birmingham was not complete without the sights and sounds of the retail district. During the season, the Magic City made magic with elaborate light displays and the Living Christmas Tree in Woodrow Wilson Park. Many remember the battling Santas of Loveman's and Pizitz, each vying for the hearts of the community. The elaborate Enchanted Forest dazzled shoppers on the sixth floor at Pizitz. In the 1940s, more than 200,000 people lined the streets each year to make merry for the Christmas Carnival parade. Author and local historian Tim Hollis celebrates the happy history of Birmingham's holiday season, reviving the traditions and festivities, the food and shopping of days gone by.
Christmas in Birmingham

San Francisco's Panama-Pacific International Exposition

9780738530093

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The 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exhibition celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal, the rebirth of San Francisco after the disastrous 1906 earthquake, and the world community in general. It was a festive time and one that transformed the swampy San Francisco waterfront into elaborate grounds for sculptures, playgrounds, fountains, and national pavilions. Some say it was the most successful world's fair ever held, bringing together disparate cultures as no other event before or since. Lasting 10 months and covering 635 acres over what is now the city's Marina District, the fair remains in evidence today at the famed Palace of Fine Arts, the only extant structure and a popular and much-photographed local landmark.
San Francisco's Panama-Pacific International Exposition

From Christmas to Twelfth Night in Southern Illinois

9781596299139

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Journey to a region where all the perennials are said to bloom at midnight on Christmas Eve and where a family's luck is determined by the first person to walk through their door on New Year's Day. Spend a literary Christmas in Herrin, listen to the twelve bells of Belleville ring out the coming year and greet the Three Kings of Germantown at Epiphany. Whether you are a newcomer to southern Illinois or whether you feel like you have been singing La Guiannee" since the tradition started in Prairie du Rocher in 1720, join John J. Dunphy for a season of sacred memories and merry recollections."
From Christmas to Twelfth Night in Southern Illinois

Portland Rose Festival

9780738596143

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At the end of the Lewis and Clark Exposition in 1905, the president of the Portland Street Fair and Carnival Association, E.W. Rowe, presented the idea of an annual festival to Portland mayor Harry Lane. From that idea came the first Rose Festival, called the Rose Carnival and Fiesta, held June 20-22, 1907. It was hailed as a huge success. "There is no reason in the world why Portland should not hold a rose festival every year," remarked the Oregonian on June 21. "Everyone will be happier and better all the rest of the year for the festival of roses." And indeed, that has been the case. From just a three-day event, the Rose Festival has expanded over the years to include many activities covering several months every spring and summer.
Portland Rose Festival

The Oregon State Fair

9780738548777

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Since the first Oregon State Fair was held on four acres along the Clackamas River in the Gladstone/Oregon City area in 1861, the fair has been the focal point of Oregon culture--a place to see and be seen and to compete against the best in the state. It has been a place of victory and a place of discovery for nearly 150 years. For many generations of Oregonians, the fair was a chance for families and friends to reunite and share the excitement of this grand, uniquely Oregon event. Today the fair's popularity continues and, for 12 days each year, transforms the fairgrounds in Salem into the fifth largest city in the state.
The Oregon State Fair

Nebraska State Fair

9780738583273

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The Nebraska State Fair commenced in Nebraska City in 1859, long before Nebraska became a state. Agriculture was recognized as the prime industry in the region, and the promotion of land and products was a driving influence for developing an exposition to put Nebraska on display. In 1901, the state legislature passed a bill declaring Lincoln as the official permanent site for the annual event. In the fair's 140-year history, Lincoln held 108 Nebraska State Fairs. The event was cancelled twice--in deference to the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, a world's fair held in Omaha in 1898, and when the government suspended all fair events in 1945 due to World War II. The fair offers food, entertainment, exhibits, and competitions for visitors of all ages and interests. Each year, there are bigger and better shows, midways, and performers to entice new crowds and to draw those who attend year after year. The history is preserved in precious photographs and memorabilia. Though the fair bids a sad farewell to Lincoln, new memories await as it moves to the centrally located community of Grand Island for its grand opening in late August 2010.
Nebraska State Fair

The 1936-1937 Great Lakes Exposition

9781467124133

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The Great Lakes Exposition was held in Cleveland during the summers of 1936 and 1937, drawing seven million visitors over its two-year run. The exposition was intended to observe the city's centennial anniversary and to celebrate the Great Lakes Region. It was also hoped that it would help lift the city's economy out of the Great Depression. The exposition boasted a staggering array of ever-changing national-level attractions and feature events. In a single day, exposition visitors could experience the latest technological innovations; see a world-class aquatics show; watch a Shakespearean play; ride in a blimp; and hear the music, taste the food, view the architecture, and experience the culture of 40 of the world's countries.
The 1936-1937 Great Lakes Exposition

Escondido Grape Day Festivals

9780738559490

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Escondido is the lilting Spanish name meaning "hidden" and was given to an irregular-shaped inland Southern California valley where an investment group planted 100 acres of grapes in the early 1880s. The dry-farmed grapes grew unusually large and sweet, which prompted business leaders to envision an attraction similar to Pasadena's Tournament of Roses. The first Grape Day Festival in 1908 commemorated an auspicious occasion in Escondido's water history and celebrated the grape as a symbol of the agricultural abundance of the region. The event attracted thousands of guests who could view the valley, farm displays, a grand parade, and entertainment while eating their fill of free grapes. But by mid-century, Grape Day disappeared along with the grape in Escondido. With the memory of the grape remaining clear, the Escondido Historical Society began the revival of the celebration in the 1970s. The centennial Grape Day Festival took place September 6, 2008.
Escondido Grape Day Festivals

The Aurora Farmers Fair

9780738551685

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In 1908, the Aurora Business Mens Association decided to bring a celebration to its sleepy river town. Little did these men realize that the Aurora Farmers Fair would bring their community together for the next 100 years. During the 1909 fall festival, Second and Main Streets were blocked off and lined with farm exhibits and storefronts were decorated. There were over 700 entries and 12,000 people attended. Every year merchants and manufacturers parade, and contestants are selected from area schools to compete for a place in the royal court that presides over the festivities. Class reunions and family homecomings are held around the event, and schoolchildren are released early to participate in a bicycle and pet parade. In 1959, the Aurora Business Mens Association ceded management and sponsorship of the fair to the Aurora Lions Club, and in 1969, the Lions Club purchased a beautiful old building from the Aurora Casket Company to house exhibits. Sadly, in 1998, arson destroyed the fair building, and years' worth of fair history was lost. This book has been created, in part, in an effort to regain a portion of the collection that was lost.
The Aurora Farmers Fair

The Charlottesville Dogwood Festival

9780738542102

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During the month of April, the residents of Albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Nelson, and Orange Counties converge on the city of Charlottesville to celebrate the beauty of Central Virginia and honor the state flower. Beginning in 1950 as the Apple Harvest Festival, the festival took on its current name, the Charlottesville Dogwood Festival, in 1958. Each year, Charlottesville comes alive not only with the blooms and blossoms of spring, but with fireworks, amusement rides, and a host of local royalty. The beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains and fall foliage as well as breathtaking springs and some of the nation's oldest and most prestigious plantations make this area one of the most popular places to visit in the South. The Charlottesville Dogwood Festival takes pride in being a long-standing part of an area rich in tradition and heritage.
The Charlottesville Dogwood Festival

New Orleans Carnival Krewes

9781626191549

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Let the good times roll down in New Orleans! Read the secrets and origins of the beloved Mardi Gras.


New Orleans practically owns Mardi Gras, and you would be hard-pressed to find someone who would deny it. The wild celebration brings thousands of tourists to Louisiana each year, but none of it would be possible without the carnival krewes. The backbone of this Big Easy tradition, different krewes put on extravagant paries and celebrations to commemorate the beginning of the Lenten season. Historic krewes such as Comus, Rex, and Zulu date back generations and have become part of New Orleans' greater history, but today, what was once an exclusive position has widened their reach and new krewes are inaugurated regularly to enrich the flavor of Louisiana's cultural melting pot. Through careful and detailed research of over three hundred sources, author and New Orleans native Rosary O'Neill explores this storied institution, its antebellum roots, and its effects in the twenty-first century.

New Orleans Carnival Krewes