Kentucky

What makes western Kentucky so unique? Sometimes it seems as if the history of this distinctive region lies buried deep within its awe-inspiring cave systems.

Join western Kentucky historian Berry Craig as he penetrates the depths of the region's lesser-known history and brings to light the people, places and events that have shaped Kentucky's west. People like Fate Marable, the Paducah-born jazz innovator whose roving Kentucky Jazz Band featured a young Louis Armstrong. Places like Wheel, the tiny town in Graves County that gave birth to a vice president. And forgotten feuds like the 1900 Christmas Eve shootout in Mayfield that left a deputy dead. These stories, and many others, ensure that western Kentucky's hidden history will no longer linger in the shadows.

Kentucky's motto may be ""united we stand, divided we fall,"" but during the civil war, brother fought brother to the bitter end.

The Civil War sharply split the Bluegrass State. Kentuckians fought Kentuckians in some of the bloodiest battles of America's bloodiest war. The names and faces of the winning and losing generals of those battles are in most history books. But this book is not like most history books; it is about hidden history. Most of the stories are not found in other books. Some are proof that the Civil War was truly ""a brother's war"" in the home state of Lincoln and Davis. From the Graves County gun grab to pirates in Paducah to dueling gunboats on the Mississippi, this one-of-a-kind collection of little-known tales by Kentucky historian Berry Craig will captivate Civil War enthusiasts and casual readers alike.

Untold tidbits of equine history is revealed by historian and seventh generation Kentuckian Foster Ockerman Jr.

Horse racing and the Commonwealth of Kentucky are synonymous. The equine industry in the state dates as far back as the eighteenth century, and some of that history remains untold. The Seventeenth Earl of Derby made the trip from England to Louisville for the famed Kentucky Derby. Many famous African American jockeys grew up in the area but fled to Europe during the Jim Crow era. Gambling on races is a popular pastime, but betting in the early days caused significant changes in the sport. Hidden History of Horse Racing in Kentucky details the rich and the lesser-known history at the tracks in the Bluegrass State.