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Join author and historian James C. Clark as he chronicles the history of the Sunshine State in this concise and captivating history.

In 1513, Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon first set foot on Florida's east coast. The land he discovered was a geographic anomaly so distinctive that astronaut Neil Armstrong said Florida was the first shape on earth he recognized on his return from a visit to the moon 456 years later. This unique state witnessed momentous events from the 1959 arrival of the first Cuban exiles under Fidel Castro to the 1981 launch of the "Columbia," the first space shuttle.

The Albany Post Road was the vital artery between New York City and the state capital in Albany in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

It saw a host of interesting events and colorful characters, though these unusual and extraordinary stories, as well as their connection to the thoroughfare, are oft forgotten. Revolutionary War spies marched this path, and anti-rent wars rocked Columbia County. Underground Railroad safe houses in nearby towns like Rhinebeck and Fishkill sheltered slaves seeking freedom in Canada, and Frank Teal's Dutchess County murder remains unsolved. With illustrations by Tatiana Rhinevault, local historian Carney Rhinevault presents these and other hidden stories from the Albany Post Road in New York's mid-Hudson Valley.

The tranquil waters of the Tennessee River hide a horrible tragedy that took place one steamy July day when co-workers took an excursion aboard the SCItanic.

Lawrence County resident Jenny Brooks used the skull of one of her victims to wash her hands, but her forty-year quest for revenge cost more than she bargained for. Granville Garth jumped to his watery grave with a pocketful of secrets--did anyone collect the $10,000 reward for the return of the papers he took with him? Historian Jacquelyn Procter Reeves transports readers deep into the shadows of the past to learn about the secret of George Steele's will, the truth behind the night the "Stars Fell on Alabama" and the story of the Lawrence County boys who died in the Goliad Massacre. Learn these secrets--and many more--in Hidden History of North Alabama.

From the Lowcountry's first recorded duel to old-fashioned summers at the 'hottest spot in town", these pages will captivate you with stories of people, events and places that have all but vanished from memory.

Find out the real history behind some of Charleston's beloved mansions and learn about the early plantations and their owners. Join the authors as they relate the riots and romance, the preservation and politics - and even a ghost story - from Charleston's hidden history.

From the Age of Discovery and the earliest settlement of America, Midcoast Maine has played surprising roles in America's history.

Europeans might not have survived in the New World without the Kennebec beaver trade, the lessons of the Popham Colony and the friendships Maine's first settlers built. Experience the storied survival of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's military grandfather in precarious Revolutionary Maine and meet resilient, creative, noteworthy and notorious Midcoasters. Pat Higgins recounts Puritan power plays, the sea fight between the "Boxer" and the "Enterprise," duels, U-boats and much more. Discover the fascinating and quirky bits of history that have remained hidden along the rocky coast from Portland to Acadia--until now..

Read the history of the CIvil War from the perspective of the Washington DC capital.

When the first shots of the Civil War were fired in 1861, Washington, D.C., was a small, essentially Southern city. The capital rapidly transformed as it prepared for invasion--army camps sprung up in Foggy Bottom, the Navy Yard on Anacostia was a beehive of activity and even the Capitol was pressed into service as a barracks. Local citizens and government officials struggled to accommodate the fugitive slaves and troops that crowded into the city. From the story of one of the first African American army surgeons, Dr. Alexander Augusta, to the tireless efforts of Clara Barton, historian Lucinda Prout Janke renders an intimate portrait of a community on the front lines of war. Join Janke as she guides readers through the changing landscape of a capital besieged.

Explore the grizzly tale of Charleston's most infamous serial killers from the beginning of their reign of horror till their eventual incarceration and execution.

In 1819, a young man outwitted death at the hands of John and Lavinia Fisher and sparked the hunt for Charleston's most notorious serial killers. Former homicide investigator Bruce Orr follows the story of the Fishers, from the initial police raid on their Six Mile Inn with its reportedly grisly cellar to the murderous couple's incarceration and execution at the squalid Old City Jail. Yet there still may be more sinister deeds left unpunished, an overzealous sheriff, corrupt officials and documents only recently discovered all suggest that there is more to the tale. Orr uncovers the mysteries and debunks the myths behind the infamous legend of the nation's first convicted female serial killer.

The Ohio State Reformatory has a century long history of housing thousands of the most dangerous criminals, and the angry ghosts of the past still roam the corridors.

First opened in 1896, the Ohio State Reformatory intended to do what their name implied, to reform young offenders, but eventually came to house the most dangerous criminals in society. Built on a former Civil War camp ravaged by disease, one can only imagine the unease creeping through the cells and down the dark corridors, made famous as the backdrop for the The Shawshank Redemption. The prison grew to hold more than a thousand prisoners, suffering what were described as brutalizing and inhumane conditions. Ghost tour guide Sherri Brake escorts the reader on a tour of the dark and violent history of one of America's most notorious prisons, the spirits of these men still haunting these halls, forever searching for justice... or revenge.

Go inside the story of the battles for Midle Tennessee in late 1862-63 through letters, reports and memoirs.

After the Battle of Perryville in October 1862, the focus of the Civil War in the West shifted back to Tennessee. The Union Army of the Cumberland regrouped in Nashville, while the Confederate Army of Tennessee camped 30 miles away in Murfreesboro. On December 26 the Federals marched southward and fought a three-day brawl at Stones River with their Confederate counterparts. The Confederates withdrew, and both armies spent the winter and spring harassing each other and regrouping for the next round. In the Confederate camp, dissention corroded the army's high command. The critical engagement at Stones River (by percentage of loss the Civil War's bloodiest battle) and the masterful Tullahoma operation will receive detailed attention in this journey through the historic moment in time.

Join author and Waynesboro native Richard G. Williams Jr. as he expertly traces the harrowing narrative of a prelude to the surrender at Appomattox.

In 1865, Waynesboro played host to the last gasp of the Confederate army in the Shenandoah Valley. Although the Battle of Waynesboro isn't among the most recognizable clashes, such as Gettysburg or Antietam, it still holds a special place in American history. The Union forces, led by General Philip Sheridan, included a young brigadier general named George Armstrong Custer. The battle was also the last major conflict for famed Confederate general Jubal Early, whose defeat during the fight spelled the end of his Civil War service.

After months of reverses, the Union army was going on the offensive in the spring of 1862 as General McClellan prepared for his Peninsula Campaign.

In Tennessee, General Grant had just captured Ft. Henry and Ft. Donelson; and in southwestern Missouri, Gen. Samuel R. Curtis had driven Sterling Price and his Missouri State Guard out of the state and into the arms of General Ben McCulloch's Confederate army in northwestern Arkansas. Using the united armies of Price and McCulloch, the new Confederate department commander, Earl Van Dorn, struck back at Curtis' Federal army which was now outnumbered and two hundred miles from its supply base. For two days in early March 1862, the armies of Van Dorn and Curtis fought in the wilds of the Ozark Mountains at a place called Pea Ridge. Control of northern Arkansas and southern Missouri for the rest of the war hung on the outcome.

Immerse yourself in the visual language of the Wabanaki tribe and learn about how the art was---and continues to be--preserved and celebrated.

For centuries, the people of the Wabanaki Nations of the northeastern United States and eastern Canada used signs, symbols and designs to communicate with one another. As Native Peoples became victims of European expansion, the Wabanaki were separated by war, the search for work and intermarriage, as well as by hiding their identities to avoid persecution. In this diaspora, their visual language helped them keep their teachings and culture alive. Their designs have evolved over time and taken on different meanings, and they are now used on objects that are considered art. While their beauty is undeniable, these pieces cannot be fully appreciated without understanding their context. Tribal member Jeanne Morningstar Kent sheds light on this language, from the work of ancient Wabanaki to today's artists--like David Moses Bridges, Donna Sanipass and Jennifer Neptune--once again using their medium to connect with their fellow Wabanaki.

During the winter of 1753, George Washington accepted the first, and potentially most dangerous, mission of his life, at only twenty-one. Through trial and triumph, a man was defined, and a legend was born.

The resulting tale is one of international intrigue and heartbreaking disappointment that set the stage for the French and Indian War and forever changed Washington's destiny. The untried major faced a daunting task and was twice nearly killed, first by a treacherous guide and later as he tried to cross the icy Allegheny River. Using firsthand accounts, including the journals of George Washington himself, historian Brady Crytzer reconstructs the complex world of eighteenth-century Pittsburgh, the native peoples who inhabited it and the empires desperate to control it.

The native tribes collectively known as the Abenaki once thrived along the Granite State's great rivers.

Comprised of the Penacook, Winnipesaukee, Pigwacket, Sokoki, Cowasuck, and Ossipee tribes, influences of these "men of the east'? abound even today, from the boiling of sap for maple syrup to the game of lacrosse, and even traditional corn-and-bean succotash. Historian Bruce Heald has mined, curated, and saved the real story of this land's first people. Learn unwritten laws of hospitality, respect for the aged, honesty, independence and courtesy evident among the Abenaki. Discover celebrations and innovations in the good times, and later, epidemics caused by European diseases, hostilities, and a culture's enduring legacy.