New Hampshire

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.

Famous for its dominance in textile production, Manchester was also affectionately called "Shoe City." More than seventy different shoe companies once called Manchester home, and thousands of area residents worked tirelessly to produce some of the best-known shoes in America and throughout the world. The largest manufacturers were the F.M. Hoyt Shoe Company, maker of Beacon Shoes, and the granddaddy of them all, the McElwain Company, known for its popular brands, including the iconic Thom McAn shoes. Authors Kelly Kilcrease and Yvette Lazdowski reveal how these and other Manchester-based shoe shops were vital to the area's economic and employment prosperity, especially among the immigrant population, as well as how the McElwain Company was an integral part of the Melville Corporation, known today as CVS.

In the history of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, countless women rose above a rigid society to make their marks on the seaport city. In the eighteenth century, Allice Shannon Hight became a successful tavern keeper, outliving two husbands and providing for ten children. Others flourished in more scandalous ventures, like Alta Roberts, otherwise known as the Black Mystery of Portsmouth--always donned in black, she operated a successful brothel at the Roberts House Saloon in the nineteenth century. Even greater achievements would come in later years from the likes of Mary Carey Dondero, who became one of the first women elected mayor in New England. This collection of essays, compiled by author and historian Laura Pope, celebrates the victories--large and small--of Portsmouth's notable women.