The History Press [new releases]

The Life of a Trailblazer

Matilda Arabella Evans was born four years after the abolition of slavery and raised on a family farm in eastern Aiken County. She was the first African American woman in South Carolina to obtain a medical license and fervently championed better healthcare for African Americans, with a particular focus on children. Her early life experiences, academic accomplishments, strong religious beliefs and innovative medical approaches made her a crucial figure in enhancing healthcare accessibility for families in South Carolina, especially during the difficult era of racial segregation, when she also served as a civic advocate to uplift her local community. Authors Dr. Walter B. Curry, Beverly Aiken Muhammad and Anusha Ghosh reveal the inspirational story of Dr. Evans and her remarkable journey throughout her career.

Since the 1930s, two valleys nestled amid California’s High Sierra peaks have enraptured explorers, skiers and winter sport enthusiasts worldwide.

Olympic Valley made a name for itself as the host of the 1960 Winter Olympics. Meanwhile, just over a high ridge, Alpine Meadows was developed by devoted local skiers and Bay Area families. In spite of avalanches, fires, floods, public opinion and the whims of mountain weather, determined entrepreneurs Wayne Poulsen, John Reily and Alex Cushing persevered to lay the foundation for two ski resorts, now known collectively as Palisades Tahoe.

In this updated edition, local award-winning author and ski historian Eddy Ancinas shares tales of the colorful characters whose exploits and imagination contributed to the unique history of these two valleys. 

Explore and Learn LFK

Lawrence was founded in 1854 by the New England Emigrant Aid Company, and it has a bevy of historical locations for visitors. Downtown’s infamous Mass Street was nearly destroyed twice by warmongering guerrillas like William Quantrill. It was central to the era of John Brown and Bleeding Kansas and the site of the Wakarusa War. From famous beat writer William Burroughs to poet Langston Hughes, vaudeville actor George “Nash” Walker and basketball inventor James Naismith, the city has been home to a great slice of American historical figures and events. Uncover some familiar landmarks as well as some hidden gems as Tristan Smith, with the help of the Watkins Community Museum, takes readers through Lawrence’s unique landscape.

Author Christopher A. Kennedy shares the story of the Voice of the Bulldogs. Dave Nitz was the voice of Louisiana Tech University sports for half a century, his distinctive voice emanating from Tech fans’ radios. A West Virginia native, Nitz dreamed of broadcasting in the big leagues. Little did he know that his Hall of Fame broadcasting career would take him to Ruston, Louisiana. Along the way, Nitz worked with country music icon Tom T. Hall in West Virginia and covered William & Mary University football under Lou Holtz. At Tech, Nitz gave voice to the basketball greatness of Karl “The Mailman” Malone and the national champion Lady Techsters. He called gridiron action from Maxie Lambright through unforgettable upsets of Alabama and Michigan State. Author Christopher A. Kennedy shares the story of the Voice of the Bulldogs. As Nitz would say, “You gotta love it!”

Authors David Meyers and Elise Meyers Walker separate fact from fiction in the story of Ohio’s Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was a macabre sort of dance between good and evil in which each side was trying to steal away the other’s partner. However, in the upside-down-world of pre-Civil War America, the law was firmly on the side of evil and the dance often ended in death. It was a time when the newly formed country was deeply divided on the question of slavery and its fate hung in the balance. Just how long could a house divided against itself be expected to stand?

Bomber Mountain's Namesake Tragedy

June 1943 saw forty-one heavy bombers lost within the continental United States, including a B-17 that went missing over Wyoming late during the night of June 28. That aircraft had ten young men on board destined for World War II. They had been ordered overseas to participate in the intense and constant bombing raids being conducted in Europe, but they never made it out of America. Two years later, area cowboys discovered the wreckage strewn across an otherwise picturesque landscape. U.S. Air Corps Captain Kenneth G. Hamm noted in his personal diary, “The plane was so completely demolished that we were almost on top of it before we saw it.” Author Sylvia A. Bruner shares the stories of the men who lost their lives deep in the Bighorn Mountains and recounts the events of the crash, search and U.S. Air Corps accident investigation.

“Ninety percent of [what] was written about me is bullshit”

Isadore Blumenfeld, aka Kid Cann, came to Minnesota as a toddler when his family emigrated from Romania. In Prohibition-era Minneapolis, a city of vast wealth inequality and vicious antisemitism, young Isadore rose from impoverished newsboy to millionaire. Kid Cann’s ruthless determination, growing organized crime network and willingness to commit wanton violence ignited his meteoric ascent. He got away with innumerable crimes over four decades before a series of relatively minor offenses brought him down. Although ravaged by stress and stripped of his social stature, the infamous gangster earned a place in the folklore of Minnesota. Historian Ron de Beaulieu recounts the saga of the state’s most notorious crime boss.

Decades of Powerful Contributions

Women in Nebraska have been homesteaders, temperance and suffrage crusaders, civil rights activists, philanthropists, journalists, educators, artists, writers and entrepreneurs. Dr. Susan LaFlesche Picotte was the first Native American woman doctor in the United States. Mildred Brown operated the longest-running African American newspaper in the state. Russian immigrant Rose Blumkin built the largest furniture store in America. Journalist and reformer Harriet MacMurphy leveraged the power of Women’s Clubs to bring about food safety laws and became the first state food inspector in Nebraska. Andrea M. Riley shares the stories of these indomitable, pioneering women in Nebraska’s history so that they may be remembered and celebrated.

A beloved watchmaker, a reluctant politician and a legendary Texas Ranger.

The legacy of Burnet County rises from a solid prehistoric batholith of pink granite that built the state capitol, established an industry and is still being quarried. The natural beauty and resources of the region drew the attention of politicians on the path to power, including a U.S. president whose influence built the dams that electrified rural Central Texas. As communities modernized, its citizens made history, electing the first female mayor in the state before women could even vote.

Author Suzanne Freeman, whose own roots sink deep into the rocky soil of Burnet County, chronicles the remarkable people, both famous and forgotten, who shaped the county and the Lone Star State.

Taming a Tumultuous Territory

Hollywood westerns of the twentieth century brought a history of raucous frontier justice to life, but 1800s Colorado was anything but fiction. Bandits held up the Denver and Rio Grande train at Unaweep Switch, while another gang stole $50,000 from the express car at Cotopaxi. “The Bloody Espinosas,” who left mutilated bodies along lonely mountain trails, terrorized southern Colorado. The Reynolds Gang held up South Park stagecoaches, while Tom McCarty and Matt Warner robbed banks. These unruly times demanded a society where the law prevailed. Dave Cook started the Rocky Mountain Detective Association and improved crime fighting methods. Tom Tobin tracked down two serial killers using his wilderness skills. Doc Shores, who always got his man, earned his nickname, “the Bloodhound.” Author Nancy K. Williams hunts down the good, the bad and the ugly characters who color Colorado’s past.

Malice, Menace and Mendacity

The cast of characters coloring the Black Hills’ raucous past has inspired memorable Hollywood productions. Al Swearengen, “Wild Bill” Hickok and Calamity Jane have become celebrities, but many of the most malevolent moments did not produce household names. One of the more bizarre and unsolved murders was the Chinatown killing of a beautiful and rich woman named Di Lee. In 1894, Lakota Sioux warrior Chief Two Sticks was hanged for his band’s involvement in the brutal slayings of several cowboys and a few policemen at the Isaac Humphrey Ranch. Swearengen’s Gem Theater often played host to violence involving prostitutes, performers and patrons. Soiled dove Kitty Clyde was the victim of her spurned lover Charles Wilson, while “Banjo Dick” murdered his lover’s ex-husband in supposed self-defense. Author Deborah Cuyle combed local archives to tell the unvarnished accounts of Deadwood’s most daring and dastardly denizens.

Along the Indiana border in Southwest Michigan lies Cass County, a place rich in historical significance.

Nearly one thousand freedom seekers traveled through the area on their way to Canada. The first rendition of “The Old Rugged Cross” was sung in a local church before it became one of the best-loved gospel hymns in America. The first stop on the Orphan Train, which moved street orphans from New York City to homes across the Midwest, was in Dowagiac, and the invention of Kitty Litter by local Edward Lowe allowed cat lovers the world over to finally bring their furry friends in from the cold.

Author Rose Mary Wood commemorates the events and individuals who left their mark on Cass County and the world.

There is nothing funnier to a Bay Stater than hearing those from out of town trying to pronounce tongue-twister town names. Leo-Minster? Who’s Leo? Quin-zee? There’s no Z in there! As it turns out, these towns with funny names are full of wonderful, surprisingly untold stories. Some are hilarious: a landlocked sailing-themed amusement park run by a man who built himself a house that looks exactly like a boat. Some are inspiring: a city’s outpouring of support for enslaved people fighting for their freedom. Others are simply delightful: two women rejecting oppressive Victorian social standards and embarking on a joyful, long-distance adventure.

Local author Amanda Rotondo offers this amusing collection of place names and stories, providing a window into the worlds of the fascinating people who helped make these towns the unique places they are today.

A Tumultuous Time in Kansas

Both before and during the American Civil War, ragtag groups of Kansas militants patrolled the Kansas-Missouri border. Known as “Jayhawkers” and later “Red Legs,” they raided anyone they believed sympathetic to secession. For many in the state, these irregular warriors were heroes fighting for a Free Kansas and preservation of the Union; for their victims, these men were little more than opportunistic thieves. James Montgomery teamed up with Harriet Tubman to lead the Combahee River Raid, an audacious mission in South Carolina that liberated more than 750 slaves. George H. Hoyt, who once defended famed abolitionist John Brown, became a leader of a contentious group of pro-Union partisans known as the “Red Legs.” Authors Paul A. Thomas and Matt M. Matthews seek to answer the question of who these men were.

Massachusetts played a pivotal role during the Cold War era. In 1957, the Strategic Air Command established the Notch Bunker, a three-story hardened facility built into the Holyoke Mountain Range near Westover Air Force Base. The state led the nation with a groundbreaking $3 million underground Emergency Operations Center in Framingham, dedicated on November 16, 1963, designed to run state government post-nuclear blast, capable of withstanding a twenty-megaton missile explosion within three miles. In 1964, AT&T constructed a forty-thousand-square-foot underground bunker in Chesterfield, built for both military and civilian purposes, intended to resist nuclear, biological and chemical attacks. By 1966, there were a total of 6,623 fallout shelters in Massachusetts.

Utilizing vintage photographs and maps, local author Joshua Shanley explores the state’s bunkers, bases and missile silos and their impact on current emergency planning.

Huge Moments in Florida History

When Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León landed in Florida in 1513, the world was changed forever. Florida has been an influential center for many important historic events, including clashes of European empires, Indian wars, civil rights struggles and the Cold War–era space race to the moon. Other remarkable, lesser-known historic episodes include the Matanzas Massacre, the Land Boom and Bust of the 1920s and several major election issues. These incidents not only shaped the state, they also influenced the development and helped structure the identity of the entire nation. Author Randy Jaye leads readers through an exciting journey spanning more than five hundred years of Florida’s history.

Warfare in the Wilderness

Few images reflect the character of hardy New Englanders like that of the eighteenth-century colonial ranger. Rugged characters such as Robert Rogers, Israel Putnam and John Stark spent much of their lives carving a living out of the harsh wilderness of the region, while later proving themselves in battle against seasoned Abenaki warriors. The Wright and Porter families fought throughout western New England, from skirmishes in Charlestown, New Hampshire, to climactic battles on Lake Champlain and Lake George. From the bloody King Philip’s War battlefields of Massachusetts to the fight for the wilderness of New Hampshire and Vermont, author Anthony Blasi explores the journey from frightened homesteader to toughened wilderness warrior.

A contest between grassroots activism and corporate greed

In one of the great political and economic movements of the nineteenth century, a fraternal organization of Midwest farmers permanently changed the trajectory of American railroads. When rising shipping rates threatened their ability to get their crops to market, these small farmers banded together to form the National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry. Deftly handling the levers of power in their clash with robber barons, the organization’s pattern of regulation all but controlled the development of national rail policies for more than a century.

Historian Daniel Faas details the history of the Grange Movement and its role in shaping the Midwest and the modern American rail system.

History Beyond Kitty Hawk

Millions of North Carolina license plates affirm the state’s claim of “First in Flight,” honoring the December 1903 accomplishment of the Wright brothers on the Outer Banks. Yet the history of aviation in North Carolina goes well beyond that first powered flight at Kitty Hawk. Numerous aviation inventors and innovators called the state home. North Carolina airports hosted legendary fliers like Charles Lindbergh, Eddie Rickenbacker and Amelia Earhart. During World War II, aviators trained at several military bases and flew patrols along the coast seeking enemy submarines. The state produced its own airlines, like Piedmont Airlines and Wheeler Airlines, and various sites across the state played aviation-related roles in the Cold War and the Space Race. Michael C. Hardy details the storied history of North Carolina in flight.

Forgotten Fighters and Unknown Exploits

More than twenty thousand Hispanic Americans served in the Civil War. When Cuban-born Loreta Janeta Velázquez’s husband would not allow her to join him on the battlefield, she assumed the role of First Lieutenant Harry T. Buford to be near him. Philip Bazaar, born in Chile, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his courageous exploits during the assault of Fort Fisher. The spying efforts of Floridian Maria Dolores “Lola” Sánchez and her two sisters led to a Union defeat at the Battle of Horse Landing. Union Admiral David Farragut, of Spanish descent, was not only the navy’s first admiral, but he was also the man who uttered the famous phrase, “Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.”

Delving into the lives of these figures and more, A.J. Schenkman uncovers this often-overlooked aspect of Civil War history.

Authors Ryan Starrett and Josh Foreman uncover all-but-forgotten elements of Vicksburg history.

Vicksburg had an especially inauspicious start when its inhabitants were massacred by locals. The generation of the city’s official founding beheld vigilantes, duelists and an early incel roaming its streets. Citizens experienced the horrors of war: hunger, diarrhea and death. About 150 years later, their descendants hid in fear from a deranged killer on the loose. In between, the city overloaded a steamboat with recently released POWs and contributed to the greatest maritime disaster in U.S. history. In the midst of war and suffering, an intrepid group of religious sisters worked to educate and nurse their fellow people. An immigrant family from Germany established a bottling empire that made them the embodiment of the American dream. Join authors Josh Foreman and Ryan Starrett as they explore the land and people who make Vicksburg one of the South’s most visited and recognizable cities.

Author Larry Humes traces the events and characters that put Venice on the proverbial map. Venice is certainly not among the oldest cities in Florida. The fact that it even survived its rocky beginning is nothing short of remarkable. But it was luck and persistence that transformed the little City on the Gulf into one of Florida’s most sought-after destinations. Venice wouldn’t be what it is today without the Kentucky military school that saved the town from bankruptcy and the construction of an army air base that helped America win World War II while increasing the local population tenfold. And don’t forget the “Greatest Show on Earth,” which called Venice home for more than three decades.

Schuylkill County is no stranger to disaster.

Schuylkill County is no stranger to disaster. Protected by volunteers since 1811, residents have faced block-burning conflagrations like the Great Memorial Day Fire of 1945, which consumed sixty-seven buildings in the Mahanoy City Business District, and commercial airplane crashes like United Flight 624 near Ashland, with no survivors. The Red Church propane truck explosion near Orwigsburg caused twelve fatalities, and the Reading Railroad passenger train collision with a gasoline truck in Port Carbon sparked death and destruction, as well as a frantic search for burning money.

Telling these stories with the help of rare and many never-before-seen images, authors and veteran firefighters Michael R. Glore and Michael J. Kitsock revisit some of the region’s most harrowing catastrophes.

The Territory That Built Two States  

The Mississippi Territory existed as a political entity for nearly two decades. It stretched from the Tennessee border southward to the Gulf of Mexico and was bounded on the east by the state of Georgia and the west by the mighty Mississippi River. This enormous swath of America’s southwestern frontier in 1817 was divided into the state of Mississippi and the Alabama Territory. Two years later, Alabama entered the Union as a state. Between 1798 and 1817, the territory transitioned from a sparsely inhabited backwoods frontier to a thriving and dynamic centerpiece in one of the fastest-developing regions of the country. Mike Bunn and Clay Williams chronicle that story in a richly illustrated introduction and guide to discovery of this pivotal era. 

Author Christopher P. Semtner takes readers inside the homes of Edgar Allan Poe. Edgar Allan Poe’s terror tales and melancholy poetry carved a bold new path across literary genres. Meet the man behind the madness, murder and mayhem on this road trip to Poe’s homes in Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, the Bronx and more. Along the way, meet the grave robbers, murderers and tooth thieves who inspired his greatest horror stories. Learn the secret histories of these Poe places to find out which was owned by a man who kept Poe’s wife’s bones in a box under his bed, which might be haunted by Poe’s ghost, which has the best basement for hiding corpses and which stood across the street from an anatomy lab.

Baseball has long been synonymous with Kansas. Go back to the late 1800s and the birth of Walter Johnson and George Sweatt, Humboldt kids who played baseball at the highest level but in different leagues due to racism. Learn about the sixteen-year-old signed by the Kansas City Athletics, who left the University of Kansas campus to play his first game at Municipal Stadium the next day. Read about pioneers in the game named Joyce, Katie and Alex, determined and talented women who are part of our national pastime. Author Michael Travis shares his love for the game, rounding the bases from its beginnings in Wichita with League 42 to the Major Leagues.

The Dark Side of Durham

Explore the dark side of the Bull City. If the red brick walls that once held tobacco warehouses and textile mills could talk, they would tell the tale of how the crossroads settlement of Pin Hook turned into the vibrant city of Durham in the Piedmont of North Carolina. Since its genesis, Durham has been a city where crime was woven into the very fabric of its existence. Over the years, there have been many murders, robberies and shootouts on the streets, in the alleys and on the outskirts of town. Some crimes have caught the attention of the entire nation, but most have remained just in the conscience of the locals. Local historian Rick Jackson narrates the mysteries of one of North Carolina's most important cities.

A Highway Runs Through It

When U.S. Highway 29 between Greenville and Spartanburg was completed in 1946, it became the first modern super highway in the Upstate region. Known by many as the Super Highway, it was lauded as the “finest type in the country.” Although it is technically a north–south highway, it takes a meandering course across piedmont ridges, adding side roads and economic development. The businesses that grew along the corridor created a new landscape for the region. J. Harley Bonds was a longtime furniture store owner who helped desegregate Greer High School. W.O. Ezell helped beautify Spartanburg with his landscaping. Authors William “Lynn” Duncan and Scott Withrow explore the fascinating history of this well-traveled Upstate highway.

This popular history, recipe and wine pairing book has been fully revised, enhanced and updated. Dive deeper into the traditional cooking and culture of the Haudenosaunee—the first people of the Finger Lakes region. Learn how this unique region was once teeming with salmon and why they no longer breed here. Uncover the speakeasy culture that prospered during Prohibition. Local author, sommelier and educator Laura Winter Falk reveals new regional chefs and their creative takes on period recipes, as well as the tremendous growth in the area’s wine and craft beverages movement. With more excellent producers, restaurants and markets committed to showcasing the bounty of the region, there has never been a better time to discover the unique flavor of the Finger Lakes.

Author Jim Cullen shares tales of the ruddy trailblazers who grappled and persevered during nation-shaping moments in the Garden State. New Jersey sits at the intersection of the most important developments in American history, from the fight for freedom to the rise of the United States as a global power. At each critical moment, key figures came forward. These profiles of important Americans—some natives of the Garden State, some not—focus on key episodes that took place here but echoed broadly. From George Washington to Thomas Edison and Whitney Houston, these men and women crisscross politics, business, religion, social activism, science and entertainment, and their critical encounters took place in cities and towns across the state.

A sad and shocking story of love betrayed

The murder of Bessie Little and the trial of her murderer rocked Victorian Dayton. Believing herself pregnant and desperate to save her reputation, young Bessie tried to force her boyfriend, Albert Frantz, to marry her quickly. Instead, he took her out for a buggy ride, shot her twice in the head and dumped her body in the river. When she was discovered, he tried to convince everyone that she committed suicide. The dramatic trial brought to light details of Bessie and Albert’s secret trysts, and Albert’s sanity became a point of contention.

In her third historical book about Dayton, Sara Kaushal delves into a tale of scandal and betrayal to discover the truth.

Victorian Era Treasures

Once the center of bolt manufacturing in the United States, Southington has been affectionately called Connecticut’s “City of Progress.” At the center of this progress was Amon Bradley, an industrialist and philanthropist whose family legacy remains intact inside the Barnes Museum. Beginning as a six-room Greek Revival–style home, the Barnes Museum was built in 1836 for Amon and Sylvia Bradley and was lived in by the family for 136 years. The opulent seventeen-room homestead remains fully staged with the family’s impressive collection of Victorian antiques and more than one thousand pressed-glass goblets. Author and museum curator Christina Volpe reveals their unique collection of Civil War letters, family diaries, photographs and other historic treasures.

Uniquely New Hampshire

New Hampshire has always been fiercely independent, and its history, museums and festivals reflect that trait. Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe broke baseball’s color barrier with the Nashua Dodgers in 1946, and Holman Stadium is now a stop on the Black Heritage Trail. Three of the state’s historic mansions—the Fells, the Castle in the Clouds and the Saint-Gaudens historic site—remain as impressive today as when they were built. Portsmouth’s historic homes give a portrait of life in colonial and Revolutionary times. From the New England Telephone Museum in Warner to the Exeter UFO Festival, the state has a wealth of history on display.

Kathleen D. Bailey and Sheila R. Bailey lead a trip through the past and present of the Granite State’s most memorable sites.

Milwaukee is full of weird borders, streets that do not line up right, creepy cemeteries and other curious things.

Many locals have heard about the crooked bridges downtown, the sewer Socialists and the attempt on Teddy Roosevelt’s life. Not as many know about the time Josette Juneau saved Milwaukee, the city’s link to The Exorcist or its ghost towns like Oakwood, Saint Martin’s and Root Creek. And yes, a lion really lived inside the library. Employees used bowling balls to play fetch with it.

Milwaukee-based historian James Nelsen shares joyous and amazing stories of the Cream City’s strange history.

Cold Case Clues

On May 21, 1932, Arthur Oker, a mild-mannered Finnish tailor, was brutally murdered in his shop in the small seaside town of Rockport, Massachusetts.

While this unsolved crime terrified local residents, their fears increased after another horrifying murder, that of Swedish immigrant and fellow churchgoer Augusta Johnson in her home on Halloween night in 1933. Following the crimes, authorities searched every house and building in Rockport, and some 2,500 households were interviewed. A reward was posted, a mystic volunteered her services and local children wearing badges provided by a breakfast cereal company joined in the search. However, the crimes went unsolved. Local authors Robert Fitzgibbon and Wayne Soini reveal long-lost details about the crime, the investigation and a surprise suspect from the state police archives.