The History Press [new releases]

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.

Untold Stories of the War Between the States

All of South Carolina’s history during the Civil War isn’t well known. Author D. Michael Thomas has uncovered fifty accounts of lost history pertaining to the state and its men during the war. These are stories of astounding chivalry and valor in the face of horrific tragedies, along with unprecedented events. A single South Carolinian captured nearly six hundred Union soldiers.

Lieutenant Alexander Chisolm had an extraordinary career. See the connection between South Carolina College and its Confederate generals. Learn little-known tales about naval operations from the Union and the Confederacy and witness the recovery of the state’s “Gettysburg Dead.” Join the author as he recounts these hidden stories and more.

Dig into the untold stories and lesser-known tales of MoCo.

Washington, D.C.’s next-door neighbor has seen many a politician, militant and Red Line passenger travel within its bounds, but the county’s own, unique history has sometimes been buried. Learn about George Washington’s Dickerson farm and what made one Germantown man take explosive revenge on his neighbor. How has a 105-year-old woman seen her community change over more than a century? Which groundbreaking horror movie filmed many of its iconic scenes around the area?

Author Brian Myers, a Gaithersburg native, has trekked across the county on a mission to record more than thirty chapters of the wildest, most shocking and inspiring stories that Montgomery County has to offer.

A colorful Midwestern city with a colorful past

Eau Claire’s history is a rich tapestry of tragedy, mystery, and everything in between. Time after time, a round-faced man with a bristly mustache appeared amongst loggers in late nineteenth-century photos, but who was this man? In 1903, residents were left stumped when a mysterious body arrived by train from Chicago. Thirty years later, Hollywood came to Eau Claire with a world premiere of Out All Night, a comedy starring Zasu Pitts and Slim Summerville. Facing a labor shortage during World War II, the city welcomed German POWs and often worked side by side with them in the corn and pea fields.

Local authors Jodi Kiffmeyer and Diana Peterson collect the humorous, heart-breaking, and utterly befuddling stories of the city’s past. 

Lake Champlain is one of America’s most historic waterways, but much of its history has remained hidden. With the arrival of Europeans, the lake became a vital route between the English in New England and the French in Quebec.

Its isolated beauty contrasted sharply with the bloody military campaigns that unfolded there. While enormous forts were erected, colonial villages blossomed, and 18th century naturalist Peter Kalm spread the word of its bucolic charm. William Miller attracted large audiences as he preached that the world would end in the 1840s. Valcour Island developed its own commune, and when Prohibition took effect, the towns near the Canadian border became a hotbed of bootlegging.

From presidential visits to shipwrecks, local authors Jason Barney and Christine Eldred chronicle some of the lake’s lesser-known contributions to American history.  

The rural landscape of Henry County, Indiana, offers a bumper crop of captivating stories deeply rooted in history.

John “Snowball” Merida’s towering, crowd-thrilling home runs could have landed him in the Major Leagues were it not for his skin color. Native son Gen. Omar Bundy refused to retreat in World War I. His decision in all probability saved Paris from the Germans. A solitary chimney stack is an oddity in a green landscape, but it was in this spot more than a hundred years ago that a decision changed the course of New Castle history.

Compiling stories of brave veterans and basketball heroes, nationally known catchphrases and political could-have-beens, author and local historian Darrel Radford uncovers lost gems from Henry County’s past.

Author Jeff Suwak guides readers on a tour of the often overlooked and all-but-forgotten components of Amelia Island history .

Beneath the sands and cobblestones of Amelia Island lies a richness of history disproportionate to the location's relatively small size. The bones of this place are composed of pirate treasures literal and metaphorical, remnants of ancient Timucuan Indians, a grim role in the illegal slave trade, tales of bravery and madness, and a scene for the triumph of the human spirit. Eight different flags have flown over Amelia Island. It was an important stage in the 1812 Patriot War, which most people have long forgotten. From Gregor MacGregor to Abraham Lincoln Lewis, characters strange and inspiring have left their mark in this island's psychic currents. Dead in some ways, they're still here in others, etched into the land itself and waiting to be discovered. Let's go find them .

Years ago, when travelers to northern Greenville County asked a local where the Dark Corner was, invariably their reply was, "Just a little further up the road." In those days few people wanted to admit they lived in that much storied and much maligned part of the county known as the Dark Corner. The Dark Corner in those days was legendary for its moonshine, murder and mayhem. This is the story of that well-known region. We travel back to the Dark Corner's earliest days when its only human inhabitants were the Cherokee, and we move into the present where horse farms and multi-million-dollar homes dot the countryside that once contained moonshine stills and cornfields.

Author Billy J. Singleton sets readers on a captivating course through the history of Cotton State aviation.

From the dreamers who envisioned flight decades before the Wright Brothers achieved it at Kitty Hawk to the international space race, Alabama has been at the forefront of aviation. Delve into the obscure and forgotten stories of the state's aeronautical heritage, including an encounter over Montgomery that initiated an investigation by the Air Force, Eleanor Roosevelt's aerial tour of the Tuskegee Institute in a two-seat training aircraft and the miracle of Eastern Flight 002. Recall the lost squadron of Gunter Field, the Alabama pilot recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most experienced aviator in history and the college administration that constructed an airport to obtain a gymnasium .

Brick City Past Revealed

Newark's history is as diverse and powerful as the community that continues to call New Jersey's largest city home. The colonial settlement at Four Corners--the Broad and Market intersection--grew into one of the most heavily traveled thoroughfares in the nation. In the nineteenth century, innovations such as the public use of the electric light bulb in Military Park and the discovery of how to make patent leather established Newark as a flourishing industrial hub. Dramatic events including the battle between Nazi sympathizers and city residents in the 1930s, hearings held by the House Un-American Activities Committee in the 1950s and the event that triggered the infamous 1967 riots, defined a raucous twentieth century in Newark. Today, urban farming can be found in the Ironbound, NBA star Shaquille O'Neal has helped fund the city's first high-rise tower in fifty years and revitalization efforts continue. Author Helen Lippman presents hidden history of Newark, New Jersey.

Author Foxx Nolte gives readers a glimpse behind the curtain of the most magical place on earth.

Millions of people a year visit Walt Disney World, but few would consider it to be a place with any real history. But hidden just below the surface, past the blanket of pixie dust, is a story as vivid and bizarre as any. It is a history of corporate politics, urban planning, crazy ambitions, and failed schemes. The Hidden History of Walt Disney World takes you on a journey that stretches from "Old Florida" to the events that made Walt Disney World what it is today. There's birds made of citrus, horizontal elevators, a ghost town, and tennis ball factories. And that's just the start. Whether you've visited one or one hundred times, your vacation will never be the same again. Yep, the castle is fake. But the stories are not .

Untold stories of Howard County's rich and fascinating past.

First settled in the 17th century when the area was part of Anne Arundel County, early towns formed around grist mills. Nearby quarries and mills shaped Ellicott City before the more well-known impact of the B&O Railroad in the 1830s. Cotton mills flourished, and mill towns like Savage grew. In the 20th century Savage briefly became the Christmas capital of the country. It was also a well-known sundown town. Historically Black communities dealt with battles over education as the state emerged from segregation. Development brought suburban neighborhoods and change to rural areas, and planned communities like Columbia affected Guilford and other surrounding towns. Local authors Nathan Davis and Wayne Davis explore local myths and uncover erased histories.

Tales from North Carolina's high country.

The Toe River winds its way past the peaks of Mount Mitchell and into the valley that bears its name. Mineral mines go back to the earliest days of Yancey County and encouraged some of the first settlers to come to the region. Mitchell County's Bakersville experienced violent unrest, with a riot and a lynching, in 1892--but did it actually happen? The section of the Blue Ridge Parkway that runs through Avery County was left incomplete for years because of a property dispute with the owner of Grandfather Mountain. Take a journey along forgotten rail lines, through abandoned communities and past sites whose histories have shaped this valley's story just as the river has shaped its landscape.

North Carolina historian and author Michael C. Hardy explores the hidden historical gems of the region.

Discover the story behind the Nantucket Civil War Monument, King Alcohol and more in Hidden History of Nantucket.

The celebrated history of Nantucket's great whaling days often overshadows the fascinating changes that took place in the years following. Learn about some named on the Civil War Monument, some left off and some who may not belong. Meet the Cold Water Army of seven hundred schoolchildren who paraded against King Alcohol in hopes that the island would become a temperance oasis. Little remains of the bathing pavilion and water slide of the long-lost town of Coatue that once had big plans for expansion. With surprising facts and captivating tales, authors Frank Morral and Barbara Ann White explore these and other lost accounts of the faraway island.

Remembering the rich past of the Princess City

Mishawaka's history overflows with forgotten stories of people and events that shaped the city and even influenced the nation. The city celebrated one of its most exciting days on July 5, 1909, when thousands watched a massive parade and the dedication of Hotel Mishawaka. A timeless but overlooked photograph captured the patriotism of brave volunteers as they left to fight in World War I on May 10, 1917. The 1926-27 Mishawaka High basketball team made the school's only appearance in the state finals. During the Vietnam War, Talos missiles manufactured in town struck North Vietnam and avenged a captured local pilot.

Author Peter J. De Kever brings to life these and other stories from the Mishawaka of yesteryear.

Join authors Brenna and T.C. Michaels as they explore Savannah's long, wide and very often hidden history.

Savannah has repeatedly stood on the edge of ruin, brought to its knees by bloody battles, mysterious pestilence, fire, unforgiving weather and the drums of war. Men and women whose names echo in history once walked its streets. Countless other faces are seemingly forgotten, names that history held in looser grip - like Mary Musgrove, the colonial translator and entrepreneur, or Dr. Samuel Nunes, shipwrecked by chance on Savannah's coastal shores just in time to curb a deadly epidemic and save Savannah's first settlers. And then there's John Geary, the larger-than-life Union general who beat Sherman's march south to the sea.

Flint is a city full of legacies overshadowed by tragedy. Read the stories of the innovations and surprising elements of the city's past.

In the shadow of Flint's success as an industrial hub and the tragedy that is the water crisis that came to a head in 2014, the fascinating past of Flint has been largely forgotten. Local author Gary Flinn showcases the obscure and surprising elements of the Vehicle City's past, such as local Civil War hero Franklin Thompson who was actually Sarah Edmonds in disguise; the city's most prolific inventor, Lloyd Copeman, created the electric stove, flexible ice cube tray and automatic toaster; and even Thread Lake's Lakeside Amusement Park that offered seaplane rides and a giant roller coaster partly built over the water before closing in 1931. Flinn offers the reader the often-overlooked but fascinating history of Flint, including how the 2014 water crisis was a half century in the making.

Greenwich in the seventeenth century was a lost world with tythingmen and meeting warners, wild horse hunters, herdsmen, townsmen, pounders and planters.

Faced with an ever-changing environment, citizens set many new-world boundaries. Farmers created common fields along the coast and redesigned wilderness. They balanced religious and civic authority, private and common interests and financial inequities across communities. The first comers found it more challenging to please their own than it was to please their God. Their departure from the past fashioned an idealized, yet still imperfect, new society the Puritans proudly called the Greenwich Plantation. Author Missy Wolfe details the strategies and setbacks of creating community in colonial America's First Period.

Over fifty thousand Connecticut soldiers served in the Union army during the Civil War, yet their stories are nearly forgotten today.

Among the regiments that served, at least forty sets of brothers perished from battlefield wounds or disease. Little known is the 16th Connecticut chaplain who, as prisoner of war, boldly disregarded a Rebel commander's order forbidding him to pray aloud for President Lincoln. Then there is the story of the 7th Connecticut private who murdered a fellow soldier in the heat of battle and believed the man's ghost returned to torment him. Seven soldiers from Connecticut tragically drowned two weeks after the war officially ended when their ship collided with another vessel on the Potomac. Join author John Banks as he shines a light on many of these forgotten Connecticut Yankees.

The history of Jackson County, Michigan, brims with colorful characters and noteworthy episodes nearly lost to time.

Jackson abolitionists used their barns, houses and hidden compartments to harbor freedom seekers traveling on the Underground Railroad. One even repelled an armed posse from Kentucky. A prominent druggist murdered his mother in 1889 and a jail guard in 1893.Evidence suggests he murdered his father too. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt traveled to Brown's Lake for relaxation in 1935, but a media mob had other plans. A popular Blackman Township roadhouse has a longstanding tradition of entertaining pioneers, stagecoach drivers and mobsters, but its secret guests are even stranger.

Join local historian Linda Hass as she delves into these and other entertaining and often-overlooked stories.

City historian Will Michaels explores a wide swath of hidden history in one of Florida's largest cities.

Florida is one of the most visited places in the world, and one of its most visited cities is St. Petersburg. But there's a lot more to the "Sunshine City" than pristine beaches. During his travels to sunny St. Pete, James Brown discovered local jazz artist LeRoy Flemmings Jr. Doc Webb's World's Most Unusual Drug Store attracted customers and spectators from afar. Babe Ruth's longest home run ever was launched from the city. William Straub had a great vision for the area's treasured waterfront park system, and the historic Vinoy Hotel was instrumental in launching the downtown renaissance.

Beyond the grand facades and trappings of the Main Line cream-and-crystal crowd are hidden tales and scintillating stories.

Author Mark Dixon's collection of articles from Main Line Today explores the region's offbeat and oft-forgotten history. With a keen eye and a touch of humor, Dixon delves into the Welsh origins of nearly unpronounceable towns and the journey of the Sound of Music's Trapp family to Merion. From anecdotes of the socialite who divorced her husband when he had the gall to survive the sinking of the Titanic to the Wayne native who turned from the convent to a career as an internationally renowned opera star, Dixon brings to light the lost pages of Main Line history.

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.

Local author Barbara Glakas uses rare photographs and firsthand accounts to tell little-known stories of the people, places and events that shaped the history of the Town of Herndon.

A mysterious stranger who passed through the village one night suggested the name Herndon, after the captain of a sunken ship. The Civil War split loyalties among the townspeople and brought an unexpected Confederate raid on the town. Prohibition brought bootleggers with it, but its repeal caused an uproar from temperance-minded residents. Lively community fairs were ever present in the 1920s, but so was the Ku Klux Klan. Behind Herndon's past as a sleepy farming community hide forgotten tales of growth and progress.