Local History

What began as the obscure local case of two Italian immigrant anarchists accused of robbery and murder flared into an unprecedented political and legal scandal as the perception grew that their conviction was a judicial travesty and their execution a political murder. This book is the first to reveal the full national and international scope of the Sacco-Vanzetti affair, uncovering how and why the two men became the center of a global cause célèbre that shook public opinion and transformed America’s relationship with the world.

When a black man was accused of attacking a white woman in a rural Florida town, a tinderbox of racial hatred was ignited. On New Year's Day 1923, Rosewood, a town of hard-working, middle-class African Americans, was burned to the ground by an angry mob of whites. After hiding in frigid nearby swamps for days, the few survivors never returned.

This comprehensive account of California’s numerous and perilous natural disasters explores how a unique combination of forces has affected Californians throughout the state's history and carries a sobering message about our short disaster memories. California has more natural hazards per square mile than any other state, but this hasn’t deterred people from moving here. Entire California towns and regions frequently contend with destruction caused by earthquakes, floods, landslides and debris flows, and sea-level rise and coastal erosion.

When both levees and governments failed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, an organization calling itself the Common Ground Collective formed to become the largest anarchist inspired organization in modern US history. In solidarity with people in New Orleans, Common Ground built medical clinics, distributed aid, formed neighborhood assemblies and created food security through community gardens. The group also defied unjust laws by resisting home demolitions, and defended communities from white militias and police brutality.

When gold was first discovered on the American River above Sutter's Fort in January 1848, California was sparsely populated frontier territory not yet ceded to the United States from Mexixo. The discovery triggered a massive influx as hundreds of thousands of people scrambled to California in search of riches, braving dangerous journeys across the Pacific, around Cape Horn, and through the Isthmus of Panama, as well as across America's vast, unsettled wilderness. Cities sprang up overnight, in response to the demand for supplies and services of all kinds.

What brought the author's family to Texas? What is it about Texas that for centuries has exerted a powerful allure for adventurers and scoundrels, dreamers and desperate souls, outlaws and outliers? In search of answers, Hodge travels across his home state - which he loves and hates in shifting measure - tracing the wanderings of his ancestors into forgotten histories along vanished roads. Here is an unsentimental, keenly insightful attempt to grapple with all that makes Texas so magical, punishing, and polarizing.

For John Nance “Cactus Jack” Garner, there was one simple rule in politics: “You’ve got to bloody your knuckles.” It’s a maxim that applies in so many ways to the state of Texas, where the struggle for power has often unfolded through underhanded politicking, backroom dealings, and, quite literally, bloodshed. The contentious history of Texas politics has been shaped by dangerous and often violent events, and been formed not just in the halls of power but by marginalized voices omitted from the official narratives.

This new History of Selby traces the story of the town from prehistoric times to the foundation of the monastery and the great abbey church which still dominates the town. The story continues through the bloody battle of the civil war to the boom times of the Victorian era with its canals, bridges and railways, down to our own day. Patricia Scott was born in Eccles, Lancashire, and was educated at the grammar school there. She trained as a primary school teacher at Cheshire County Training College, Crewe, before marrying and moving to Yorkshire. Patricia taught at schools in Leeds and North...

Miami was never a town, not even a village; it sprang to life out of the tropical wilderness, as a fully formed magical city. London, Paris, and Rome are just three of the world’s cities that are crammed full of history; events, personalities, stories that never fail to fascinate and entertain. But they have had two-thousand years to evolve those stories. Miami is barely one-hundred years old but is already as full of history as any place else on the planet.

The California revealed here is not the stereotypical land of movie stars, sensational trials, or tourist snapshots, but instead a remarkable patchwork of out-of-the-way places and everyday people. Former Los Angeles Times columnist Charles Hillinger hones in on what makes each county unique, such as Johnny Heinold's First and Last Chance tavern in Alameda County where Jack London first began writing his stories.

Learn about the bomb blast that rocked the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church on Sunday morning, September 15, 1963, killing four young girls.

Educated in Amherst, Massachusetts, Louise Amelia Knapp Smith Clappe (1819-1906) accompanied her physician-husband to California in 1849. The Shirley Letters (1922) is the book edition of a series of letters written by Mrs. Clappe to her sister in 1851 and 1852. They were first published under the pseudonym of Dame Shirley in the Pioneer magazine, 1854-55. In these letters, Louise Clappe writes of life in San Francisco and the Feather River mining communities of Rich Bar and Indian Bar.

When Kristin L. Hoganson arrived in Champaign, Illinois, after teaching at Harvard, studying at Yale, and living in the DC metro area with various stints overseas, she expected to find her new home, well, isolated. Even provincial. After all, she had landed in the American heartland, a place where the nation's identity exists in its pristine form. Or so we have been taught to believe.

In old age, Charlie Siringo was called "Ulysses of the Wild West" for the long journey he took across the western frontier. Son of the Old West brings him and his legendary world vividly to life.

Pickering has a long, continuous history, reaching back to prehistoric times. This new book traces the story of the town down the ages from prehistoric times to Saxon village, the coming of the Normans and the building of the castle to modern times when the town's economy changed from serving farming to light industry and tourism. This full colour book will delight tourists and young people and anyone wanting a brief but authoritative history of Pickering.

When King George VI visited York in 1923 he procalimed that, 'The history of York is the history of England'. This book outlines the continuity of the city's 2000 years of history from Roman to modern times and shows how with public planning and private initiative a city can reform and rejuvenate itself to the benefit of resident and visitor. Alan Avery was educated in Hull and at King's College London. He has written widely on the history of Yorkshire and is the author of other books in the series including 'The Story of Hull' and 'The Story of Bradford'.

A Year of Indiana History Stories Book 1 includes three hundred and sixty-six stories of Indiana history. Written in a this day in history format, this journal is ideal for kids and adults alike. Children will especially benefit as they can learn history local to Indiana by reading one story a day for a year.

Brian Phillips Murphy follows the collaborations between political leaders and a group of unelected political entrepreneurs, including Robert R. Livingston and Alexander Hamilton, who persuaded legislative powers to grant monopolies corporate status in order to finance and manage civic institutions.

Dear Traveler, Welcome to the WanderStories™ History of Rome. Rome – the Eternal City – was according to legend founded in 753 B.C.E. by two twin brothers – Romulus and Remus. The history of Rome is that of wars and struggles for power, of magnificent buildings and feats of engineering. Some sights that you see today are well over two thousand years old and yet they are still standing, bringing the magnificent history of the city’s past to life. Throughout its long history Rome has always been a center of power, culture, and religion. Today, it has an immensely rich historical ...

Dear Traveler, Welcome to the WanderStories™ History of Beijing. Beijing is the capital of the world’s largest nation and one of the most populous cities on earth. Its history is as complex or as simple as you might like it to be. The first mention of Beijing as a city is in records from the Zhou dynasty in the 11th century B.C.E. And there’s no doubt that three thousand years that have passed since then have given the Chinese people plenty of time to shape one of the most unique cities on earth. There is only one thing to do now – visit! We, at WanderStories™, are storytellers. ...