Local history Books

Hermon describes his life in the Union Army with quiet humor and an eye for telling detail, and unconsciously records his own maturing. The authors provide the historical framework both for Hermon's action in the war and for his life "back home in Oneida...

Hermon describes his life in the Union Army with quiet humor and an eye for telling detail, and unconsciously records his own maturing. The authors provide the historical framework both for Hermon's action in the war and for his life "back home in Oneida...

The first woman to serve in both houses of the New Mexico legislature, Pauline Eisenstadt has witnessed many exciting moments in the state's political history and made much of that history herself. Her memoir takes readers to the floors of the House and...

Twenty years ago, Hurricane Katrina sent a storm surge into the Gulf of Mexico. When the levee system surrounding metropolitan New Orleans collapsed, hundreds of people died, tens of thousands of people lost their homes, and years of suffering and...

People have always told the story of the queer South. Still, both silenced and emerging stories of the queer South remain to be told. In a region (and nation) where ideological battles over family life, gender, and sexual politics continue to unfold, the...

It's been thirty years since Andre "3000" Benjamin declared "the South got something to say," and for the decades since this pivotal moment the region has spoken. In this issue, we contextualize Benjamin's interruption and expand southern hip-hop's...

Inspired by the horrors of the Greensboro Massacre, Cris South penned Clenched Fists, Burning Crosses as part of the noted Feminary collective. The book, a thinly fictionalized representation of her own life and activism, centers on Jessie, a...

More than three hundred Latter-day Saint settlements were founded by LDS Church President Brigham Young. Colonization-often outside of Utah-continued under the next three LDS Church presidents, fueled by Utah's overpopulation relative to its arable,...

Ceil Cleveland and Larry McMurtry grew up as friends in the little Texas town of Archer City, fictionalized by McMurtry in The Last Picture Show, which later became a film by Peter Bogdanovich. Among the locals, Cleveland has long been assumed to be the...

A consistent factor throughout New York State's dynamic history has been the complex interactions between groups with divergent worldviews and conflicting ambitions. Such scenarios have proven at different times to be creative, exploitative, empowering,...

In 1852 Hannah Rebecca Crowell married sea captain William Burgess and set sail. Within three years, Rebecca Burgess had crossed the equator eleven times and learned to navigate a vessel. In 1856, 22-year-old Rebecca saved the ship Challenger as her...

From Kim Heacox, the acclaimed author of The Only Kayak and John Muir and the Ice That Started a Fire, comes Rhythm of the Wild, an Alaska memoir focused on Denali National Park. Music runs through every page of this book, as do stories, rivers and...

Author Lindley Butler traces the history of this northern Piedmont county from initial exploration by William Byrd II in 1728 to continued growth in 1981. Special attention is devoted to nineteenth- and twentieth-century developments in industry,...

How West Texas business and culture molded the rise of conservatism in the United States. Much of what we understand as modern American political conservatism was born in West Texas, where today it predominates. How did the people of such a vast...

How West Texas business and culture molded the rise of conservatism in the United States. Much of what we understand as modern American political conservatism was born in West Texas, where today it predominates. How did the people of such a vast...

How West Texas business and culture molded the rise of conservatism in the United States. Much of what we understand as modern American political conservatism was born in West Texas, where today it predominates. How did the people of such a vast...

By the early 1900s, the poor farm had become a ubiquitous part of America's social welfare system. Megan Birk's history of this foundational but forgotten institution focuses on the connection between agriculture, provisions for the disadvantaged, and...

Buildings once symbolized Chicago's place as the business capital of Black America and a thriving hub for Black media. In this groundbreaking work, E. James West examines the city's Black press through its relationship with the built environment. As a...

Buildings once symbolized Chicago's place as the business capital of Black America and a thriving hub for Black media. In this groundbreaking work, E. James West examines the city's Black press through its relationship with the built environment. As a...

The Midwest's place at the crossroads of the nation makes it a rich travel destination for anyone interested in the history and heritage of the United States. Cynthia Clampitt's guide to heartland historical sites invites readers to live the past,...

Punk rock culture in a preeminently average town Synonymous with American mediocrity, Peoria was fertile ground for the boredom- and anger-fueled fury of punk rock. Jonathan Wright and Dawson Barrett explore the do-it-yourself scene built by Peoria...

Hearing southern women in the pauses of history Southern women of all classes, races, and walks of life practiced music during and after the Civil War. Candace L. Bailey examines the history of southern women through the lens of these musical pursuits,...

Discovering Illinois through twenty of the state's most important places A one-of-a-kind travel guide, Exploring the Land of Lincoln invites road-trippers and history buffs to explore the Prairie State's most extraordinary historic sites. Charles Titus...

The mixed-race Hawaiian athlete George Freeth brought surfing to Venice, California, in 1907. Over the next twelve years, Freeth taught Southern Californians to surf and swim while creating a modern lifeguard service that transformed the beach into a...

The mixed-race Hawaiian athlete George Freeth brought surfing to Venice, California, in 1907. Over the next twelve years, Freeth taught Southern Californians to surf and swim while creating a modern lifeguard service that transformed the beach into a...

The mixed-race Hawaiian athlete George Freeth brought surfing to Venice, California, in 1907. Over the next twelve years, Freeth taught Southern Californians to surf and swim while creating a modern lifeguard service that transformed the beach into a...

The mixed-race Hawaiian athlete George Freeth brought surfing to Venice, California, in 1907. Over the next twelve years, Freeth taught Southern Californians to surf and swim while creating a modern lifeguard service that transformed the beach into a...

Between the world wars, America embraced an image of the Ozarks as a remote land of hills and hollers. The popular imagination stereotyped Ozarkers as ridge runners, hillbillies, and pioneers-a cast of colorful throwbacks hostile to change. But the real...

Between the world wars, America embraced an image of the Ozarks as a remote land of hills and hollers. The popular imagination stereotyped Ozarkers as ridge runners, hillbillies, and pioneers-a cast of colorful throwbacks hostile to change. But the real...

Latina/o/x places exist as both tangible physical phenomena and gatherings created and maintained by creative cultural practices. In this collection, an interdisciplinary group of contributors critically examines the many ways that varied Latina/o/x...

In this collection, local experts use personal narratives and empirical data to explore the history of Mexican American and Puerto Rican education in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) system. The essays focus on three themes: the historical context of...

By the early 1900s, the poor farm had become a ubiquitous part of America's social welfare system. Megan Birk's history of this foundational but forgotten institution focuses on the connection between agriculture, provisions for the disadvantaged, and...

Buildings once symbolized Chicago's place as the business capital of Black America and a thriving hub for Black media. In this groundbreaking work, E. James West examines the city's Black press through its relationship with the built environment. As a...

The Midwest's place at the crossroads of the nation makes it a rich travel destination for anyone interested in the history and heritage of the United States. Cynthia Clampitt's guide to heartland historical sites invites readers to live the past,...

Punk rock culture in a preeminently average town Synonymous with American mediocrity, Peoria was fertile ground for the boredom- and anger-fueled fury of punk rock. Jonathan Wright and Dawson Barrett explore the do-it-yourself scene built by Peoria...

Hearing southern women in the pauses of history Southern women of all classes, races, and walks of life practiced music during and after the Civil War. Candace L. Bailey examines the history of southern women through the lens of these musical pursuits,...

Discovering Illinois through twenty of the state's most important places A one-of-a-kind travel guide, Exploring the Land of Lincoln invites road-trippers and history buffs to explore the Prairie State's most extraordinary historic sites. Charles Titus...

How did a debutante from LakeForest, Illinois, end up in Boston's notorious "Combat Zone" and become itsmost famous stripper? What led her to convert to Islam and get engaged to CatStevens? And how did she end up traveling and performing with Andy...