Chartered by Gov. Benning Wentworth in 1764, Claremont received its name from the English estate of Claremont, home of the Earl of Clare. The town was known in early years for its fertile farmland along the Connecticut River, and mills sprang up along the Sugar River after the War of 1812 and following the formation of the Sunapee Dam Company. Numerous inventions by locals, such as John Tyler's iron turbine waterwheel, an important advance in harnessing waterpower, helped fuel Claremont's evolution from a farming community to a textile mill town. Albert Ball, whose patents included the diamond core drill, revolutionized the mining industry. Once known as the "Shopper's Town," Claremont enjoyed a period of prosperity as the industrial, commercial, and social center of western New Hampshire. Today, still reeling from the loss of industry in recent decades, Claremont is making steps to revitalize itself. The Monadnock Mills Revitalization Project, which brought the Common Man Inn & Restaurant to Claremont, and other projects are helping to once again make the community a travel destination.

"Ty Seidule scorches us with the truth and rivets us with his fierce sense of moral urgency." --Ron Chernow In a forceful but humane narrative, former soldier and head of the West Point history department Ty Seidule's Robert E. Lee and Me challenges the myths and lies of the Confederate legacy--and explores why some of this country's oldest wounds have never healed. Ty Seidule grew up revering Robert E. Lee. From his southern childhood to his service in the U.S. Army, every part of his life reinforced the Lost Cause myth: that Lee was the greatest man who ever lived, and that the Confederates were underdogs who lost the Civil War with honor. Now, as a retired brigadier general and Professor Emeritus of History at West Point, his view has radically changed. From a soldier, a scholar, and a southerner, Ty Seidule believes that American history demands a reckoning. In a unique blend of history and reflection, Seidule deconstructs the truth about the Confederacy--that its undisputed primary goal was the subjugation and enslavement of Black Americans--and directly challenges the idea of honoring those who labored to preserve that system and committed treason in their failed attempt to achieve it. Through the arc of Seidule's own life, as well as the culture that formed him, he seeks a path to understanding why the facts of the Civil War have remained buried beneath layers of myth and even outright lies--and how they embody a cultural gulf that separates millions of Americans to this day. Part history lecture, part meditation on the Civil War and its fallout, and part memoir, Robert E. Lee and Me challenges the deeply-held legends and myths of the Confederacy--and provides a surprising interpretation of essential truths that our country still has a difficult time articulating and accepting.

In 1604, when Frenchmen landed on Saint Croix Island, they were far from the first people to walk along its shores. For thousands of years, Etchemins--whose descendants were members of the Wabanaki Confederacy-- had lived, loved and labored in Down East Maine. Bound together with neighboring people, all of whom relied heavily on canoes for transportation, trade and survival, each group still maintained its own unique cultures and customs. After the French arrived, they faced unspeakable hardships, from "the Great Dying," when disease killed up to 90 percent of coastal populations, to centuries of discrimination. They never abandoned Ketakamigwa, their homeland. In this book, anthropologist William Haviland relates the history of hardship and survival endured by the natives of the Down East coast and how they have maintained their way of life over the past four hundred years.

Kemah is the Karankawa Indian word for "wind in the face." In the early 1900s, it was a breezy coastal village where many residents made a living in the fishing or boating industries. From the 1920s to the 1950s, Kemah relied on illegal gambling and bootlegging to survive. After the devastation of Hurricane Carla in 1961, local restaurants rebuilt and became favorites of Houstonians, who enjoyed the seafood and relaxing atmosphere. Because subsidence caused much of Kemah to flood during high tide, a marina was built in 1988 to ease the problem in low-lying areas. Today, the Kemah area has the third largest fleet of recreational boats in America. When older homes were converted into quaint shops, the Kemah Lighthouse Shopping District was formed. In 1997, property on the Clear Creek channel and Kemah bay front was acquired in order to develop the Kemah Boardwalk, one of the top 10 boardwalks in America.

In 1889, David Eccles chartered the Oregon Lumber Company, an organization that produced many mills and railways and whose influence was felt from Salt Lake City to Northern California and Idaho. Through family connections, Eccles was also involved with many other logging enterprises, and he influenced the growth of the Inter-Mountain region as well as the Pacific Northwest. Sumpter Valley Logging Railroads is a pictorial history of the Oregon operations, focusing on the operations along the Sumpter Valley Railway. It explores the rails, mills, and people, as well as the logging practices of a bygone era.

With Wicked Carlisle, author Joe Cress revisits the criminal history of Cumberland County. Taking a more focused and less bloody approach, Cress will largely bring new stories of mischief to the table, though he will revisit the lighter side of two or three crimes from Murder and Mayhem in Cumberland County. From stories of college pranks gone wrong, Carlisle's own Robin Hood and the robbing and subsequent torching of a beloved local theater (the Strand where the local HS now sits ) to abuses at the Carlisle Indian School and the town's connection to the raid on Harper's Ferry, Cress scours the underbelly of the borough for mischief and misdeeds.

Montevallo: a mountain in a valley. This bucolic, natural phrase aptly describes the beauty of this central Alabama town. Early settlers were drawn to the area by its abundant agricultural and mineral resources, and in 1826, the tiny village of Montevallo was born. The nature of the town changed significantly in 1896 with the founding of the Alabama Girls' Industrial School, now the University of Montevallo. The Olmsted Brothers firm of Brookline, Massachusetts, laid out the central campus, and its master plan still inspires current development. Since 1896, the focus of the town has shifted from agriculture and mining to education. The university's mission is to be Alabama's "Public Liberal Arts College." Prominent figures include writer and veteran E. B. Sledge, actresses Polly Holiday and Rebecca Luker, and Major League Baseball player Rusty Greer.

Join local scholar Cyndy Bittinger on a journey through the forgotten tales of the roles that Native Americans, African Americans and women-often overlooked-played in Vermont's master narrative and history. Bittinger not only shows where these marginalized groups are missing from history, but also emphasizes the ways that they contributed and their unique experiences.

While today's Telluride might bring to mind a hot tourist spot and upscale ski resort, the earliest days of the town and surrounding San Miguel County were marked by an abundance of gamblers, con men and murderers. From Bob Meldrum, a deputized killer who prowled the streets during times of labor unrest, to the author's own ancestor, Charlie Turner, a brash young man killed in a shooting in Ophir, Carol Turner's Notorious Telluride offers a glimpse at some of the sordid, shocking and sad pioneer tales of the area.

In Historic Columbus Crimes, the father-daughter team of David Meyers and Elise Meyers Walker looks back at sixteen tales of murder, mystery and mayhem culled from city history. Take the rock star slain by a troubled fan or the drag queen slashed to death by a would-be ninja. Then there's the writer who died acting out the plot of his next book, the minister's wife incinerated in the parsonage furnace and a couple of serial killers who outdid the Son of Sam. Not to mention a gunfight at Broad and High, grave-robbing medical students, the bloodiest day in FBI history and other fascinating stories of crime and tragedy. They're all here, and they're all true