Founded in 1930, the Institute for Advanced Study was conceived of high ideals for the future of America and its system of higher education, and was made possible by sibling philanthropists Louis Bamberger and Caroline Bamberger Fuld. Guided by education expert Abraham Flexner, the Bambergers created an independent institution devoted to the pursuit of knowledge. The Institute for Advanced Study opened its arms to scholars "without regard to race, creed, or sex." It provided a haven for Jewish intellectuals fleeing Nazi Germany, including Albert Einstein, who remained on the permanent faculty until his death in 1955, and became the intellectual home of such luminaries as J. Robert Oppenheimer, John von Neumann, Kurt G del, Marston Morse, Oswald Veblen, Hermann Weyl, Homer A. Thompson, Erwin Panofsky, George F. Kennan, Clifford Geertz, and Freeman Dyson.

Founded in 1802, Lebanon, Ohio, was once dubbed by noted author and broadcaster Charles Kurault as the most historic spot in the state. Home to Ohio's oldest business, the iconic Golden Lamb, and the oldest weekly newspaper west of the Allegheny Mountains, the Western Star, Lebanon has sat quietly by the side of the road for over two centuries and waited while the world came to it. Located midway on the main stage route between Cincinnati and Dayton, Lebanon was a natural stopping point for travelers throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, including 12 U.S. presidents and numerous authors and dignitaries who would help mold America's future. Along the way, Lebanon was home to one of the earliest coeducational teachers colleges, National Normal University, and the largest Shaker community in the west, Union Village. The men and the monuments are all gone now, but the city, rich in history and heritage, remains.

In March 1790, the first permanent settlers traveled through the wilderness to their new home in Farmington. Two centuries later, the site would become the fastest-growing township in New York State. Farmington developed into a unique transportation and manufacturing community where sawmills, grain mills, asheries, and foundries thrived. The town was serviced by the New York Central and Lehigh Valley Railroads and the Rochester and Eastern Rapid Railway, which had stops in the vanished hamlets of Mertensia and Hathaway's Corners. Today these railroad tracks have been reclaimed as recreational trails. The collection of photographs in Farmington weaves together the history of the mills, stores, churches, and families that make the township what it is today. Many of the images were captured by early Farmington photographer E. J. Gardner, whose practiced eye and personal connection to his neighborhood resulted in a priceless record of the people of Farmington.

In Union County, New Jersey, many soldiers and sailors of African ancestry answered President Lincoln's call for troops during the Civil War, and enlisted in regiments organized in Union County, the United States Colored Troops (USCT), out-of-state-regiments and the United States Navy and Marine Corps. They fought not only for country, but also for their comrades in chains in the south and for the promise of equality that they had for so long been denied. Through their stories, never before seen photographs, documents and service records, local historian Ethel M. Washington tells a largely overlooked but riveting history of patriotic Black servicemen in the antebellum north, who defended the nation's ideals on the battlefield, even as they faced discrimination in the ranks and back home.

East Harlem Revisited presents a fresh look at this historic neighborhood through rare photographic images. Photographs taken from tenement rooftops, at family gatherings, and of sports and events celebrate a bygone era and the neighborhood's diversity. A neighborhood of many ethnicities and languages, at one time a section of East Harlem made up the largest Little Italy in the country. The landmarks that have been preserved throughout the years detail the importance and impact of architectural development on East Harlem's history. Photographs of the neighborhood's tenements and public housing depict East Harlem's changing landscape, while images of famous residents celebrate the many talented individuals who have called East Harlem home.

Newport and its surrounding areas are beautiful and bountiful, offering resources for fishing, logging, shipping, and tourism. Today's community, similar to populations that settled the land in earlier days, is independent, hearty, and versatile. The Yacona, the Native Americans who called Newport home before the arrival of other cultures, lived almost entirely off the land and waterways. Later settlers, while still reliant on natural resources, integrated technology into the growth of their society. As the area matured, the desire to find balance and preserve natural resources grew. Today Newport's heritage remains strong, and this book serves as a tribute to its history.

The Nueces River runs west to east across La Salle County, and at one time it served as the boundary between Texas and Mexico. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed in 1848, ceded the Nueces Strip to Texas. La Salle County was formed out of some of this land in 1858. Early settlers struggled to survive in the wild terrain amid fears of attacks from outlaws and natives. From the Indian Raid of 1878 and the assassination of a sheriff, to droughts and dust storms, the hardy people of La Salle County persevered. After an election in 1883, Cotulla was selected as the permanent county seat, a courthouse was erected, and churches and schools were built. The lawlessness of the past is gone, but the county's residents share the perseverance of those early pioneers.

The influential and adventurous Chicago socialite Mrs. Potter Palmer (Bertha) struck out for Florida in 1910, eventually buying thousands of acres of land across the state. In 1914, after setting up residence in Sarasota, she established Riverhills, a hunting preserve on 19,000 acres in the area now known as Temple Terrace. Local historians believe it was Palmer's vision to create one of America's first planned golf course communities, where every Mediterranean Revival villa sold would include its own grove. Intended to provide a hobby and part-time income for the wealthy Northerners lured to the Sunshine State, 5,000 acres were planted with the exotic hybrid Temple orange--making up the largest citrus grove in the world at the time. The new city was named after the orange and for the sloping terrain of the land along the Hillsborough River.

Within a mile from the center of Winston-Salem, the 21st century gives way to an earlier time in the historic district of Old Salem. Cross-timbered houses, costumed interpreters, historic and interactive museums, and period gardens show and tell the story of the Moravian town of Salem, established in 1766. Old Salem is also the home of Salem Academy and College, begun in 1772 as a school to educate Moravian girls and in continuous operation since its founding. Step back in time and view Salem before and after its transformation to a living history museum and experience the Moravian way of life in Piedmont North Carolina.

In December 1910, Indian traders John and Louisa Wetherill opened their trading post--with a tent for supplies (and sleeping) and a store counter of boards laid across two barrels. From that modest beginning, Kayenta became the center of Navajo gatherings and exploring expeditions to Rainbow Bridge, Monument Valley, and the grand cliff dwellings in Tsegi Canyon. Soon came a parade of visitors, including authors, painters, and archaeologists, as well as cowboys, miners, traders, and tourists. The Kayenta Township today is home to descendants of the early inhabitants and the hub for thousands of annual visitors from around the world who come to see the magnificent region known as Monument Valley.

Sheboygan deserves its reputation as a conservative city clean, quiet and law-abiding. But here are some stories that have been swept under the rug or lost overboard. Venture into the mists of the "Lake Michigan Triangle" that have swallowed boats, planes and entire tribes. Investigate speakeasy shootings, safes burgled by a fly swatter, poisoned Christmas candy, flaming shipwrecks and the hoax that had militiamen firing on their own cattle. Or just sit down with some bizarre anecdotes about a hometown you thought you knew, from the town's first baseball game to the man freed from jail by a jug of whiskey to the deputy sheriff who had to enforce Nicholas Hoffman's first bath in fifty years.

Florida in the late 1800s was a veritable jungle frontier. It was hot, dangerous, hostile, and difficult to traverse and settle. Voracious insect swarms, bears, panthers, and alligators were dangerous to the unwary. There were postwar military trails and steamboats on the major waterways, but much of the state was inaccessible. In spite of its untamed nature, stories continued to filter into the north of Florida's exciting potential. This setting attracted all sorts of adventurers: land developers, people desperate for land, and people who wanted to make a quick dollar. The ones who stayed and thrived were tough, innovative, hard-working visionaries. This book focuses on the late 1800s through the 1920s, a truly exciting period in Indian River County history.

Those who have halted their treks down the National Road in Effingham County form a diverse band of characters, from Joseph Boleyjack, known as the "parched corn, summer preacher," to polished orators like William Jennings Bryan, who continued exhorting enthusiastic Effingham crowds as his train pulled away. Donaldson traces this story back to before this land was known as Effingham, to the burial mounds of the Kickapoo. He presses on through the challenges the county's determined inhabitants faced in the twentieth century, from the horrors witnessed abroad in the world wars to those faced at home during the Great Depression and in the tragic St. Anthony's Hospital fire. His obvious passion for the county's past is sure to strike a spark with lifelong residents and new arrivals alike.

During the late 1860s, Hispanos from Colorado's San Luis Valley moved their families east over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains into Huerfano County. Their story is an important and almost forgotten part of Colorado's history as a whole, though their contributions are still felt throughout the area today and their descendents still call this land home. In Forgotten Cuchare os of the Lower Valley, historian Virginia Sanchez brings this fascinating account of Native American, Hispano and Anglo cultures to life, presenting new information about Cucharas and the people who settled thee.