Salem, Massachusetts, is the quintessential New England town, with its cobbled streets and strong ties to the sea. With the notoriety of the Salem witch trials, the city's reputation has been irrevocably linked to the occult. However, few know the history behind the religion of Spiritualism and the social movement that took root in this romanticized land. At the turn of the century, seers, mediums and magnetic healers all hoped to connect to the spiritual world. The popularity of Spiritualism and renewed interest in the occult blossomed out of an attempt to find an intellectual and emotional balance between science and religion. Learn of early converts, the role of the venerable Essex Institute and the psychic legacy of "Moll" Pitcher. Historian Maggi Smith-Dalton delves into Salem's exotic history, unraveling the beginnings of Spiritualism and the rise of the Witch City.

Michael J. Lisicky is the author of several bestselling books, including Hutzler's: Where Baltimore Shops. In demand as a department store historian, he has given lectures at institutions such as the New York Public Library, the Boston Public Library, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, the Milwaukee County Historical Society, the Enoch Pratt Free Library and the Jewish Museum of Maryland. His books have received critical acclaim from the Baltimore Sun, Baltimore City Paper, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Pittsburgh Post Gazette. He has been interviewed by national business periodicals including Fortune Magazine, Investor's Business Daily and Bloomberg Businessweek. His book Gimbels Has It was recommended by National Public Radio's Morning Edition program as "One of the Freshest Reads of 2011." Mr. Lisicky helps run an "Ask the Expert" column with author Jan Whitaker at www.departmentstorehistory.net and resides in Baltimore, where he is an oboist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Since its establishment in 1683, Perth Amboy has been a progressive and welcoming community. Residents have consistently made a stand for equality--in the 1920s, riots at a local KKK meeting ousted the Klan for good, and the nation's first African American vote was cast here by Thomas Mundy Peterson. Another Perth Amboy first was Dr. Solomon Andrews's flight over the town in 1863. Since 1853, the Eagleswood School has hosted lectures from figures like Henry David Thoreau. In 1968, the Perth Amboy basketball team swept the state championship. These and Perth Amboy's other fascinating stories and characters are chronicled by local author Katherine Massopust.

In writing about international affairs in the 1960s, historians have naturally focused on the Cold War. The decade featured perilous confrontations between the United States and the Soviet Union over Berlin and Cuba, the massive buildup of nuclear stockpiles, the escalation of war in Vietnam, and bitter East-West rivalry throughout the developing world. Only in recent years have scholars begun to realize that there is another history of international affairs in the 1960s. As the world historical force of globalization has quickened and deepened, historians have begun to see that many of the global challenges that we face today - inequality, terrorism, demographic instability, energy dependence, epidemic disease, massive increases in trade and monetary flows, to name just a few examples - asserted themselves powerfully during the decade. The administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson confronted tectonic shifts in the international environment and perhaps even the beginning of the post-Cold War world. While the ideologically infused struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union was indisputably crucial, new forces and new actors altered international relations in profound and lasting ways. This book asks how the Johnson administration responded to this changing landscape. To what extent did U.S. leaders understand the changes that we can now see clearly with the benefit of hindsight? How did they prioritize these issues alongside the geostrategic concerns that dominated their daily agendas and the headlines of the day? How successfully did Americans grapple with these long-range problems, with what implications for the future? What lessons lie in the efforts of Johnson and his aides to cope with a new and inchoate agenda of problems? This book reconsiders the 1960s and suggests a new research agenda predicated on the idea that the Cold War was not the only - or perhaps even the most important - feature of international life in the period after World War II.

Experience southwestern heritage, culture and cuisine while learning to rope and herd cattle, trail ride through the wilderness or make prickly pear syrup. With roots dating back to the mid-1800s, southern Arizona's historic guest ranches and farm stays include Spain's first mission in the continental United States, a former World War II prison camp and boys' boarding school and a Butterfield Stagecoach stop. Intimately connected to Arizona's land and legacy, these unparalleled retreats have hosted countless artists, movie stars and politicians and continue to enrich their present-day communities through food, education and conservation. Pack your bags and join travel writer Lili DeBarbieri for a journey into the rural west south of the Gila River.

Violent bank heists, bold train robberies and hardened gangs all tear across the history of the wild west--western Pennsylvania, that is. The region played reluctant host to the likes of the infamous Biddle Boys, who escaped Allegheny County Jail by romancing the warden's wife, and the Cooley Gang, which held Fayette County in its violent grip at the close of the nineteenth century. Then there was Pennsylvania's own Bonnie and Clyde--Irene and Glenn--whose murderous misadventures earned the "trigger blonde" and her beau the electric chair in 1931. From the perilous train tracks of Erie to the gritty streets of Pittsburgh, authors Thomas White and Michael Hassett trace the dark history of the crooks, murderers and outlaws who both terrorized and fascinated the citizenry of western Pennsylvania.

Located on the banks of the Chattahoochee, Columbus boasts a historic past that runs as deep as the river itself. But peer closely into the murkier parts of Columbus's history, and frightening stories begin to emerge. Join author and ghost hunter Faith Serafin for a chilling look into Columbus's haunted past. There's the regal Springer Opera House, where ghosts creep in the shadows of elaborate balconies. Visit the historic home of Columbus native and blues legend Ma Rainey, where some say the songstress can still be seen playing her original piano. Then there's the Phantom of Eubanks Field, whose ghastly apparition tries to frighten soldiers at Fort Benning. These terrifying tales, and more, await in this collection of haunting stories.

Shenandoah County, in the years prior to the Civil War, was a prosperous place. Nestled within the Shenandoah Valley, it was a haven for agricultural commerce fueled by slave labor. Integral railways and transportation routes passed through Shenandoah County, feeding its impressive agricultural output throughout the Virginia. With the outbreak of Civil War, all of that would change. Four major battles took place in and around Shenandoah County New Market, Toms Brook, Fishers Hill, and Cedar Creek. Although the proceedings of these historic battles have been well-documented, the effect the combat had on residents of Shenandoah County has receded into the background. Now, author Hal Shape brings the lives of county residents to fore, recounting how their spirits were tested during this dark hour of American history.

Rhode Island's ghostly heritage is as deep and profound as the history of the state itself. From the ghastly moaning bones of Mount Tom to the stately haunt of Judge Potter in a local library, Rhode Island's apparitions have been causing fear for centuries. Follow M.E. Reilly-McGreen as she reveals the ghoulish stories of the state's most haunted places. The author delves deep to unearth tales of fright little known to most as well as those that have helped define the state's supernatural history. From ghosts to monsters, this book is your guide to all things spooky in Rhode Island. So prepare to journey though the Rhode Island you didn't know existed, or does it?

During the fateful winter and spring of 1865, thousands of civilians in South Carolina, young and old, black and white, felt the impact of what General William T. Sherman called "the hard hand of war." This book tells their stories, many of which were corroborated by the testimony of Sherman's own soldiers and officers, and other eyewitnesses. These historical narratives are taken from letters and diaries of the time, as well as newspaper accounts and memoirs. The author has drawn on the superb resources of the South Carolina Historical Society's collection of manuscripts and publications to present these true, compelling stories of South Carolinians.

"This book chronicles a number of Rhode Island's historic taverns and the stories contained within their walls.

Some of the taverns include: The Mowry Tavern, which was the site of political gatherings, protests and religious observances under Roger Williams; The Benedict Arnold Tavern built in 1693; The White Horse Tavern, which soon became the meeting place for Rhode Island legislators; and the Ruff Stone Tavern in North Providence was an establishment with a long history, having served as a pub, a stop on the Underground Railroad and a speakeasy during prohibition.

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The book will tell the history and story of Down East Maine lobster fishing. Author Christina Lemieux's family has been lobster fishermen for four generations, and the book draws from their personal recollections and documentation. It will then bring to life the experience of Down East Maine lobster fishing and living in a lobster fishing community. The book details how one goes about catching lobster, the seasons of lobster fishing and the perils of such a physically grueling job. It also talks about "lobster culture" some of the unique pastimes of lobster fishermen, such as the sport of Maine lobster boat racing. Finally, the book will give a brief overview of how to properly cook Maine lobster and provide some of the area's favorite lobster recipes.

Turn back the yellowing pages of Minnesota's past and explore the best of the state's worst moments, as chronicled in the Minneapolis Tribune and its successor newspapers. These stories and photos, culled from the Star Tribune's microfilm archive by author Ben Welter, range from the catastrophic to the merely curious. From a fire that destroyed the State Capitol in 1881, to a wordless fistfight that broke out on a Minneapolis street in 1898, a flu outbreak that killed more than 10,000 Minnesotans in 1918 and the arrest of Frank Lloyd Wright at a Lake Minnetonka cottage in 1926.

Tucked away in the northwestern frontier, Portland offered all the best vices: opium dreams, gambling, cheap prostitutes, and drunken brawling. In its early days, Portland was a "combination rough-and-ready logging camp and gritty, hard-punching deep-water port town," and as a young city (established in the late 1840s) it developed an international reputation for lawlessness and violence. In the early 1900s, the British and French governments filed formal complaints about Portland to the US state department, and Congressional testimony from the time cites Portland as the worst place in the world for crimping. Today, tours of the alleged Shanghai Tunnels offer Portland visitors a taste of that seedy past.

In this book Wick Griswold will focus on the key events, places and people relevant to the Connecticut River. The narrative will begin in the colonial era spanning to the post-industrial age, beginning with Dutch traders and their defeat in a bloodless war by the English agriculturalists. Wick will chronicle the history of this multifaceted river, from canals, to the fishing industry, to transportation.

Author Ray John de Aragon has collected various folkloric stories from all regions of New Mexico throughout its changing history, most of them foreboding or cautionary tales of witches and specters. Stories rooted in the folklore of Native American culture, the Spanish colonial era, Mexican period, and the Wild West and epic-ranching years of New Mexico's past have been gathered by the author from all corners of the state. He frames them with historical context, old traditions, and other information to explain how they were promulgated among the peoples of specific times and places.

The great Potomac River begins in the Alleghenies and flows 383 miles through some of America's most historic lands before emptying into the Chesapeake Bay. The course of the river drove the development of the region and the path of a young republic Maryland's first Catholic settlers came to its banks in 1634 and George Washington helped settle the new capitol on its shores. During the Civil War the river divided North and South, and it witnessed John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry and the bloody Battle of Antietam. Author Garrett Peck leads readers on a journey down the Potomac, from its first fount at Fairfax Stone in West Virginia to its mouth at Point Lookout in Maryland. Combining history with recreation, Peck has written an indispensible guide to the nation's river.

From their opening in 1740 through the 1955 closing, Belair Stud Farm became known as one of the most important stables in American racing. Although the high-profile murder of the farms final owner, Billy Woodward, eventually forced the farm to close, it did produce an extraordinary number of winning horses throughout its expansive history. The farm claims three Kentucky Derbies, three Preakness Stakes, and six Belmont Stakes, winning titles in several prestigious English races. It remains one of two stables to have produced more than one Triple Crown winner, and it is also the only stable to have produced father-son Triple Crown winners. Its list of legendary thoroughbreds includes Gallant Fox, Omaha, Johnstown, Granville, and Nashua. However in addition to the history of champion thoroughbreds, there is a second history devoted to the many interesting people whose own stories are part of the Belair Stud farm, including Samuel and Benjamin Ogle, "Sunny" Jim Fitzsimmons, former slave Andrew Jackson, and even George Washington.

The term "Manifest Destiny" has traditionally been linked to U.S. westward expansion in the nineteenth century, the desire to spread republican government, and racialist theories like Anglo-Saxonism. Yet few people realize the degree to which "Manifest Destiny" and American republicanism relied on a deeply anti-Catholic civil-religious discourse. John C. Pinheiro traces the rise to prominence of this discourse, beginning in the 1820s and culminating in the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848. Pinheiro begins with social reformer and Protestant evangelist Lyman Beecher, who was largely responsible for synthesizing seemingly unrelated strands of religious, patriotic, expansionist, and political sentiment into one universally understood argument about the future of the United States. When the overwhelmingly Protestant United States went to war with Catholic Mexico, this "Beecherite Synthesis" provided Americans with the most important means of defining their own identity, understanding Mexicans, and interpreting the larger meaning of the war. Anti-Catholic rhetoric constituted an integral piece of nearly every major argument for or against the war and was so universally accepted that recruiters, politicians, diplomats, journalists, soldiers, evangelical activists, abolitionists, and pacifists used it. It was also, Pinheiro shows, the primary tool used by American soldiers to interpret Mexico's culture. All this activity in turn reshaped the anti-Catholic movement. Preachers could now use caricatures of Mexicans to illustrate Roman Catholic depravity and nativists could point to Mexico as a warning about what America would be like if dominated by Catholics. Missionaries of Republicanism provides a critical new perspective on ''Manifest Destiny,'' American republicanism, anti-Catholicism, and Mexican-American relations in the nineteenth century.

Revising dominant accounts of Puritanism and challenging the literary history of sentimentalism, Sympathetic Puritans argues that a Calvinist theology of sympathy shaped the politics, religion, rhetoric, and literature of early New England. Scholars have often understood and presented sentimentalism as a direct challenge to stern and stoic Puritan forebears: the standard history traces a cult of sensibility back to moral sense philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment, not Puritan New England. In contrast, Van Engen's work unearths the pervasive presence of sympathy in a large archive of Puritan sermons, treatises, tracts, poems, journals, histories, and captivity narratives. Sympathetic Puritans also demonstrates how two types of sympathy - the active command to fellow-feel (a duty), as well as the passive sign that could indicate salvation (a discovery) - pervaded Puritan society and came to define the very boundaries of English culture, affecting conceptions of community, relations with Native Americans, and the development of American literature. By analyzing Puritan theology, preaching, prose, and poetry, Van Engen re-examines the Antinomian Controversy, conversion narratives, transatlantic relations, Puritan missions, Mary Rowlandson's captivity narrative - and Puritan culture more generally - through the lens of sympathy. Demonstrating and explicating a Calvinist theology of sympathy in seventeenth-century New England, the book reveals the religious history of a concept that has largely been associated with more secular roots.