The Olympic Mountains rise up from the sea with moss-draped forests growing right to the water's edge. Glaciers crown steep slopes while alpine meadows and lush valleys teem with elk, deer, cougars, bears, and species known nowhere else on earth. The Olympic National Park was created in 1938 to protect the grandeur of the Olympic Mountains. The rugged coastal area was added in 1953. To further protect this remnant of wild America, Congress designated 95 percent of the park as the Olympic Wilderness in 1988. Today it is recognized as a United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Site and one of the most popular wilderness destinations in North America. It is a place that changed the people who would conquer it. Farmers gave up; miners found no riches; loggers reforested. Tourism came early and endures.

In the lively neighborhood of Fort Greene in downtown Brooklyn, Native Americans and early Dutch and British settlers were largely agrarian. Over time, the neighborhood sprouted into an energetic enclave in which multiple ethnicities thrive today. From the East River's Wallabout Bay, a navy yard grew into a mass of floating arsenals, including the USS Missouri, aboard which the Japanese surrendered in World War II. Mole holes were dug out beneath Fort Greene to serve as transit ways to greater New York. The 20th century brought a variety of arts, such as the Brooklyn Academy of Music, featuring the likes of Enrico Caruso, Isadora Duncan, Paul Robeson, and Rudolph Nureyev. Popular arts equally flourished as vaudeville merged into cinema and jazz and rock ricocheted out of the Fox and Paramount.

Following World War II, Puerto Ricans moved to New York in record numbers and joined a community of compatriots who had emigrated decades before or were born in diaspora. In a series of vivid images, Pioneros II: Puerto Ricans in New York City 1948-1998 brings to life their stories and struggles, culture and values, entrepreneurship, and civic, political, and educational gains. The Puerto Rican community's long history and achievements opened pathways for the city's newer Latino immigrant communities.

Andre Laurendeau was the most widely respected French-Canadian nationalist of his generation. The story of his life is to a striking degree also the story of French-Canadian nationalism from the 1930s to the 1960s, that period of massive societal change when Quebec evolved from a traditional to a modern society. The most insightful intellectual voice of the nationalist movement, he was at the tumultuous centre of events as a young separatist in the 1930s; an anti-conscription activist and reform-minded provincial politician in the 1940s; and an influential journalist, editor of the Montreal daily Le Devoir, in the 1950s. At the same time he played an important role in Quebec's cultural life both as a novelist and playwright and as a well-known radio and television personality. In tracing his life story, this biography sheds indispensable light not only on the development of Laurendeau's own nationalist thought, but on his people's continuing struggle to preserve the national values that make them distinct.

Unitarians established a church in the nation's capital in 1821, and the first Universalist sermon in Washington was presented at city hall in 1827. Since these beginnings, Washington-area Unitarians and Universalists have created congregations that affirm ideals of religious liberalism: a commitment to religious freedom, a reasoned approach to faith, a hopeful view of human capacities to create a better world, and the belief that God is most authentically known as love. Images of America: Unitarians and Universalists of Washington, D.C. features prominent figures such as Robert Little, an English Unitarian who fled his native land and became minister of First Unitarian Church of Washington; political rivals John Quincy Adams and John C. Calhoun, both founding members of the congregation; and Clara Barton, who organized the American Red Cross after her experiences on the battlefields during the Civil War. In 1961, Unitarians and Universalists joined together, and the story continues as Unitarian Universalists interpret the values of religious liberalism for each new generation.

Students of the Civil War know Franklin, Tennessee, for the major battle that happened here, but there is a lot more to the story. In fact, Main Street in Franklin is a glimpse into 250 years of history. Within a few blocks surrounding the public square, some of the city's original buildings now house the newest and most popular shops, restaurants, and entertainment venues in Middle Tennessee. Franklin has been a center for agriculture and manufacturing. It is a place where families can enjoy small-town life on the interstate. It is home to a college. It has always been the seat of Williamson County. Franklin's small businesses have a habit of sticking around for decades, often passing through generations of the same family. Franklin is as quaint and picturesque as it is exciting and progressive, because it continues to attract the kind of people who have always made it that way.

Filipinos arrived in the Washington, D.C., area shortly after 1900 upon the annexation of the Philippines to the United States. These new settlers included students, soldiers, seamen, and laborers. Within four decades, they became permanent residents, military servicemen, government workers, and community leaders. Although numerous Filipinos now live in the area, little is known about the founders of the Filipino communities. Images of America: Filipinos in Washington, D.C. captures an ethnic history and documents historical events and political transitions that occurred here.

The nineteenth-century middle-class ideal of the married woman was of a chaste and diligent wife focused on being a loving mother, with few needs or rights of her own. The modern woman, by contrast, was partner to a new model of marriage, one in which she and her husband formed a relationship based on greater sexual and psychological equality. In Making Marriage Modern, Christina Simmons narrates the development of this new companionate marriage ideal, which took hold in the early twentieth century and prevailed in American society by the 1940s.
The first challenges to public reticence to discuss sexual relations between husbands and wives came from social hygiene reformers, who advocated for a scientific but conservative sex education to combat prostitution and venereal disease. A more radical group of feminists, anarchists, and bohemians opposed the Victorian model of marriage and even the institution of marriage. Birth control advocates such as Emma Goldman and Margaret Sanger openly championed women's rights to acquire and use effective contraception. The "companionate marriage" emerged from these efforts. This marital ideal was characterized by greater emotional and sexuality intimacy for both men and women, use of birth control to create smaller families, and destigmatization of divorce in cases of failed unions. Simmons examines what she calls the "flapper" marriage, in which free-spirited young wives enjoyed the early years of marriage, postponing children and domesticity. She looks at the feminist marriage in which women imagined greater equality between the sexes in domestic and paid work and sex. And she explores the African American "partnership marriage," which often included wives' employment and drew more heavily on the involvement of the community and extended family. Finally, she traces how these modern ideals of marriage were promoted in sexual advice literature and marriage manuals of the period.
Though male dominance persisted in companionate marriages, Christina Simmons shows how they called for greater independence and satisfaction for women and a new female heterosexuality. By raising women's expectations of marriage, the companionate ideal also contained within it the seeds of second-wave feminists' demands for transforming the institution into one of true equality between the sexes.

About an hour's drive northwest of Austin, Lampasas County is located in the center of the state of Texas, on the northern edge of the Hill Country. Native Americans were the first to discover the area, and they told settlers about the natural sulfur springs there. In the 1850s, Moses Hughes and his ailing wife, Hannah, traveled to the region to drink and bathe in the medicinal waters of the springs. The sulfur cured Hannah, and word traveled quickly. In 1856, Lampasas County was created. The Santa Fe Railroad completed its line from Galveston to the county seat in 1882, and with hotels and bathhouses booming, Lampasas became known as the "Saratoga of the South." In towns such as Lometa and Kempner, ranchers raised goats and sheep for mohair and wool and cattle for beef. Though fires and floods struck the county on several occasions, Lampasas soldiered on and continues to thrive today.

Redwood Cityas slogan, aClimate Best By Government Test, a describes the fair weather at San Mateo Countyas seat, which was established in 1851 as the bayside terminus for the peninsulaas lumber industry. Wharfs located along Redwood Creek formed the basis of the townas commercial district, and in the 20th century, the cityas port expanded with new industries, such as the Pacific-Portland Cement Company, the Morgan Oyster Company, and Leslie Salt. Meanwhile, Redwood Cityas downtown area hosted many civic events, numerous theaters, and the regionas largest retail district. In the 1950s, the city grew along Woodside Road and, soon thereafter, when Redwood Shores was added to its boundaries, expanded north. Today Redwood City has come full circle with a revitalized downtown and a beautifully restored courthouse square.

The remote Smoky Mountain community of Cades Cove still lives in the memory of J.C. McCaulley, one of the few remaining former residents, who offers an exclusive glimpse into a childhood in the Cove. His stories, compiled by his wife Margaret, are a testament to a way of life long abandoned a life before automobiles, television and perhaps too much exposure to the outside world; a life of hard work and caring for your neighbors. Join the McCaulleys in their quest to preserve the beauty, tranquility and traditions of this pristine community, and dare to dream of a way of life that encouraged independence, integrity and the courage to overcome adversity

Located in the far northeastern edge of the city, Deanwood is one of Washington, D.C.'s oldest, consistently African American neighborhoods. Rooted in slave-based agriculture on white-owned land, the community began its transition from rural to urban development with the 1871 arrival of a branch of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad along its western boundary. This period after the Civil War offered blacks the opportunity to become landowners. Since this time, many notable Washingtonians of various ethnicities have been residents and frequent visitors to the area. In the early 1920s, it was home to Suburban Gardens, the only permanent amusement park ever to be housed within the city limits. Many of Deanwood's families have lived in the community for generations, which makes it stable and close-knit.

Since its founding in 1651 on the western shore of the Delaware River, New Castle and its residents have shared in the making of American history. Known as the first capital of the first state, this charming town watched European powers clash over its control; welcomed William Penn when he first set foot on American soil; participated in the drama of the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War; and reaped the benefits of new technologies like the railroad, steam engine, and aviation. Eventually, trade and commerce moved elsewhere, leaving New Castle preserved and intact. Today, the people of New Castle take great pride in their community's heritage and enjoy sharing the story of this National Historic Landmark District with others.

The city of Des Moines experienced a rebirth at the beginning of the 20th century. The City Beautiful movement focused on cleaning up the city, starting with a new civic center along the Des Moines River. A progressive wave in city politics organized the Des Moines plan of commission government. Modern streetcars traveled along recently paved roads and newly constructed bridges, while electric lights kept the streets safe at night. The city motto said it all: Des Moines Does Things. This postcard collection showcases the best the city had to offer during that time, as the city changed and prospered, becoming the "City of Certainties," through challenges during both world wars, and beyond into the postwar boom, when Des Moines became the crossroads of the nation.