As the Atlantic Ocean was transformed from a terrifying barrier into a highway uniting four continents, the lives of people all around the ocean were transformed. After 1492 merchants and political leaders around the Atlantic refocused their attention from trade highways in their interiors to the coasts. Those who emigrated, willingly or unwillingly, had their lives changed completely, but many others became involved in new trades and industries that necessitated consolidation of populations. American gold and silver contributed to the emergence of nation-states. New foods enriched diets all over the world. American foods such as fish, cassava, maize, tomatoes, beans, and cacao fed burgeoning populations. Sugar grown around the Atlantic transformed tastes everywhere. Tobacco was the first great consumer craze. Furs provided the raw material for fashionable broad hats. Chains of commodity exchange linked the Atlantic to the Pacific; they also linked Americans to the Mediterranean and the goods of the Middle East. Creation of Atlantic economies required organization of labor and trade on a scale previously unknown. Generations of Europeans who signed up for servitude for a number of years in order to pay their passage over were gradually supplanted by enslaved Africans, millions of whom were imported into slavery. Wars, fueled by the need for ever more slaves, spread throughout West and Central Africa. The African end of the slave trade produced powerful rulers and great confederations in Africa. Consolidation of displaced tribal groups and remnants of populations depleted by epidemic disease led to the emergence of the Six Nations of the Iroquois League in northern North America, and the Creeks, Cherokees, and others in the south. Those who made a choice to travel across the Atlantic did so for economic advancement, but many also were influenced by religious concerns. Conflict between Roman Catholics and Protestants in Europe, and the power of political leaders to force conformity, caused many to feel that their right to worship was under threat. They were willing to accept servitude to make emigration possible, in order to protect their religious lives. Attempting to create and control vast networks of settlement and trade enhanced the rise of nation-states in Europe and contributed to the growth of national identities. The wars of independence in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries changed the nature of relationships, but did not end them. Abolitionism serves as a vivid example of the collision of religious, philosophical, and economic realities and the ways in which the Atlantic context posed new possibilities and new answers.

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.

Many imagine the settlement of the American West as signaled by the dust of the wagon train or the whistle of a locomotive. During the middle decades of the nineteenth century, though, the growth of Texas and points west centered on the seventy-mile water route between Galveston and Houston. This single vital link stood between the agricultural riches of the interior and the mercantile enterprises of the coast, with a round of operations that was as sophisticated and efficient as that of any large transport network today. At the same time, the packets on the overnight Houston-Galveston run earned a reputation as colorful as their Mississippi counterparts, complete with impromptu steamboat races, makeshift naval gunboats during the Civil War, professional gamblers and horrific accidents.

Massachusetts's historic graveyards are the final resting places for tales of the strange and supernatural. From Newburyport to Truro, these graveyards often frighten the living, but the dead who rest within them have stories to share with the world they left behind. While Giles Corey is said to haunt the Howard Street Cemetery in Salem, cursing those involved in the infamous witch trials, visitors to the Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain enjoy an arboretum and a burial ground with Victorian-era memorials. One of the oldest cemeteries in Massachusetts, Old Burial Hill in Marblehead, has been the final resting place for residents for nearly 375 years. Author Roxie Zwicker tours the Bay State's oldest burial grounds, exploring the stones, stories and supernatural lore of these hallowed places.

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.

Take a journey through Arkansas' forgotten past and find the colorful characters, unusual stories and strange occurrences left out of conventional history books. Authors Edward and Karen Underwood weave fact and fun in this offbeat, gripping and little-known history of the Natural State. Discover the Tantrabobus monster rumored to lurk in the hills of the Ozarks, meet the imposters who faked the state's first history museum and learn the story behind Arkansas' lost amusement park, Dogpatch, USA. Truth really is stranger than fiction in Arkansas, and this one-of-a-kind state has the stories to prove it

Missouri's state capital groans beneath the burden of its haunted heritage, from the shadow people of Native American folklore to Boogie Man Bill, Missouri's wild child. The muddy river waters hide the shifting graves of steamboat crews, like the one that went down with the Montana, and the savage scars of the Civil War still linger on the land. Join Janice Tremeear for the fascinating history behind Jefferson City's most chilling tales, including a visit to the notorious Missouri State Penitentiary, where the vicious festered for 170 years.

The barrier between Joplin's boisterous past and its present is as flimsy as a swinging saloon door. Lisa Livingston-Martin kicks it wide open in this ghostly history. In her expert company, tour a hotel with a reputation made from equal parts opulence and tragedy. Visit that house of horrors, the Stefflebeck Bordello, where guests regularly got the axe and were disposed of in mine shafts. Navigate through angry lynch mobs and vengeful patrols of Civil War spirits. Catch a glimpse of Bonnie and Clyde. Keep your wits about you--it's haunted Joplin.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

"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.

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.