In the early twentieth century so many dead bodies surfaced in the rivers around Aberdeen, Washington, that they were nicknamed the "floater fleet." When Billy Gohl (1873-1927), a powerful union official, was arrested for murder, local newspapers were quick to suggest that he was responsible for many of those deaths, perhaps even dozens-thus launching the legend of the Ghoul of Grays Harbor. More than a true-crime tale, The Port of Missing Men sheds light on the lives of workers who died tragically, illuminating the dehumanizing treatment of sailors and lumber workers and the heated clashes between pro- and anti-union forces. Goings investigates the creation of the myth, exploring how so many people were willing to believe such extraordinary stories about Gohl. He shares the story of a charismatic labor leader-the one man who could shut down the highly profitable Grays Harbor lumber trade-and provides an equally intriguing analysis of the human costs of the Pacific Northwest's early extraction economy.

Fourteen Mind-Boggling Tales from the Badger State Was Joe Davis, Civil War veteran and Menominee Indian, really the son of Confederate president Jefferson Davis? What really happened the night that banker H. C. Mead was murdered inside the Exchange Bank of Waupaca? Did a flying saucer really land in Joe Simonton's yard, and did the aliens aboard ask for a jug of water and serve him pancakes? From pirate ships to pancakes from outer space, Myths and Mysteries of Wisconsin makes history fun and pulls back the curtain on some of the state's most fascinating and compelling stories.

Experience 100 key dates that shaped Sunderland's history, highlighted its people's genius (or silliness) and embraced the unexpected. Featuring an amazing mix of social, criminal and sporting events, this book reveals a past that will fascinate, delight and even shock both residents and visitors of the city.

Take a delightful journey back in time in this historically rich and visually appealing beach town. Displayed in over 275 precious views of hand-tinted and sepia-toned postcards from the late 1800s through more modern times, Ocean Grove's history comes alive.Travel within its three natural water borders, the Atlantic Ocean, Wesley Lake, and Fletcher Lake to view the Asbury Park boardwalk alive with Victorian-era visitors, the first railroad station, and rare views of the magnificent Auditorium. See its early days of entertainment, including John Phillip Sousa and Peter, Paul, and Mary, as well as the patriotic heritage that rumbled through its streets. Whether looking at beautiful images of the special hotels like the Shawmont or the wide lawns of the Windamar, busy Ocean Grove streets and scenes will enchant you.

This is a fact-packed compendium of snippets from the past and present, including historical tales, legends and myths of the Lake District and the rest of the region from Barrow to Carlisle. The towns and villages all have their stories to tell of industries past and present, of natural and man-made disasters, of battles, of law and order, crimes and punishments. In The Little Book of Cumbria you will read of the people, their traditions, their heritage, language and folklore. The topics range from amusing trivia to great events that changed things forever. You can read the book from cover to cover or dip in at your leisure.

'I love this city, and always shall. I write about it. I dream about it. I walk its streets and see something new each day - traces of faded lettering on the stone, still legible, but just; some facade that I have walked past before and not noticed; an unregarded doorway with the names, in brass, of those who lived there sixty years ago, the bell-pulls sometimes still in place, as if one might summon long-departed residents from their slumbers.' Edinburgh is a city of stories - a place that has witnessed everything from great historical upheavals, to the individual lives of a remarkable cast of characters. Every spire, cobblestone, bridge, close and avenue has a tale to tell. In this sumptuous new book, Alexander McCall Smith curates his own, distinctive story of Edinburgh - combining his affectionate, incisive wit with a wealth of stunning imagery drawn from Scotland's national collection of architecture and archaeology. Through a series of photographs, maps, drawings and paintings - many never before published - he takes the reader on a unique tour. Just like the city's architecture, the book can move in an instant from sweeping views to secret, hidden vignettes. This is a story of famous landmarks and lost buildings; the people who made them; the people who lived in them. A Work of Beauty is an intimate portrait of a city by one of Scotland's greatest storytellers.

Modern-day Cambridgeshire is a county of diverse landscapes: from the elegance of the university city and the rural delights of the old county of Huntingdonshire Isle of Ely, each district has its own identity and its own stories. Explore the antics of the inhabitants of the past, including Hereward the Saxon hero; the Fenland giant Tom Hickathrift; the pious Bricstan of Chatteris; the raconteur and skater Chaffe Legge; and Mr Leech, who was carried off by the Devil. You will also discover the hidden history of the area, including how the secret Brotherhood of the Grey Goose Feather helped King Charles I, and what really happened to King John's treasure. These entertaining tales will delight readers both within Cambridgeshire and elsewhere.

Victorian Chelsea was a thriving commercial and residential development, known for its grand houses and pleasant garden squares. Violent crime was unheard of in this leafy suburb. The double murder of an elderly man of God and his faithful housekeeper in two ferocious, bloody attacks in May of 1870 therefore shook the residents of Chelsea to the core. This volume examines the extraordinary case, one which could have leapt straight from the pen of Agatha Christie herself: the solving of the crime relied on the discovery of a packing box dripping with blood, and the capture of a mysterious French nephew. Compiled by a former detective, it looks at the facts: no direct evidence to place the suspect at either of the crime scenes; no weapon recovered; no motive substantiated. It lets you, the reader, decide: would you, on the evidence presented, have sent the same man to the gallows?

This fascinating and beautifully photographed guidebook follows Cambridgeshire's waterways from leafy Huntingdon to the wide-sky Fens, along the lovely Nene Valley down to the busy port town of Wisbech and travels beside the gentle stream of the Cam into the architectural glories of the university city of Cambridge. The narrative explores the history of Cambridgeshire through its vanished castles and abbeys, and traces the draining of the wild marshes. Cambridgeshire is a county that is different to any other in England, and the watery landscapes of the Fens are unique. From the bizarre Straw Bears that lead the hosts of morris dancers through the heart of Whittlesey every January, to the sedate Rose Fair that graces Wisbech church and gardens every June, Cambridgeshire has something to offer everyone.

Los Angeles is home to the largest population of people of Middle Eastern origin and descent in the United States. Since the late nineteenth century, Syrian and Lebanese migration, in particular, to Southern California has been intimately connected to and through Latin America. Arab Routes uncovers the stories of this Syrian American community, one both Arabized and Latinized, to reveal important cross-border and multiethnic solidarities in Syrian California. Sarah M. A. Gualtieri reconstructs the early Syrian connections through California, Texas, Mexico, and Lebanon. She reveals the Syrian interests in the defense of the Mexican American teens charged in the 1942 Sleepy Lagoon murder, in actor Danny Thomas's rise to prominence in LA's Syrian cultural festivals, and in more recent activities of the grandchildren of immigrants to reclaim a sense of Arabness. Gualtieri reinscribes Syrians into Southern California history through her examination of powerful images and texts, augmented with interviews with descendants of immigrants. Telling the story of how Syrians helped forge a global Los Angeles, Arab Routes counters a long-held stereotype of Arabs as outsiders and underscores their longstanding place in American culture and in interethnic coalitions, past and present.

At the dawn of the seventeenth century, immigrants to this country arrived with dreams of conquering a new frontier. Families were willing to embrace a life of strife and hardship but with great hopes of achieving prominence and wealth. Such is the case with the Hambleton family. From William Hambleton's arrival on the Eastern Shore in 1657 and through every major conflict on land, sea, and air since, a member of the Hambleton clan has participated and made a lasting contribution to this nation. Their achievements are not only in war but in civic leadership as well. Among its members are bankers, business leaders, government officials, and visionaries. Not only is the Hambleton family extraordinary by American standards, it is also remarkable in that their base for four centuries has been and continues to be Maryland. The blood of the Hambletons is also the blood of Maryland, a rich land stretching from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean to the tidal basins of the mighty Chesapeake to the mountains of the west, a poetic framework that illuminates one truly American family that continues its legacy of building new generations of strong Americans.

In his inimitable prose, master storyteller Peter Quinn chronicles his odyssey from the Irish Catholic precincts of the Bronx to the arena of big-league politics and corporate hardball. Cross Bronx is Peter Quinn’s one-of-a-kind account of his adventures as ad man, archivist, teacher, Wall Street messenger, court officer, political speechwriter, corporate scribe, and award-winning novelist. Like Pete Hamill, Quinn is a New Yorker through and through. His evolution from a childhood in a now-vanished Bronx, to his exploits in the halls of Albany and swish corporate offices, to then walking away from it all, is evocative and entertaining and enlightening from first page to last. Cross Bronx is bursting with witty, captivating stories. Quinn is best known for his novels (all recently reissued by Fordham University Press under its New York ReLit imprint), most notably his American Book Award–winning novel Banished Children of Eve. Colum McCann has summed up Quinn’s trilogy of historical detective novels as “generous and agile and profound.” Quinn has now seized the time and inspiration afforded by “the strange interlude of the pandemic” to give his up-close-and-personal accounts of working as a speechwriter in political backrooms and corporate boardrooms: “In a moment of upended expectations and fear-prone uncertainty, the tolling of John Donne’s bells becomes perhaps not as faint as it once seemed. Before judgment is pronounced and sentence carried out, I want my chance to speak from the dock. Let no man write my epitaph. In the end, this is the best I could do.” (from the Prologue) From 1979 to 1985 Quinn worked as chief speechwriter for New York Governors Hugh Carey and Mario Cuomo, helping craft Cuomo’s landmark speech at the 1984 Democratic Convention and his address on religion and politics at Notre Dame University. Quinn then joined Time Inc. as chief speechwriter and retired as corporate editorial director for Time Warner at the end of 2007. As eyewitness and participant, he survived elections, mega-mergers, and urban ruin. In Cross Bronx he provides his insider’s view of high-powered politics and high-stakes corporate intrigue. Incapable of writing a dull sentence, the award-winning author grabs our attention and keeps us enthralled from start to finish. Never have his skills as a storyteller been on better display than in this revealing, gripping memoir.

Norwich in the Second World War is the story of the city and its people, both civilian and military, from the construction of the first air raid shelters in 1938 through to VE Day in 1945 and the return of Far Eastern prisoners of war in 1946. Featuring first-hand accounts of what happened when enemy bombers raided the city, notably during the notorious Baedeker Blitz of 1942, rare photographs and documents make this book a must for anyone who knows and loves the city of Norwich.

Part of the Myths and Mysteries series, Myths and Mysteries of Pennsylvania explores unusual phenomena, strange events, and mysteries in Pennsylvania's history. Each episode included in the book is a story unto itself, and the tone and style of the book is lively and easy to read for a general audience interested in Pennsylvania's history.

The north Cornwall seaside resort town of Bude has undergone quite a transformation since its humble beginnings as Stratton's unremarkable neighbour. As one local candidly put it, 'Stratton was a market town when Bude was just a furzy down.' Initially known for its beach sand properties, which worked wonders on soil and proved favourable with many Cornish farmers, Bude expanded rapidly following the construction of the sea canal in the early nineteenth century. The Victorians sought it out as the ideal holiday resort. Bude - known in the Cornish tongue as Porthbud - has proven a hit with holidaymakers as an idyllic seaside destination. Whether surfing at Widemouth Bay, exploring cliffs and hidden beach coves, or simply enjoying a spot of fishing, the charming resort has emerged as a tourist hotspot. Author Dawn G. Robinson has compiled a captivating collection of postcards that capture the beauty and charm of this seaside spot.

From eyewitness accounts of unexplained sightings to the search for evidence of ghosts, this book features over fifty chilling tales of ghostly encounters from around Wearside. Featuring the ghostly nuns of Franklin Street, a headless horseman in Newcastle Road, and the phantoms who haunt the Royal Infirmary, Haunted Wearside is guaranteed to make your blood run cold. Richly illustrated and drawing on historical and contemporary sources, this collection will delight everyone interested in the paranormal.

The Ironbridge Gorge, a cradle of the Industrial Revolution, in the late 18th century was a magnet for writers, artists and industrial spies. The latest wonders of engineering and metallurgical technology were to be seen in a spectacular natural setting, where the fast-flowing Severn passed between towering cliffs of limestone, and hillsides honeycombed with mine workings amid the smoke of furnaces and the clanking of engines. Barrie Trinder, the acknowledged authority on the subject, has selected the most interesting descriptions and pictures to provide an invaluable anthology, through contemporary evidence, of the place and the people in that pioneering period, when this corner of Shropshire was changing the world and was indeed, as Charles Hulbert described it in 1837, 'the most extraordinary district in the world'. This book has become essential reading for anyone with an interest in the history of this fascinating area, or in the Industrial Revolution in general. It brings new understanding of the gorge itself and the industrial monuments preserved there and new insights for the specialist historian, whether concerned with social conditions, popular religion or industrial technology. This edition will continue to serve the same main groups of readers - local historians, educational groups and specialist historians - and, most of all, those general readers who know the area and recognise that something strange and seminal happened there that transformed not only Ironbridge and Coalbrookdale but the whole of our civilisation. The activity that once made the gorge so extraordinary has spread and grown to become a commonplace in modern industrial societies, leaving the place where it began a monument and a museum.

Do you think that legends are all about princes and princesses, knights and heroes, giants and monsters? Well, they aren't always. The stories in this book are about girls like you and girls you might know: clever, strong, brave and resourceful. Here you can read the story of Vasilisa, who wasn't afraid of the deep dark forest; Mollie Whuppie, who knew how to trick a giant; Tipingi, who was able to call on her friends to help her get out of trouble; Seren, who used her love of singing to help others; and many more fearless characters. Storyteller Fiona Collins has chosen the best of the old tales from all around the world and reworked them into new and exciting versions to be enjoyed by everyone, accompanied by magical illustrations by talented artist Ed Fisher.

It Happened in Connecticut tells twenty-seven true tales of famous--and infamous--people and events from the state's past, ranging from witchcraft trials to the Wiffle ball, from mass murder for profit to the modern game of football.