Bringing Chicago circa 1893 to vivid life, Erik Larson's spellbinding bestseller intertwines the true tale of two men--the brilliant architect behind the legendary 1893 World's Fair, striving to secure America's place in the world; and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction.

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.

The county borough of Wrexham is rich in folklore, with an abundance of tales to capture the wonders of the Welsh landscape and all its denizens, both real and imaginary: animal, human and even superhuman. This collection, which includes both traditional tales - passed down through generations by word of mouth - and archive material, brings to life the local legends, mysteries and stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things that make Wales so magical. A speaker of both languages of Wales, the author has collected some unusual material sure to enchant both Welsh and non Welsh speakers. Beautifully illustrated by local artist Ed Fisher, these tales bring to life the ancient wisdom of Wrexham.

Authors David and Gareth take a trip through the places, peculiarities and past practices of Cardiff, stopping off to sample the culinary (and alcoholic) delights of the city along the way. From Clark's Pies and a heaped helping of 'Half and Half' to the oddities of the 'Kaairdiff' accent, this fact-packed compendium reveals the contributions Cardiff has made to the history of the nation and recalls some of its famous faces - Shirley Bassey, Charlotte Church and Frank Hennessy amongst them - and popular attractions. This book is guaranteed to entertain, amuse and surprise everyone who picks it up.

County Kildare abounds in folk tales, myths and legends and a selection of the best, drawn from historical sources and newly recorded local reminiscence, have been brought to life here by professional storyteller Steve Lally. Included in this collection are the exploits of the Wizard Earl of Kildare who lived at Maynooth Castle, the legend of the lonely 'Pooka Horse' said to dwell amongst the ruins of Rathcoffey Castle, the story of St Bridgid, the patron saint of County Kildare, and the tale of the time the Devil decided to make a house call. Full of wit and wisdom, these tales tell of the strange and macabre; memories of magic and otherworlds; and proud recollections of county heroes such as Dan Donnelly, Ireland's first Heavy Weight Boxing Champion. The captivating stories, brought to life with unique illustrations from the author, will be enjoyed by readers time and again.

If you're looking for a book which is fun and at the same time informative about Lancashire then this is the one for you. If you want to sit down and read it from cover to cover you will be fascinated by the things you did not know about this amazing part of England. On the other hand, if you just want something to dip into on the train or bus or to read for five minutes in bed before you fall asleep, this book will also do the job. Did you know for instance that in Wigan, Eccles cakes used to be called 'slow walking cakes' because they were offered to mourners at funerals? Or that that St Walburge's Church in Preston was named after the Patron Saint of people suffering from rabies? Thought not.

Birmingham's Got Talent! Well, there can't be any question about that - a shopping centre that has always rivalled almost anywhere in existence, a manufacturing industry with a worldwide reputation andtheatres and cinemas in abundance.In this collection we have tried to show that, after the terribleevents of the forties, our city was busy replenishing and starting to flourish again - shops, factories and places of entertainment and, of course, the people. In the fifties shops played an enormous part in our lives as very few people had refrigerators and daily trips were a necessity. Politically the Conservatives held their ground from 1951 until 1964 when Labour came into its own. Musically the Beatles dominated the sixties and television finally burst into colour. So, there you are, in this, our 33rd Birmingham book, there are more wonderful items to enjoy. All proving, once and for all, that Birmingham has ALWAYS had talent!

Taking you through the year day by day, The Cardiff Book of Days contains a quirky, eccentric, amusing or important event or fact from different periods of history, many of which had a major impact on the religious and political history of Britain as a whole. Ideal for dipping into, this addictive little book will keep you entertained and informed. Featuring hundreds of snippets of information gleaned from the vaults of Cardiff's archives, it will delight residents and visitors alike.

Award-winning Yorkshire photographers Jennifer Robertson and Lynne Fletcher are not only hugely talented, they are also warm, witty and genuine. In fact we can't imagine anyone else who could have inspired so many of the county's most high-profile exports to give up their time to be photographed and to talk about their love of their home county. This unique book celebrates the inspirational Yorkshire men and women who are the best in their chosen field - actors, politicians, athletes, writers, musicians, historians, educators and medics. From the giants of entertainment to sporting heroes bringing home Olympic Gold, these photographs tell of Yorkshire grown achievement and success, on the national and international stage. What comes across most powerfully is that no matter how far Yorkshire men and women go, in distance or stardom, from the place of their birth, they are forever shaped by it, regularly return, and are intensely proud to belong.

The first comprehensive history of Hopkins Medicine in more than twenty years, "Leading the Way" not only recounts the exceptional achievements of Hopkins physicians, researchers, teachers, and students since 1889 but chronicles the extraordinary expansion and accomplishments of Hopkins Medicine over the past two decades. Within the last twenty years, dozens of multidisciplinary research institutes and centers have been created to expand the frontiers of research in such wide-ranging fields as genetic medicine, biomedicine, cell engineering, cardiovascular care, ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease), and patient safety. In addition, a completely new medical school curriculum was formulated; four hospitals-two in Maryland, one in Washington, D.C., and one in Florida-joined the Hopkins Medicine family; and, Johns Hopkins Medicine International was founded, expanding Hopkins' global influence exponentially. Hopkins Medicine has endured and overcome significant challenges and crises while still maintaining its status as the best-known health care institution in the world-with the Johns Hopkins Hospital alone being named the nation's best by U.S. News & World Report for an incredible twenty-one consecutive years. Hopkins Medicine has been the subject of award-winning television programs and best-selling books, and its faculty continues to garner recognition for outstanding achievements, including MacArthur Foundation "genius" awards, National Medals of Science, Presidential Medals of Freedom, and Nobel Prizes. Lavishly illustrated with more than four hundred photographs, most in color, "Leading the Way" provides all those interested in the story of Johns Hopkins Medicine - even just the advances in medicine itself over the past twenty years - a lively and riveting account of how Hopkins remains in the forefront of medical education, research, and patient care.

The Channel Islands are unique - a result of 800 years of independence. Taking you through the year day by day, this book contains quirky, eccentric, momentous and amusing events and facts from the earliest period of the island's history to the present. Entries cover a huge variety of subjects and are drawn from a myriad original documents and sources, including 300 years of newspaper reports; diary entries from the English Civil War and diary extracts from the time of the German occupation, written by government officials, teenagers, German officers and slave workers.

For the first time, these enchanting folk tales, the origins of which lie in the oral tradition, have been gathered together in book form. The charming selection of thirty fairy tales and legends are full of Herefordian wit and wisdom, and are perfect for reading aloud or alone. Although on the surface they may appear quaint, these stories tell of strange happenings in the peaceful Herefordshire countryside, formed from early attempts to explain the natural and spiritual world. From the Saxon king of East Anglia who became the patron saint of Hereford Cathedral, and the story of the black hound of Baskerville Hall which inspired Arthur Conan Doyle, to a medieval love story, these gripping tales have stood the test of time, and remain classic texts which will be enjoyed time and again by modern readers.

Reforming Philadelphia examines the cyclical efforts of insurgents to change the city's government over nearly 350 years. Political scientist Richardson Dilworth tracks reformers as they create a new purpose for the city or reshape the government to reflect emerging ideas. Some wish to thwart the "corrupt machine," while others seek to gain control of the government via elections. These actors formed coalitions and organizations that disrupted the status quo in the hope of transforming the city (and perhaps also enriching themselves). Dilworth addresses Philadelphia's early development through the present day, including momentous changes from its new city charter in 1885 and the Republican machine that emerged around the same time to its transformation to a Democratic stronghold in the 1950s, when the city also experienced a racial transition. Focusing primarily on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Dilworth evaluates the terms of Mayors Frank Rizzo, Wilson Goode, and Ed Rendell, as well as John Street, Michael Nutter, and Jim Kenney to illustrate how power and resistance function, and how Philadelphia's political history and reform cycles offer a conceptual model that can easily be applied to other cities. Reforming Philadelphia provides a new framework for understanding the evolving relationship between national politics and local, city politics.

Taking you through the year day by day, The Newcastle Book of Days contains quirky, eccentric, amusing and important events and facts from different periods in the history of the city. Ideal for dipping into, this addictive little book will keep you entertained and informed. Featuring hundreds of snippets of information gleaned from the vaults of Newcastle's archives and covering the social, criminal, political, religious, industrial, military and sporting history of the region, it will delight residents and visitors alike.

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.

Books about history using real life memories recorded specifically for the purpose are rare, Live, Work & Play is just such a book. Created from the hundreds of reminiscences of the residents of the town gathered by the WGC Heritage Trust and put into historical context by Prof Mark Clapson , one of the UK's leading social historians, the book offers a unique insight into the creation of the UK's second garden city. Timed to appear at the start of 2020, when Welwyn Garden City achieves its 100th year, the history of Sir Ebenezer Howard's final masterpiece, with all its imperfections, is laid out for all to read. Now thriving and at ease with itself WGC is an example of how to create homes for its community. Created as a Garden City in 1920, developed as a New Town from 1948 the lessons it offers are invaluable to both developers and governments alike.

The area around Hoyland is very special indeed. Developed over 1,000 years, it is a microcosm of agricultural, architectural and industrial development, whose historical significance is without equal. Some of the buildings found here are of a quality which can be found nowhere else in England. This delightful collection by local historian Geoffrey Howse, whose great-grandparent's shop gave Elsecar the name 'Howse's Corner', includes many rare antique photographs of the area, each set alongside an image of the same view today. Deeply nostalgic and meticulously researched, it will delight residents and visitors alike.

'Seeking a Christmas present for that bibliophilic relative who has seemingly read everything? It's right here' Financial Times 'An utter treat' Daily Mail 'Peculiarly hilarious!' - William Gibson 'Every page is a pleasure' - Lindsey FItzharris 'Utterly charming' - Tom Holland 'Laugh-out-loud' - Garth Nix 'A must read' - Fergus Butler-Gallie 'Brims with self-effacing charm' - Caitlin Doughty 'Unfortunately I have mislaid the book in question' - Neil Gaiman Welcome to Sotheran's, one of the oldest bookshops in the world, with its weird and wonderful clientele, suspicious cupboards, unlabelled keys, poisoned books and some things that aren't even books, presided over by one deeply eccentric apprentice. Some years ago, Oliver Darkshire stepped into the hushed interior of Henry Sotheran Ltd on Sackville Street (est. 1761) to interview for their bookselling apprenticeship, a decision which has bedevilled him ever since. He'd intended to stay for a year before launching into some less dusty, better remunerated career. Unfortunately for him, the alluring smell of old books and the temptation of a management-approved afternoon nap proved irresistible. Soon he was balancing teetering stacks of first editions, fending off nonagenarian widows with a ten-foot pole and trying not to upset the store's resident ghost (the late Mr Sotheran had unfinished business when he was hit by that tram). For while Sotheran's might be a treasure trove of literary delights, it sings a siren song to eccentrics. There are not only colleagues whose tastes in rare items range from the inspired to the mildly dangerous, but also zealous collectors seeking knowledge, curios, or simply someone with whom to hold a four hour conversation about books bound in human skin. By turns unhinged and earnestly dog-eared, Once Upon a Tome is the rather colourful story of life in one of the world's oldest bookshops and a love letter to the benign, unruly world of antiquarian bookselling, where to be uncommon or strange is the best possible compliment.

Storyteller Sheila Kinninmonth brings together stories from the coastal fishing villages, rushing rivers, magical green farmland and rolling hills of Fife. In this treasure trove of tales you will meet Scottish Kings and Queens, saints and sinners, witches and wizards, ghosts and giants, broonies, fools and tricksters - all as fantastical and powerful as the landscape they inhabit. Retold in an engaging style, and richly illustrated with unique line drawings, these humorous, clever and enchanting folk tales are sure to be enjoyed and shared time and again.

In 1977, the iconic Swindon Works was building locomotives. By 1986, it was shut down. In The End of the Line, Ron Bateman recounts the fight to save Swindon Works, its 3,500 jobs and the livelihood of the entire community it represented. Initially joining through the Works Training School in 1977, Ron witnessed this tragic struggle and the crushing blow dealt to the industry that had defined Swindon for generations. Combining personal recollections with information and interviews from many other insiders and railmen, this book provides the only comprehensive chronicle on the final decade of 147 years of railway engineering and a fateful milestone in the history of Swindon.