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Books > History > History of specific subjects > Local history
This classic, illustrated book tells the story of the famous
faithful Skye terrier, Greyfriars Bobby, who watched over his
master's grave for 14 years in Greyfriars Churchyard, Edinburgh.
The Corbies series brings the heroes and rogues, triumphs and
tragedies of Scottish history vibrantly into life.
Jefferson County, New York, has one of the richest concentrations
of stone houses in America. As many as 500 limestone houses,
churches, and commercial buildings were built there before 1860.
Some of the buildings are beautiful mansions built by early
entrepreneurs, and others are small vernacular farmhouses. Some are
clustered together; others dot the countryside near limestone
outcroppings. Embedded in the fabric of each building are the
stories of its location, its maker, and those who have lived there.
Lavishly illustrated with almost 300 photographs, this volume
highlights eighty-five stone houses in the region. The editors
explore both the beauty and permanence of the stonework and the
courage and ambition of the early dwellers. They detail the ways in
which skilled masons utilized local limestone and sandstone,
crafting double-faced stone walls to protect against fire and harsh
winters. The book includes detailed discussions of the geology of
the region, the stone buildings that have been lost, and the
preservation and care of existing structures. Stone Houses of
Jefferson County provides a fascinating look at the intrinsic
beauty of these buildings and the historical links they provide to
our early settlement.
Thirty-five years after this landmark of urban history first
captured the rise, fall, and rebirth of a once-thriving New York
City borough-ravaged in the 1970s and '80s by disinvestment and
fires, then heroically revived and rebuilt in the 1990s by
community activists-Jill Jonnes returns to chronicle the ongoing
revival of the South Bronx. Though now globally renowned as the
birthplace of hip-hop, the South Bronx remains America's poorest
urban congressional district. In this new edition, we meet the
present generation of activists who are transforming their
communities with the arts and greening, notably the restoration of
the Bronx River. For better or worse, real estate investors have
noticed, setting off new gentrification struggles.
A sublimely elegant, fractured reckoning with the legacy and
inheritance of suicide in one American family. In 2009, Juliet
Patterson was recovering from a serious car accident when she
learned her father had died by suicide. His death was part of a
disturbing pattern in her family. Her father's father had taken his
own life; so had her mother's. Over the weeks and months that
followed, grieving and in physical pain, Patterson kept returning
to one question: Why? Why had her family lost so many men, so many
fathers, and what lay beneath the silence that had taken hold? In
three graceful movements, Patterson explores these questions. In
the winter of her father's death, she struggles to make sense of
the loss-sifting through the few belongings he left behind, looking
to signs and symbols for meaning. As the spring thaw comes, she and
her mother depart Minnesota for her father's burial in her parents'
hometown of Pittsburg, Kansas. A once-prosperous town of promise
and of violence, against people and the land, Pittsburg is now
literally undermined by abandoned claims and sinkholes. There,
Patterson carefully gathers evidence and radically imagines the
final days of the grandfathers-one a fiery pro-labor politician,
the other a melancholy businessman-she never knew. And finally, she
returns to her father: to the haunting subjects of goodbyes, of
loss, and of how to break the cycle. A stunning elegy that vividly
enacts Emily Dickinson's dictum to "tell it slant," Sinkhole richly
layers personal, familial, political, and environmental histories
to provide not answers but essential, heartbreaking truth.
`Victorian Cornwall' is a tour around the county from the north
coast on the Devon border right around to Land's End, out to the
Scillies and back up the south coast with a few inland villages
interspersed. The book is illustrated by photographs taken from the
1850s right through to 1901-a large span of Queen Victoria's reign.
The photographs used where practicable are as early as possible in
an effort to save these rare and treasured images for generations
to come. The photographs all come from the author's personal
collection and will take the reader back to Cornwall of 150 years
ago; included in the book are photographs of characters, customs,
villages, harbours, mines and buildings of note. This fascinating
book is well researched using the knowledge of many local people.
Montana is home to two of America's most popular national parks,
and many of the twelve million visitors who travel to Big Sky
Country each year include both Glacier and Yellowstone in their
plans. It's about a day's drive between these two western jewels,
and there are dozens of routes road trippers can select to build
their journey. There are also thousands of travel guides on the
shelf that provide information about the region, but Big Sky, Big
Parks is a unique among them, a blend of history, culture, and
local flavor that's more of an entertaining travel companion for
those visiting the two national parks and the vast chunk of Montana
that connects them. Author Ednor Therriault shares his experiences
on the road and in the parks with humor and insight in 36 stories
that chronicle the triumphs and tragedies that make traveling
between Glacier and Yellowstone such a rewarding endeavor. Discover
the reasons behind Yellowstone's devilish place names and read
about Butte's version of Disneyland in this road trip
handbook/travelogue that features insider tips on regional
delicacies, interesting places to lay your head, local trivia, and
even road trip playlists to provide a soundtrack to your Montana
adventure.
The story of how Francis Pryor created a haven for people, plants
and wildlife in a remote corner of the fens. A Fenland Garden is
the story of the creation of a garden in a complex and fragile
English landscape - the Fens of southern Lincolnshire - by a writer
who has a very particular relationship with landscape and the soil,
thanks to his distinguished career as an archaeologist and
discoverer of some of England's earliest field systems. It
describes the imagining, planning and building of a garden in an
unfamiliar and sometimes hostile place, and the challenges,
setbacks and joys these processes entail. This is a narrative of
the making of a garden, but it is also about reclaiming a patch of
ground for nature and wildlife - of repairing the damage done to a
small slice of Fenland landscape by decades of intensive farming. A
Fenland Garden is informed by the empirical wisdom of a practising
gardener (and archaeologist) and by his deep understanding of the
soil, landscape and weather of the region; Francis's account of the
development of the garden is counterpointed by fascinating nuggets
of Fenland lore and history, as well as by vignettes of the
plantsman's trials and tribulations as he works an exceptionally
demanding plot of land. Above all, this is the story of bringing
something beautiful into being; of embedding a garden in the local
landscape; and thereby of deepening and broadening the idea of
home.
In our world of global superstar footballers, it's easy to forget
the grassroots of a sport where loyalty to a hometown club is often
rock solid - and counts for everything. Even as local communities
come under threat, football fandom still pulls us together. But why
is this? What is the special magic that connects towns and teams?
For many of us, the local club offers it all: passion, hope,
heartache, drama. And a sense of belonging. The town where we grew
up and all the places we've lived are the bedrock of our lives, and
memories of seeing the local team play are inextricably intertwined
with our sense of place and identity. Steve Leach spends a year
visiting the twenty towns and clubs that are special to him. He
celebrates the distinctiveness of these places, the fascinating
differences between Lincoln and Leyton, Barrow and Birmingham,
Macclesfield and Morecambe - towns and teams that may not be
glamorous, but they are unique and, more importantly, they are
home.
A beautifully illustrated introduction to mudlarking which tells
the incredible, forgotten history of London through objects found
on the foreshore of the River Thames. Often seen combing the
shoreline of the River Thames at low tide, groups of archaeology
enthusiasts known as 'mudlarks' continue a tradition that dates
back to the eighteenth century. Over the years they have found a
vast array of historical artefacts providing glimpses into the
city's past. Objects lost or discarded centuries ago - from ancient
river offerings such as the Battersea Shield and Waterloo Helmet,
to seventeenth-century trade tokens and even medals for bravery -
have been discovered in the river. This book explores a fascinating
assortment of finds from prehistoric to modern times, which
collectively tell the rich and illustrious story of London and its
inhabitants - illustrated with and array of photographs taken of
the items in situ in the mud and gravel of the Thames estuary, at
the same time both gritty and glimmering.
'A gripping, heart-breaking account of the famine winter of 1847' -
Rosemary Goring, The Herald Longlisted for the Highland Book Prize
When Scotland's 1846 potato crop was wiped out by blight, the
country was plunged into crisis. In the Hebrides and the West
Highlands a huge relief effort came too late to prevent starvation
and death. Further east, meanwhile, towns and villages from
Aberdeen to Wick and Thurso, rose up in protest at the cost of the
oatmeal that replaced potatoes as people's basic foodstuff.
Oatmeal's soaring price was blamed on the export of grain by
farmers and landlords cashing in on even higher prices elsewhere.
As a bitter winter gripped and families feared a repeat of the
calamitous famine then ravaging Ireland, grain carts were seized,
ships boarded, harbours blockaded, a jail forced open, the military
confronted. The army fired on one set of rioters. Savage sentences
were imposed on others. But thousands-strong crowds also gained key
concessions. Above all they won cheaper food. Those dramatic events
have long been ignored or forgotten. Now, in James Hunter, they
have their historian. The story he tells is, by turns, moving,
anger-making and inspiring. In an era of food banks and growing
poverty, it is also very timely.
Leicestershire and Rutland, occupying the area between the Great
North Road and Watling Street have seen the movement of armies from
Roman times to the Civil War, with the decisive battles of Bosworth
and Naseby fought within or close to their borders. The Victorian
era saw the development of both the regular and volunteer forces
that would later fight in two world wars, while the development of
military flight in both defensive and offensive roles was a
twentieth-century theme. Leicestershire and Rutland witnessed
defence against the Zeppelins in the First World War; jet engines
and US airborne forces in the Second World War; and elements of
Britain's nuclear deterrent during the Cold War. The eavesdroppers
of the 'Y' Service at Beaumanor Hall provided much of the raw
material for Bletchley Park's code-breakers during the Second World
War. Evidence of this military activity is visible in the
landscape: castles of earthwork, stone or brick; barracks and
volunteer drill halls; airfields, missile sites and munitions
factories; pillboxes, observer corps posts and bunkers. This book
places sites into their social, political, historical and military
contexts, as well as figures such as William the Conqueror, Richard
III, and Oliver Cromwell.
From its south-eastern tip Sussex is little more than sixty miles
from continental Europe and the county's coastline, some
seventy-six miles long, occupies a large part of Britain's southern
frontier. Before the days of Macadam and the Turnpike, water travel
could prove more certain than land transportation and the seas that
define the borders of our nation aided, rather than deterred, the
invader.Though the last successful invasion of Britain took place
almost 1,000 years ago, the gently shelving beaches of Sussex have
tempted the prospective invader with the promise of both an easy
disembarkation and a short and direct route to London - the last
time being just seven decades ago.As the authors demonstrate, the
repeated threat of invasion from the Continent has shaped the very
landscape of the county. The rounded tops of the Iron Age hill
forts, the sheer walls of the medieval castles, the squat stumps of
Martello towers, the moulded Vaubanesque contours of the
Palmerstone redoubts and the crouched concrete blocks and bricks of
the Second World War pillboxes constitute the visible evidence of
Sussex's position on Britain's front line.
A case study about the formation of American pluralism and
religious liberty, The Spires Still Point to Heaven explores
why-and more importantly how-the early growth of Cincinnati
influenced the changing face of the United States. Matthew Smith
deftly chronicles the urban history of this thriving metropolis in
the mid-nineteenth century. As Protestants and Catholics competed,
building rival domestic missionary enterprises, increased religious
reform and expression shaped the city. In addition, the different
ethnic and religious beliefs informed debates on race, slavery, and
immigration, as well as disease, temperance reform, and education.
Specifically, Smith explores the Ohio Valley's religious landscape
from 1788 through the nineteenth century, examining its appeal to
evangelical preachers, abolitionists, social critics, and rabbis.
He traces how Cincinnati became a battleground for newly energized
social reforms following a cholera epidemic, and how grassroots
political organizing was often tied to religious issues. He also
illustrates the anti-immigrant sentiments and anti-Catholic
nativism pervasive in this era. The first monograph on Cincinnati's
religious landscape before the Civil War, The Spires Still Point to
Heaven highlights Cincinnati's unique circumstances and how they
are key to understanding the cultural and religious development of
the nation.
A historical overview of Mexican Americans' social and economic
experiences in Texas For hundreds of years, Mexican Americans in
Texas have fought against political oppression and exclusion--in
courtrooms, in schools, at the ballot box, and beyond. Through a
detailed exploration of this long battle for equality, this book
illuminates critical moments of both struggle and triumph in the
Mexican American experience. Martha Menchaca begins with the
Spanish settlement of Texas, exploring how Mexican Americans'
racial heritage limited their incorporation into society after the
territory's annexation. She then illustrates their political
struggles in the nineteenth century as they tried to assert their
legal rights of citizenship and retain possession of their land,
and goes on to explore their fight, in the twentieth century,
against educational segregation, jury exclusion, and housing
covenants. It was only in 1967, she shows, that the collective
pressure placed on the state government by Mexican American and
African American activists led to the beginning of desegregation.
Menchaca concludes with a look at the crucial roles that Mexican
Americans have played in national politics, education,
philanthropy, and culture, while acknowledging the important work
remaining to be done in the struggle for equality.
'Stories like this tend to have a life of their own...' From
privateers to monkey murderers, kleptomaniacs to automatons and
giant bugs to fart lamps - it's time to gather round the fire once
again for more tales of North East madness. In this second
installment of Tyne and Weird, Rob Kilburn embraces the odd and
ventures further than ever into the strange world of Tyne and Wear.
Newcastle has a long and distinguished history through two
millennia: a Roman fortress at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall;
an important centre of monasticism; a 'royal' bulwark against
attacks and invasion from Scotland; and the principal centre for
the export of coal to London. In the 19th century it was
transformed into an elegant Georgian townscape with dramatic
streets and handsome public buildings. It and other towns on the
Tyne - Gateshead, Jarrow, Wallsend, Tynemouth, North and South
Shields - developed important industries: shipbuilding, glass and
heavy engineering. Tyneside suffered severe contraction in the 20th
century as heavy industry declined, but it has begun to reinvent
itself and create new growth shoots, not least its vibrant cultural
industries including music and art. This book takes an innovative
approach to telling the story of the area's history by focusing on
the historic maps and plans that record the growth and development
of Newcastle and Tyneside over many centuries.
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