A vertible cinematic account of the catastrophe that decimated much of Chicago in 1871, forcing more than 100,000 people from their homes. Jim Murphy tells the story through the eyes of several survivors.

1793, Philadelphia. The nation’s capital and the largest city in North America is devastated by an apparently incurable disease, cause unknown . . . In a powerful, dramatic narrative, critically acclaimed author Jim Murphy describes the illness known as yellow fever and the toll it took on the city’s residents, relating the epidemic to the major social and political events of the day and to 18th-century medical beliefs and practices. Drawing on first-hand accounts, Murphy spotlights the heroic role of Philadelphia’s free blacks in combating the disease, and the Constitutional crisis that President Washington faced when he was forced to leave the city—and all his papers—while escaping the deadly contagion. The search for the fever’s causes and cure, not found for more than a century afterward, provides a suspenseful counterpoint to this riveting true story of a city under siege.

Thoroughly researched, generously illustrated with fascinating archival prints, and unflinching in its discussion of medical details, this book offers a glimpse into the conditions of American cities at the time of our nation’s birth while drawing timely parallels to modern-day epidemics. Bibliography, map, index.

Philadelphia is known as the home of vibrant colonial history: the Liberty Bell, the Betsy Ross House, and Independence Hall. But the City of Brotherly Love is also home to-and less well known for-its quirky history. The country's first quarantine station was located here. One of Philly's clocks has a face larger than Big Ben's in London. And a unique skill of Black abolitionist James Forten saved him from a life of West Indian servitude (and "Forten" was not even his real name). In Real Philly History, Real Fast, Jim Murphy provides an original tour of the city. He highlights artistic gems including the Dream Garden Tiffany mosaic and Isaiah Zagar's glittering Magic Gardens. He profiles intriguing historical figures from military leader Commodore Barry to civil rights heroes like Lucretia Mott. Murphy also explores neighborhoods from Chinatown to the Italian Market and the unique architectural details of Carpenters' Hall and the PSFS building. Each chapter provides a pithy story about a historical person or site, along with bullet points featuring interesting oddities, and nearby attractions along with fun facts such as: Why there are so many churches? What is the Philadelphia Eagles' connection to the U.S. Custom House? Which famous artist may have been Philadelphia's first nude model? And where was the Liberty Bell secretly damaged? (We didn't do it!) This is Philly history in bites that are as digestible as a soft pretzel with mustard.

This powerful book is kaleidoscopic in all ways-patterns of language, history, and landscape tumble down the page to be formed anew on the next. It is reflective and absorbing at once. It brings dignity and insight to a raw, unlettered world in order to find its worth and its grief. It is an effort to remember and redeem, and a further effort to find the truth. Yet finally, I think, this book is joyous; it delivers a rare and hard-sought vision of joy. One cannot read this book and not feel lifted and, thereby, free. Maurice Manning, author of "The Gone and the Going Away," Professor of English at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, and past recipient of the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award for Lawrence Booth's Book of Visions.

Sam is a blacksmith in a small rural township. He has spent his whole life there and is quite content with his lot. Now, however, things are changing. For some reason a mature, red dragon has taken up residence in a cave outside the town and it has already killed Ralf and his family. As a member of the group sent to find help to deal with the dragon, Sam is leaving town for the first time in his life. And the outside world is nothing like the safe, predictable existence that he has been used to until now. He learns of other races in the world and the mighty wars between them that have shaped the whole land, wars that are still being fought and have a great deal to do with the arrival of the dragon. Can Sam and his compatriots survive the journey and find a way to rid the town of its dragon problems? That is for the reader to discover as he follows the young blacksmith through his journey and sees a completely different person end the trip to the one who had started out.

In the summer of 1776, Joseph Plumb Martin was a fifteen-year-old Connecticut farm boy who considered himself "as warm a patriot as the best of them." He enlisted that July and stayed in the revolutionary army until hostilities ended in 1783. Martin fought under Washington, Lafayette, and Steuben. He took part in major battles in New York, Monmouth, and Yorktown. He wintered at Valley Forge and then at Morristown, considered even more severe. He wrote of his war years in a memoir that brings the American Revolution alive with telling details, drama, and a country boy's humor. Jim Murphy lets Joseph Plumb Martin speak for himself throughout the text, weaving in historical backfround details wherever necessary, giving voice to a teenager who was an eyewitness to the fight that set America free from the British Empire.