Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

The view that slavery could best be described by those who had themselves experienced it personally has found expression in several thousand commentaries, autobiographies, narratives, and interviews with those who "endured." Although most of these accounts appeared before the Civil War, more than one-third are the result of the ambitious efforts of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to interview surviving ex-slaves during the 1930s. The result of these efforts was the Slave Narrative Collection, a group of autobiographical accounts of former slaves that today stands as one of the most enduring and noteworthy achievements of the WPA. Compiled in seventeen states during the years 1936-38, the collection consists of more than two thousand interviews with former slaves, most of them first-person accounts of slave life and the respondents' own reactions to bondage. The interviews afforded aged ex-slaves an unparalleled opportunity to give their personal accounts of life under the "peculiar institution," to describe in their own words what it felt like to be a slave in the United States. -Norman R. Yetman, American Memory, Library of Congress This paperback edition of selected Alabama narratives is reprinted in facsimile from the typewritten pages of the interviewers, just as they were originally typed.

Rolling prairie grasslands in the east, surreal Badlands and lush Black Hills in the west: South Dakota is a state of vivid contrasts. In this classic and now-rare guide to Depression-era South Dakota, you can discover the historic byways and back roads of this beautiful state. Originally part of the American Guide Series, this book was written both to chronicle the physical and cultural landscape of the Mount Rushmore State and to employ out-of-work writers. The result is a snapshot of South Dakota as our grandparents knew it.

"The Bohemian Flats," first published in 1941, is a charming history of a small, isolated community that once lay on the west bank of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, tucked underneath the Washington Avenue bridge. From the 1880s to the 1940s the village was home to generations of Swedish, Norwegian, Czech, Irish, Polish, and especially Slovak immigrants. This book's vivid descriptions of their traditions and adaptations offer an unusual insight into Minnesota's multi-ethnic heritage.
"The Bohemian Flats" discusses the early years of settlement on the Flats, the lifeways and celebrations of the residents, and the razing of most of the neighborhood in 1932; it also provides recipes "From the Flats Kitchens." This edition contains a new section of pictures of the Flats and an introduction by ethnic historian Thaddeus Radzilowski, who describes the genesis of the book in the WPA and answers more questions about the identities of those who lived on the Bohemian Flats.

In the 1930s, at the height of the Great Depression, the federal government put thousands of unemployed writers to work in the Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). Out of their efforts came the American Guide series, the first comprehensive guidebooks to the people, resources, and traditions of each state in the union.

The WPA Guide to Minnesota is a lively and detailed introduction to the state and its people. Much has changed since the book's first publication in 1938 when, as the authors noted, some Minnesotans could "clearly recall ... the sight of browsing buffalo herds, and the creaking of thong-tied Red River carts." But the book vividly recaptures the era when annual fishing licenses cost fifty cents, farmers ran barn dances for motoring townfolk, Duluth was the headquarters of the Hay Fever Club of America, and the nearly new Foshay Tower loomed on the Minneapolis skyline.

The guide has much more than nostalgia to offer today's readers. Twenty auto tours and six special city tours tell the stories of the state's people and places and offer a fascinating alternative to freeway travel. Essays on major themes such as native peoples, history, arts, transportation, and sports provide an authentic self-portrait of 1930s Minnesota in humorous, loving, and literary prose.

This time-travelers' guide to Minnesota is an evocative reminder of the state's past and a challenge to contemporary readers who seek to find how that past lives on today.

Special features include 20 road trips, 6 city tours, 15 boundary waters canoe trips, 12 maps, 22 drawings, an introduction by the renowned Midwestern writer Frederick Manfred, a chronology, and a revisedbibliography.

In the early days of the American West, outlaws dominated the New Mexico Territory. Such colorful characters as Black Jack Ketchum, the Apache Kid, Curly Bill, Devil Dick, Billy the Kid, Bill McGinnis, Vicente Silva and his gang, the Dalton Brothers, and the Wild Bunch terrorized the land. Feared by many, loved by some, their exploits were both horrifying and legendary. In between forays, notorious outlaws were sometimes exemplary cowboys. Singly or in gangs, they held up stagecoaches and trains and stole from prospectors and settlers. When outlaws reigned, bank holdups, shoot-outs, and murders were a common occurrence; death by hanging became a favored means of settling disputes by outlaws and vigilantes alike. Stories of outlaws later provided plots for many of our favorite Western movies. Between 1936 and 1940, field workers in the Federal Writers' Project (a part of the government-funded Works Progress Administration, or WPA, later called Work Projects Administration) collected and wrote down many accounts that provide an authentic and vivid picture of outlaws in the early days of New Mexico. They feature life history narratives of places, characters, and events of the Wild West during the late 1800s. These original documents reflect the unruly, eccentric conditions of the New Mexico Territory as they played out in clashes and collaborations between outlaws and "the gentle people" of New Mexico before and after statehood. This book, focusing on outlaws and desperados, is the first in a series featuring stories from the New Mexico Federal Writers' Project collection. Other books in the series include stories about ranchers, cowboys, and the wild and woolly adventures of sheepherders, homesteaders, prospectors, and treasure hunters. In them, the untamed New Mexico Territory comes to life with descriptions of encounters with Indians, travels along the old trails, cattle rustling, murders at the gambling table, and Pancho Villa's raid on Columbus. This treasury of Federal Writers' Project records, presented with informative background and historic photographs, also highlights Hispano folk life and Western lore in old New Mexico. ANN LACY has lived in New Mexico since 1979. She has been an Artist-in-Residence in the New Mexico Artists-in-the-Schools Program and a studio artist exhibiting her work in museums and galleries. As a researcher and writer, she has specialized in New Mexico history and culture. She received a City of Santa Fe 2000 Heritage Preservation Award. ANNE VALLEY-FOX is a New Mexico poet and writer. Her publications include "Your Mythic Journey: Finding Meaning in Your Life through Writing and Storytelling," "Sending the Body Out, "Fish Drum 14" and "Point of No Return." Her work has been published in numerous anthologies and magazines, including "El Palacio: Art, History and Culture of the Southwest,"" New Mexico Poetry Renaissance" and "In Company: An Anthology of New Mexico Poets After 1960."

The view that slavery could best be described by those who had themselves experienced it personally has found expression in several thousand commentaries, autobiographies, narratives, and interviews with those who "endured." Although most of these accounts appeared before the Civil War, more than one-third are the result of the ambitious efforts of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to interview surviving ex-slaves during the 1930s. The result of these efforts was the Slave Narrative Collection, a group of autobiographical accounts of former slaves that today stands as one of the most enduring and noteworthy achievements of the WPA. Compiled in seventeen states during the years 1936-38, the collection consists of more than two thousand interviews with former slaves, most of them first-person accounts of slave life and the respondents' own reactions to bondage. The interviews afforded aged ex-slaves an unparalleled opportunity to give their personal accounts of life under the "peculiar institution," to describe in their own words what it felt like to be a slave in the United States. -Norman R. Yetman, American Memory, Library of Congress This paperback edition of all of the Tennessee narratives is reprinted in facsimile from the typewritten pages of the interviewers, just as they were originally typed.

The view that slavery could best be described by those who had themselves experienced it personally has found expression in several thousand commentaries, autobiographies, narratives, and interviews with those who "endured." Although most of these accounts appeared before the Civil War, more than one-third are the result of the ambitious efforts of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to interview surviving ex-slaves during the 1930s. The result of these efforts was the Slave Narrative Collection, a group of autobiographical accounts of former slaves that today stands as one of the most enduring and noteworthy achievements of the WPA. Compiled in seventeen states during the years 1936-38, the collection consists of more than two thousand interviews with former slaves, most of them first-person accounts of slave life and the respondents' own reactions to bondage. The interviews afforded aged ex-slaves an unparalleled opportunity to give their personal accounts of life under the "peculiar institution," to describe in their own words what it felt like to be a slave in the United States. -Norman R. Yetman, American Memory, Library of Congress This paperback edition of all of the Indiana narratives is reprinted in facsimile from the typewritten pages of the interviewers, just as they were originally typed.

The view that slavery could best be described by those who had themselves experienced it personally has found expression in several thousand commentaries, autobiographies, narratives, and interviews with those who "endured." Although most of these accounts appeared before the Civil War, more than one-third are the result of the ambitious efforts of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to interview surviving ex-slaves during the 1930s. The result of these efforts was the Slave Narrative Collection, a group of autobiographical accounts of former slaves that today stands as one of the most enduring and noteworthy achievements of the WPA. Compiled in seventeen states during the years 1936-38, the collection consists of more than two thousand interviews with former slaves, most of them first-person accounts of slave life and the respondents' own reactions to bondage. The interviews afforded aged ex-slaves an unparalleled opportunity to give their personal accounts of life under the "peculiar institution," to describe in their own words what it felt like to be a slave in the United States. -Norman R. Yetman, American Memory, Library of Congress This paperback edition of all of the Ohio narratives is reprinted in facsimile from the typewritten pages of the interviewers, just as they were originally typed.