As touchstones to the past, dolls validate childhood, a span of years that often seem like fragmented moments in time. With their life-like faces, blemished complexions, and snarled hair, vintage dolls hold sway with a magical power that rarely wanes, and often grows. In this collection, 60 contributors reminisce about their childhood dolls. Not all the dolls were pretty; not all were wanted; some were disappointing; not all became favorites, but each doll was memorable.

Madonna Dries Christensen's poignant memoir, In Her Shoes, is a superb model for the preservation of personal family memories. Anyone who wishes to record his or her own family history should read this book first. With precise writing and awe-inspiring photos, Madonna has created a cherished keepsake for her immediate family as well as for posterity. As she aptly states in this memorable memoir: "We become who we are because of who we were; a culmination of the momentous and the minutiae."--E. P. Ned Burke, author of seven novels and editor of Yesterday's Magazette and Writer's Magazette

This beautiful collection of stories creates, piece-by-loving-piece, the picture of a life well and richly lived. Madonna turns something as small as her first sip of Coca-Cola into a sensual drama and a morality play After you read the final story, about the death of her beloved mother, you'll want to hug your loved ones to you and tell them you love them.--Marshall Cook, an emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is the author of 30 books. He edits a free online newsletter for writers called Extra Innings (www.dcs.wisc.edu/lsa/writing/extrainnings).

This tender and skillful tribute to her mother by Madonna Dries Christensen will certainly be treasured by her extended family for its careful curation of dear family history. The rest of us will enjoy the lively stories and nod in recognition of characters who have their counterparts in our own families. With her thoughtful narration and gallery of old photos, the author hopes to inspire others to record family memories while there is time. Enjoy this collection and start your own --Becky Haigler, editor, Silver Boomer Books, and author of not so GRIMM: gentle fables and cautionary tales.

In this companion book to "Dolls Remembered," men reminisce about the boyhood toys and games that still hold a place in memory.

Would you loan a car to this man?

Henry Ford did .

The dismal economic times of the 1930s fostered a spree of major and minor crimes, including an army of con men roaming the country. One young Hungarian immigrant's genius for masquerade extended to impersonating noted people in order to prey on Industrialists and celebrities. His success prompted J. Edgar Hoover to write in the "American Magazine," May 1937:

"We sometimes refer to September 28, 1934, as Celebrity Day. That was the date of the great roundup, when we took into custody a German baron, several sons of American ambassadors, a few popular polo players, a member of the Wickersham Committee, a third assistant solicitor general of the United States, an Army colonel, a government undercover man, an around-the-world flier, a motion picture magnate, a number of house guests of industrial giants and multimillionaires, and the manager of the world's biggest doll factory. But this crowd of important men sat in only one chair. They were all represented in the multiple personality of a single individual, George Robert Gabor."

After the imposter's 1936 deportation, Hoover said, "We haven't heard of him again, and we don't want to. But you never can tell."

Within months, the Bureau suspected that Gabor had returned, but they failed to find him. In 1942, a clever ruse by the swindler led the FBI to close the case. Hoover never learned that he, too, had been conned.

"Swinging Sisters" is a one-of-a-kind book, because there is no other story like it.

Come along for the ride with a Depression era all-girl band as they tour the country in a 1928 Packard hearse. The Texas Rangerettes garner headlines in "Variety" and "Billboard" for several years before taking a fork in the road that subsequently has Paramount Studio cameramen camping on the women's doorstep hoping to film a history-making event featuring four band members.

Based on a true story, "Swinging Sisters" celebrates the life of a family rooted in the Irish famine who achieves success and happiness in two diverse careers.