From its humble beginnings as a place to swim and row a boat, Ideal Beach eventually became Indiana Beach, a small amusement park where families could have good old-fashioned fun. Founded by Earl Spackman in 1926, its popularity was bolstered by the addition of a dance hall that drew the top bands of the nation during the Depression and war years of the 1940s. When Earl passed away, his son Tom continued his legacy, setting Indiana Beach on a course that would make it one of the most popular vacation resorts and amusement parks in the entire Midwest, delighting nearly one million visitors every year.

Boilermakers beware: There's a dark and secret side to to Lafayette's history that is sure to send shivers down the spine. From storied specters and urban legends, like Amelia Earhart's tragic figure haunting hangar number one at Purdue University Airport and sightings of the ever-elusive Bigfoot, to haunted houses and battlefields, with a guillotine suicide in the Lahr Hotel and the Trail of Death, authors Dorothy Salvo Davis and W.C. Madden leave no stone unturned as they examine the tragic past and the haunted present of Lafayette. With stories focusing on West Lafayette and White, Carroll and Warren Counties, "Haunted Lafayette" is a chilling read that no ghost enthusiast should miss.

The rotary jail was one of the more unusual architectural designs in history. In response to a need for better control over prisoners, 18 of the revolving, escape-proof structures were constructed in the United States from 1882 through 1889. They had their problems. There were mechanical difficulties, due to the extreme weight of the components. Unwary prisoners lost digits or limbs when carousels were rotated without warning-one lost his life. Because inmates could only be let out of their cells one at a time, some rotary jails were closed as fire hazards. This book describes in detail their construction, operation and eventual demise, as well as some of the colorful inmates that were held in them.

In 1947, the University of California and Yale University baseball teams took the field in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to play the first-ever NCAA Division I College World Series. It was a two-day, three-game Series with an attendance of less than 4,000. Today, it is a weeklong Series held in Omaha, Nebraska, with eight teams, tens of thousands of fans and millions more watching on television. This book covers each College World Series from the first game in 1947 through the 2003 Series, between Rice and Stanford universities. The authors devote a chapter to each decade, and then cover each game of each Series. They also provide information on standout players' careers (in baseball and other professions) after playing in the College World Series. NCAA Division II and III teams are also covered, and the appendix features short profiles of great college coaches.

For a dozen years in the 1940s and 1950s, more than 700 women played professional baseball in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Though some saw their brand of ball as a sideshow or wartime diversion, the women were all tough competitors and superb athletes. They set records that remain unequaled by their male counterparts, including Sophie Kurys' 201 stolen bases in a single season and Joanne Winter's 63 consecutive scoreless innings. And the 1944 AAGPBL All-Star game was the first night game at Chicago's Wrigley Field. This is the most comprehensive look ever at the players of this women's league. From Velma Abbott to Agnes ""Aggie"" Zurkowski, over 600 players are profiled. For each player, vital dates, place of birth, height, weight, defensive position, teams played for and seasons active are provided, along with complete career statistics. These data are followed (in most cases) by a brief biographical sketch that details the player's career, how she came to play in the league and information on her post-baseball career. Most of the photographs are from the personal files of the players and have never before been published.