Local history Books

Community journalism has long been a part of the lifeblood of America, but never have the stakes been so high for the people behind it.In Beacons in the Darkness, award-winning journalist Dave Hoekstra interviews the people trying to keep the lights on...

Dazzling and ambitious, this multivoiced fusion of prose, playwriting, graphic art, and philosophy spins an epic tale of America's struggle for civil rights as it played out in San Francisco near the end of the 1960s. As Karen Tei Yamashita's motley cast...

"It is a meditation on Chicago's old soul . . . a witty, seductive, live-wire and greatly entertaining dark comedy that you just don't want to end." Chicago Tribune "Superior Donuts is a soulful play, full of humor and humanity... drawn with deep...

How two teenage girls in Minnesota jump-started a revolution in high school athleticsPeggy Brenden, a senior, played tennis. Toni St. Pierre, a junior, was a cross country runner and skier. All these two talented teenagers wanted was a chance to compete...

A compelling tale of one of the worst shipwrecks in Great Lakes history and of amazing survival against all odds-now in paperback.Michael Schumacher recreates the circumstances surrounding the terrible storm of November 1966 that broke the mighty...

The story of four families of Cajun boatmen and their rise from trappers and shrimpers to mega-millionaires.Rise of the Cajun Mariners documents an untold piece of American history-the beginnings of what is now the global, multibillion-dollar marine oil...

Discover the little-known role Alexander Hamilton played in the decisive battle of the American Revolution: Yorktown.Alexander Hamilton and the Battle of Yorktown, October 1781 is the first book in nearly two and a half centuries that has ever been...

The Shocking Reexamination of Unexplored Failures by Government Officials to Use Available Intelligence to Stop the Events of September 11thIn 2009, documentarians John Duffy and Ray Nowosielski arrived at the offices of Richard Clarke, the former...

The story of Sapelo Island, Georgia, is a compelling story that holds an endless fascination for many people, whether they be serious historians, occasional visitors, or local residents. This book is a review of one segment of Sapelo's history that is in...

A bullet train of a book, fast-paced, hilarious, rich with action. A harbinger of good things to come in mysterious ways.It all began at a cocktail party at Wallace Stegner's for the Stanford writing class of 1958. Ken Kesey and Ken Babbs became cronies,...

An inside look at one of the nation's most famous public hospitals, Cook County, as seen through the eyes of its longtime Director of Intensive Care, Dr. Cory Franklin.Filled with stories of strange medical cases and unforgettable patients culled from a...

Published on the 149th anniversary of the catastrophe, Chicago's Great FireWill appeal to readers of great narrative historians who have chronicled disasters like Erik Larson (Isaac's Storm) and David McCullough, whose first major book was The Johnstown...

One of the nation's foremost urban historians traces the history of cooperative housing in New York City from the 1920s through the 1970s.As World War II ended and Americans turned their attention to problems at home, union leaders and other prominent...

As a child growing up in Manhattan, William Helmreich played a game with his father called "Last Stop." They would pick a subway line, ride it to its final destination, and explore the neighborhood. Decades later, his love for exploring the city is as...

"The Great Starvation Experiment is wide-ranging, weaving progress in the war into the day-to-day suffering of the hungry volunteers." -Saint Paul Pioneer Press"Fascinating . . ." -Minneapolis Star TribuneNear the end of World War II, thirty-six...

The Edmund Fitzgerald, a colossal ore carrier, had been fighting her way through a pounding November storm on Lake Superior. Then the Fitz's radar went out, and she started to take on water. Despite gale-force winds and thirty-foot seas, there was no...

A self-described "song-hunter," the folklorist Alan Lomax traveled the Mississippi Delta in the 1930's and '40s, armed with primitive recording equipment and a keen love of the Delta's music heritage. Crisscrossing the towns and hamlets where the blues...

A collection of essays spans the tumultuous decade from 1968, the year of the San Francisco State University strike, to 1978 and the twin traumas of the Jonestown massacre and the assassinations of mayor George Moscone and supervisor Harvey Milk. This...

In a work of narrative nonfiction that weaves together the racially fraught history of public education in Milwaukee and the broader story of hypersegregation in the rust belt, Lessons from the Heartland tells of an iconic city's fall from grace - and of...