They'd just finished their Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Jackson Pollack, and were fed up with apartment life in New York City. What better means of escape could there be than the Xanadu-like pleasure palace built by robber baron William C. Whitney a century before? The asking price was a bit steep, of course, and the leaks, the falling plaster, the non-existent heating and air conditioning, and the nineteenth-century plumbing were a bit daunting. But Smith and Naifeh were hooked - and nothing would stop them.In writing of their three-year struggle to transform their "handyman special from hell" into a home while at the same time adjusting to the small-town rhythms of Aiken, South Carolina, they bring to life an unforgettable cast of characters - the neighbors, craftsmen, merchants, and friends who helped turn a town into a hometown. . . and a dream into a reality.

    Nobody knows the exact number of his victims-perhaps as few as twenty or as many as fifty. In his way of thinking, Hardin never shot a man who did not deserve it. Seeking to gain insight into Hardin’s homicidal mind, Leon Metz describes how Hardin’s bloody career began in post-Civil War Central Texas, when lawlessness and killings were commonplace, and traces his life of violence until his capture and imprisonment in 1878. After numerous unsuccessful escape attempts, Hardin settled down and received a pardon years later in 1895. He wrote an autobiography but did not live to see it published. Within a few months of his release, John Selman gunned him down in an El Paso saloon.

    Northeast Florida was frontier country then, and Hugie and Oleta were pioneers. Although the time and setting of their story are particular, the theme of survival during hard times is universal. Born in a cypress cabin on the edge of the great Durbin Swamp located midway between St. Augustine and Jacksonville, Hugie knew every alligator hole, every bog, every creek; he could dry venison so it lasted without refrigeration for months, could build a potato bank that kept potatoes warm all winter, and put down a well without machinery. He knew how to cope with rattlesnakes and moccasins. Early one morning in 1925, Hugie fell in love with a tall, brown-eyed girl as he passed her place on a cattle drive. He courted this girl, Oleta Brown, with no success at first, but finally they were married in 1927.Their daughter retells their story from vivid accounts they gave of their childhood, courtship, early years of marriage, and struggles during the Great Depression. In an age bereft of heroes, the story of their courage, their faith, and their commitment provides a fascinating empathy with a time that has passed; a place that has disappeared. "One can not read these stories without thinking of Marjorie Kinnan Rawling's Cross Creek. Indeed, these stories are just as compelling. There are even Faulknerian qualities to some of the characters....The University of Alabama Press has produced yet another excellent book on Florida. Gracefully written, it offers one of the most compelling images of rural life in early 20th-century Florida that exists in print. It should enjoy wide readership." --James M. Denham, Florida Southern College, in The Florida Historical Quarterly

    They are exquisitely attuned to the habits of blue crab, oyster, and waterfowl. And they know that on any given day their lives literally depend on which way the wind is blowing.Tom Horton spent three years living among Smith Island's watermen and their families and has emerged with this marvelously intimate portrait of a deeply traditional community and its vanishing way of life. Whether he is following the crab harvest or attending a service at the local church, eavesdropping on bawdy kitchen-table gossip or chronicling the islanders' disputes with seafood inspectors, Horton tells his stories with wonderful specificity even as he considers what they can teach us about living within nature and at a healthy distance from the rest of the world.

    Descriptions and beautiful photographs of more than sixty lighthouses, from Northern Maine to the Long Island Sound.

    Under Lord Derby's scheme, and in response to Kitchener's famous call for a million volunteers, local communities raised (and initially often paid for) entire battalions for service on the Western Front. returncharacterreturncharacter returncharacterreturncharacter REVIEWS returncharacterreturncharacter"Another one of the excellent "Pals" series of books...a worthwhile reprint of what has become one of the great series of books..." The Great War Magazine, UK, 10/2010

    The unique culture of the hardrock mining town of Cobalt is exposed through the eyes of retired miners, young welfare mothers, and grade-school children. Angus and Griffin reveal why, in spite of great adversity, Cobalt remains a distinctive and cohesive working-class community.

    

    With over 180 historic photographs of the area - many rare and previously unpublished - Around Matawan and Aberdeen creates a comprehensive and insightful look back at its development from 1890 to the 1960s.

    This account of the Dublin Slums tells the story of daily life in the notorious tenements of old Dublin through the voices of people who lived in them or who worked in the tenement areas.