With several thousand black and white members, the Hairstons share a complex and compelling history: divided in the time of slavery, they have come to embrace their past as one family.The black family's story is most exceptional. It is the account of the rise of a remarkable people—the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren of slaves—who took their rightful place in mainstream America.In contrast, it has been the fate of the white family—once one of the wealthiest in America—to endure the decline and fall of the Old South, and to become an apparent metaphor for that demise. But the family's fall from grace is only part of the tale. Beneath the surface lay a hidden history—the history of slavery's curse and how that curse plagued slaveholders for generations.For the past seven years, journalist Wiencek has listened raptly to the tales of hundreds of Hairston relatives, including the aging scions of both the white and black clans. He has crisscrossed the old plantation country in Virginia, North Carolina, and Mississippi to seek out the descendants of slaves. Visiting family reunions, interviewing family members, and exploring old plantations, Wiencek combs the far-reaching branches of the Hairston family tree to gather anecdotes from members about their ancestors and piece together a family history that involves the experiences of both plantation owners and their slaves. He expertly weaves the Hairstons' stories from all sides of historical events like slave emancipation, Reconstruction, school segregation, and lynching.Paradoxically, Wiencek demonstrates that these families found that the way to come to terms with the past was to embrace it, and this lyrical work, a parable of redemption, may in the end serve as a vital contribution to our nation's attempt to undo the twisted historical legacy of the past.

    It's true that Milwaukee's German accent was unmistakable in the 1880s; it was the Beer Capital of the World; and it's the home of the steam shovels that dug the Panama Canal the engines that powered the New York City subway system, and the motorcycles that made Harley-Davidson an American legend.But the stereotypes don't begin to convey the richness of Milwaukee's past. They don't describe the five citizens killed by the state militia as they marched for the eight-hour day. The Jewish community leader who wrote The Settlement Cookbook. The Italian priest who led the local crusade for civil rights in the 1960s. The railroad promoter who bribed an entire state legislature. The Socialists who made Milwaukee the best-governed big city in America. Allis-Chalmers and Pabst Blue Ribbon. Summerfest and Irish Fest. Golda Meir. Carl Sandburg. Robin Yount.The Making of Milwaukee tells all those stories and a great many more. Well-written, superbly organized, and lavishly illustrated, it is sure to be the standard reference for many years to come.

    What became one of the most infamous crimes in the city's history generated worldwide headlines, due to the fact that dozens of frantic calls for help to 911 operators went unanswered.Written with the full cooperation of the Polec family, In Eddie's Name is about a seemingly ordinary father, his family, and their struggle to overcome this extraordinary tragedy. Rather than seek revenge or sue the city for millions, as might be expected, Eddie's family reacted in a way that was unusual and heroic. In Eddie's Name goes behind the headlines to show the remarkable actions that are possible in the aftermath of that phone call every parent dreads.Eddie's case continues to attract attention not only because of the viciousness of the crime and the ruthlessness of the lawyers defending the teenage killers (later convicted of third-degree murder), but also because John Polec, Eddie's father, singlehandedly designed a new 911 system for Philadelphia, which was put into place last year. His actions helped unite and heal a divided, angry city.

    Includes crotchety old vigilante Jarvis Meach, who shot down robbers in cold blood with his beloved shotguns, "Old Bunty" and "Little Pet." Medina's Wickedest Stepmother, Mary Garrett, who locked her stepdaughters in their bedroom, set fire to the house, and did all she could to get the furniture out unharmed. And the great Ashtabula bridge disaster.

    The book demonstrates that Chicago's cemeteries are home not only to thousands of individuals who fashioned the city's singular culture and character, but also to impressive displays of art and architecture, landscaping and limestone, egoism and ethnic pride. Mysterious questions such as Where is Al Capone buried? and What really lies beneath home plate at Wrigley Field? are answered in this reminder that although physical life must end, personal notes—and notoriety—last forever. Ever wonder where Al Capone is buried? How about Clarence Darrow? Muddy Waters? Harry Caray? Or maybe Brady Bunch patriarch Robert Reed? And what really lies beneath home plate at Wrigley Field? Graveyards of Chicago answers these and other cryptic questions as it charts the lore and lure of Chicago's ubiquitous burial grounds. Like the livelier neighborhoods that surround them, Chicago's cemeteries are often crowded, sometimes weary, ever-sophisticated, and full of secrets. They are home not only to thousands of individuals who fashioned the city's singular culture and character, but also to impressive displays of art and architecture, landscaping and limestone, egoism and ethnic pride, and the constant reminder that although physical life must end for us all, personal note—and notoriety—last forever. Grab a shovel and tag along as Ursula Bielski and Matt Hucke unearth the legends and legacies that mark Chicago's silent citizens—from larger-than-lifers and local heroes, to clerics and comedians, machine mayors and machine-gunners.

    Connor describes the life histories of 21 Tube stations that have been taken off-line since 1900: King William Street, North End, Hounslow Town, City Road, South Kentish Town, Park Royal & Twyford Abbey, Down Street, York Road, British Museum, Brompton Road, Osterley Park & Spring Grove, St. Mary's (Whitechapel Road), Uxbridge, Lords, Malborough Road, Swiss Cottage (Metropolitan Line), Wood Lane, South Acton, White City, Aldwych, and Charing Cross (Jubilee Line). The twenty-one appear in chronological order based on the year of closure; King William Street, closed in 1900, comes first, and Charing Cross, closed in 1999, comes last. Ten of the twenty-one shut their doors in the 1930s. LONDON'S DISUSED UNDERGROUND STATIONS contains many photographs of the under-ground (or above-ground) platforms and street-level facades, mostly black and white prints from the late 19th century and the first 30 years of the 20th when the stations were in their working prime. Perhaps most interesting to readers who are fascinated by "then" and "now" pictures are the contemporary color shots of still extant street-level facades that can be compared to earlier views.The book's final pages include narrative summaries about a further 13 stations that have been re-sited rather than shuttered-up, and text about other disused street-level buildings associated with the Central, District, East London, Northern, and Piccadilly Lines. By Joseph Haschka of Amazon.com

    

    Around this time, photographers traveled around the United States taking photographs of towns and cities and turning the photographs into postcards. The postcards collected here show historic Birmingham's downtown, hospitals, parks, communities, schools, hotels, and industries. These images serve as a record of everyday life in this bustling Southern city.

    Many of the early students also brought their slaves to the college with them. Upon Emancipation some of the African Americans of the community "mostly women" stayed on as servants, forming what is now called the Hollins Community. Although the servants played an integral part in the college's success, students were strongly discouraged from acknowledging them as people. Rules forbidding any "familiarity" with the servants perpetuated a prejudicial attitude toward the African American community that would persist well into the 1940s.Determined to give voice to the African American community that served as the silent workforce for Hollins College, Ethel Morgan Smith succeeded in finding individuals to step forward and tell their stories. From Whence Cometh My Help examines the dynamics of an institution built on the foundations of slavery and so steeped in tradition that it managed to perpetuate servitude for generations. Interviewing senior community members, Smith gives recognition to the invisible population that provided and continues to provide the labor support for Hollins College for more than 150 years.Although African American students have been admitted to the college for roughly thirty years, to date only one person from the Hollins Community has graduated from the college. From Whence Cometh My Help explores the subtle and complex relationship between the affluent white world of Hollins College and the proud African American community that has served it since its inception. Interweaving personal observations, historical documents, and poetry throughout a revealing oral history, Smith shares her fascinating discoveries and the challenges involved in telling a story silenced for so long.

    The result being an illumination of the fundamental mysticism of the poetry and the person of Patrick Kavanagh.

    Delivering 1.2 billion gallons of water each day to more than nine million people, it is a complex network of reservoirs stretched out over a vast upstate region and connected by a web of subterranean aqueducts to rival the aqueducts of the ancient Romans. The system, so pivotal to the development of the nation's largest city and its northern suburbs, was realized over the past century and a half, and indeed is still being built beneath the subways and skyscrapers of New York. But clean, abundant water has not come without peril and pain. Thousands of people were forced to relinquish their homes in dozens of communities leveled to make way for the reservoirs of the Croton, Catskill, and Delaware Supplies. Hundreds of workers died building the tunnels and dams; countless more were injured. The story of the New York water system is one of genius and daring, sacrifice and tragedy. It is peopled with visionaries, scoundrels and "the little men with the picks and shovels" who tore away mountains and built new ones to capture the sweet essence of wild rivers far from the Big Apple's teeming streets.

    History of the Philadelphia Fire Department as of 1999

    Despite the fact that there is a New England of cities, factories, and an increasingly diverse ethnic population, it is the Old New England that Americans have always treasured, finding in it a kind of “national memory bank.” This beautiful book examines images of Old New England created between 1865 and 1945, demonstrating how these images encoded the values of age and tradition to a nation facing complex cultural issues during the period. The book begins with an introduction by Dona Brown and Stephen Nissenbaum that provides a historical background to the era. Then William Truettner, Roger Stein, and Bruce Robertson turn more directly to New England images and discuss a variety of artistic efforts to historicize the past. They show that paintings of the Revolutionary War, of harvest scenes, or of genteel old New England towns served, for example, to provide reassurance to urban dwellers after the Civil War, to counteract the effects of modernism, and to encourage a sense of community during the Depression. They also examine paintings of coastal New England and favorite haunts of tourists and artists such as Winslow Homer and Marsden Hartley. The many images of Old New England, say the authors, represent shared cultural beliefs—ways of seeing the present in terms of a mythical past.This book is the catalogue for an exhibition at the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., from April 2 to August 22, 1999.