Coyne’s journey begins where the US Open and US Amateur got their start, historic Newport Country Club in Rhode Island. As he travels from the oldest and most elite of links to the newest and most democratic, Coyne finagles his way onto coveted first tees (Shinnecock, Oakmont, Chicago GC) between rounds at off-the-map revelations, like ranch golf in Eastern Oregon and homemade golf in the Navajo Nation. He marvels at the golf miracle hidden in the sand hills of Nebraska, and plays an unforgettable midnight game under bright sunshine on the summer solstice in Fairbanks, Alaska. More than just a tour of the best golf the United States has to offer, Coyne’s quest connects him with hundreds of American golfers, each from a different background but all with one thing in common: pride in welcoming Coyne to their course. Trading stories and swing tips with caddies, pros, and golf buddies for the day, Coyne adopts the wisdom of one of his hosts in Minnesota: the best courses are the ones you play with the best people. But, in the end, only one stop on Coyne’s journey can be ranked the Great American Golf Course. Throughout his travels, he invites golfers to debate and help shape his criteria for judging the quintessential American course. He discovers his long-awaited answer in the most unlikely of places!

    In Secret Seattle, Ryan explores the weird and wonderful hidden history behind some of the city's most overlooked places, architecture, and infrastructure, from coal chutes in Capitol Hill, to the last remainder of Seattle's original Chinatown in Pioneer Square, to the best places in town to find century-old sidewalks. Discover pocket parks, beautiful boulevards, and great public gardens while learning offbeat facts that will make you see the Emerald City in a whole new way. Perfect for both the local history buff who never leaves a favorite armchair to a walking enthusiast looking for offbeat and off-the-beaten-path scavenger hunts.

    By exposing the painful past she has created a beautiful, timely, and uplifting book with unforgettable characters who kept me guessing.--Donna Hylton, author of A Little Piece of Light: A Memoir of Hope, Prison, and a Life UnboundDeirdre Sinnott is an extraordinary writer whose eye misses nothing. This compelling story is a must read--and it couldn't be more timely.--David Black, award-winning journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and producerA fast-paced excursion into Utica, New York, in the mid-1830s, The Third Mrs. Galway captures the true-life antiabolition riots against the New York Anti-Slavery Society. With lively and enjoyable prose, Deirdre Sinnott brings the story of emancipation alive.--Paul Stewart, cofounder of the Underground Railroad History ProjectThe Third Mrs. Galway offers readers romance, adventure, and poignant family drama while also providing insight into the complexity of antislavery attitudes before the Civil War. This is a historical page-turner that both enlightens and entertains.--Barbara Weisberg, author of Talking to the Dead: Kate and Maggie Fox and the Rise of SpiritualismWith historical accuracy, Deirdre Sinnott brings to life the surprising drama of freedom-seekers and slave-catchers in Oneida County. This book animates the history of the region and the larger Underground Railroad phenomenon in a way that street signs and public lectures cannot.--Jan DeAmicis, cochair of the Oneida County Freedom Trail CommissionThe Third Mrs. Galway reads like Balzac, with fear, desire, terror, and love intertwined in this gripping work of historical fiction. Deirdre Sinnott weaves the stories of a cross-section of 1835 Utica, New York, into an impressive and fascinating narrative that contemplates race, class, history, and the search for justice and humanity. ReadThe Third Mrs. Galway to be swept into the uncertain, violent time of 1830s New York and to see in new ways how that moment still affects our own.--Taylor M. Polites, author of The Rebel WifeIt's 1835 in Utica, New York, and newlywed Helen Galway discovers a frightening secret: two runaway slaves are hiding in the shack behind her husband's house. Suddenly, she is at the center of not only the era's greatest moral dilemma, but her own as well. Should she be a good wife and report the fugitives to her husband? Or will she defy convention and come to the aid of the least of her brethren?Within her home, Helen is haunted by the previous Mrs. Galway, recently deceased but still an oppressive presence. Her husband, injured by a drunken tumble off his horse, is assisted by a doctor of questionable ambitions who keeps a close eye on Helen. In charge of all things domestic is Maggie--formerly enslaved by the Galway family and freed when emancipation came to New York eight years earlier.At the same time, Utica is at the center of emancipation efforts as abolitionists arrive for the founding meeting of the New York State Anti-Slavery Society. Those who plead for an immediate end to enslavement are attacked by newspapers accusing them of being insurrectionists and traitors to the Constitution. Everyone faces dangerous choices as they navigate this intensely heated personal and political landscape.

    The fifty buildings featured in this book all pre-date 1800 and illustrate Boston’s early history. This is the first book to survey Boston’s fifty oldest buildings and does so through an approachable narrative which will appeal to nonarchitects and those new to historic preservation. Beginning with a map of the buildings’ locations and an overview of the historic preservation movement in Boston, the book looks at the fifty buildings in order from oldest to most ­recent. Geographically, the majority of the buildings are located within the downtown area of Boston along the Freedom Trail and within easy walking distance from the core of the city. This makes the book an ideal guide for tourists, and residents of the city will also find it interesting as it includes numerous properties in the surrounding neighborhoods. The buildings span multiple uses from homes to churches and warehouses to restaurants. Each chapter features a building, a narrative focusing on its historical significance, and the efforts made to preserve it over time. Full ­color photos and historical drawings illustrate each building and area. Boston’s Oldest Buildings and Where to Find Them presents the ideals of historic preservation in an approachable and easy­-to-­read manner appropriate for the broadest audience. Perfect for history lovers, architectural enthusiasts, and tourists alike.

    When that failed, the utility's bank gave him a choice: Privatize the city's electric system or the city would be thrown into default. The mayor said "no" to extortion, never gave in and saved over a billion dollars in assets for his city and its people. Meet Mayor Dennis Kucinich of Cleveland, who fought to give power to the people. Battling his way up from the streets of the city, he and his family lived in twenty-one different places by the time he was seventeen, including a couple of cars. By the age of thirty-one, as America's youngest big-city mayor, his stand to protect Cleveland's Muny Light against a utility monopoly and its banking partner drew international attention and praise as "The outstanding public official in America," an award presented by Bob Hope. This is Mayor Dennis Kucinich's story, but if you want to know why your utility rates are so high, it may be your city's story, too.

    In the city's adult entertainment district, drugs and prostitution ran rampant, violent crime was commonplace, and corrupt police turned the other way. At the end of the night, Italian American star athlete Andy Puopolo, raised in the city's North End, was murdered in a stabbing. Three African American men were accused of the crime. His murder made national news and led to the eventual demise of the city's red-light district. Starting with this brutal murder, The Combat Zone tells the story of the Puopolo family's struggle with both a devastating loss and a criminal justice system that produced two trials with opposing verdicts, all within the context of a racially divided Boston. Brogan traces the contentious relationship between Boston’s segregated neighborhoods during the busing crisis; shines a light on a court system that allowed lawyers to strike potential jurors based purely on their racial or ethnic identity; and lays bare the deep-seated corruption within the police department and throughout the Combat Zone. What emerges is a fascinating snapshot of the city at a transitional moment in its recent past.

    This extraordinary and caring behavior sparked not only worldwide sympathy, but also a revival of our awareness of the critical need to preserve orcas, the chinook salmon they feed on, and their habitat that together make up the core of Pacific Northwest identity. In Orca: Shared Waters, Shared Home journalist Lynda V. Mapes explores the natural history of the orca and the unique challenges for survival of the Southern Resident group that frequents Puget Sound. These whales are among the most urban in the world, a focus of researchers, tourists, and politicians alike. Once referred to as blackfish and still known as killer whales, orcas were for generations regarded as vermin to be avoided or exterminated, then later were captured live for aquariums all over the world. With greater exposure, scientists realized how intelligent the mammal is and are learning about their matriarchal family groups, vocalizations, behavior, and different subspecies. Today only 74 Southern Resident whales are left, and they are threatened by habitat degradation, lack of chinook salmon (their primary food source), relentless growth, and climate change. Can we reverse the trend? This special project, co-published with the Pulitzer Prize winning Seattle Times newspaper, features stunning imagery by Times photographer Steve Ringman, as well as from partner organizations including The Whale Museum, NOAA, and Center for Whale Research.

    Almost 13,000 years ago, small groups of Paleoindians endured frigid winters on the edge of a river in what would become Keene, New Hampshire.This begins the remarkable story of Native Americans in the Monadnock region of southwestern New Hampshire, part of the traditional homeland of the Abenaki people.Typically neglected or denied by conventional history, the long presence of Native people in southwestern New Hampshire is revealed by archaeological evidence for their deep, enduring connections to the land and the complex social worlds they inhabited.From the Tenant Swamp Site in Keene, with the remains of the oldest known dwellings in New England, to the 4,000-year-old Swanzey Fish Dam still visible in the Ashuelot River, A Deep Presence tells their story in a narrative fashion, drawing on the author's thirty years of fieldwork and presenting compelling evidence from archaeology, written history, and the living traditions of today's Abenaki people.

    Struggling to survive, they develop resilience but none are prepared for the challenges they face when starving bands of Santee Sioux (Dakota) take up arms against the whites during the 1862 Dakota Conflict. Laura Duley left Indiana as a newlywed. Promised a perfect life, she endured years on the hostile frontier and the loss of family only to be taken captive by the Dakota. Independent and protective, Lavina Eastlick was shot, beaten, and left for dead after witnessing the death of several of her children. In the hope that two still survived, she stumbled miles to reach safety. Christina Koch was a headstrong German immigrant determined to make a new life in America. Challenging her captors at every turn, she finally escaped to safety. Almena Hurd, unwavering in her commitment to family, was already dealing with a missing husband when she was sent alone onto the prairie with two small children. She survived by carrying one, then returning for the other, a quarter mile at a time. Julia Wright, the honest, practical wife of an unscrupulous trader, used her language skills and understanding of the Dakota to help the captives during their ordeal, becoming so valuable that her captor refused to release her to her rescuers, the Yankton Sioux Fool Soldier Band. Their braided stories reveal a common will that allowed them to hold on no matter what and to never let go"--

    How many people were executed in Dundee in the1800's? What's the quickest way to carry out a grave robbery? What's the real story behind the Tay Whale?Find out the answers to these questions and so much more as we delve into Dundee's dark and murky past.In a city full of discoveries, it would be naïve to think Dundee wasn't hiding some skeletons in her closet!Packed with a selection of facts, figures, stats and stories written in an accessible and quirky style, there's bound to be something in this book that you didn't already know.

    But the City of Brotherly Love is also home to—and less well known for—its quirky history. The country’s first quarantine station was located here. One of Philly’s clocks has a face larger than Big Ben’s in London. And a unique skill of Black abolitionist James Forten saved him from a life of West Indian servitude (and “Forten” was not even his real name).  In Real Philly History, Real Fast, Jim Murphy provides an original tour of the city. He highlights artistic gems including the Dream Garden Tiffany mosaic and Isaiah Zagar’s glittering Magic Gardens. He profiles intriguing historical figures from military leader Commodore Barry to civil rights heroes like Lucretia Mott. Murphy also explores neighborhoods from Chinatown to the Italian Market and the unique architectural details of Carpenters’ Hall and the PSFS building.  Each chapter provides a pithy story about a historical person or site, along with bullet points featuring interesting oddities, and nearby attractions along with fun facts such as: Why there are so many churches? What is the Philadelphia Eagles’ connection to the U.S. Custom House? Which famous artist may have been Philadelphia’s first nude model? And where was the Liberty Bell secretly damaged? (We didn’t do it!)   This is Philly history in bites that are as digestible as a soft pretzel with mustard.

    She was purported to be a 101 year-old, half-Cherokee who survived the forced emigration, of the Cherokee in 1838, when the U.S. military forced some 15,000 Cherokees from their homes in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee and moved them west to Indian Territory. For over ninety years, her actual identity has remained a mystery. The author, a 25-year veteran FBI agent (retired), has spent years investigating this mystery. Now, for the first time, the real story of Granny Dollar has been told. The reader will learn that Granny Dollar's tale about her own life was a myth constructed over many years to help her achieve economic autonomy by laboring as a granny midwife, folk healer, fortune-teller, and conjurer. Her tale was also useful to for covering shameful details surrounding her family's history. Ultimately, her persona served to ensure her well-being and security when she could no longer work and in a place and time when a single woman had few alternatives.

    

    While lurking in local restaurants or just around the corner inside that inconspicuous building, countless criminals have quietly made their mark on the city and surrounding communities. Philadelphia Sinners reveals the hidden history of these places, bringing readers back in time to America's first kidnapping for ransom, Al Capone's first prison stint in Philly, Willie Sutton's prison break from the Eastern State Penitentiary, America's first bank robbery, and more. Drawing upon years of research and an extensive collection of rare photographs, author Kathryn Canavan sheds light on how gang violence infected the streets, and how these historic characters almost got away with history's most disturbing crimes.

    With burlesque houses such as the Old Howard and the Crawford House, movie palaces began to open, showing silent films accompanied by a pianist, news reels and comedy acts. The New Palace Theatre, the Star Theatre, the Theatre Comique and the Scollay Square Olympia offered vaudeville as well as silent films, which were a novelty at the time. With so many people seeking entertainment in Scollay Square, restaurants, bars and sandwich shops offered an entertaining evening out, and it became a destination.Burlesque was King, and the anointed Queens of Burlesque danced at both the Crawford House and the Old Howard, as well as smaller clubs, which were renowned not just in Boston, but incredibly even around the world, and had well-known performers who were beloved by their audience. However, so too was the Combat Zone, a vibrant area that beckoned Bostonians and service men for lurid entertainment. As Scollay Square's allure waned in the late 1950s, that of the Combat Zone took on a new shine in the 1960s, albeit a tawdry and garish shine that tried to emulate the other, but quickly devolved into a seedy, gritty place that offered vulgar and graphic entertainment. With bars, strip clubs and theaters beginning to show adult X-rated movies, the area increasingly became a place that one either went out of his way to avoid or found so alluring that the inevitability of joining in the irreverent fun of it quickly overcame one's reservations.The Other Red Line is a fascinating glimpse into the adult entertainment districts of twentieth-century Boston.

    

    But there is more to this place than white church steeples and town greens. In the forests and meadows surrounding quaint, colonial towns lurk spine-chilling ghosts such as the specters of Freetown State Forest, rumored hermits, and shadowy creatures, all awaiting the next hiker to stumble down the trail... For years, tales of these mysterious beings and places existed only in whispers and campfire tales, but now for the first time these legends have been collected and retold in one volume: Spooky Trails and Tall Tales Massachusetts. Alongside each of these captivating tales is the necessary route and trailhead information brave readers will need to go beyond their town lines and test their nerve. With dozens of stories and hikes throughout, readers will discover and explore the forgotten histories of their hometowns.