State & Local

Bonnie and Clyde took part in plenty of brazen heists during their short lives. From small-town filling stations to rural banks, they left behind a trail of chaos and carnage in their wake. Initially, the public seemed rather intrigued by this pair of romantically involved desperadoes, thumbing their noses at authority during the depths of the Great Depression.

Following the end of the Civil War, Mississippians responded to broader movements in the country, to changes in the economy, and to congressional initiatives as they worked to recover from the devastation of war and pursue new expressions of freedom. Reconstruction in Mississippi, 1862-1877 is a compelling account of how Black Mississippians embraced this freedom and how white Mississippians could not.

By his longtime friend and a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, the definitive biography of Larry McMurtry, the legendary author and screenwriter of Lonesome Dove, The Last Picture Show, and Brokeback Mountain, who transformed our vision of the West. Before Larry McMurtry became one of the...

From award-winning historian Megan Kate Nelson, an epic account of the creation of the American West in the 19th century, shattering the traditional frontier myth that has dominated popular American culture. The Westerners tells two richly detailed and interwoven stories. The first reveals the...

During World War II, Michigan became a temporary home to six thousand German and Italian POWs. At a time of homefront labor shortages, they picked fruit in Berrien County, harvested sugar beets in the Thumb, cut pulpwood in the Upper Peninsula, and maintained parks and other public spaces in...

Step back in time to the birth of a revolutionary new republic and discover how the utopian ideals of a visionary secret society laid the foundation for the most powerful nation on earth. Follow George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and other Founding Fathers as they transform the democratic principles of their Masonic lodges into a radical new nation. Solomon's Builders unravels history from myth as it takes you on a Freemason's tour of Washington, D.C.

Santa Fe is one of America's most storied cities—a place where ancient traditions, colonial ambition, frontier conflict, and artistic reinvention converge in a landscape unlike anywhere else. In this sweeping, cinematic history, Derek Monaghan traces the city's remarkable journey from its Indigenous origins to its emergence as a modern cultural capital.

In January 1863, in a remote Appalachian valley of North Carolina called Shelton Laurel, thirteen prisoners ranging in age from thirteen to fifty-nine were shot to death.

Savannah is a city shaped by tide, time, and extraordinary resilience. From its Indigenous roots to its twentyfirstcentury renaissance, A Brief History of Savannah traces nearly three centuries of conflict, creativity, and reinvention. Told in vivid, cinematic prose, this book follows Savannah’s journey through its founding under James Oglethorpe, the fires of revolution, the devastation of the Civil War, and the long struggle for freedom during Reconstruction and Jim Crow.

Relive the Ups and Downs of the Storied Saga of the Nomadic Nets. The Nets have led a wandering existence spanning over five decades. The team has been known as the New Jersey Americans, New York Nets, New Jersey Nets and now Brooklyn Nets, while constantly relocating throughout the New York metropolitan area.

The history of the world is often written by the victors, but the true architecture of human progress is frequently designed in the shadows. For centuries, a clandestine thread has woven itself through the tapestry of Western civilization, connecting the stone laboratories of the seventeenth century to the fiber optic cables of the modern age.

To understand the history of the Stewards is to attempt to grasp the shape of the wind. For nearly four centuries, this silent collective has operated beneath the surface of official histories, leaving behind no monuments, no signed treaties, and no public martyrs. While other secret societies like the Freemasons or the Rosicrucians eventually allowed their rituals to be cataloged and their symbols to be sold in gift shops, the Stewards remained committed to a much more difficult path: absolute, functional invisibility. They did not seek to be known, they sought to be effective.

The history of secret societies is often a tapestry woven from threads of genuine civic duty, collegiate tradition, and the inevitable allure of mystique. Among these organizations, the Burning Spear Society at Florida State University stands as a unique case study in how institutional influence and student leadership can merge into a powerful, albeit often controversial, force.

A collection of five short stories about the amazing, forgotten history of Southwest Ohio and Cincinnati, plus a bonus Mystery Tour of 10 Places to Discover Cincinnati History. Read about the Wilmington man who survived a duel in Goldrush California, named a city and a state and tamed Bleeding Kansas; the first serial killer in Cincinnati who became the first woman executed in the electric chair; the son of US President William Henry Harrison whose body was robbed from his grave on the night he was buried, and more.

Kansas is not the quiet heartland you learned about in school. It is the crossroads where every national argument, natural disaster, and ambitious dream once stopped for a drink. In Sunflowers, Storms, and Stubborn Souls, Jordan Blake Carter tells the history of Kansas the way it deserves to be told. Bold. Funny. Honest. And completely unfiltered. This book takes you from the ancient tallgrass prairie to the chaos of the territorial era, when Kansas held a full rehearsal for the Civil War.

Most travelers think they know Florida - sunshine, sand, and roller coasters. But Exploring Florida: A Journey Through History and Must-See Destinations reveals a side of the Sunshine State that few ever see: one filled with ancient cultures, Spanish fortresses, rocket launches, and resilient communities shaped by centuries of change. From the shell mounds of the Calusa to the pastel streets of Key West, author Brian Armstrong takes listeners on a journey that bridges history and modern adventure.

Today’s battles over Christianity in U.S. public schools have deep roots. In the nineteenth century it was an intramural struggle between Protestants and later-arriving Catholics. But at Christmastime in 1905, when Frank Harding, the Presbyterian principal of a Brooklyn elementary school, urged his Jewish students to be more like Jesus, the Jewish community entered the fray in a big way. It was just the trigger Orthodox Jewish activist Albert Lucas had been waiting for.

The history of the Quill and Dagger secret society at Cornell University is a narrative of prestige, hidden influence, and the evolution of the American collegiate elite. Founded in the late nineteenth century, the society has occupied a unique position in the social hierarchy of Ithaca, New York, acting as both a guarded sanctuary for the university's most influential student leaders and a visible pillar of campus tradition.

In the humid, moss-draped corridor of North-Central Florida, power is not merely inherited; it is engineered. For over a century, the University of Florida has served as the primary incubator for the state’s political, legal, and economic elite, but the true architect of this influence is not found in a faculty lounge or an administrative office. Instead, it resides within a storied, once-shadowy organization known as Florida Blue Key (FBK).

When Brooklyn and Manhattan embarked on the ambitious project to span the East River in 1869, they set in motion not just an engineering triumph but a financial catastrophe that would reshape the future of both cities. "Towers of Hubris" reveals the untold story behind the Brooklyn Bridge's staggering cost overruns, political machinations, and the crushing debt that ultimately forced Brooklyn to surrender its independence and join Greater New York.