During the Civil War, each side accused the other of mistreating prisoners of war. Today, most historians believe there was systemic and deliberate mistreatment of POWs by one or both sides yet many b
When General E. A. Paine assumed command of the U.S. Army's District of Western Kentucky at Paducah in the summer of 1864, he faced a defiant populace, a thriving black market and undisciplined troops
Directionless yet driven by a fervent desire to make something of himself, Doug "The Thug" Smith took his only marketable job skill—amateur boxing—and followed an unlikely career path to become a hock
Cars today fit a fairly small number of body types—sedan, coupe, station wagon, SUV, hatchback and a few others. The meanings of these familiar terms have changed over the decades as automotive design
More than 5000 major and minor league baseball players left the baseball diamond to serve in the military during World War II, but President Roosevelt insisted that baseball still be played to boost t
After the Civil War, the Yankee textile industry began a steady transfer south, bringing with it the tradition of a mill village, usually owned by the mill’s owner, where the workers and their familie
Lois A. Ferguson was a training teacher for college graduates at a Japanese relocation center in California. Her husband set up a junior college and night school program. Their efforts were to help re
The deaf world is a complex one, divided by the allegiance of some to Deaf Culture, which emphasizes communication by sign-language, and by others to oralism, which emphasizes speech as the primary me
Cecil G. Foster was born in Midland County, Michigan, on August 30, 1925. He endured economic and emotional hardship during his youth, living in a poor environment, losing his mother before he was six
During his 40-year career, the author became one of the industry’s most respected television editors, receiving seven Emmy nominations and winning four of the coveted awards. But it was as a master of
How good was Negro League Baseball (1920–1948)? Some experts maintain that the quality of play was equal to that of the American and National Leagues. Some believe the Negro Leagues should be part of
This book explores the life and career of David McCampbell, the leader of the most successful naval air group in combat in WWII. An unequalled naval aviator, McCampbell shot down a total of 34 Japanes
Charter members of the American League and the country’s last “neighborhood” pro baseball franchise, the White Sox are one of the few teams of the power hitting focused modern era to win a pennant wit
[If you read popular science, you might wonder what makes these books work: how do the authors manage to make the subjects that used to induce sleep in class so entertaining and approachable? The use
Founded in 1869, the Chicago Cubs are a charter member of the National League and the last remaining of the eight original league clubs still playing in the city in which the franchise started. Drawin
? He was the final addition to Universal’s “royal family” of movie monsters: the Creature from the Black Lagoon. With his scaly armor, razor claws and a face only a mother octopus could love, this A
After several years of small roles and experimental screenwriting during his early career, Jack Nicholson got his big break in 1969 with Easy Rider. The next year, his first lead role, in Five Easy Pi
Italian Gothic horror films of the 1970s were influenced by the violent giallo movies and adults-only comics of the era, resulting in a graphic approach to the genre. Stories often featured over-the-t
From their discovery in the 19th century to the dawn of the Nuclear Age, dinosaurs were seen in popular culture as ambassadors of the geological past and as icons of the "life through time" narrative
The Kaiju (strange monster or strange beast) film genre has a number of themes that go well beyond the "big monsters stomping on cities" motif. Since the seminal King Kong 1933) and the archetypal God
This work offers a complete reader’s guide and handbook to the late poetry of author Charles Wright. It begins with a study of the poems in Chickamauga (1995), the earliest of which were published in
On December 31, 1964, while serving as an observer with a Vietnamese Marine Corps battalion, USMC Colonel Donald G. Cook was wounded and captured by the Viet Cong. He died in captivity three years lat
Free porn. The phrase conjures images of search engine scams, computer viruses and spam emails. It also hints at an important debate—not over cost-free porn, per se, but over a regulation-free interne
In 1949 Mao Tse-tung first sent his People's Liberation Army into the eastern Tibetan province of Amdo; he followed with an invasion of the province of Kham in 1950. Ill-prepared, disorganized and bad
When the South fired the first shot of the Civil War in April 1861, hundreds of volunteers flocked to answer President Lincoln’s call to arms, anxious to defend their country and uphold the sanctity o
Brooklyn, New York, a borough of New York City, is known for its distinctive vernacular, its communal feel on the fringes of a booming city, and its famous bridge, a gateway to the unlimited opportuni
Felber (1906- ) began a 20-plus year career with the Marines in 1931, at the age of 24. He describes in detail his training and combat experiences from January 1941 through December 1945. These incl
Soccer is the fastest growing sport in America: almost nine million children between the ages of six and eleven play, making it second in that age group behind basketball. But because of its only rece
For a dozen years in the 1940s and 1950s, more than 700 women played professional baseball in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Though some saw their brand of ball as a sideshow or
Located in the area where North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee meet, Pond Mountain rises to over 4,000 feet. In its valley it holds the Pond Mountain community, a small area in Ashe County, North Ca
Shakespeare’s Hamlet—written 1,000 years after the classical Greek period—follows a narrative pattern similar to that of the Greek Electra myth, and it isn’t the only story to do so. We see signs of E
As the baby boomers gray, cinematic depictions of aging and the aged are on the rise. In the horror genre, the elderly are often eccentric harbingers of doom—the crone who seeks to restore her vitalit
Motivated by patriotism, 21-year old Everard Bullis of St. Paul, Minnesota—the only boy of five siblings from a middle-class family—enlisted in the U.S. Marines in 1917 and went to the Western Front.
James Claude Beasley was a typical American teenager in the 1940s—a child of the Great Depression with an abiding commitment to family and country. With the outbreak of World War II, he enlisted in th
The 1908 American League pennant race was described as a "a fierce and fluctuating fight." With five games left in the season, each of the league's four westernmost teams still had a shot at the champ
"New York City native Mary Esther Lee (1837-1914) first married the Prince von Noer and was created a princess in her own right after his death. She then married Count Alfred von Waldersee. This biogr
In the summer of 2012, Ness returned to his native Cuba to retrieve his birth certificate after an absence of 50 years. In this memoir of personal and political discovery, he argues that the two count
[Discharged in 1959 after one year at the U.S. Naval Academy because of a progressive left ear hearing loss, I went on to college and medical school. In 1965, my draft board notified me that upon comp
Is it fair to plunder a drunken player at the poker table? In a game of bluffing, which deceits are acceptable and which are out-of-bounds? Is it right for casinos to provide free alcoholic beverages
The first U.S. hospital ship of World War II saw service in mid–1943. By war’s end, the fleet had carried nearly 17,000 sick and wounded home. This richly illustrated work covers all 39 ships that s
