Through firsthand accounts, interviews with survivors and a gripping collection of vintage photographs, author Michael Skidgell attempts to make sense of one of Hartford's worst tragedies. Almost 7,000 fans eagerly packed into the Ringling Brothers big top on July 6, 1944. With a single careless act, an afternoon at the "Greatest Show on Earth" quickly became one of terror and tragedy as the paraffin-coated circus tent caught fire. Panicked crowds rushed for the few exits, but in minutes, ...

Through firsthand accounts and interviews with survivors, author Michael Skidgell attempts to make sense of one of Hartford's worst tragedies.Almost 7,000 fans eagerly packed into the Ringling Brothers big top on July 6, 1944. With a single careless act, an afternoon at the "Greatest Show on Earth" quickly became one of terror and tragedy as the paraffin-coated circus tent caught fire. Panicked crowds rushed for the few exits, but in minutes, the tent collapsed on ...

The acclaimed author of Emily, Alone and Henry, Himself brings all his narrative gifts to bear on this gripping account of tragedy and heroism—the great Hartford circus fire of 1944.It was a midsummer afternoon, halfway through a Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus performance, when the big top caught fire. The tent had been waterproofed with a mixture of paraffin and gasoline; in seconds it was burning out of control. More than 8,000 peopl...

Updated With The Latest Facts And Photos"A Black history buff's dream." --EbonyFrom ground-breaking achievements to awe-inspiring feats of excellence, this definitive resource reveals over 450 "firsts" by African Americans in fields as diverse as government, entertainment, education, science, medicine, law, the military, and the business world. Discover the first doctor to perform open heart surgery and the youngest person to fly solo around the wo...

The Tragedy at the Loomis Street Crossing After five years of intense research, Author Chuck Spinner has written the definitive story of the Naperville Train Wreck of April 25, 1946. He has uncovered the histories of the 45 victims of the tragedy, interviewed two surviving eye witnesses of the event, and talked with survivors and helpers at the scene. His family lived just a block from the crossing where the accident occurred. Spinner was born at St. Charles Hospital in Aurora, Illinois on...

Before Alan Brown wrote Haunted Places in the American South, only the locals knew what was lurking in these locations. Slamming doors, eerie lights, and Confederate soldiers' ghosts kept some folks too scared to talk with outsiders.Above Peavey Melody Music in Meridian, Mississippi, children may be heard giggling and running down an abandoned hallway that turns icy cold.At the Jameson Inn in Crestview, Florida, an apparition appears on surveillance tapes after fil...

At 3:17 p.m. on March 18, 1937, a natural gas leak beneath the London Junior-Senior High School in the oil boomtown of New London, Texas, created a lethal mixture of gas and oxygen in the schools basement. The odorless, colorless gas went undetected until the flip of an electrical switch triggered a colossal blast. The two-story school, one of the nations most modern, disintegrated, burying everyone under a vast pile of rubble and debris. More than 300 students and teachers were killed, and h...

Although the town benefits from a position on a major navigable waterway, Middletown's success is primarily due to the energy, creativity, and diversity of its people. These include James Riley, whose autobiography detailing his trials as a white slave in Northern Africa showed millions of Americans the evils of slavery; Max Corvo, who helped the World War II Italian underground defeat the fascist regime; and Christie Ellen McLeod, longtime chief pathologist at Middlesex Memorial Hospital....

Apopka, Florida, started out as a place once dubbed "Big Potato" by the Native Americans of the area and was formerly known as the "Fern City," but it is now most notably considered the "Indoor Foliage Capitol of the World." Once-thriving fragrant citrus groves have been replaced by climate-controlled greenhouses and fields of landscaped nurseries and subdivisions. The second largest city in Orange County, Apopka is located in the northwest region of the county. It functions today as a bed...

For 39 years, people from all over the world and all walks of life have come to the small town of Monroeville, Alabama, in search of a place called Maycomb. They come in search of a story that have moved millions of people with its enduring message, and in search of the world of the storyteller. Monroeville: The Search for Harper Lee�s Maycomb explores the relationship between Harper Lee�s hometown and the setting of her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. Born in response...

Mansfield Township was established as a constabulary in 1688 and became incorporated in 1798. It is one of the oldest townships in Burlington County. Made up of one town, Columbus, and the four villages of Hedding, Kinkora, Georgetown, and Mansfield Square, the township continues to retain the rural, agricultural landscape that its first settlers witnessed. Mansfield Township has had a number of notable residents, from Prince Lucian Murat, nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, to Thomas Larzelere,...

Explore the Black history of the San Francisco Bay Area through the work of the region's first Black professional photographer.From 1927 until his death in 1979, Oakland's E.F. Joseph documented the daily lives of African Americans in the Bay Area. His images were printed in the Pittsburgh Courier and the Chicago Defender but not widely published in his home community. A graduate of the American School of Photography in Illinois, Joseph photographed the likes of suc...