The genius Thomas Edison once said all anyone needed in order to invent something was a good imagination and a pile of junk. Imagination and creativity have always been essential qualities for survival in Maine and the ingrained habits of "saving up" and "making do" inevitably led to heaps of junk. As a result Maine has produced some extraordinary inventors and inventions with many aimed at a simply making daily life, easier and more comfortable: from Joseph Peavey's self-named tool that d...

Mind Travel is a book that explores your deepest, darkest thoughts, fears, and delusions, imposing infinite realms of terror into the innermost depths of your mind. Skeptical? Then open this world of multiple catastrophic realities and be ready to scream.

When Stonington's four founding fathers first laid eyes on the bucolic shoreline inhabited by the Pequot tribe, it was impossible for them to predict that the future state of Connecticut would produce nearly four centuries of American history. What became their sleepy coastal borough flourished from a "stony town" into what is now known as Stonington. Fishermen, whalers, and sealers would lead a boom in the 1800s, shaping a lifestyle that still persists as a testament to the area's heritag...

Given that Ridgewood lies within 20 miles of Lower Manhattan, it would be easy to dismiss this little town as another New York suburb. Settled by Johannes Van Emburgh in 1700, this slice of New Jersey was a pivotal safe haven for the founding fathers, such as George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and Aaron Burr. In 1894, the State of New Jersey incorporated the area as a village, and what followed were 100 years of business and leisure with places like Woolworth's, the Erie Railroad Compa...

In this book, Tim McGettigan and Earl Smith make the unprecedented argument that racism is a remediable form of suggestion-induced sadism. The authors explain in plain terms how societies like the USA construct racism, and put forward a practical plan to eradicate racism in the USA and all over the world.

On the banks of the Mystic River, the Connecticut community of Mystic has a maritime history that stretches back beyond the founding of the nation. Starting as a Native American settlement, the area switched hands--first to the Dutch, then to the English--before finally becoming a part of the United States after the Revolutionary War. Mystic's location made it an ideal port for coastal commerce. As the nation grew, so did Mystic, with the village using its unique location to serve both the...

The Social Dynamics of Family Violence explores family violence through the life course, from child abuse and neglect to intimate partner violence and elder abuse.Paying close and special attention to the social nature and institutional causes of family violence, authors Angela J. Hattery and Earl Smith draw readers' attention to the ways that social inequality, especially gender inequality, contribute to tensions and explosive tendencies in family settings. As awareness, ...

"If you do the crime you gotta do the time." This adage reflects the overall attitude most Americans have about crime and the criminal justice system. Implicit in this adage is the notion that once "the time" is done, the individual is free to re-enter society and resume a normal life. In Prisoner Re-entry and Social Capital, authors Earl Smith and Angela J. Hattery challenge this myth. Prisoner Re-entry and Social Capital takes as its starting point interviews with twent...

Based on ethnographic observations and interviews with prisoners, correctional officers, and civilian staff conducted in solitary confinement units, Way Down in the Hole explores the myriad ways in which daily, intimate interactions between those locked up twenty-four hours a day and the correctional officers charged with their care, custody, and control produce and reproduce hegemonic racial ideologies. Smith and Hattery explore the outcome of building prisons in rural, economica...

Robertson and Chaney examine how the early antecedents of police brutality like plantation overseers, the lynching of African American males, early race riots, the Rodney King incident, and the Los Angeles Rampart Scandal have directly impacted the current relationship between communities of color and police. Using a phenomenological framework, they analyze how African American college students perceive police to determine how race, gender, and education create different realities among a ...

In "The Story of Newfoundland," Earl of Frederick Edwin Smith Birkenhead embarks on a comprehensive exploration of Newfoundland'Äôs rich historical tapestry, illuminating the island'Äôs unique cultural evolution and significance within the broader context of Canadian history. Written with a blend of emotive narrative and rigorous scholarly inquiry, Birkenhead deftly intertwines personal anecdotes and empirical research, the prose harmonizing with the dramatic landscapes of Newfoundland, al...

Excavations over many years in the Peruvian Andes and coastal regions have revealed that the village settlements on the west coast of South America were one of the early centers of world civilization. One of these settlements, La Galgada, flourished from 3000 B.C. to 1700 B.C. Its extraordinarily complete cultural remains help to reconstruct a picture of human life, health, activities, and trade relations as they were 4,000 years ago and allow us to enter the mental and artistic life of th...