The Catskills (“Cat Creek” in Dutch), America’s original frontier, northwest of New York City, with its seven hundred thousand acres of forest land preserve and its five counties—Delaware, Greene, Sullivan, Ulster, Schoharie; America’s first great vacationland; the subject of the nineteenth-century Hudson River School paintings that captured the almost godlike majesty of the mountains and landscapes, the skies, waterfalls, pastures, cliffs . . . refuge and home to poets and gangsters, tyco...

Faith, money and principle collide when Eli Stone, the revered senior rabbi of a large congregation learns that he is dying. A bitter struggle breaks out in the congregation's twelve member Board over the election of his successor. At the same time, Elis estranged son comes home to organize the takeover of a company whose chairman is his fathers closest friend. On a canvas that moves from the synagogue to Wall Street and from the baseball stadium to suburban bedrooms, Congregation explores...

A New York Times bestseller with an “engaging narrative and array of detail” (The Wall Street Journal), the “intimate and sweeping” (Raleigh News & Observer) untold true story of the Biltmore Estate—the largest private home in America—and the remarkable woman who helped ensure its survival.The story of Biltmore spans World Wars, the Jazz Age, the Depression, and generations of the famous Vanderbilt family, and features a captivat...

Uncle John loves New York, so he's taking the plunge…into the land of bagels, bluebirds, and the Brooklyn Bridge.Start spreading the news. You’re reading today. You’re going to be a part of it--New York, New Yooooork! In this ode to the greatest place on Earth, Uncle John takes you through Ellis Island and down the Hudson to bring you the tome about New York that could only come from the Bathroom Readers’ Institute. Find out why the Empire State is the Big Apple of...

From Pittsburgh to Philly, Steelers to Eagles, chocolate to Peeps--it's all here. Uncle John has put together this absolutely awesome anthology of Pennsylvania facts, firsts, famous feats, and much more.Take a ride on the Reading Railroad! (Either pronunciation of “Reading” works here.) Yes, the Keystone State is rich in history, beauty, and the world’s most delicious cheesesteak (Whiz wit!). Follow Uncle John on a whirlwind tour of Pennsylvania from Philadelphia t...

Soul of a People is about a handful of people who were on the Federal Writer's Project in the 1930s and a glimpse of America at a turning point. This particular handful of characters went from poverty to great things later, and included John Cheever, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, and Studs Terkel. In the 1930s they were all caught up in an effort to describe America in a series of WPA guides. Through striking images and firsthand accounts, the book reveals their experi...

From the early pioneering days to the establishment of one of the premier art colonies in the nation, these are the stories of one of America's most famous small towns.Beneath the gentle slopes of Overlook Mountain lies the townof Woodstock, a thriving community of painters, musicians andcraftsmen. The town's early history of wintry hardships, courageous settlers and rebellious farmers sets the stage for a saga of spirited and creative personalities. As this energetic individualism carried...

DID YOU KNOW .... *that Judi Dench, James Michener and Annie Oakley were Quakers? *that Joan Baez, Ben Kingsley and F. Murray Abrahams have attended Friends Meeting? *that Dave Matthews, Bonnie Raitt and James Dean were raised Quakers? *that Popeye the Quaker Man, a Quaker Tapestry and Quaker stained glass exists? The second edition of the book Quaker Artists contains the stories of the above artists and more: 286 reviews in all, a history of Friends, a history of Quaker art, study questio...

Roots of a Region reveals the importance of folk traditions in shaping and expressing the American South. This overview covers the entire region and all forms of ex-pression-oral, musical, customary, and material.The author establishes how folklore pervades and reflects the region\'s economics, history (espe-cially the Civil War), race rela-tions, religion, and politics. He follows with a catalog of those folk-cultural traits-from food and crafts to music and story-that are distinc...

Mount Pleasant has deep American roots going back to the Revolutionary War, when local tenant farmers filled the ranks of General Washington�s Continental army. For years, travel to New York City was difficult, until the arrival of the railroad in 1846 allowed easy transportation to lower Manhattan. In 1893, John D. Rockefeller Sr. began buying land in Pocantico and built his classic Georgian mansion. The massive Kensico Dam in Valhalla was completed in 1917 to satisfy the growing thirst o...

Join author and historian Terry Ruscin as he reveals Henderson County's forgotten yet colorful history complete with its own cast of characters and historic landmarks. Who composed a blockbuster opera a few miles from downtown Hendersonville? Who were the record-setting McCrary twins, and why were they famous? These questions and many more are answered in this exciting volume of obscured history. From James Brown's 1950s performance on Hendersonville's Main Street to the rumors of illegal ...

In 1893, the 27.5 million visitors to the Chicago World’s Fair feasted their eyes on the impressive architecture of the White City, lit at night by thousands of electric lights. In addition to marveling at the revolutionary exhibits, most visitors discovered something else: beyond the fair’s 633 acres lay a modern metropolis that rivaled the world’s greatest cities. The Columbian Exposition marked Chicago’s arrival on the world stage, but even without the splendor of the fair, 1893 would s...