United States City

Written with dry European wit and the observational humor of Jerome K. Jerome for the 21st century, United States of Absurdities is part travel diary, part social satire, and part survival manual for anyone brave enough to live (or dream of living) in New York. Don’t move to New York before you read this book. Step into the chaotic, hilarious, and bewildering world of New York City through the eyes of a sharp-witted European newcomer. This humorous, candid, and slightly confused memoir takes you on a journey through the absurdities of American life - from baffling dating rules and dog-...

In the vaunted annals of America’s founding, Boston has long been held up as an exemplary “city upon a hill” and the “cradle of liberty” for an independent United States. Wresting this iconic urban center from these misleading, tired clichés, The City-State of Boston highlights Boston’s overlooked past as an autonomous city-state, and in doing so, offers a path-breaking and brilliant new history of early America.

Every city has a story. Some will chill you long after the last page. From the neon glow of Las Vegas to the haunted tunnels beneath New York, America hides dark secrets in every skyline. This gripping anthology dives into 50 terrifying urban legends, each rooted in real locations, whispered folklore, and chilling mysteries that refuse to stay buried. 👻 Inside, you’ll discover: • Ghostly apparitions roaming iconic landmarks • Cursed objects and sinister doppelgängers • Unexplainable creatures lurking in lakes and alleyways • Vanished souls who demand to be remembered • ...

After a decade of exile precipitated by the tragic death of his mother, Will Seems returns home from Richmond to rural Southside Virginia, taking a job as deputy sheriff in a landscape given way to crime and defeat. Impoverished and abandoned, this remote land of tobacco plantations, razed forests, and boarded up homes seems stuck in the past in a state that is trying to forget its complex history and move on.

In Gotham, Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace have produced a monumental work of history, one that ranges from the Indian tribes that settled in and around the island of Manna-hata, to the consolidation of the five boroughs into Greater New York in 1898. It is an epic narrative, a story as vast and as varied as the city it chronicles, and it underscores that the history of New York is the story of our nation. The events and people who crowd this audiobook guarantee that this is no mere local history. It is in fact a portrait of the heart and soul of America....

By early 1977, New York City was in the grip of hysteria caused by a murderer dubbed "Son of Sam". And on a sweltering night in July, a citywide power outage touched off an orgy of looting and arson that led to the largest mass arrest in the city's history. As the turbulent year wore on, the city became absorbed in two epic battles: the fight between Yankee slugger Reggie Jackson and team manager Billy Martin, and the battle between Ed Koch and Mario Cuomo for the city's mayoralty.

In this utterly immersive volume, Mike Wallace captures the swings of prosperity and downturn, from the 1898 skyscraper-driven boom to the Bankers' Panic of 1907, the labor upheaval, and violent repression during and after the First World War. Here is New York on a whole new scale, moving from national to global prominence - an urban dynamo driven by restless ambition, boundless energy, immigrant dreams, and Wall Street greed.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the Bronx is burning!” This phrase was supposedly uttered by announcers during the 1977 World Series as flames rose above Yankee Stadium, and it became a defining expression of a turbulent time in American history. Throughout the 1970s, a wave of arson coursed through American cities, destroying entire neighborhoods home to poor communities of color.

A Fox News analyst and well-known commentator on urban violence examines the rise in crime affecting American cities and tells how it has personally affected families, including his own. On June 24, 2022, Gianno Caldwell’s eighteen-year-old brother, Christian, was murdered. He was standing...

Offering a new perspective on the unique cultural influences of New Orleans, this entertaining history captures the soul of the city and reveals its impact on the rest of the nation. Focused on New Orleans' first century of existence, a comprehensive, chronological narrative of the political, cultural, and musical development of Louisiana's early years is presented.

“Valley of Horrors.” “Free Love Camp.” “Torture School.” The headlines were everywhere—outrageous, sensational, and sometimes true. In the chaotic churn of the 1960s and ’70s, one radical school dared to do what no institution had done before: accept the students nobody else wanted and teach them like they mattered. That school was Green Valley, and this is the true story of how it changed—and shattered—lives. Founded by the fiercely unconventional Reverend George von Hilsheimer, Green Valley School became a lightning rod for controversy. What began as a “free school...

From its inception, Atlantic City has always been a town dedicated to the fast buck, and this wide-reachinghistory offers a riveting account of its past 100 year, from the city's heyday as a Prohibition-era mecca of lawlessness to its rebirth as a legitimate casino resort in the modern era.

From cop-turned-comic Eric Tansey, a hilarious and humanizing portrait of law enforcement for fans of Walk the Blue Line and You Can’t Make This Stuff Up. Eric Tansey, a former Army scout and Special Operations military veteran, joined the police force with a ton of unrealistic expectations...

Dive into the heart of New York City with this captivating guide. Discover the captivating saga of one of the worlds most iconic cities.

WINNER OF THE MIDLAND AUTHORS AWARD FOR HISTORY LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR The "illuminating" (New Yorker) story of the Great Chicago Fire: a raging inferno, a harrowing fight for survival, and the struggle for the...

Professor Timothy R. Pauketat illuminates the riveting discovery of the largest pre-Columbian city on U.S. soil. Once a flourishing metropolis of 20,000 people in 1050, Cahokia had rotted away by 1400. Its earthen mounds near modern-day St. Louis reveal “woodhenges” and evidence of large-scale human sacrifice.

All but forgotten today, Five Points was once renowned the world over. Its handful of streets in lower Manhattan featured America's most wretched poverty, shared by Irish, Jewish, German, Italian, Chinese, and African Americans. It was the scene of more riots, scams, saloons, brothels, and drunkenness than any other neighborhood in the new world. The story that Anbinder tells is the classic tale of America's immigrant past, as successive waves of new arrivals fought for survival in a land that was as exciting as it was dangerous, as riotous as it was culturally rich.

From the 1970s to the early 1990s, New York City was seen, justifiably, as out of control. The city approached bankruptcy, the subways were covered with graffiti, and murders were at a record high. Right-wing fearmongering and vigilante justice were countered by liberal pleas to end poverty and provide drug treatment—none of which happened. Then, in a surprising break from the past, new NYPD leadership decided to focus on crime. Between 1993 and 1996, New York City's murder numbers were cut in half, dropping to under 1,000 for the first time in decades.

The Tourist’s Guide to Lost Yiddish New York City offers a new look at over a century of New York’s history of Yiddish popular culture. Henry H. Sapoznik—a five-time Grammy-nominated performer/producer and Peabody Award-winning co-producer of NPR’s Yiddish Radio Project—tells the story in chapters on theater, music, architecture, crime, Blacks and Jews, restaurants, real estate, and journalism.

Steel City is the story of the 1890s golden age of Pittsburgh when its technological innovations and wealth creation made it the Silicon Valley of its day. Pittsburgh was first in steel, food processing, and electricity, and the leaders of those industries—Carnegie, Frick, Heinz, and Westinghouse—are names we still know today.