Local History

Alaska statehood - a historic 25 years! This fifth audiobook in the Aunt Phil’s Trunk Alaska History series highlights the first 25 years of statehood through short stories. Not only did the optimistic citizens of the Great Land create a government from scratch in just a few years, they also dealt with many challenges.

Gone to Texas engagingly tells the story of the Lone Star State, from the arrival of humans in the Panhandle more than 10,000 years ago to the opening of the 21st Century. Focusing on the state's successive waves of immigrants, the audiobook offers an inclusive view of the vast array of Texans who, often in conflict with each other and always in a struggle with the land, created a history and an idea of Texas.

One week in late 1999, more than 50,000 people converged on Seattle. Their goal: to shut down the World Trade Organization conference and send a message that working-class people would not quietly accept the runaway economic globalization that threatened their livelihoods. Though their mission succeeded, it was not without blowback. In the oral history One Week to Change the World, award-winning journalist DW Gibson pieces together a complex and compelling account of what really went down in Seattle.

Filled with hundreds of darkly fascinating tales of murderous mayhem, 50 States of Murder is a chilling work of storytelling and an authoritative survey of the United States’ homicidal history. Master true crime author Harold Schechter explores each state’s most grizzly, gruesome, and notorious murders that have passed into regional lore, from Iowa’s Cornfield Killer to the Texarkana Moonlight Murders to the Beauty School Barbarian of Arizona.

Early in the crisis, a global volunteer collaboration called Pivot Projects was formed to rethink how the world works. Some members are experts in the sciences and the humanities; others are environmental activists or regular people who see themselves as world citizens. In The Pivot, the journalist Steve Hamm - who embedded in the enterprise from the start - explores their efforts and shows how their approach provides a model for achieving systemic change.

The Mound Builder Myth is the first book to chronicle the attempt to recast the Native American burial mounds as the work of a lost white race of “true” native Americans. Thomas Jefferson’s pioneering archaeology concluded that the earthen mounds were the work of Native Americans. In the 1894 report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Cyrus Thomas concurred, drawing on two decades of research. But in the century in between, the lie took hold, with presidents Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, and Abraham Lincoln adding their approval.

A must-listen for all who enjoy Alaska history! Adventurers, crooks, and lawmen flooded into Alaska following the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898. Towns like Nome, Fairbanks, and Valdez blossomed on the tundra and soon filled with merchants, madams, miners, and more.

There's an old clip of Bugs Bunny sawing the entire state of Florida off the continent - and every single time a news story springs up about some shenanigans in Florida, someone on the internet posts it in response. Why are we so ready to wave goodbye to the Sunshine State? In A Florida State of Mind: An Unnatural History of Our Weirdest State, James D. Wright makes the case that there are plenty of reasons to be scandalized by the land and its sometimes-kooky, sometimes-terrifying denizens, but there's also plenty of room for hilarity.

Hawaii was not always a paradise. Hawaii's history was turbulent and soul wrenching. Taboos placed on commoners by Royalty were harsh and cruel. But Hawaii also has its wonderful historic lore, such as the Menehunes, or Hawaii's "little people". Listeners will also learn the true history of the ukulele and its origin may be a surprise.

The 1920s was a bustling time in Hollywood, as starry-eyed young women sought fame and fortune—only to discover that their dreams did not match the reality of the film industry. Edgcumb Pinchon was there to report on it all. He interviewed women who worked as “extras” in Hollywood, and was himself involved in the film business as a screenwriter and author. He describes here the hierarchy of those on set (in front of and behind the camera) with first-hand knowledge and humor.

The images of the burning towers, the heartbroken friends building memorials, the minute-by-minute accounts of the horrors of that day - all are indelibly etched on our collective consciousness. But what of those left behind after 9/11? What have they, and we, learned from the gift of time? In Project Rebirth, a psychologist and a journalist examine the lives of eight people who were directly affected by the events of September 11, 2001.

In an easy conversational style, The Restless Northwest provides a brief overview of the remarkable geological processes that have shaped the Pacific Northwest. The narrative is also sprinkled with firsthand accounts of the people involved in recent exciting, scientific discoveries. Williams enlivens this story of long-ago geologic events, with a variety of fascinating asides, on everything from enormous undersea tubeworms, to the Willamette meteorite.

The years from 1935 to 1960 changed Alaska forever. World War II brought Japanese bombs and soldiers to the Aleutians, big defense dollars to build a road to the Lower 48, and Russian pilots to fly secret missions out of Fairbanks. The Cold War era saw more folks stream into Alaska. And along with them came a proliferation of TB, a civil rights battle for the Native people, and a struggle to win statehood.

Fort Worth has been called The City Where the West Begins, Cowtown, and the silent partner in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. None of these descriptions quite tells the story of this city and its people. Since its founding in the mid nineteenth-century as a military outpost, Fort Worth has gone through many phases - cattle, oil, aviation, and tourist. The little village on the Trinity has grown up to become a global city that is a melting pot of economic forces and diverse cultures.

Hoping to discover a more personal take on Santa Fe? I created Santa Fe: A Local’s Enchanting Journey Through the City Different to give you an insider’s view of everything the city has to offer. Drawing on years of living here, I’ve put together an inviting New Mexico guidebook full of lesser-known stops, local eateries, and experiences you won’t see in other resources.

This trivia book takes you on an exciting journey through the history, culture, and iconic landmarks that make Texas truly exceptional.

An oral history of Dr. Evelyn Antonetty, Kingsbridge Vignettes, Allerton in the 1940s and 1950s, and more!

When Dawn House purchased a teetering cabin in Southern Utah, she didn't have it torn down for scrap but began to examine the layers of its wallpaper, encrusted with paste and the yellow of time. She found an extraordinary story within: of pioneer misfortune, lost loves, struggles against nature, ordinary homesteading, and the formation of modern Utah.

Trains, planes, and automobiles arrive and forever change the lives of Alaskans throughout Aunt Phil’s Trunk, Volume Three. Hardy souls with hammers and drills, axes and mattocks, mauls and gauges found it took muscle and endurance to lay railroad tracks in Alaska’s untamed wilderness. Other adventurers brought automobiles and airplanes north that transformed the way we mined resources, explored the country and traveled the Great Land.

The Stafford-Townsend feud began with an 1871 shootout in Columbus, Texas, followed by the deaths of the Stafford brothers in 1890. The second phase blossomed after 1898 with the assassination of Larkin Hope, and concluded in 1911 with the violent deaths of Marion Hope, Jim Townsend, and Will Clements, all in the space of one month.