- Old
- Slang & Idioms
- New England
- Bhutan
- Ammons, A.R.
- Adults
- Booksellers & Bookselling
- Paperback
- Bisexual
- Dini, Paul
- Madagascar & Comoros
- Covey, Stephen R.
- Short Stories
- Dead Sea Scrolls
- Pony Pals
- Kandinsky, Wassily
- My Weird School
- Eating Disorders
- General
- Byers, Richard Lee
- Western Sahara
- Reference
- Pilcher, Rosamunde
- Travel Games
- Townsend, Sue
- Watches
- Home and Garden
- UK Electronics
- UK Books
- Health and Personal Care
- UK Sporting Goods
- Clothing, Shoes and Accessories
- Electronics, Gadgets and Computers
- CDs and Music Downloads
- UK Software and Video Games
- UK Toys and Games
- UK Home and Garden
- UK Video Games
- UK Baby Clothes and Accessories
- Books On
- German Electronics
Books : History : United States : State & Local : Kentucky
-
This commanding biography from New York Times bestselling author Robert Morgan transforms a mythic American hero—a legend in his own time—into a flesh-and-blood man.Morgan's sweeping biography of Daniel Boone is the story of America—its ideals, its promise, its romance, and its destiny. It is the most comprehensive book ever written about the man who was the largest spirit of his time. Hunter, explorer, settler, he was a trailblazer and a revolutionary—an American icon for more than two hundred years.
Born in 1734, Boone participated in the colonization of North America, the settling of the Middle Plain, the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War, the election of his friend as the first president of the United States, the Louisiana Purchase, and the Westward Expansion. Unlike others of his time, he had a reverence for the Indians, who taught him how to hunt, navigate, and survive in the impenetrable wilderness. He accomplished feat after impossible feat yet was also accused of treason, fraud, hypocrisy; was court-martialed; and was sued for debt again and again. By the end of his life, most of his land claims had been lost to lawyers, politicians, and better businessmen than he.
Extensive endnotes, fascinating cultural and historical background material, maps, illustrations, and an index underscore the scope of this distinguished and immensely entertaining work by a writer who, like novelist-turned- historian Shelby Foote, has the talent and the knowledge to make this legendary American come vividly to life.
-
Like an old-fashioned hymn sung in rounds, Something's Rising gives a stirring voice to the lives, culture, and determination of the people fighting the destructive practice of mountaintop removal in the coalfields of central Appalachia. Each person's story, unique and unfiltered, articulates the hardship of living in these majestic mountains amid the daily desecration of the land by the coal industry because of America's insistence on cheap energy. Developed as an alternative to strip mining, mountaintop removal mining consists of blasting away the tops of mountains, dumping waste into the valleys, and retrieving the exposed coal. This process buries streams, pollutes wells and waterways, and alters fragile ecologies in the region. The people who live, work, and raise families in central Appalachia face not only the physical destruction of their land but also the loss of their culture and health in a society dominated by the consequences of mountaintop removal. Included here are oral histories from Jean Ritchie, "the mother of folk," who doesn't let her eighty-six years slow down her fighting spirit; Judy Bonds, a tough-talking coal-miner's daughter; Kathy Mattea, the beloved country singer who believes cooperation is the key to winning the battle; Jack Spadaro, the heroic whistle-blower who has risked everything to share his insider knowledge of federal mining agencies; Larry Bush, who doesn't back down even when speeding coal trucks are used to intimidate him; Denise Giardina, a celebrated writer who ran for governor to bring attention to the issue; and many more. The book features both well-known activists and people rarely in the media. Each oral history is prefaced with a biographical essay that vividly establishes the interview settings and the subjects' connections to their region. Written and edited by native sons of the mountains, this compelling book captures a fever-pitch moment in the movement against mountaintop removal. Silas House and Jason Howard are experts on the history of resistance in Appalachia, the legacy of exploitation of the region's natural resources, and area's unique culture and landscape. This lyrical and informative text provides a critical perspective on a powerful industry. The cumulative effect of these stories is stunning and powerful. Something's Rising will long stand as a testament to the social and ecological consequences of energy at any cost and will be especially welcomed by readers of Appalachian studies, environmental science, and by all who value the mountain's majesty -- our national heritage.
-
In Tales from Kentucky Funeral Homes, William Lynwood Montell has collected stories and reminiscences from funeral home directors and embalmers across the state. These accounts provide a record of the business of death as it has been practiced in Kentucky over the past fifty years. The collection ranges from tales of old-time burial practices, to stories about funeral customs unique to the African American community, to tales of premonitions, mistakes, and even humorous occurrences. Other stories involve such unusual aspects of the business as snake-handling funerals, mistaken identities, and in-home embalming. Taken together, these firsthand narratives preserve an important aspect of Kentucky social life not likely to be collected elsewhere. Most of these funeral home stories involve the recent history of Kentucky funeral practices, but some descriptive accounts go back to the era when funeral directors used horse-drawn wagons to reach secluded areas. These accounts, including stories about fainting relatives, long-winded preachers, and pallbearers falling into graves, provide significant insights into the pivotal role morticians have played in local life and culture over the years.
-
"Best Travel Series of the Year 2006!"—Booklist
What’s weird around here?
That’s a question Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman have enjoyed asking for years—and their offbeat sense of curiosity led them to create the bestselling phenomenon, Weird N.J. Now the weirdness has spread throughout key locales in the U.S. Each fun and intriguing volume offers more than 250 illustrated pages of places where tourists usually don’t venture—it’s chock-full of oddball curiosities, ghostly places, local legends, crazy characters, cursed roads, and peculiar roadside attractions. What’s NOT shockingly odd here: that every previously published Weird book has become a bestseller in its region.
-
-
" Among the darkest corners of Kentucky's past are the grisly feuds that tore apart the hills of Eastern Kentucky from the late nineteenth century until well into the twentieth. Now, from the tangled threads of conflicting testimony, John Ed Pearce, Kentucky's best known journalist, weaves engrossing accounts of six of the most notorious and long-running feuds -- those in Breathitt, Clay Harlan, Perry, Pike, and Rowan counties. What caused the feuds that left Kentucky with its lingering reputation for violence? Who were the feudists, and what forces -- social, political, financial -- hurled them at each other? Did Big Jim Howard really kill Governor William Goebel? Did Joe Eversole die trying to protect small mountain landowners from ruthless Eastern mineral exploiters? Did the Hatfield-McCoy fight start over a hog? For years, Pearce has interviewed descendants of feuding families and examined skimpy court records and often fictional newspaper accounts to uncover what really happened and why. His story of those days of darkness brings to light new evidence, questions commonly held beliefs about the feuds, and puts to rest some of the more popular legends.
-
On October 8, 1862, Union and Confederate forces clashed near Perryville, Kentucky, in what would be the largest battle ever fought on Kentucky soil. The climax of a campaign that began two months before in northern Mississippi, Perryville came to be recognized as the high water mark of the western Confederacy. Some said the hard-fought battle, forever remembered by participants for its sheer savagery and for their commanders’ confusion, was the worst battle of the war, losing the last chance to bring the Commonwealth into the Confederacy and leaving Kentucky firmly under Federal control. Although Gen. Braxton Bragg’s Confederates won the day, Bragg soon retreated in the face of Gen. Don Carlos Buell’s overwhelming numbers.Perryville: This Grand Havoc of Battle is the definitive account of this important conflict. Kenneth Noe details the events leading up to Bragg’s Kentucky Campaign, places the battle squarely in the political and social context of Kentucky’s Civil War, paints the battle in great detail, and follows the armies back to Tennessee. Based on new research, including dozens of collections never before used in understanding Perryville’s significance, the book offers the most accurate and detailed depiction of what happened that fateful October day.
While providing all the parry and thrust one might expect from an excellent battle narrative, the book also reflects the new trends in Civil War history in its concern for ordinary soldiers and civilians caught in the slaughterhouse. The last chapter, unique among Civil War battle narratives, even discusses the battle’s veterans, their families, efforts to preserve the battlefield, and the many ways Americans have remembered and commemorated Perryville.
-
Chronicling the scandal and treachery that marked the destruction of historic Calumet Farms, which bred more Kentucky Derby winners than any other stable, a generation-spanning history shows how crime and new money invaded the bluegrass world of thoroughbreds. 50,000 first printing. Tour.
-
Reclaiming the American Revolution examines the struggles for political ascendancy between Federalists and the Republicans in the early days of the American Republic viewed through the lens of the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions authored by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. Jefferson and Madison saw the Alien and Sedition Acts as a threat to states' rights, as well as indicative of a national government that sought unlimited power. The Resolutions sought to return the nation to the tenets of the Constitution, in which rights for all were protected by checking the power of the national government. Watkins examines the two sides of this important controversy in early American history and demonstrates the Resolutions' relevance to current politics.
-
On March 27, 1890, a devastating storm moved over the Ohio River Valley, spawning dozens of deadly tornados. The most powerful of these twisters touched down in Louisville, carving a path of unprecedented destruction from Main Street to the end of town. In the aftermath, nearly eight hundred buildings in the city were destroyed, and over one hundred people perished. In all, the storm produced over twenty-five tornados that day, and it remains the twenty-fifth deadliest storm in U.S. history. Join local author Keven McQueen as he chronicles Louisville's most violent natural disaster, with tales of harrowing rescues and rebuilding.
-
From 1935 until 1975, just about every junkie busted for dope went to the Narcotic Farm. Equal parts federal prison, treatment center, farm, and research laboratory, the Farm was designed to rehabilitate addicts and help researchers discover a cure for drug addiction. Although it began as a bold and ambitious public works project, and became famous as a rehabilitation center frequented by great jazz musicians among others, the Farm was shut down forty years after it opened amid scandal over its drug-testing program, which involved experiments where inmates were being used as human guinea pigs and rewarded with heroin and cocaine for their efforts.
Published to coincide with a documentary to be aired on PBS, The Narcotic Farm includes rare and unpublished photographs, film stills, newspaper and magazine clippings, government documents, as well as interviews, writings, and anecdotes from the prisoners, doctors, and guards that trace the Farm’s noble rise and tumultuous fall, revealing the compelling story of what really happened inside the prison walls.
The Narcotic Farm is a beautiful, fascinating book that takes readers deep into a forgotten American institution. The pictures are remarkable and the story brings an important moment in history vividly to life. It’s a stunning work.
Dave Isay, founder of StoryCorps
The story of America’s long and deep affair with addictive drugs is incomplete without mention of the legendary federal narcotic hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. The Narcotic Farm tells this story well, and in addition provides a wealth of revealing photographs and documents that speak volumes on what it was like to be a junkie in the mid-twentieth century.
Luc Sante, author of Low Life and Evidence
The Narcotic Farm works its magic by recapturing, in images and words, the lost world of “Narco,” the sprawling federal prison-hospital for drug addicts in Lexington, Kentucky. It’s the details that get you, from the disheveled misery of withdrawal to the uninhibited joy of performing in the house jazz band.
David Courtwright, author of Dark Paradise, Addicts Who Survived, and Forces of Habit
Everyone who cares about addiction and recovery in this country should look at these pictures and read this text.
Susan Cheever, author of My Name is Bill Wilson: His Life and the Creation of Alcoholics Anonymous and Desire: Where Sex Meets Addiction
“The 'Narco,' with its combination of prison and hospital, drug experimentation and drug cure, total institution and farm, exemplified the contradictions of American drug policy. The authors are to be commended for their accessible text and high-quality images that vividly convey the history of the Narcotics Farm from the high hopes of its birth to its evolution into a "fraternity for drug addicts."–Eric Schneider - "Smack: Heroin and the American City," University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008
-
Kentucky Ancestry is the most extensive available guide for Kentucky genealogical and historical research! This genealogical gem outlines the holdings of the Kentucky State Archives and Kentucky's libraries, courthouses, universities, and historical organizations! Author Hogan's experience and knowledge will help you achieve efficient and successful research in Kentucky - a state that played an key role in the United States' western expansion! If your research has led you to Kentucky, don't miss out on this essential resource! 400 Pages, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2, Softbound ISBN 0-916489-49-3
-
With a new epilogue revealing additional information about the Floyd Collins story that has come to light since the book was first published!The sensationalism and hysteria of the rescue attempt in early 1925 generated America's first true media spectacle, making Floyd Collins's story one of the seminal events of the century.
The crowds that gathered outside Sand Cave turned the rescue site into a carnival. Collins's situation was front-page news throughout the country, hourly bulletins interrupted radio programs, and Congress recessed to hear the latest word.
TRAPPED! is both a tense adventure and a brilliant historical recreation of the past.
-
An engaging look at the world's most popular fruit."I was raised surrounded by apples." So begins Frank Browning's account of his lifelong fascination with the fruit his parents grew in their orchard in the Appalachian hills of Kentucky.
Throughout Western memory, the apple has been the fruit of trouble, temptation, and immortality. Paris and the Trojan War. Nordic Loki and the apples of eternal life. And, of course, that troubled couple in the garden. Browning leads us on a beguiling journey through the primal myths of the world's most popular fruit and then explains that the first apples really appeared in Kazakhstan on the slopes of the Heavenly Mountains. From the apple's origins in antiquity to its reinvention by the alchemists of genetic engineering, from its niche in the global marketplace to its fiery transformations in the pot stills of France, Browning shows us how this mysterious fruit of the tree of all knowledge continues to tempt and delight us.
-
" One of the most famous figures of the American frontier, Daniel Boone clashed with the Shawnee and sought to exploit the riches of a newly settled region. Despite Boone's fame, his life remains wrapped in mystery.The Boone legend, which began with the publication of John Filson's The Adventures of Col. Daniel Boone and continued through modern times with Fess Parker's Daniel Boone television series, has become a hopeless mix of fact and fiction. Born in 1819, archivist Lyman Draper was a tireless collector of oral history and is responsible for much of what we do know about Boone. Particularly interested in frontier history, Draper conducted interviews with the famous and the obscure and collected thousands of manuscripts (he walked hundreds of miles through the South to save historical materials during the Civil War). In an 1851 visit with Boone's youngest son, Nathan, and Nathan's wife, Olive, Draper produced over three hundred pages of notes that became the most important source of information about Daniel. The interviews provide a wealth of accurate, first-hand information about Boone's years in Kentucky, his capture by Indians, his defense of Fort Boonesboro, his lengthy hunting expeditions, and his final years in Missouri. My Father, Daniel Boone is an engaging account of one of America's great pioneers, in which Nathan makes a point of separating fact from fiction. From explaining the methods his father used to track game to detailing how land speculation and legal problems from title claims caused Boone to leave Kentucky and take up residence farther west, Nathan Boone's portrait of his father brings a crucial period in frontier history to life.
-
'United We Stand, Divided We Fall' is Kentucky's motto. Yet the Civil War sharply split the Bluegrass State. Kentuckians fought Kentuckians in some of the bloodiest battles of America's bloodiest war. The names and faces of the winning and losing generals of those battles are in most history books. But this book is not like most history books; it is about hidden history. Most of the stories are not found in other books. Some are proof that the Civil War was truly 'a brother's war' in the home state of Lincoln and Davis. From the Graves County gun grab to pirates in Paducah to dueling gunboats on the Mississippi, this one-of-a-kind collection of little-known tales by Kentucky historian Berry Craig will captivate Civil War enthusiasts and casual readers alike.
-
Two of Verna Mae Slone's most beloved books -- How We Talked and Common Folks -- are now available in a single edition. How We Talked is a timeless piece of literature, a free-form combination of glossary and memoir that uses native expressions to depict everyday life in Caney Creek, Kentucky. In addition to phrases and their meanings, the book contains sections on the customs and wisdom of Slone's community, a collection of children's rhymes, and stories and superstitions unique to Appalachia. More than just a dictionary, How We Talked is a rich compendium of life "on Caney," offering an understanding of the culture through the distinctive speech of its people. Originally published in 1979, Common Folks documents Slone's way of life in Pippa Passes, Kentucky, and expands on such diverse topics as family pets, coal mining, education, and marriage. Slone's firsthand account of this unique heritage draws readers into her hill-circled community and allows them to experience a lifestyle that is nearly forgotten. Whether she is writing about traditional Appalachian customs like folk medicine or about universal aspects of life such as a mother's yearning for the little girl she never had, Slone's instinctive sense of what matters most makes Common Folks a compelling meditation on a legacy worth remembering. Published together for the first time, How We Talked and Common Folks celebrate the spirit of an acclaimed Appalachian writer.
-
Ranked #5 in INSEAD’s Top Ten Knowledge Articles for Q2 2009This book examines the major contributing factors which catapulted KFC to the top of the Chinese restaurant service industry in less than two decades. It focuses on KFC China's competitive differentiators, and how they jelled in support of a coherent business strategy, and of each other. The successful execution of KFC China's business strategy has since been rewarded with an unlikely industry leadership position in growth, profitability, market share, and brand recognition in the world's fastest growing economy.
-
Desperate to seize control of Kentucky, the Confederate army launched an invasion into the commonwealth in the fall of 1862, viciously culminating at an otherwise quite Bluegrass crossroads and forever altering the landscape of the war. The Battle lasted just one day yet produced nearly eight thousand combined casualties and losses, and some say nary a victor. The Rebel army was forced to retreat, and United States kept its imperative grasp on Kentucky throughout the war.Few know this hallowed ground like Christopher L. Kolakowski, former director of the Perryville Battlefield Preservation Association, who draws on letters, reports, memoirs and other primary sources to offer the most accessible and engaging account of the Kentucky campaign yet, featuring over sixty historic images and maps.
-
In the wake of America's Civil War, hundreds of thousands of men who fought for the Confederacy trudged back to their homes in the Southland. Some -- due to lingering effects from war wounds, other disabilities, or the horrors of combat -- were unable to care for themselves. Homeless, disabled, and destitute veterans began appearing on the sidewalks of southern cities and towns. In 1902 Kentucky's Confederate veterans organized and built the Kentucky Confederate Home, a luxurious refuge in Pewee Valley for their unfortunate comrades. Until it closed in 1934, the Home was a respectable -- if not always idyllic -- place where disabled and impoverished veterans could spend their last days in comfort and free from want. In My Old Confederate Home: A Respectable Place for Civil War Veterans, Rusty Williams frames the lively history of the Kentucky Confederate Home with the stories of those who built, supported, and managed it: a daring cavalryman-turned-bank-robber, a senile ship captain, a prosperous former madam, and a small-town clergyman whose concern for the veterans cost him his pastorate. Each chapter is peppered with the poignant stories of men who spent their final years as voluntary wards of an institution that required residents to live in a manner which reinforced the mythology of a noble Johnny Reb and a tragic Lost Cause. Based on thorough research utilizing a range of valuable resources, including the Kentucky Confederate Home's operational documents, contemporary accounts, unpublished letters, and family stories, My Old Confederate Home reveals the final, untold chapter of Kentucky's Civil War history.