Class, race, and gender collide in this insightful examination of the life of Susanna (Susan) Preston Shelby Grigsby (1830–1891)—a white plantation mistress and slaveholder who struggled to participate in the economic modernization of antebellum Kentucky. Drawing on Grigsby's correspondence, author Susanna Delfino uses Grigsby's story to explore the complex cultural and social issues at play in the state's economy before, during, and after the Civil War. Delfino demonstrates that Grigsby engaged in certain kinds of antislavery activism, such as hiring white servants as a way of conveying her support for free labor and avoiding ever selling a slave. Despite her beliefs, however, Grigsby failed to hold to her moral compass when faced with her husband's patriarchal authority or when she experienced serious economic trouble. This compelling study not only illuminates how white women participated in the South's nineteenth-century economy, but also offers new perspectives on their complicity in slavery.

Acclaimed 60 Minutes commentator and true-crime author Shana Alexander turns her journalist’s eye to her own unconventional family—and herself—in this fascinating, moving memoir Shana Alexander spent most of her life trying to figure out her enigmatic parents. Milton Ager was a famous songwriter whose creations included “Ain’t She Sweet” and “Happy Days Are Here Again.” Cecelia Ager was a film critic and Variety columnist. They were a glamorous Jazz Age couple that moved in charmed circles with George and Ira Gershwin, Dorothy Parker, and Jerome Kern. They remained together for fifty-seven years, and yet they lived separate lives. This wise, witty, unflinchingly candid memoir is also a revealing account of Alexander’s own life, from her successful career as a writer and national-news commentator to her troubled marriages and emotionally wrenching love affairs. She shares insights about growing up with a cold, hypercritical mother, her relationship with her younger sister, the suicide of her adopted daughter, and her reconciliation with her parents after a twenty-year estrangement. “I had to do a lot of detective work to uncover the truth about my parents’ lives,” Alexander said. “I knew almost nothing about them as people. But by the end they really did become my best friends.”

Savannah, Georgia, 1922 While her mother’s only wish is to see her married, Becky Mackenzie just wants to sketch in the cemetery and talk to ghosts. Becky will admit she is attracted to the handsome Adam White, but he’s a northerner shunned by Savannah society—plus Becky’s man-eating cousin Fanny is sinking her claws in him just to spite her. But Becky’s got bigger fish to fry when a man gets stabbed to death at her best friend Martha’s birthday party. Was this just a case of a poker game gone wrong, or were more sinister forces at play? Becky must use her gift of communicating with the spirits to find the killer before any of her friends get hurt. From 3x USA Today bestselling author Harper Lin, The Southern Sleuth historical cozy mystery series is set in the Jazz Age of speakeasies and flappers in beautiful and gothic Savannah, Georgia. keywords: historical cozy mystery series ghost cozy mystery 1920s historical cozy mystery 1920s novel paranormal cozy mystery

Stories of the hopeful, brave people who fled slavery and made Toronto their home. “An engaging and highly readable account of the lives of Black people in Toronto in the 1800s.” — Lawrence Hill, bestselling author of The Illegal The Underground Railroad: Next Stop, Toronto! explores Toronto’s role as a destination for thousands of freedom seekers before the American Civil War. This new edition traces pathways taken by people, enslaved and free, who courageously made the trip north in search of liberty and offers new biographies, images, and information, some of which is augmented by a 2015 archaeological dig in downtown Toronto. Within its pages are stories of courageous men, women, and children who overcame barriers of prejudice and racism to create homes, institutions, and a rich and vibrant community life in Canada’s largest city. These brave individuals established organizations not only to help newcomers but also to oppose the ongoing slavery in the United States and to resist racism in their adopted city. Based entirely on original research, The Underground Railroad offers fresh insights into the rich heritage of African Americans who became African Canadians and helped build Toronto as we know the city today.

For the last third of the nineteenth century, Union General Stephen Gano Burbridge enjoyed the unenviable distinction of being the most hated man in Kentucky. From mid-1864, just months into his reign as the military commander of the state, until his death in December 1894, the mere mention of his name triggered a firestorm of curses from editorialists and politicians. By the end of Burbridge's tenure, Governor Thomas E. Bramlette concluded that he was an "imbecile commander" whose actions represented nothing but the "blundering of a weak intellect and an overwhelming vanity." In this revealing biography, Brad Asher explores how Burbridge earned his infamous reputation and adds an important new layer to the ongoing reexamination of Kentucky during and after the Civil War. Asher illuminates how Burbridge—as both a Kentuckian and the local architect of the destruction of slavery—became the scapegoat for white Kentuckians, including many in the Unionist political elite, who were unshakably opposed to emancipation. Beyond successfully recalibrating history's understanding of Burbridge, Asher's biography adds administrative and military context to the state's reaction to emancipation and sheds new light on its postwar pro-Confederacy shift.

A history of American women from the Indian woman of the 16th century to the dual-role career woman and mother of the 1980s.

In December 1848, a young enslaved couple named Ellen and William Craft traveled openly by rail, coach and steamship from Macon, Georgia, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Ellen, who passed for white, disguised herself as a wealthy disabled man, with William as "his" slave. Woo follows their journey north, and in joining the abolitionist lecture circuit. When the new Fugitive Slave Law in 1850 put them at risk, they fled from the United States. Their very existence challenged the nation's core precepts of life, liberty, and justice for all. -- Adapted from jacket.

It’s Colt vs. claws… Skye Fargo has faced killers of every shape and size. But when a monstrous grizzly bear outside Gold Creek starts splitting people’s skulls and feasting on the grey matter, he finds himself pitted against a bloodthirsty beast that has already slaughtered and devoured everyone who tried to hunt it down. And the Trailsman might be next on the menu.

Savannah, Georgia, 1922 Becky Mackenzie is certain she knows who poisoned the judge in a pie-baking contest at an annual festival in Savannah. After a bit of snooping, she’s shocked to learn her father is mixed up in all of this. Could it also be true that he has been stepping out on her mother? On top of that, there’s trouble in paradise with Adam. Becky has bad luck. Even Madame Cecelia is afraid to tell her what her latest Tarot card reading means. All of her relationships are in shambles, and even the ghosts in the cemetery are avoiding her. Can Becky get out of her jams in time to solve another creepy murder? From USA Today bestselling author Harper Lin, The Southern Sleuth historical cozy mystery series is set in the Jazz Age of speakeasies and flappers in beautiful and gothic Savannah, Georgia. keywords: historical cozy mystery series ghost cozy mystery funny mystery series 1920s novel paranormal cozy cosy series flapper mystery 1920s cozy mystery series Historical cozy mysteries Historical cozy mystery series Historical cosy mysteries 1920s mysteries 1920s murder mysteries 1920s cozy mysteries Paranormal cozy mystery keywords: historical cozy mystery series ghost cozy funny mystery series 1920s novel paranormal cozy cosy series flapper mystery