During the 1930s in the United States, the Works Progress Administration developed the Federal Writers’ Project to support writers and artists while making a national effort to document the country’s shared history and culture. The American Guide series consists of individual guides to each of the states. Little-known authors—many of whom would later become celebrated literary figures—were commissioned to write these important books. John Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, Zora Neale Hurston, and Ralph Ellison are among the more than 6,000 writers, editors, historians, and researchers who documented this celebration of local histories. Photographs, drawings, driving tours, detailed descriptions of towns, and rich cultural details exhibit each state’s unique flavor. The WPA Guide to Indiana documents a region with a diverse group of people and backgrounds, appropriately known as “the Crossroads of America.” Bounded by Lake Michigan and the Ohio River, Indiana contains a wealth of natural resources—all carefully detailed in this guide. In addition to a great deal of interesting early 20th century history, the WPA guide to the Hoosier State also has one of the most richly documented Native American histories in the collection.

Contains chapters on Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri, North Dakota, Illinois, Indiana, South Dakota, Ohio, Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa.

Bestselling author and noted cryptozoologist Loren Coleman set out on the ultimate mission: to uncover the fun and intriguing phenomena that exist right here in the United States. In Mysterious America, a fun and compulsively readable guidebook to America's most popular local legends, he prepares readers for their own adventure -- where to find the unbelievable spectacles on their journey, including: Phantom panthers haunting eastern North America Bay State ghosts and spirits Mad gassers in Illinois Champ, the famous Lake Champlain monster The Minnesota Iceman The Missouri Momo and the infamous Eastern Bigfoot And many more! Coleman's witty insight and astonishing experiences will captivate followers of Charles Fort and just-plain-curious readers alike. For, as Coleman frankly reveals, these strange creatures and unimaginable wonders may lie just beyond your own backyard....

The story of the New Deal program that produced the first guide to Indiana.

In 1914, Carl G. Fisher knew the time was right to promote the second transcontinental auto highway. Following the success of the Lincoln Highway, the Dixie Highway pushed the development of commerce and tourism for the southern states. The Dixie Highway system grew to include routes from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and Chicago to Miami Beach. In Indiana, the Dixie Highway became parts of Indiana 933, US 31, Indiana 25, Indiana 29, US 421, Indiana 37, and US 150. The dogleg from Chicago to Indiana became part of US 136.

During the first half of the twentieth century, nearly every store in Indiana had a rack of postcards for sale. In the years leading up to World War I, postcard collecting became a national craze. Reed's book features classic postcards from the early 1900s to the 1950s, featuring more than ninety Indiana communities. Depicting street scenes, landmarks, fine homes and roadways, the postcards capture the state's rural and urban past. -- adapted from back cover.

During the 1930s in the United States, the Works Progress Administration developed the Federal Writers’ Project to support writers and artists while making a national effort to document the country’s shared history and culture. The American Guide series consists of individual guides to each of the states. Little-known authors—many of whom would later become celebrated literary figures—were commissioned to write these important books. John Steinbeck, Saul Bellow, Zora Neale Hurston, and Ralph Ellison are among the more than 6,000 writers, editors, historians, and researchers who documented this celebration of local histories. Photographs, drawings, driving tours, detailed descriptions of towns, and rich cultural details exhibit each state’s unique flavor. The Prarie State, nestled in the heart of the Midwest among the Great Lakes and Mississippi River, is finely represented in the WPA Guide to Illinois. The section on Chicago could stand alone as a guidebook in itself, spanning over 100 pages and incorporating the history and tourist attractions of the city. An essay about Abraham Lincoln by then governor Henry Horner, 26 total tours of the state, and a list of 50 books about the state of Illinois are also included in this extensive guide.

President by Massacre pulls back the curtain of "expansionism," revealing how Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, and Zachary Taylor massacred Indians to "open" land to slavery and oligarchic fortunes. President by Massacre examines the way in which presidential hopefuls through the first half of the nineteenth century parlayed militarily mounted land grabs into "Indian-hating" political capital to attain the highest office in the United States. The text zeroes in on three eras of U.S. "expansionism" as it led to the massacre of Indians to "open" land to African slavery while luring lower European classes into racism's promise to raise "white" above "red" and "black." This book inquires deeply into the existence of the affected Muskogee ("Creek"), Shawnee, Sauk, Meskwaki ("Fox"), and Seminole, before and after invasion, showing what it meant to them to have been so displaced and to have lost a large percentage of their members in the process. It additionally addresses land seizures from these and the Tecumseh, Tenskwatawa, Black Hawk, and Osceola tribes. President by Massacre is written for undergraduate and graduate readers who are interested in the Native Americans of the Eastern Woodlands, U.S. slavery, and the settler politics of U.S. expansionism.