History & Biography

Emerson Baker, Ph.D.
The Devil of Great Island: Witchcraft & Conflict in Early New England
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2007)

"Thoroughly researched and clearly written...leaves no stone unturned, revealing a popular culture of marvels and wonders. And it offers a gripping tale well told."
—Alan Taylor, author of American Colonies

Harper Barnes
Never Been A Time: The 1917 Race Riot that Sparked the Civil Rights Movement
(Walker, 2008)

The definitive account of the 1917 East St. Louis race riots, a pivotal moment in American history, by the longtime St. Louis Post-Dispatch editor and cultural critic.

Laurie Edwards, M.F.A.
The Night-Side of Life: The Uneasy Emergence of Chronic Illness in America
(Walker, 2011)

A social and medical history that explores how science, gender, and technology have changed our understanding of chronic illness and diagnosis generally, by a well-known health journalist.

Rawn James, Jr.
Root and Branch: Charles Hamilton Houston, Thurgood Marshall, and the Struggle to End Segregation
(Bloomsbury Press, 2010)

Legal expert and writer James offers a captivating narrative history of Houston, considered the legal architect of segregation's downfall, and his famous protégé Marshall's successes in the decades leading to Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.

Roland Lazenby
Jerry West: The Life and Legend of a Basketball Icon
(Ballantine, 2010)

Sportswriter and journalist Lazenby's definitive biography of the enigmatic sports icon, from his humble beginnings in rural West Virginia, through his glory years as one of basketball's greatest players, to becoming ultimate NBA guru and power broker.

Roland Lazenby
Mindgames: Phil Jackson's Long Strange Journey
(Bison Books, 2007)

The fascinating story of the legendary coach's life, from his years with the New York Knicks to his remarkable nine championships coaching for the Chicago Bulls and then the Los Angeles Lakers, from the well-known journalist and sportswriter.

Steven Roby & Brad Schreiber
Becoming Jimi Hendrix: From Southern Crossroads to Psychedelic London, the Untold Story of a Musical Genius
(Da Capo Press, 2010)

A Hendrix expert and a journalist examine the seminal five-year period of Hendrix's life, from 1962 to 1966, in which he emerged from the "chitlin' circuit" and New York's coffeehouse scene to reach superstardom in Great Britain.

Samuel Southworth
Lonely Courage: Spies and Covert Warfare Behind Enemy Lines in France, 1940-44
(Berkley Caliber, 2010)

Military historian Southworth's account of dozens of intrepid "secret warriors" involved in guerilla warfare and espionage operations in occupied France provides some of the most gripping, and important, stories of the war.

Geoffrey C. Ward, editor
Closest Companion: The Unknown Story of the Intimate Friendship between Franklin Roosevelt and Margaret Suckley
(Simon & Schuster, 2009)

"A remarkable portrait of FDR and the personal crises he faced during his presidency....Offers invaluable insights into FDR the man and the leader."
Washington Post Book World