Amid the rock spires and red-rock canyons west of Grand Junction near the Utah state line, a young man with a checkered past single-handedly built trails at a salary of $1 a month. John Otto brought the beauty of the canyons to the attention of the local chambers of commerce and eventually the National Park Service. With the stroke of a pen, Pres. William Taft added the Colorado National Monument to the park system in 1911. Otto's eccentricities toward...

Tuberculosis, also known as consumption, the White Plague, or simply TB, was the number-one killer in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many physicians of the era advised their patients to chase the cure for tuberculosis in the Southwest, where the regions clean, dry, fresh air, high altitude, and sunshine offered relief for most and recovery for some. New Mexico, called the well country, was particularly eager to promote...

Two members of the Pacific Northwest's oldest working ghost-hunting team (AGHOST) share the spooky stories of Washington State's City of Destiny.

Tacoma hides in the shadows of Seattle, but what hides in the shadows of Tacoma? The city's paranormal history is riddled with Native American culture, spiritualists, mysterious deaths, tragedy, and curses that dwell in the dark. Much of Tacoma is built directly on top of sacred lands,...

Brentwood Borough, established in 1915, spans one of the highest ridges in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, just six miles southeast of Pittsburgh. In the 19th century, three small villages, four inns, and several blacksmith shops clustered along the rural ridge. A popular and primitive roadway, now known as Brownsville Road, connected these three hamlets with the wider world. This major artery carried coaches, wagons, livestock, and even escaping...

Bordentown, New Jersey, is located at the confluence of the Delaware River, Blacks Creek, and Crosswicks Creek. The town sits on a high bluff northeast of Philadelphia. Bordentown has always been an accessible crossroads, first by water and train and presently by car and light rail. The community was a railroading town and had a successful boating industry. It eventually transitioned into a factory town, supporting such businesses as Eagle Shirt Factory,...

After enduring 10 harrowing years of the Great Depression, visitors to the 1939–1940 New York World's Fair found welcome relief in the fair's optimistic presentation of the "World of Tomorrow." Pavilions from America's largest corporations and dozens of countries were spread across a 1,216-acre site, showcasing the latest industrial marvels and predictions for the future intermingled with cultural displays from around the world. Well known for its...

Discover the darker side of New York City history with this collection of stories and photos.
 
Amid the bustle of the city’s ever-changing landscape, Manhattan’s past still whispers. At Fraunces Tavern, George Washington’s emotional farewell luncheon in 1783 echoes in the Long Room. Gertrude Tredwell’s ghost appears to visitors at the Merchant’s House Museum. Long since deceased, Olive Thomas...

In a quest to understand an area as diverse as Arizona, there can be no better way than to take a journey to the grave sites of its pioneers and observe the style whereby they made their journey from this world. The sites may be as simple as a cross or a shrine by the side of a road or as large as Tucson's Evergreen Cemetery, which has provided a final resting place to more than 40,000 interments. In this book, one will find the graves of governors,...

The headline said it all: "Chili Industry Gains Foothold in the Hatch Community." The Las Vegas Daily Optic of January 17, 1929, reported that the "Farmers of [the] Hatch community, who have developed the chile industry as one which threatens the laurels of King Cotton, are moving out shipments to market." The article reported that just three years prior, only a mere 300 pounds of chile had been marketed in the entire Rincon Valley, of which the Hatch...

Osama bin Laden is dead, but Al Qaeda remains the CIA's "number one threat." Yet since the 9/11 attacks on the United States, the organization has evolved into a much more complex and far-flung entity, even as American military strikes have killed its most identifiable spokesmen and leaders. Moving well beyond the headlines, this richly documented and fascinating account of Al Qaeda offers readers a completely new understanding of the organization's...