"A gripping new history celebrating the remarkable heroes of the Johnstown Flood--the deadliest flood in U.S. history--from NBC host and legendary weather authority Al Roker. Central Pennsylvania, May 31, 1889: After a deluge of rain--nearly a foot in less than twenty-four hours--swelled the Little Conemaugh River, panicked engineers watched helplessly as swiftly rising waters threatened to breach the South Fork dam, built to create a private lake...

His book is a romance, a story of first love between Americans and a thing they call "wilderness." For it was in the Adirondacks that masses of non-Native Americans first learned to cherish the wilderness as a place of recreation and solace. In this lyrical narrative history, the author reveals that the affair between Americans and the Adirondacks was by no means one of love at first sight. And, even now, Schneider shows that Americans' relationship...

A classic early example of "muck-racking" journalism, or reporting by reform-minded American journalists who attacked established institutions and leaders as corrupt, "How the Other Half Lives" is a chronicle of the conditions of abject poverty that the residents of the slums of New York endured at the end of the 19th century. Danish immigrant Jacob A. Riis saw first-hand the horrible conditions of the Lower East Side of Manhattan following his immigration...

Examines the politcal rivalries and corrupt practices which led to the creation of Atlantic City, from it beginnings as a quiet beach town to its rise as thriving and lawless city during the Prohibition era to its establishment as a gambling and entertainment mecca.

"America's circus, a spectacle of flying trapeze artists, colorful clowns and trained animal acts under the big top, grew out of the traveling menagerie phenomenon in Somers, New York, in the 1800s. To commemorate this proud local heritage, award-winning poet and Somers native Jo Pitkin presents a collection of poems inspired by the people, events and fantastic ephemera of the glory days of the Somers showmen. Complementing her dazzling lines are...

Where can you find New York City's best hamburger? What are the ten best songs ever written about New York? The ten best books set in New York? Bert Randolph Sugar and some famous friends answer these burning questions, helping both New Yorkers and tourists learn what makes the greatest city on earth so great. With a foreword by legendary newspaperman Bill Gallo of the New York Daily News and lists from celebrity New Yorkers like Pete Hamill and Howard...

Burdened with bundles and baskets, a million or more immigrant children passed through the often grim halls of Ellis Island. Having left behind their homes in Europe and other parts of the world, they made the voyage to America by steamer. Some came with parents or guardians. A few came as stowaways. But however they traveled, they found themselves a part of one of the grandest waves of human migration that the world has ever known. Children of Ellis...

For years, the police commissioner and the mayor of New York City have duked it out for publicity, credit, and power. Some have translated their stardom into success after leaving office, while others have been hung out to dry. In the battle for control of the country's most powerful police force, these high-status government officials have often chosen political expediency over public honesty. The result is a legacy of systemic corruption and cover-ups...

No Access Washington, DC tells a story of the nation's capital through places in, near, under, over, or around the city-a collection of spaces that most people don't see, can't see, rarely see, don't know how to see, or haven't seen. Come journey beneath DC's most iconic buildings like the massive undercroft below the Lincoln Memorial and discover hidden-in-plain-sight wonders such as the mini Washington Monument or a neighborhood home that is a thriving...

"The untold story of the time when the New York Yankees were a laughingstock--and how out of that abyss emerged the modern Yankees dynasty, one of the greatest in all of sports. The New York Yankees have won 27 world championships and 40 American League pennants, both world records. They have 26 members in the Hall of Fame.Their pinstripe swag is a symbol of "making it" worn across the globe. Yet some 25 years ago, from 1989 to 1992, the Yankees were...