Don't ask author Gary Mielo what it was like to grow up in North Bergen, New Jersey. He's likely to relate personal essays and anecdotes that include "the most heinous experience, the one which can easily produce the deepest and most lasting of scars, is an affliction known as the senior prom". He'll evoke "a time when yellow air raid shelter signs, hanging on the walls of virtually all candy stores, ice cream parlors, and other public buildings, reported the way to alleged underground safety". And narrate the demise of his 1955 DeSoto "while traversing one of the world's most heavily trafficked truck routes, the infamous Tonnelle Avenue". Comprised of 44 personal essays, 74th Street Stories extols New Jersey's Hudson County as it and its North Bergen residents lived through two of the most bizarre decades in recent history, namely the Cold War 1950s and the Strung Out 1960s. Nevertheless, the moments of sudden awareness recounted in many of these essays go beyond the merely wistful or the distinctively reminiscent. The characters and incidents described in 74th Street Stories have their roots in a town and a county that nurtured an identity that was nothing less than wonderfully peculiar.

While doing research for a book on the paranormal, anthropology professor Emily Campbell investigates recent events at a New York City day care center. Her findings, along with developments in her own life, cause Emily to question long-held opinions and to see her past in a new light.But Emily is not the only one whose world is changing. She is only one player in a drama that has been unfolding for centuries — a spiritual tug-o-war surrounding an ancient object with the power to transform the hearts of humankind. As Emily tries to understand the signs around her, others are attempting to make sure she never does.

Volume contains: (Matter of Heller v. Cohen) (Hirsch v. Associated Metals & Minerals Corp.) (Hirsch v. Associated Metals & Minerals Corp.) (Hirsch v. Associated Metals & Minerals Corp.) (Hofmann v. Hobbs) (Hofmann v. Hobbs) (Hofmann v. Hobbs) (Horn v. Comm. Travelers Mut. Accident Assoc. of Amer.) (Horn v. Comm. Travelers Mut. Accident Assoc. of Amer.) (Horn v. Comm. Travelers Mut. Accident Assoc. of Amer.) (Horne v. Mount Vernon Die Casting Corp.) (Horne v. Mount Vernon Die Casting Corp.) (Horne v. Mount Vernon Die Casting Corp.) (Horne v. Mount Vernon Die Casting Corp.) (Horowitz v. Burton Brewing Co.) (Horowitz v. Burton Brewing Co.) (Horowitz v. Burton Brewing Co.) (Horowitz v. Burton Brewing Co.) (People ex rel Horwitz v. Miller) (People ex rel Horwitz v. Miller) (People ex rel Horwitz v. Miller) (People ex rel Horwitz v. Miller) (Hyde v. MacBraswell) (Hyde v. MacBraswell) (Hyde v. MacBraswell)