German Cincinnati Revisited illuminates the major festivities, celebrations, and events throughout the calendar year in the Greater Cincinnati area that reflect the German heritage of the region. It begins with the celebration of Bockfest in March, heralding the end of winter and the beginning of spring, continuing on with chapters on Maifest, German Day, RoeblingFest, Schuetzenfest, Oktoberfest, and German-American Heritage Month. A final chapter covers the German Heritage Museum of Cincinnati.

Most Americans imagine the Civil War in terms of clear and defined boundaries of freedom and slavery: a straightforward division between the slave states of Kentucky and Missouri and the free states of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kansas. However, residents of these western border states, Abraham Lincoln's home region, had far more ambiguous identities-and contested political loyalties-than we commonly assume. In The Rivers Ran Backward, Christopher Phillips sheds light on the fluid political cultures of the "Middle Border" states during the Civil War era. Far from forming a fixed and static boundary between the North and South, the border states experienced fierce internal conflicts over their political and social loyalties. White supremacy and widespread support for the existence of slavery pervaded the "free" states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, which had much closer economic and cultural ties to the South, while those in Kentucky and Missouri held little identification with the South except over slavery. Debates raged at every level, from the individual to the state, in parlors, churches, schools, and public meeting places, among families, neighbors, and friends. Ultimately, the pervasive violence of the Civil War and the cultural politics that raged in its aftermath proved to be the strongest determining factor in shaping these states' regional identities, leaving an indelible imprint on the way in which Americans think of themselves and others in the nation. The Rivers Ran Backward reveals the complex history of the western border states as they struggled with questions of nationalism, racial politics, secession, neutrality, loyalty, and even place-as the Civil War tore the nation, and themselves, apart. In this major work, Phillips shows that the Civil War was more than a conflict pitting the North against the South, but one within the West that permanently reshaped American regions.

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America's First Veterans traces the experiences of Revolutionary War veterans from the dissolution of the Continental Army in 1783 through the deaths of the last Revolutionary War veterans in the 1860s. It considers the changing place of Revolutionary War veterans in the life of the early republic and describes the development of pensions and other benefits for Revolutionary War veterans, their widows and heirs. It includes chapters on the inducements offered to recruit soldiers, the organization of the Society of the Cincinnati (the first veterans' organization in U.S. history), the difficulties faced by veterans in the early years of the republic, the distribution of land warrants and land grants to veterans, early veterans' narratives, the commemoration of the Revolution in the 1820s, and the pension acts of 1818 and 1832, as well as other legislation benefiting Revolutionary War veterans. It concludes with chapters on women veterans and widows of Revolutionary War soldiers and on the last Revolutionary War veterans, including those who lived long enough to be photographed in old age. These themes are illustrated by eighty-five manuscripts, books, prints, broadsides, portraits, and other artifacts from the collections of the Society of the Cincinnati and its constituent societies.

Just one year after a settlement was established on the Ohio River in 1788 and one year before its name was changed from Losantiville to Cincinnati, an Irish immigrant brought his family to the cabins located there. Shortly thereafter, Francis Kennedy established a ferry service to support his wife and children, and more Irishmen followed over the next few decades. It was a diverse group that included Methodists, Presbyterians, Quakers, and Catholics who were manufacturers, stevedores, and merchants. The Irish in Cincinnati have always contributed to the culture, politics, and business life of the city. Their traditional strengths are found in churches, schools, and fraternal organizations like the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick and the Ancient Order of Hibernians. There is also richness in their ethnic heritage that includes art, dance, music, literature, and festivals involving everything from the annual mock theft of the St. Patrick statue in Mt. Adams, the St. Patrick's Day parade, and the various ceili throughout the year to the events at the Cincinnati Irish Heritage Center. Using rare and evocative images, Irish Cincinnati embraces 200 years of their lives in the Queen City.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • SELECTED BY THE ECONOMIST AS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR “A rambunctious book that is itself alive with the animal spirits of the marketplace.”—The Wall Street Journal Freedom’s Forge reveals how two extraordinary American businessmen—General Motors automobile magnate William “Big Bill” Knudsen and shipbuilder Henry J. Kaiser—helped corral, cajole, and inspire business leaders across the country to mobilize the “arsenal of democracy” that propelled the Allies to victory in World War II. Drafting top talent from companies like Chrysler, Republic Steel, Boeing, Lockheed, GE, and Frigidaire, Knudsen and Kaiser turned auto plants into aircraft factories and civilian assembly lines into fountains of munitions. In four short years they transformed America’s army from a hollow shell into a truly global force, laying the foundations for the country’s rise as an economic as well as military superpower. Freedom’s Forge vividly re-creates American industry’s finest hour, when the nation’s business elites put aside their pursuit of profits and set about saving the world. Praise for Freedom’s Forge “A rarely told industrial saga, rich with particulars of the growing pains and eventual triumphs of American industry . . . Arthur Herman has set out to right an injustice: the loss, down history’s memory hole, of the epic achievements of American business in helping the United States and its allies win World War II.”—The New York Times Book Review “Magnificent . . . It’s not often that a historian comes up with a fresh approach to an absolutely critical element of the Allied victory in World War II, but Pulitzer finalist Herman . . . has done just that.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “A compulsively readable tribute to ‘the miracle of mass production.’ ”—Publishers Weekly “The production statistics cited by Mr. Herman . . . astound.”—The Economist “[A] fantastic book.”—Forbes “Freedom’s Forge is the story of how the ingenuity and energy of the American private sector was turned loose to equip the finest military force on the face of the earth. In an era of gathering threats and shrinking defense budgets, it is a timely lesson told by one of the great historians of our time.”—Donald Rumsfeld

World War II transformed Cincinnati from a relatively important but parochial midwestern city into a teeming bastion of military might. While thousands served in the nation's armed forces, others contributed to rationing programs, salvage drives, blackouts and war bond rallies. Scores of community-based programs blossomed as Cincinnatians on the home front threw themselves wholeheartedly into the "total war" that Washington believed necessary for victory. After answering the call to treat domestic duty as seriously as any battleground assignment, the Queen City emerged from the war as utterly changed as the nation itself. Author Robert Miller brings to life this dramatic, patriotic period in Cincinnati's history.