It was an unlikely place for a city, scourged by disease-ridden mosquitos and pummeled by hurricanes. But for more than three hundred years, Mobile has thrived on the unlikely and endured the unimaginable. Mobilians love their gumbo but are likely unaware that it was first served up here by women sent from France to foster population growth. Times were once so dire for free blacks that a shocking number petitioned the courts to become slaves. The city witnessed the first operational submarine, the first Mardi Gras celebration and the last major battle of the Civil War. Author Joe Cuhaj navigates the backwaters of Mobile's fascinating history.

In 1927, Oxford University Press published the first western-language translation of a collection of Tibetan funerary texts (the Great Liberation upon Hearing in the Bardo) under the title The Tibetan Book of the Dead. Since that time, the work has established a powerful hold on the western popular imagination, and is now considered a classic of spiritual literature. Over the years, The Tibetan Book of the Dead has inspired numerous commentaries, an illustrated edition, a play, a video series, and even an opera. Translators, scholars, and popular devotees of the book have claimed to explain its esoteric ideas and reveal its hidden meaning. Few, however, have uttered a word about its history. Bryan J. Cuevas seeks to fill this gap in our knowledge by offering the first comprehensive historical study of the Great Liberation upon Hearing in the Bardo, and by grounding it firmly in the context of Tibetan history and culture. He begins by discussing the many ways the texts have been understood (and misunderstood) by westerners, beginning with its first editor, the Oxford-educated anthropologist Walter Y. Evans-Wentz, and continuing through the present day. The remarkable fame of the book in the west, Cuevas argues, is strikingly disproportionate to how the original Tibetan texts were perceived in their own country. Cuevas tells the story of how The Tibetan Book of the Dead was compiled in Tibet, of the lives of those who preserved and transmitted it, and explores the history of the rituals through which the life of the dead is imagined in Tibetan society. This book provides not only a fascinating look at a popular and enduring spiritual work, but also a much-needed corrective to the proliferation of ahistorical scholarship surrounding The Tibetan Book of the Dead.

The tranquil waters of the Tennessee River hide a horrible tragedy that took place one steamy July day when co-workers took an excursion aboard the SCItanic. Lawrence County resident Jenny Brooks used the skull of one of her victims to wash her hands, but her forty-year quest for revenge cost more than she bargained for. Granville Garth jumped to his watery grave with a pocketful of secrets--did anyone collect the $10,000 reward for the return of the papers he took with him? Historian Jacquelyn Procter Reeves transports readers deep into the shadows of the past to learn about the secret of George Steele's will, the truth behind the night the "Stars Fell on Alabama" and the story of the Lawrence County boys who died in the Goliad Massacre. Learn these secrets--and many more--in Hidden History of North Alabama.

“Engaging” stories of what the Motor City was like before the invention of the motor, with photos and illustrations (Detroit Metro-Times). Long before it became the twentieth-century automotive capital, Detroit was a muddy port town full of grog shops, horse races, haphazard cemeteries, and enterprising bootstrappers from all over the world. In this lively book you’ll discover the city’s forgotten history and meet a variety of unforgettable characters—the argumentative French fugitive who founded the city; the tobacco magnate who haunts his shuttered factory; the gambler prankster millionaire who built a monument to himself; the governor who brought his scholarly library with him on canoe expeditions; and the historians who helped create the story of Detroit as we know it: one of the oldest, rowdiest, and most enigmatic cities in the Midwest.

In this provocative new collection, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Daniel J. Boorstin explores the essential "hidden history" of the American experience that is overlooked by most historians. In twenty-four essays -- divided into five sections, "The Quest for History," "A By-Product Nation," "The Rhetoric of Democracy," "Unsung Experiments," and "The Momentum of Technology" -- Daniel J. Boorstin examines significant rhythms, patterns, and institutions of everyday American life: from his intimate portraits of such legendary figures as Paul Revere, Abigail Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, to more expansive discussions of historical phenomena, such as the Therapy of Distance and the Law of Survival of the Unread.

Proudly laying claim to the title of first town in the first state, Lewes, Delaware, has a history brimming with little-known tales of gentleman pirates, desperate acts of cannibalism and a failed British bombardment in the War of 1812. Another attempted invasion occurred in 1853, when raucous New England fishermen intent on having a good time were repelled by residents armed with clubs and an old cannon. In 1926, the Cape Henlopen Lighthouse toppled onto the beach. With the light extinguished, bootleggers had an easier time plying their trade. On January 5, 1932, a captured rumrunner was accidentally set ablaze when an oil slick caught fire on the Lewes and Rehoboth Canal. Author Michael Morgan explores stories of impromptu presidential dips, charismatic preachers, German POW camps and other lost tales from the history of Lewes.