On names, places, and time / Stephen J. Ostrander -- From "Be true to your school" / Bob Greene -- Life itself / William Allen -- In memory of Dino / Charlene Fix -- My state of the state-address / David Citano -- Strike / Amy Sparks -- Ohioan by choice / Les Roberts -- Lazy bones / Diane Fencl -- Basement / Richard Hague -- The company of widows / Larry Smith -- Hard roots / Laura Smith -- A figure in a moonscape / Phil Boiarski -- The farm not taken / Robert Fox -- New to this stretch of the road / Gaile Gallatin -- In my solitude / Doug Swift -- Big meeting / Danny Fulks -- Tucker's Run / Brian Richards -- Cincinnati, a note from the province / Kevin Walzer -- On being landlocked / Constance Pierce -- Survival and resistance / Joe Napora -- Hardin County ditch witch / Claude C. Smith -- Life's fiction, fiction's life / Robert Flanagan

Back to the start and behind the scenes on the Buckeyes recruiting trail The Ohio State University boasts one of the nation's most storied football programs, and the recruiting acumen of coaches like Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer plays a major role in that. The Road to Ohio State is a wild ride into the competitive world of college football recruiting, revealing how some of the most memorable Buckeyes players found their way to Columbus. Doug Lesmerises takes fans back to the start and behind the scenes, showing that the path to the Shoe is not always a straight and narrow one.

Uncover Ohio's scrumptious culinary secrets in 100 recipes from the Buckeye State's best chefs, from summer succotash, savory goetta, and cracker-crusted walleye to butternut squash bisque, hazelnut brownies, and buckeye pie. Clear, easy-to-follow recipes are complemented by mouthwatering color photographs of every dish. Sample Ohio's finest foods in your home kitchen!

As the state of Ohio prepares to celebrate its bicentennial in 2003, Andrew R. L. Cayton offers an account of ways in which diverse citizens have woven its history. Ohio: The History of a People, centers around the many stories Ohioans have told about life in their state. The founders of Ohio in 1803 believed that its success would depend on the development of a public culture that emphasized what its citizens had in common with each other. But for two centuries the remarkably diverse inhabitants of Ohio have repeatedly asserted their own ideas about how they and their children should lead their lives. The state's public culture has consisted of many voices, sometimes in conflict with each other. Using memoirs, diaries, letters, novels, and paintings, Cayton writes Ohio's history as a collective biography of its citizens. Ohio, he argues, lies at the intersection of the stories of James Rhodes and Toni Morrison, Charles Ruthenberg and Lucy Webb Hayes, Carl Stokes and Alice Cary, Sherwood Anderson and Pete Rose. It lies in the tales of German Jews in Cincinnati, Italian and Polish immigrants in Cleveland, Southern blacks and white Appalachians in Youngstown. Ohio is the mingled voices of farm families, steelworkers, ministers, writers, schoolteachers, reformers, and football coaches. Ohio, in short, is whatever its citizens have imagined it to be.

Imagine walking 1,444 miles with a backpack carrying the bare necessities of life, 26 maps, and a whole lot of grit. When three-time Appalachian Trail Hiker, Andy "Captain Blue" Niekamp decided to hike Ohio's Buckeye Trail, he took on the challenge of his life. On this 88-day adventure, Captain Blue found things he didn't know he had: a Buckeye Trail family who assisted and encouraged him; a home state rich with scenic beauty and history; the physical, mental, and emotional stamina to travel Ohio alone and on foot. Readers will enjoy the trail tales of Captain Blue, past and present, and his knack for bringing humor and good-natured reflection to a hiker's experiences in the elements: the cold, snow, wind, rain, heat, and humidity of springtime in Ohio; the physical test of walking for miles every day on a variety of treadways; the unpredictability of nature; and the sincere generosity of strangers.

The story of Ohio--from its geographical position to its cultural mix and economic development--and its centrality to Americans inside and outside the state.