Roaring to life after a rather inauspicious start, Indianapolis became known as the "Crossroads of America" during the early 1900s. Mansions were built along North Meridian Street, industries employed thousands, and jazz music was played into the night. Price shows black-and-white images from the city's glorious past alongside eye-catching contemporary photographs of how the scene looks today. The result is a mixture of preservation and change in this historic city. -- adapted from jacket

Where in Indianapolis can you find a disappearing painting, a towering “ice tree,” or a giant pink elephant holding a martini? What caused the Great Squirrel Invasion of 1822, and why did Hollywood celebrities once flock to an Indianapolis cottage called Tuckaway? Where can you find a hidden museum dedicated to antique fire extinguishers? And what, exactly, is a Recordface? You’ll find the answers to these questions, and many others, in this guide to Indy’s overlooked, offbeat, and unknown. Secret Indianapolis profiles the city’s best-kept restaurant secrets, strangest parks and museums, creepiest urban legends, and weirdest works of art. It also tells the stories of forgotten local heroes, and it reveals the secrets behind beloved Indy landmarks. You’ll discover the only place in the world where it’s still possible to order Choc-Ola, explore the most haunted house in Indiana, and hear about the very dirty prank Hoosiers once pulled on a former president. Written by lifelong Hoosier and local author Ashley Petry, Secret Indianapolis offers a new way to explore the Circle City—from the quirks of local history to bizarre activities you can try today.

Inaugurated as the state capital in 1825, Indianapolis was patterned after the nation's capital and laid out on a mile-square grid with Monument Circle at its center. As the city grew and experienced the tumult of the Civil War, legislators decided to erect a monument to the war's fallen servicemen. In 1902, one of the world's most outstanding memorials was completed-the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. Surrounding Monument Circle, "The Circle City" gets its nickname from the prominence and historical significance of the central city structure. Throughout the years, Indianapolis has maintained its commitment to honoring the achievements of Hoosiers. This dedication to Indiana has given the capital its own rich history, told not only through monuments and memorials, but also through the architecture, parks, businesses, and people that make up the heart of Indianapolis. This new book documents the heroes and history of the city, using an impressive collection of vintage photographs from the late 1800s through the early 1900s juxtaposed against present-day images.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * “GRIPPING…THIS YARN HAS IT ALL.” —USA TODAY * “A WONDERFUL BOOK.” —Christian Science Monitor * “ENTHRALLING.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) * “A MUST-READ.” —Booklist (starred review) A human drama unlike any other—the riveting and definitive full story of the worst sea disaster in United States naval history. Just after midnight on July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis is sailing alone in the Philippine Sea when she is sunk by two Japanese torpedoes. For the next five nights and four days, almost three hundred miles from the nearest land, nearly nine hundred men battle injuries, sharks, dehydration, insanity, and eventually each other. Only 316 will survive. For the first time Lynn Vincent and Sara Vladic tell the complete story of the ship, her crew, and their final mission to save one of their own in “a wonderful book…that features grievous mistakes, extraordinary courage, unimaginable horror, and a cover-up…as complete an account of this tragic tale as we are likely to have” (The Christian Science Monitor). It begins in 1932, when Indianapolis is christened and continues through World War II, when the ship embarks on her final world-changing mission: delivering the core of the atomic bomb to the Pacific for the strike on Hiroshima. “Simply outstanding…Indianapolis is a must-read…a tour de force of true human drama” (Booklist, starred review) that goes beyond the men’s rescue to chronicle the survivors’ fifty-year fight for justice on behalf of their skipper, Captain Charles McVay III, who is wrongly court-martialed for the sinking. “Enthralling…A gripping study of the greatest sea disaster in the history of the US Navy and its aftermath” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), Indianapolis stands as both groundbreaking naval history and spellbinding narrative—and brings the ship and her heroic crew back to full, vivid, unforgettable life. “Vincent and Vladic have delivered an account that stands out through its crisp writing and superb research…Indianapolis is sure to hold its own for a long time” (USA TODAY).

A supplemental textbook for middle and high school students, Hoosiers and the American Story provides intimate views of individuals and places in Indiana set within themes from American history. During the frontier days when Americans battled with and exiled native peoples from the East, Indiana was on the leading edge of America’s westward expansion. As waves of immigrants swept across the Appalachians and eastern waterways, Indiana became established as both a crossroads and as a vital part of Middle America. Indiana’s stories illuminate the history of American agriculture, wars, industrialization, ethnic conflicts, technological improvements, political battles, transportation networks, economic shifts, social welfare initiatives, and more. In so doing, they elucidate large national issues so that students can relate personally to the ideas and events that comprise American history. At the same time, the stories shed light on what it means to be a Hoosier, today and in the past.

Excerpt from A Lecture Delivered Before the Indiana Historical Society, on the Early History of Indianapolis and Central Indiana: At the Hall of the House of Representatives, on Monday Evening, the 31st of January, 1853 Assembled in this beautiful Capitol of the fourth State in the Union, who is not startled by the recollection, that the rains of scarce thirty winters have obliterated the tracks of the Indian from the spot on which it stands. Who can realize that little more than thirty years ago the red man built his bark lodge, and kindled his council-fires, in the dense wilderness that then covered the site of this fair and flourishing city? Yet this is true, and there are men living in our midst; men still in the full vigor and strength of manhood, who witnessed it all - aye more, the Delegate who once represented what now constitutes the States of Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, in the Congress of the United States, is still living. Surely, when he looks on these three mighty States, now sending six Senators and twenty-three Representatives to our National Councils, he must feel that he is in a new existence or, like Rip Van Winkle, he has taken a long sleep, so great is the change. But still greater must be the surprise of those yet living, who were on the stage of action in 1799, when General William Henry Harrison was elected the first Delegate to Congress, from the terri tory north-west of the Ohio river, whose boundaries were Penn sylvania, the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and Canada. The country west of the Mississippi then belonged to another power, and was acquired, by Mr. Jefferson, from France, in 1803. Arthur St. Clair had been Governor of the territory for several years, previous to' 1799, under a territorial government of the first grade having no Delegate in Congress. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.