Short stories of dozens of people who were amazing, ranging from soldiers and astronauts to pioneers and business women.

"I didn't know that!" You will find yourself saying that over and over as you read about forgotten heroes and heroines, important but little-known people, and the fascinating events that shaped our state's history. Ross Malone is a retired teacher and a historian but he is also an award-winning writer who has published over a dozen books about the people, places, and events in the Show Me State which probably should be well-known but aren't. The original Tales from Missouri and the Heartland sold thousands of copies but the author feels that this new edition is even better than the first. Told as if he was sitting with you on the front porch, Malone's stories are both readable and informative. What a great gift to yourself or for someone else who loves Missouri!

The pages of the past are full of characters who remind us that history depends upon the great deeds of men and women, whether famous or humble. Where would America be without George Washington, or Daniel Boone, or Sojourner Truth, or Babe Ruth? Where would we be without so many characters who are less well remembered today? Historians and biographers regularly come across stories of little-known or forgotten heroes, and this book provides a chance to rescue some of the best of them. In Forgotten Heroes, thirty-five of the country's leading historians recount their favorite stories of underappreciated Americans. From Stephen Jay Gould on deaf baseball player Dummy Hoy; to William Leuchtenburg on the truth behind the legendary Johnny Appleseed; to Christine Stansell on Margaret Anderson, who published James Joyce's Ulysses; these portraits can be read equally for delight, instruction, and inspiration Taken together, however, the whole is much more than the sum of its parts. Every culture needs heroes who lead by example and uplift us all in the process. Too often lately, historians have been more intent on picking apart the reputations of previously revered Americans. At times it has seemed as if the academy were on the attack against much of its own culture, denying its past greatness while making heroes only of its dissidents and doubters. Yet as this collection vividly demonstrates, heroes come in many shapes and sizes, and we all gain when we remember and celebrate them. Forgotten Heroes includes nearly as many women as men, and nearly as many people from before 1900 as after. It expands the traditional definition of hero to encompass not only military figures and politicians who took risks for great causes, but also educators, religious leaders, reformers, labor leaders, publishers, athletes, and even a man who started a record company. Many of them were heroes of conscience -- men and women who insisted on doing the right thing, no matter how unpopular or risky, commanding respect even from those who disagreed. Some were famous in their day and have since been forgotten, or remembered only in caricature. Others were little-known even when alive -- yet they all deserve to be remembered today, especially at the gifted hands of the authors of this book.

Excerpt from Some Forgotten Heroes and Their Place in American History This book is a tribute to some men who have been forgotten by Fame. Though they won for us more than half the territory within our present borders, they lie for the most part in obscure and neglected graves, some of them under alien skies, their amazing exploits all too often unperpetuated in bronze or stone. Though their names hold small significance for their countrymen of the present generation, yet they played great parts in our national drama. It was the persistent and daring assaults made by such men as Bean and Nolan upon the Spanish boundaries which undermined the power of Spain upon this continent and paved the way for Travis, Bowie, Bonham, Crockett, and Houston to effect the liberation of Texas. Captain Reed of the General Armstrong, after holding off a British force twenty times the strength of his own, sunk his vessel rather than surrender. To a pirate and smuggler named Jean Lafitte, more than any other person save Andrew Jackson, we are indebted for saving New Orleans from capture and Louisiana from invasion. After two decades of history-making in Hindustan, Boyd came back to his own country and ably seconded William Henry Harrison in breaking the power of the great Indian confederation which threatened to check the white man's westward march. 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.

A collection of short biographies and reminiscences about troopers killed in the line of duty and the families they left behind.