Derived from first-hand accounts and oral histories collected and stored at Vanderbilt University as well as newspapers and other local history sources, this collection is an invaluable look at the “Gay Nineties” in Nashvillians’ own words. It is, however, not a complete insight into Nashville in the 1890s. Readers should take note that the book focuses almost exclusively on the experiences and worldviews of white Nashvillians. These stories have incredible value for local historians and anyone interested in Nashville history, but the book’s failure to deal with race—as evidenced by Waller’s belief that “the social order was thought to be providential,” which was clearly not true for Nashville’s Black residents who struggled against the unjust systems designed to oppress them—is a grave shortcoming.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, thousands of black and white southerners left farms and rural towns to try their fate in the region's cities. This transition brought about significant economic, social, and cultural changes in both ur

Now back in print! Nashville's elegant era in the words of the people who lived it.

Cities were the core of a changing economy and culture that penetrated the rural hinterland and remade the South in the decades following the Civil War. In New Men, New Cities, New South, Don Doyle argues that if the plantation was the world the sl

Few places in the country can boast the extraordinary historic architecture possessed by Nashville, a remarkable hybrid city integrating both New South commerce with Old South charm and traditions. During the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, many affluent families, including governors, statesmen, and presidents, built luxurious homes in many different revival styles of architecture such as Gothic Revival, Renaissance Revival, Greek Revival, and Colonial Revival. Since that time, residents and countless visitors to Nashville alike have enjoyed their dramatic and imposing exteriors. In this volume, you are given a special opportunity to walk into these homes and explore their fascinating interiors as they appeared from 1866 to 1920. Nashville Interiors: 1866 to 1920 provides valuable insight into the tastes and needs of the families who lived in these historic homes, from their formal parlors and gardens to their private dining rooms and bedrooms. Within these pages, the capital city's most famous country homes, such as Belmont Mansion, Belle Meade Plantation, and the Hermitage, and a wide assortment of city dwellings, boarding schools, hotels, and businesses again open their doors, allowing today's viewer a rare, intimate glimpse into their past.

This is one of the most important baseball books to be published in a long time, taking a comprehensive look at black participation in the national pastime from 1858 through 1900. It provides team rosters and team histories, player biographies, a list of umpires and games they officiated and information on team managers and team secretaries. Well known organizations like the Washington's Mutuals, Philadelphia Pythians, Chicago Uniques, St. Louis Black Stockings, Cuban Giants and Chicago Unions are documented, as well as lesser known teams like the Wilmington Mutuals, Newton Black Stockings, San Francisco Enterprise, Dallas Black Stockings, Galveston Flyaways, Louisville Brotherhoods and Helena Pastimes. Player biographies trace their connections between teams across the country. Essays frame the biographies, discussing the social and cultural events that shaped black baseball. Waiters and barbers formed the earliest organized clubs and developed local, regional and national circuits. Some players belonged to both white and colored clubs, and some umpires officiated colored, white and interracial matches. High schools nurtured young players and transformed them into powerhouse teams, like Cincinnati's Vigilant Base Ball Club. A special essay covers visual representations of black baseball and the artists who created them, including colored artists of color who were also baseballists.