The Southern Democrat was established by Forney G. Stephens at Blountsville in 1894. After fellow newspaperman Lawrence H. Mathews of the Blount County News-Dispatch died in 1896, Stephens moved the Democrat to Oneonta. When the News-Dispatch folded in 1903, the Democrat was the preeminent Blount County newspaper. Stephens died in 1939, but the Democrat continued to publish in Oneonta for almost 100 years. In 1989 the old Southern Democrat was renamed the Blount Countain. Microfilm for the old Southern Democrat was acquired from the State Archives in Montgomery and studied page by page. Every mention of births, marriages, deaths, obituaries and news important to the history and development of Blount County was reproduced here. This book is vital for any serious student of Blount County, Alabama genealogy and history.

Amazing Alabama: A Potpourri of Fascinating Facts, Tall Tales and Storied Stories chronicles a brief history of the state, famous personages associated with Alabama, a discussion of state firsts, unique occurrences, antiquated laws and other fascinating topics.

Many of the people and events in Blount County history are well documented. Others, not so much. This book of essays is an attempt to revisit some of the well known events of our county's past, add a little more background, and present our history from a Blount County point of view. In addition to illuminating some familiar topics, this book attempts to bring to light people and events who played significant roles in the development of Blount, but were somehow overlooked or skimmed over by the primary reference books-people and events which were the topic of conversation among our ancestors but over time, have been forgotten. These fun to read tales will promote a greater understanding of the history of Blount County.

The Great Melding: War, the Dixiecrat Rebellion, and the Southern Road to America's New Conservatism is the second book in Glenn Feldman's groundbreaking series on how the American South switched its allegiance from the Democratic to the Republican Party in the twentieth century.

Chief Justice John Marshall argued that a constitution "requires that only its great outlines should be marked [and] its important objects designated." Ours is "intended to endure for ages to come, and consequently, to be adapted to the various crises of human affairs." In recent years, Marshall's great truths have been challenged by proponents of originalism and strict construction. Such legal thinkers as Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia argue that the Constitution must be construed and applied as it was when the Framers wrote it. In Keeping Faith with the Constitution, three legal authorities make the case for Marshall's vision. They describe their approach as "constitutional fidelity"--not to how the Framers would have applied the Constitution, but to the text and principles of the Constitution itself. The original understanding of the text is one source of interpretation, but not the only one; to preserve the meaning and authority of the document, to keep it vital, applications of the Constitution must be shaped by precedent, historical experience, practical consequence, and societal change. The authors range across the history of constitutional interpretation to show how this approach has been the source of our greatest advances, from Brown v. Board of Education to the New Deal, from the Miranda decision to the expansion of women's rights. They delve into the complexities of voting rights, the malapportionment of legislative districts, speech freedoms, civil liberties and the War on Terror, and the evolution of checks and balances. The Constitution's framers could never have imagined DNA, global warming, or even women's equality. Yet these and many more realities shape our lives and outlook. Our Constitution will remain vital into our changing future, the authors write, if judges remain true to this rich tradition of adaptation and fidelity.