Created by the Ohio legislature in 1820 and named for Revolutionary War hero David Williams, Williams County is situated in the northwest corner of Ohio, bordered by Michigan on the north and Indiana on the west. In the early 1830s, settlers began pouring into the county, primarily farm families seeking inexpensive land and new lives on the frontier. Many were European immigrants or the children of immigrants willing to perform the backbreaking labor necessary to clear and drain the forests and convert them into fertile farmlands. Arrival of the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana Railroad in 1854 opened new markets for local agricultural products and small industries and gave birth to bustling new communities along the rail line. The strong work ethic, faith, entrepreneurial spirit, and sense of community that has characterized the people of Williams Countypast and presenthas worked a wonderful transformation, turning a wilderness into fine farms and communities offering modern public facilities and services, numerous businesses and industries, and a high quality of life in a rural setting.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1857.

The book chronicles several families and their descendants, all connected with Revolutionary War soldier Garrett Z. Watts. The history underscores their adventures and family bonds as they seek to build their lives in Johnson County, Arkansas amidst the westward expansion from southeastern United States.

In the early 1960s, novelist and journalist John A. Williams was commissioned by Holiday magazine to test the winds of racial change across the USA. Williams set out on a cross-country tour in a shiny new car (a station wagon) and with, as the cover states, "a fistful of credit cards". This book is a searingly honest account of both the good and the bad he encountered.