Since its annexation to Paducah in 1836, Lower Town has been reinvented by determined residents, visionary elected officials, a locally owned bank, and the Lower Town Neighborhood Association. Today a vibrant community of businesses and preservationists is joined by artists in the national award-winning Artist Relocation Program. Then & Now: Lower Town, Paducah compares historic images with modern photographs to document the spirit of the citizens and the renaissance of the neighborhood.

"In 1937, torrential rains caused historical flooding in the Ohio Valley ... uprooting thousands of families from their homes. Among them, the family of H.B. and Louise Hargrove of Paducah, Kentucky. Pat Taylor tells [her] family's story in Rivergees"--Website, accessed April 26, 2011, www.rivergees.com.

Harold "Hotsy" Hargan worked for the Atomic Energy Commission at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant where he encountered many problems that could possibly be a hazard to the public. Hotsy battled with supervisors over the neglect. The supervising contractor just moved Hotsy from site to site exposing him time and time again to radiation. Hotsy contracted cancer and finally decided to blow the whistle working with the Justice Department and the FBI which he soon found was just a whitewash for the government.

On December 17, 1862, just weeks before Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation, General Grant issued what remains the most notorious anti-Jewish order by a government official in American history. His attempt to eliminate black marketeers by targeting for expulsion all Jews "as a class" from portions of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi unleashed a firestorm of controversy that made newspaper headlines and terrified and enraged the approximately 150,000 Jews then living in the United States, who feared the importation of European anti-Semitism onto American soil. Although the order was quickly rescinded by a horrified Abraham Lincoln, the scandal came back to haunt Grant when he ran for president in 1868. Never before had Jews become an issue in a presidential contest and never before had they been confronted so publicly with the question of how to balance their "American" and "Jewish" interests. Award-winning historian Jonathan D. Sarna gives us the first complete account of this little-known episode—including Grant's subsequent apology, his groundbreaking appointment of Jews to prominent positions in his administration, and his unprecedented visit to the land of Israel. Sarna sheds new light on one of our most enigmatic presidents, on the Jews of his day, and on the ongoing debate between ethnic loyalty and national loyalty that continues to roil American political and social discourse. (With black-and-white illustrations throughout.)

This biography of a little-remembered Southern humorist “delivers on its claim that Cobb’s life is emblematic of changes that registered on a larger scale” (Journal of Southern History). “Humor is merely tragedy standing on its head with its pants torn.” ?Irvin S. Cobb Born and raised in Paducah, Kentucky, humorist Irvin S. Cobb (1876–1944) rose from humble beginnings to become one of the early twentieth century’s most celebrated writers. As a staff reporter for the New York World and Saturday Evening Post, he became one of the highest-paid journalists in the United States. He also wrote short stories for noted magazines, published books, and penned scripts for the stage and screen. In Irvin S. Cobb: The Rise and Fall of a Southern Humorist, historian William E. Ellis examines the life of this significant writer. Though a consummate wordsmith and a talented observer of the comical in everyday life, Cobb was a product of the Reconstruction era and the Jim Crow South. As a party to the endemic racism of his time, he often bemoaned the North’s harsh treatment of the South and stereotyped African Americans in his writings. Marred by racist undertones, Cobb’s work has largely slipped into obscurity. Nevertheless, Ellis argues that Cobb’s life and works are worthy of more detailed study, citing his wide-ranging contributions to media culture and his coverage of some of the biggest stories of his day, including on-the-ground reporting during World War I. A valuable resource for students of journalism, American humor, and popular culture, this illuminating biography explores Cobb’s life and his influence on early twentieth-century letters.