Discover the haunting history of this town on the Texas coast—includes photos. One of the oldest cities in Texas, Galveston has witnessed more than its share of tragedies. Devastating hurricanes, yellow fever epidemics, fires, a major Civil War battle, and more cast a dark shroud on the city’s legacy. Ghostly tales creep throughout the history of famous tourist attractions and historical homes. The altruistic spirit of a schoolteacher who heroically pulled victims from the floodwaters during the great hurricane of 1900 roams the Strand. The ghosts of Civil War soldiers march up and down the stairs at night and pace in front of the antebellum Rogers Building. The spirit of an unlucky man decapitated by an oncoming train haunts the railroad museum, moving objects and crying in the night. In this fascinating book, Kathleen Shanahan Maca explores these and other haunted tales from the Oleander City.

The terror of yellow fever conjures images of mass infection of soldiers during the Spanish-American War and horrific death tolls among workers on the Panama Canal. Medical science has never found a cure and the disease continues to present a threat to the modern world, both as a mosquito-borne epidemic and as a potential biological weapon. Drawing on firsthand accounts and contemporary sources, this book traces the history of the viral infection that has claimed countless victims across the United States, Central America and Africa, and of the global effort to combat this challenging and deadly disease.

A colorful history of the island city on Texas’s Gulf Coast and its survival through times of piracy, plague, civil war, and devastating natural disaster. On the Gulf edge of Texas between land and sea stands Galveston Island. Shaped continually by wind and water, it is one of earth’s ongoing creations, where time is forever new. Here, on the shoreline, embraced by the waves, a person can still feel the heartbeat of nature. And yet, for all the idyllic possibilities, Galveston’s history has been anything but tranquil. Across Galveston’s sands have walked Indians, pirates, revolutionaries, the richest men of nineteenth-century Texas, soldiers, sailors, bootleggers, gamblers, prostitutes, physicians, entertainers, engineers, and preservationists. Major events in the island’s past include hurricanes, yellow fever, smuggling, vice, the Civil War, the building of a medical school and port, raids by the Texas Rangers, and, always, the struggle to live in a precarious location. Galveston: A History is an engrossing account that also explores the role of technology and the often contradictory relationship between technology and the city, providing a guide to both Galveston history and the dynamics of urban development.

At the dawn of the twentieth century, Galveston was a beacon of opportunity on the Texas Gulf Coast. Dubbed the "Wall Street of the Southwest," its laissez-faire reputation called those hungry for success to its shores. Led by brothers Salvatore and Rosario at the height of Prohibition, the Maceo family answered that call and changed the Oleander City forever. They built an island empire of gambling, smuggling and prostitution that lasted three decades. Housed in their nightclubs frequented by stars like Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra and Duke Ellington, they endeared themselves to their Galveston neighbors by sharing their profits, imitating crime syndicates in their native Sicily. Though certainly no saints, the Maceos helped bring prosperity to a community weary from a century of turmoil. Discover the history of Galveston's famous crime family with authors Nicole Boatman, Dr. Scott Belshaw and Texas historian Richard McCaslin.