Shots rang out in a prominent Pittsfield family home on the morning of August 20, 1900, ending the life of young socialite May Fosburgh. Who pulled the trigger was unclear, and the scandal captivated attention well beyond the Berkshires. Her brother was a top suspect, but the distraught family claimed an intruder was to blame. Investigators, media and the public struggled to make sense of conflicting details, including suspicious gunpowder residue, as the mystery remained unsolved. Author Frank J. Leskovitz unravels the tale that still lingers in the hills generations later.

Shots rang out in a prominent Pittsfield family home on the morning of August 20, 1900, ending the life of young socialite May Fosburgh. Who pulled the trigger was unclear, and the scandal captivated attention well beyond the Berkshires. Her brother was a top suspect, but the distraught family claimed an intruder was to blame. Investigators, media and the public struggled to make sense of conflicting details, including suspicious gunpowder residue, as the mystery remained unsolved. Author Frank J. Leskovitz unravels the tale that still lingers in the hills generations later.

Pittsfield is truly the heart of the Berkshires. The Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts have long been a cultural hub and an area of exceptional natural beauty, and Pittsfield, the area's largest community, has always been at the center of attention. The town center, now known as Park Square, was the site of the first agricultural fair ever held in the United States, and Pittsfield became well-known as the adopted home of such literary luminaries as Oliver Wendell Holmes and Herman Melville, who wrote his classic novel Moby-Dick at his home, Arrowhead. In addition to Pittsfield's rich cultural heritage, the town's commerce and industry have fueled the region from the early days when Arthur Scholfield operated the only wool-carding machine in America, to the city's more recent role as an innovator in the electrical industry. Pittsfield celebrates the scenic beauty, the cultural heritage, and the ingenuity of the people and places of the town using nearly 200 vintage images. Inside find Pittsfield's famous sons and daughters, scenic novelties like Balance Rock, the diving horses that performed at Pontoosuc Lake, and even the famous trolley wreck that almost killed Theodore Roosevelt.

How a lurid scandal amongst the young elite of 1903 Buffalo led to one of the most shocking unsolved murders In U.S. history.

A new look at the 1937 abduction of a wealthy wife and mother, based on previously classified FBI documents—includes photos. When she was kidnapped from Long Meadow Farm in Stony Brook, New York, in 1937, Alice McDonell Parsons was the heir to a vast fortune among Long Island’s wealthy elite. The crime shocked the nation and was front-page news for several months. J. Edgar Hoover personally assigned his best FBI agents to the case, and within a short time, Parsons’s husband and their live-in housekeeper, Anna Kupryanova, had become prime suspects. Botched ransom attempts, clashes between authorities, and romantic intrigue kept the investigation mired in drama. The crime remained unsolved. Now, in this book, former Suffolk County detective Steven C. Drielak reveals previously classified FBI documents—and pieces together the mystery of the Alice Parsons kidnapping.

Murder and dark deeds shadowed the extravagance of the Gilded Age in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. In the summer of 1893, a tall and well-dressed burglar plundered the massive summer mansions of the upper crust. A visit from President Teddy Roosevelt in 1902 ended in tragedy when a trolley car smashed into the presidential carriage, killing a Secret Service agent. Shocking the nation, a psychotic millworker opened fire on a packed streetcar, leaving three dead and five wounded. From axe murders to botched bank jobs, author Andrew Amelinckx dredges up the forgotten underbelly of the Berkshires with unforgettable stories of greed, jealousy and madness from the Gilded Age.