Filled with historic details of the time, Fire Bell in the Night explores the explosive tension between North and South, black and white, that gripped Charleston, South Carolina, in the summer of 1850. Geoffrey S. Edwards's first novel tells the story of New York Tribune reporter John Sharp, sent to cover the capital trial of Darcy Calhoun, a farmer who stands accused of harboring a fugitive slave. As the trial begins, John quickly realizes that not everything is as it appears in the genteel city of Charleston. A series of mysterious fires in white establishments brings the state militia, a curfew for the black population, and rising tension at the courthouse. To unravel the city's secrets, Sharp must enter Charleston's plantation society, where he is befriended by Tyler Breckenridge, owner of the Willowby plantation, and his beautiful sister Clio. Set against the backdrop of a nation headed toward civil war, Fire Bell in the Night is a page-turning account of a trial and one young reporter's efforts to discover the truth.

When searching for books about black lives in St. Louis most books start around the 1940's or 50's. They reflect the lives of black folks who went to Beaumont, Vashon, Soldan, or other institutions that they were able to attend in what was a segregated St. Louis. ere were blacks in St. Louis since its inception and founding. They worked on the riverboats. they were draymen, laborers, laundresses, and servants. they helped establish St. Louis. They were slaves and 'free'. They endured the perils of the Civil War and its aftermath. They were citizens of St. Louis with their own culture and society. ere were ordinary folks and those of the black aristocracy. Who were the black folks that helped establish St. Louis and its history? There is very little recorded history about them. Where did they live? What did they do for a living? What about their social lives and their interactions with each other and the white residents of St. Louis? A population list from the year 1872 accompanies this narrative and shows where they lived and what they did for a living. Lee Drake was born on a farm in Philadelphia, Mississippi and moved with his family to East St. Louis, Illinois in the 1950's. His family was seeking a better way of life. He spent his formative years in that small town, feeling sheltered and loved by family and friends. Early summers were spent back at the farm in Mississippi with cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. He learned to accept using the back door to enter the small corner store, and thought the balcony was where his family wanted to sit at the movie theatres in St. Louis. His first experience away from that sheltered life came when he was drafted to the jungles of Vietnam. As a young man he became aware that the stories of black Americans and their part in American history were not being told. Throughout his 34 year professional career as a high school art and photography teacher in St. Louis County, Missouri, he began researching and putting together stories of black people in St. Louis. He completed his education with a doctorate from St. Louis University. Dr. Drake lives in St. Louis County and continues to work part time as an art and photography teacher. He spends times playing golf, riding his Harley, and Cowboy shooting at the range.

"This book, planned as the first of two volumes, aims to explore the Missouri Crisis and the many reverberations and ramifications thereof. The volumes are offered as part of the University of Missouri and the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy's contribution to the state's 2021 bicentennial commemoration"--

The acclaimed author and New Yorker columnist delves into the core of American poverty in the early 1980s: “Invaluable.” —The Washington Post First appearing as a three-part series in the New Yorker, Ken Auletta’s The Underclass provides an enlightening look at the lives of addicts, dropouts, ex-convicts, welfare recipients, and individuals experiencing homelessness. Auletta’s investigation began with a seemingly simple goal: to find out who exactly makes up the poorest of the poor, and to trace the many paths that took them there. As the author follows 250 hardened members of this “underclass,” he focuses on efforts to help them reconstruct their lives and find a functional place in mainstream society. Through the lives of the men and women he encounters, Auletta discovers the complex truths that have made hard-core poverty in America such an intractable problem. In a nation where poverty and welfare rolls are declining but the underclass persists, the United States is as conflicted as ever about its responsibilities toward all its people. With his empathy, insight, and expert reportage, Auletta’s The Underclass remains as pertinent as ever.

Drawn from new sources, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian presents a gripping narrative that recreates the events that inspired hundreds of slaves to pressure British admirals into becoming liberators by using their intimate knowledge of the countryside to transform the war.

In the midst of the continuing controversy over the right ways to bring change to American schools, Peter Temes’s book is a firebell in the night. In Against School Reform Mr. Temes sets out a straightforward prescription for our schools which centers on the life of the individual teacher and rejects the billion-dollar school reform industry. He argues that enormous monies and millions of hours of effort have gone into reforming American schools in the past ten years, and we have precious little to show for it. As we enter a critical period in American history—a growing population, an uncompromising demand for well-educated workers, and the complexities of world politics impacting ordinary people every day—there is not more time or money to waste. In Mr. Temes’s view, great teachers are the secret to making better schools. Forget the macro issues of school reform, he advises, and focus on recruiting, retaining, and supporting the very best teachers. Teaching will once again become an elite profession, and school problems will go the way of the trolley car. Against School Reform digs deep into the qualities of great teaching, with stories from real schools and with practical advice for parents, teachers, and students who want to celebrate and support great teachers. It also takes a serious look at what our schools must do to recruit and reward the best teachers in the coming era of teacher shortages. Finally, the book celebrates the power of individual teachers to make a difference in their schools and communities, as forces for bottom-up change. More tests won’t fix our schools, Mr. Temes writes. Bigger, better ideas about education won't fix things either. But great teachers can fix our schools, one classroom at a time.

When Bryce Billings says he will clobber Fish Finelli in the Captain Kidd Classic boat race, Fish has no choice but to accept the bet. But Fish's 1970s Whaler with a broken motor is no match for Bryce's new, top-of-the-line, 9.9-horsepower Viper—even if Fish, Roger, and T. J. can fix their measly 5-horsepower motor, it can't compete with Bryce's boat. With $9.63 between them, do the guys even have a chance at the Classic? A hilarious romp, filled with fun facts seamlessly integrated into the story, Fish Finelli informs as much as it entertains for perfect middle-grade reading.

This analysis of Jefferson's antislavery views and the actions to which they gave rise, the subject matter of The Wolf by the Ears, is necessarily episodic; while chronology has been generally observed, it was not possible to weld this disparate material into the form of a biographical narrative.

A New York Times Notable Book for 2011 A Library Journal Top Ten Best Books of 2011 A Boston Globe Best Nonfiction Book of 2011 Bestselling author Tony Horwitz tells the electrifying tale of the daring insurrection that put America on the path to bloody war Plotted in secret, launched in the dark, John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry was a pivotal moment in U.S. history. But few Americans know the true story of the men and women who launched a desperate strike at the slaveholding South. Now, Midnight Rising portrays Brown's uprising in vivid color, revealing a country on the brink of explosive conflict. Brown, the descendant of New England Puritans, saw slavery as a sin against America's founding principles. Unlike most abolitionists, he was willing to take up arms, and in 1859 he prepared for battle at a hideout in Maryland, joined by his teenage daughter, three of his sons, and a guerrilla band that included former slaves and a dashing spy. On October 17, the raiders seized Harpers Ferry, stunning the nation and prompting a counterattack led by Robert E. Lee. After Brown's capture, his defiant eloquence galvanized the North and appalled the South, which considered Brown a terrorist. The raid also helped elect Abraham Lincoln, who later began to fulfill Brown's dream with the Emancipation Proclamation, a measure he called "a John Brown raid, on a gigantic scale." Tony Horwitz's riveting book travels antebellum America to deliver both a taut historical drama and a telling portrait of a nation divided—a time that still resonates in ours.