In 1958, when the Kingston Trio released their popular ballad "Tom Dooley," every time I heard the sad refrain on the radio about Tom going to be hanged for the murder of his sweetheart I'd cry. In my heart, I believed Tom was innocent. The authorities would be hanging an innocent man. Thirty years later, I saw an article in the Charlotte Observer that told about Tom Dooley, including the fact that he'd been hanged in Statesville, N.C. an hour from my home! Edith Ferguson Carter, whose family was intertwined with the story from its very beginning, was opening a Tom Dooley Museum just a mile from where the tragedy occurred. I contacted Edith and listened to her story about a young Confederate soldier and POW who returned from the Civil War to find his first love Ann had married another man, but still wanted Tom. Since he could no longer marry Ann, Tom began courting Laura, the girl who was later murdered. Area residents believe a jealous Ann was the actual murderer. On my search to find the truth, I interviewed people whose ancestors told stories about their involvement in events surrounding Laura's May 25, 1866 murder. I interviewed Edith's father, whose brother was Tom's jailor; Edith's husband's grandfather, who was the coroner; the great grandson of "Grayson" who helped the posse catch Tom and then stopped them from lynching him in Tennessee; Frank Proffitt, Jr. whose great grandmother heard Tom singing the song in his cell in Statesville and passed it down through her family and many more. Next, I searched the N.C. state archives which had summaries of Tom's two trials; interviewed experts on the "place and the times;" searched contemporary newspapers and the Wilkes, Caldwell and Iredell Heritage books to find out about the jurors, sheriffs and judges. Studying the life of his attorney, Zebulon Vance, the ex-Confederate governor of N.C., I believe I found the real reason this famous man represented Tom. The result of my research is found inside The Tom Dooley Files.

After the Civil War Tom Dooley comes home to find the love of his life, Anne Foster, married to an older man. Anne, who had promised Tom she would wait for him, married for money while Tom was away. When he returns, she makes it clear that she wants to resume their relationship. A hurt and angry Tom begins a romance with sweet Laura Foster, Anne's first cousin. However, Anne's hold on Tom is a strong one, and after a time the relationship between Tom and Anne is rekindled. Meanwhile, a few months later Laura finds out that she is pregnant. Tom struggles to do the right thing for his unborn child. He finally agrees to meet Laura and run off to Tennessee and get married. Tom visits Anne the night before he is to leave with Laura and tells Anne of his plans. What happens next turns a lover's triangle into the nation's first highly publicized crimes of passion.

The crime that shocked post-Civil War America and inspired the folk song that became The Kingston Trio’s hit, “Tom Dooley.” At the conclusion of the Civil War, Wilkes County, North Carolina, was the site of the nation’s first nationally publicized crime of passion. In the wake of a tumultuous love affair and a mysterious chain of events, Tom Dooley was tried, convicted and hanged for the murder of Laura Foster. This notorious crime became an inspiration for musicians, writers and storytellers ever since, creating a mystery of mythic proportions. Through newspaper articles, trial documents and public records, Dr. John E. Fletcher brings this dramatic case to life, providing the long-awaited factual account of the legendary murder. Join the investigation into one of the country’s most enduring thrillers. “Fletcher has spent a great deal of time researching almost all of the characters involved with the Foster homicide and has gone further than any researcher I know in establishing the relationships—blood, marriage and social—between the major actors in the tragedy.”—Statesville Record & Landmark

Inspired by the Kingston Trio's 1958 international hit ballad "Tom Dooley" plus 30 years of in-depth research into the life and times of Confederate Civil War Veteran Thomas C. Dula, "Dooley!" is Charlotte Corbin Barnes' latest literary achievement. A factual novel, "Dooley!" deftly chronicles the multiple sides of the legend of Tom Dooley from the perspective of the New York Herald newspaper reporter who was assigned to cover Tom's 1868 hanging in Statesville, NC. Barnes relies on the wealth of information she's collected surrounding the legend to tell what she believes really happened during that fateful spring of 1866 when Laura Foster "just up and disappeared." "Edith Carter, my dear friend and founder of the Tom Dooley Museum in Wilkes County, North Carolina, challenged me to first publish the factual book, which I did with the 2016 release of 'The Tom Dooley Files: My Search for the Truth Behind the Legend.' It won a prestigious Book of the Year Award for 2017 from the North Carolina Society of Historians and has been called 'The Tom Dooley Bible.' 'Its information is priceless!' Edith said about The Tom Dooley Files. 'Then, when you've finished with that, you can write a novel that reveals what you believe, according to what your research and your gut tell you could be the real story behind the stabbing murder of Laura Foster.' So that's what I've done." Charlotte Corbin Barnes

One of the most stunning, unique and captivating books on the account of the Ark and the global Flood of Noah's day ever produced. Based on the account recorded in Genesis 6-9 in the Bible, the narrative is true to the biblical record and its timeline of events concerning Noah and the Great Flood, with added insight as to what it might have been like to be in Noah's shoes. The thrilling adventure of Noah comes to life through the dazzling, detailed illustrations by Bill Looney in the exciting True Story of Noah’s Ark. The images of the interior of Noah’s ark are like nothing you’ve ever seen before. The people and cities depicted here are certainly more advanced than what you’ve been led to believe And this is not fiction - it’s all biblically and historically based. This book is not just material for Ministry to Children, but can also be used as an excellent Evangelical tool because it comes directly from the multi-media presentation of author Tom Dooley, who uses it to witness to multitudes of people across America every week. This dramatic and exciting retelling of a timeless Bible story is an excellent resource and should have a place in every Church Library.

Only Ann Rule, the #1 "New York Times"-bestselling true-crime author, could lend her sharp insight into these cases of the spouse, lover, family member, or helpful stranger who is totally trusted--but whose lethally violent nature, though masterfully disguised, can kill. Original.

They were almost The Pendletones--after the Pendleton wool shirts favored on chilly nights at the beach--then The Surfers, before being named The Beach Boys. But what separated them from every other teenage garage band with no musical training? They had raw talent, persistence and a wellspring of creativity that launched them on a legendary career now in its sixth decade. Following the musical vision of Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys blended ethereal vocal harmonies, searing electric guitars and lush arrangements into one of the most distinctive sounds in the history of popular music. Drawing on original interviews and newly uncovered documents, this book untangles the band's convoluted early history and tells the story of how five boys from California formed America's greatest rock 'n' roll band.

How big an act was the Kingston Trio? Big enough that the their first 19 albums not only reached Billboard's Top 100, but 14 of them entered the top 10, with five albums alone hitting the no. 1 spot At the height of their popularity, the Kingston Trio was arguably the most popular vocal group in the world, having single-handedly ushered in the folk music boom of the late '50s and early '60s. Their meteoric rise quite literally paved the way for Bob Dylan; Joan Baez; Peter, Paul & Mary; and the many acts that followed in their wake. With the release of their version of "Tom Dooley" in fall 1958, the Kingston Trio changed American popular music forever, inspiring legions of young listeners to pick up guitars and banjoes and join together in hootenannies and sing-alongs. In Greenback Dollar: The Incredible Rise of The Kingston Trio, the first in-depth biography of America's first recording super-group, William J. Bush retraces the band members' personal and professional lives, from their rapid rise to stardom to their early retirement in 1967. Through interviews with Trio members, their families, and associates, Bush paints a detailed portrait of the Trio's formative early years and sudden popular success, their innovations in recording technology, pioneering of the college concert and intensive tour schedule, their impact on and response to the '60s protest movement, the first break-up of the Trio with Dave Guard's departure, and its re-formation with John Stewart. Lovers of folk music and students and scholars of the history of popular music and the music business, the counterculture movement, and the American folk tradition will find in Greenback Dollar a remarkably detailed view of the musical and cultural legacy that resulted in the Kingston Trio receiving a 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.

An investigation into the sudden deaths of gray whales leads NUMA leader Kurt Austin to the Mexican coast, where someone tries to put him and his mini-sub out of commission permanently. Available in a tall Premium Edition. Reissue.

The New York Times Bestseller Set in the Appalachian wilderness and blending legends and folklore with high suspense, this stellar novel, The Ballad of Frankie Silver, is considered one of McCrumb's crowning achievements. In 1833 Frankie Silver was an eighteen-year-old girl convicted of murder in Burke County, North Carolina. Through a detailed investigation, the local sheriff, and soon all the townsfolk, discover reason to question her guilt---but the wheels of justice were mercilessly unstoppable, and she was hanged. Now, more than a century later, another woman is convicted of murder in the lush hills of Tennessee. Her life is in the hands of Spencer Arrowood, a man who begins to discover that the convictions of these two women have deep and haunting parallels. Although Frankie's fate cannot be changed, there is still time to alter the fate of another innocent woman. In a voice that could only be Sharyn McCrumb's, the worlds of these two murders, these two women, intersect in this densely plotted and lyrical novel—and characters, generations, and history are breathlessly painted against an Appalachian canvas.