"This "album of memories" introduces the reader to the people and places - neighborhoods, restaurants, department stores, parks, hotels, night clubs, racetracks, and theaters - that once put the charm in Charm City."--BOOK JACKET.

Baltimore has a long, colorful history that traditionally has been focused on famous men, social elites, and patriotic events. The Baltimore Book is both a history of "the other Baltimore" and a tour guide to places in the city that are important to labor, African American, and women's history. The book grew out of a popular local bus tour conducted by public historians, the People's History Tour of Baltimore, that began in 1982. This book records and adds sites to that tour; provides maps, photographs, and contemporary documents; and includes interviews with some of the uncelebrated people whose experiences as Baltimoreans reflect more about the city than Francis Scott Key ever did.The tour begins at the B&O Railroad Station at Camden Yards, site of the railroad strike of 1877, moves on to Hampden-Woodbury, the mid-19th century cotton textile industry's company town, and stops on the way to visit Evergreen House and to hear the narratives of ex-slaves. We travel to Old West Baltimore, the late 19th-century center of commerce and culture for the African American community; Fells Point; Sparrows Point; the suburbs; Federal Hill; and Baltimore's "renaissance" at Harborplace. Interviews with community activists, civil rights workers, Catholic Workers, and labor union organizers bring color and passion to this historical tour. Specific labor struggles, class and race relations, and the contributions of women to Baltimore's development are emphasized at each stop. Author note: Elizabeth Fee is Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management of The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health.Linda Shopes is Associate Historian at the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.Linda Zeidman is Professor of History and Economics at Essex Community College.

From debut author Amy K. Green comes a devastating tale of psychological suspense: A teen pageant queen is found murdered in a small New England town and her sister's search for answers unearths more than she bargained for. Days after a young pageant queen named Jenny is found murdered, her small town grieves the loss alongside her picture-perfect parents. At first glance, Jenny's tragic death appears clear-cut for investigators. The most obvious suspect is one of her fans, an older man who may have gotten too close for comfort. But Jenny's half-sister, Virginia—the sarcastic black sheep of the family—isn't so sure of his guilt and takes matters into her own hands to find the killer. But for Jenny's case and Virginia's investigation, there's more to the story. Virginia, still living in town and haunted by her own troubled teenage years, suspects that a similar darkness lies beneath the sparkling veneer of Jenny's life. Alternating between Jenny's final days and Virginia's determined search for the truth, the sisters' dual narratives follow a harrowing trail of suspects, with surprising turns that race toward a shocking finale. Infused with dark humor and driven by two captivating young women, The Prized Girl tells a heartbreaking story of missed connections, a complicated family, and a town's disturbing secrets.

Baltimoreans have garnered a reputation for greeting one another by tagging “hon” to their speech. In the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, this small piece of local dialect took center stage in a series of rancorous public debates over the identity associated with Baltimore culture. Each time, controversy followed leading to consequences ranging from protests and boycotts to formal legislative action. “Hon” brought into focus Baltimore’s past and future by symbolizing lingering divisions of race, class, gender, and belonging in the midst of campaigns to unify and modernize the city. While some decried “hon” and “the Hon” as embarrassing, others hailed the word and the related image of a down-to-earth, blue-collar woman as emblematic of the authentic Baltimorean. This book tells the story of the battles that flared over the attempts to use “hon” to construct a citywide local tradition and their consequences for the future of local culture in the United States.

"'Good evening, I'm Ric Cottom' is the well-recognized introduction to Your Maryland on WYPR. When, in 2001, Ric signed on to deliver a weekly segment on Maryland history during All Things Considered on WYPR, his was the first short-form radio spot the station featured. Ric narrates little-known human interest stories from any point in Maryland's past, from the early colonial period through the start of the twentieth century. He discovered many of the stories during his time as the director of the Maryland Historical Society, researching factual histories that he could deliver in a storytelling format. The genre is unique, blending narrative or literary nonfiction with regional history. The mission behind Ric's segment is to entertain his audience while sparking their interest in history. Ric has an unusual talent for discovering stories and weaving them into a fascinating narrative. All scenes from Maryland history are fitting for 'Your Maryland.' Ric carefully selects stories that he can convey with some comedy. Even those stories with heavier subject matter, as in the short biography of gunsmith and executioner John Dandy, are conveyed with some dark humor and levity. The volume here collects approximately half of all of the 'Your Maryland' stories Ric has composed over the years and presents them in chronological format. It is the type of book that people might read a little bit at a time, perhaps out of order, and not necessarily cover-to-cover. It's designed as a little book for a very broad audience of Marylanders"--Provided by publisher.

A picturesque, little town located along the banks of the rolling Patapsco River, Sykesville, Maryland has had a long and distinctive history. Though not officially incorporated until 1904, Sykesville was first put on the map when, in 1831, the mighty Baltimore and Ohio Railroad sent its "Old Main Line" from the thriving metropolis of Baltimore to Point of Rocks in Frederick County, Maryland and traveled through the small town of Sykesville on its route. After that, tourism became an important industry in the town, as well-to-do Baltimoreans searched for a country refuge during the hot summer months. Sykesville, located in Carroll County and just 30 miles from Baltimore city, was the perfect spot to enjoy a relaxed and shady holiday. As Sykesville grew and changed over the years, many individuals, including Suzannah Warfield, Frank Brown, Wade Warfield, J.H. Fowble, E. Francis Baldwin, and Edwin Mellor, played important roles in the town's commercial development. But it is Sykesville's unique heritage, the great value placed on preserving that past by residents, and the resilient character of the community that has made Sykesville what it is today. Following a decline in the 1970s, the town experienced a rebirth fostered by the tenacious spirit of local officials and residents who strongly believed that the town could regain its past glory. Now, as one strolls along Sykesville's downtown streets, the past seems once again alive and the community's singular story is at the heart of it all.

How politics and race shaped Baltimore's distinctive disarray of cultures and subcultures. Charm City or Mobtown? People from Baltimore glory in its eccentric charm, small-town character, and North-cum-South culture. But for much of the nineteenth century, violence and disorder plagued the city. More recently, the 2015 death of Freddie Gray in police custody has prompted Baltimoreans—and the entire nation—to focus critically on the rich and tangled narrative of black–white relations in Baltimore, where slavery once existed alongside the largest community of free blacks in the United States. Matthew A. Crenson, a distinguished political scientist and Baltimore native, examines the role of politics and race throughout Baltimore's history. From its founding in 1729 up through the recent past, Crenson follows Baltimore's political evolution from an empty expanse of marsh and hills to a complicated city with distinct ways of doing business. Revealing how residents at large engage (and disengage) with one another across an expansive agenda of issues and conflicts, Crenson shows how politics helped form this complex city's personality. Crenson provocatively argues that Baltimore's many quirks are likely symptoms of urban underdevelopment. The city's longtime domination by the general assembly—and the corresponding weakness of its municipal authority—forced residents to adopt the private and extra-governmental institutions that shaped early Baltimore. On the one hand, Baltimore was resolutely parochial, split by curious political quarrels over issues as minor as loose pigs. On the other, it was keenly attuned to national politics: during the Revolution, for instance, Baltimoreans were known for their comparative radicalism. Crenson describes how, as Baltimore and the nation grew, whites competed with blacks, slave and free, for menial and low-skill work. He also explores how the urban elite thrived by avoiding, wherever possible, questions of slavery versus freedom—just as wealthier Baltimoreans, long after the Civil War and emancipation, preferred to sidestep racial controversy. Peering into the city's 300-odd neighborhoods, this fascinating account holds up a mirror to Baltimore, asking whites in particular to reexamine the past and accept due responsibility for future racial progress.

These photographs reveal places we know but scarcely recognize and give us another look at the people of the greatest generation.

Insiders' Guide to Baltimore is the essential source for in-depth travel and relocation information to the Maryland's largest city. Written by a local (and true insider), this guide offers a personal and practical perspective of Baltimore and its surrounding environs.

Baltimore seen through the eyes of John Waters, Anne Tyler, Charles S. Dutton, Barry Levinson, David Simon—and also ordinary citizens. The city of Baltimore features prominently in an extraordinary number of films, television shows, novels, plays, poems, and songs. Whether it's the small-town eccentricity of Charm City (think duckpin bowling and marble-stooped row houses) or the gang violence of "Bodymore, Murdaland," Baltimore has figured prominently in popular culture about cities since the 1950s. In Come and Be Shocked, Mary Rizzo examines the cultural history and racial politics of these contrasting images of the city. From the 1950s, a period of urban crisis and urban renewal, to the early twenty-first century, Rizzo looks at how artists created powerful images of Baltimore. How, Rizzo asks, do the imaginary cities created by artists affect the real cities that we live in? How does public policy (intentionally or not) shape the kinds of cultural representations that artists create? And why has the relationship between artists and Baltimore city officials been so fraught, resulting in public battles over film permits and censorship? To answer these questions, Rizzo explores the rise of tourism, urban branding, and citizen activism. She considers artists working in the margins, from the East Baltimore poets writing in Chicory, a community magazine funded by the Office of Economic Opportunity, to a young John Waters, who shot his early low-budget movies on the streets, guerrilla-style. She also investigates more mainstream art, from the teen dance sensation The Buddy Deane Show to the comedy-drama Roc to the crime show The Wire, from Anne Tyler's award-winning book The Accidental Tourist to Barry Levinson's movie classic Diner.