“Before there was the Perfect Storm, there was the Great Hurricane of 1938. A riveting and wonderfully written account.” —Nathaniel Philbrick
 
On the night of September 21, 1938, news on the radio was full of the invasion of Czechoslovakia. There was no mention of any severe weather. By the time oceanfront residents noticed an ominous color in the sky, it was too late to escape. In an age before warning systems...

Published in 1894. Contents include: Child life -- Courtship and marriage customs -- Domestic service -- Home interiors -- Table Plenishings -- Supplies of the larder -- Old colonial drinks and drinkers -- Travel, tavern and turnpike -- Holidays and festivals -- Sports and diversions -- Books and book-makers -- "Artifices of handsomeness" -- Raiment and vesture -- Doctors and patients -- Funeral and burial customs. Cover illustration from "Young...

From the author of the "New York Times" bestseller "Assassination Vacation" comes an examination of the Puritans, their covenant communities, deep-rooted idealism, political and cultural relevance, and their myriad oddities. To this day, America views itself as a Puritan nation, but author Vowell investigates what that means--and what it should mean. What was this great political enterprise all about? Who were these people who are considered the...

Civilization doesn't end with a bang or a whimper. It ends with a call on your cell phone. What happens on the afternoon of October 1 came to be known as the Pulse, a signal sent though every operating cell phone that turns its user into something...well, something less than human. Savage, murderous, unthinking-and on a wanton rampage. Terrorist act? Cyber prank gone haywire? It really doesn't matter, not to the people who avoided the technological...

Published in [1891]. Contents include: The New England Meeting-House -- The Church Militant -- By Drum and Horn and Shell -- The Old-Fashioned Pews -- Seating the Meeting -- The Tithingman and the Sleepers -- The Length of the Service -- The Icy Temperature of the Meeting-House -- The Noon-House -- The Deacon's Office -- The Psalm-Book of the Pilgrims -- The Bay Psalm-Book -- Sternhold and Hopkins' Version of the Psalms -- Other Old Psalm-Books --...

"For nineteenth-century New Englanders, 'vampires' lurked behind tuberculosis. To try to rid their houses and communities of the scourge of the wasting disease, families sometimes relied on folk practices, including exhuming and partially consuming boddies of the deceased. Author and folklorist Michael E. Bell spent twenty years pursuing stories of the vampire in New England. In this book, he shows that the belief in vampires was widespread, and,...

Anne Davis has returned to the house where she grew up, trading her glamorous Manhattan lifestyle for a harsh winter on a wind-whipped New England island. Her marriage has crumbled in the wake of a tragic accident. Now she has returned to the home on Salt Whistle Raod that has always meant shelter, security, family and love. When she awakens one snowy night to a fire that roars through the old house, Anne escapes—but runs back into the blaze to...

Whether it's for their solace and beauty or for the sense of history that seeps from the ground, cemeteries are fascinating places to visit, and this guide shows where to find the most interesting and unusual ones in all of New England. Some have headstones that are fine art, others are associated with notorious events, and others are the final resting place of famous poets, soldiers, and statesmen. Included are large public facilities as well as...