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Classic Bucs

| Filed under: Black Squirrel Books, Classic Sports, Regional Interest, Sports

Until the surprising 2012 campaign, a generation of Steel City baseball fans had hungered for the Pirates to be involved in an actual pennant race, a goal that even the most diehard could not have imagined. There was a time that it wasn’t a far-off dream, but instead an annual right. From 1970 through 1979, Pittsburgh won six eastern division crowns and two national championships. While impressive, the 1970s were only the second-best decade in franchise history. Classic Bucs looks back to the beginning of the twentieth century, the indisputable best decade of the Pittsburgh Pirates, when a young and brash team captured four senior circuit titles and their initial World Series in 1909.

 


Meet Me at Ray’s

| Filed under: Black Squirrel Books, Regional Interest

Meet Me at Ray’s celebrates more than seventy-five successful years (and counting) of Ray’s Place, a restaurant and bar located near the Kent State University campus in Kent, Ohio. Once referred to as the place “where the hustlers meet to hustle the hustlers,” Ray’s Place has survived decades of trends, changes, and events. Hundreds of students have worked there, thousands of customers have dined there, and millions of glasses have been raised there.

 


John J. Gilligan

| Filed under: Biography, Political Science & Politics, Regional Interest

This first full-length biography of John Joyce Gilligan argues that Ohio’s sixty-second governor was the most significant Democrat in the state’s postwar years. But it is more than the story of a governor. Through painstaking research and dozens of interviews, author Mark Bernstein paints a vivid picture of Ohio’s past and its prospects for the future that includes an array of lesser politicians— some of them outlandish—who aided or opposed Gilligan’s efforts.

 


Trolling Big-Water Walleyes

| Filed under: Black Squirrel Books, Nature, Regional Interest

On big, open water like the Great Lakes, sprawling Western reservoirs, and large North American rivers, trolling puts more walleyes in the boat—hour for hour—than any other fishing method. Why? Because if done correctly, the lure or bait is always in the fish’s strike zone. If anglers do it wrong, all they will net is a long, frustrating boat ride. In this detailed instructional guide, generously illustrated with more than 50 color photos and complemented by time-tested fish-catching secrets from 17 professional fishing authorities, fishermen will learn to catch walleyes from those who chase this highly prized sport fish for a living.

 


Why Cows Need Names

| Filed under: Black Squirrel Books, Regional Interest

Why Cows Need Names follows one young Amish family as they dream about and then struggle to establish a profitable and quintessentially American small farm. The story starts with Eli Gingerich’s first timid phone call to author Randy James, the county agricultural agent in Ohio’s Geauga Amish Settlement—the fourth-largest Amish settlement in the world—and traces the family’s progress over the next five years. Through gentle dialogue and true stories, James captures the challenges of creating a simple business plan that will lead to the family’s radiant success or dismal failure. As the narrative unfolds, readers get a rare glimpse into what it’s like to work in the fields with draft horses; in the barn with cows, calves, children, and Chip the family dog; or to sit at the table talking with family and friends over a noontime meal. A picture emerges of how quietly living a shared goal and “doing without” during hard times can strengthen families and provide an appreciation for what is truly important in life.

In addition to the business aspects and day-to-day farm activities, James interweaves commentary on our complex relationships with animals. The stark differences in the way animals are treated and valued in agribusinesses versus on small family farms is a recurring theme, as is debunking the myth that bigger is always better in American agriculture.

 


The Civilian Conservation Corps and the Construction of the Virginia Kendall Reserve, 1933–1939

| Filed under: Architecture & Urban Renewal, History, Regional Interest

This book tells the story of the CCC’s construction of the Virginia Kendall Reserve, which today is part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, in Northeast Ohio. Four hundred and thirty acres of farmland came under the control of the Akron Metropolitan Park District and its director-secretary, Harold Wagner, who immediately applied to the federal government to establish a CCC camp there with the aim of creating a natural recreation landscape open to the public.

 


This We Know

, and | Filed under: History, May 4 Resources, Regional Interest

This We Know succinctly documents the facts that fill out the chronology of events of the four fateful days that ended with members of the Ohio National Guard killing Kent State students Sandra Scheuer, Jeffrey Miller, Allison Krause, and William Schroeder and wounding nine others. It gathers well-established information from recorded accounts, from the time events happened through what has been learned since.

 


Cleveland Goes Modern

and | Filed under: Architecture & Urban Renewal, Regional Interest
Gibans Cover

Based on the award-winning exhibition of the same name, Cleveland Goes Modern: Design for the Home, 1930–1970, examines Modern movement houses in greater Cleveland within the context of American Modernism as a whole. Beautifully illustrated with more than 150 drawings and photographs in color and black-and-white, the book features the work of six architects: Don Hisaka, John Terence Kelly, Robert Little, William Morris, Ernst Payer, and Fred Toguchi.

 


Oberlin History

| Filed under: History, Regional Interest
Blogett Cover

Description
Author

Description
“Geoffrey Blodgett was a much-loved professor and a distinguished scholar of American history who dedicated his entire academic career to Oberlin College and its students. This anthology  … of subtle and sophisticated work … illuminates the history of a great college, the intellect of a gifted historian, and the character of an extraordinarily humane and […]

 


Ohio Hill Country

| Filed under: Nature, Regional Interest

In Ohio Hill Country, author Carolyn Platt describes how plant and animal life evolved to fill the many niches and microclimates afforded by the area’s weathered sandstones and shales and the ravines cut by area streams. She introduces readers to places such as the Hocking Hills and the Edge of Appalachia in Adams County, which are still home to an exotic and diverse group of flora and fauna.

 


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