Selected from the LTV Steel Collection donated to the Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland, Ohio, after LTV’s bankruptcy in 2000, photographs were chosen for their artistic quality, their importance in explaining industrial processes, and for their human interest. In preserving historical images from independent companies later purchased or taken over by LTV, the collection also provides a striking visual genealogy for LTV Steel. Photographers and those interested in the history of the steel industry will find this book an invaluable addition to their collections.

George (“Barney”) Crile considers himself a lucky man, lucky to be born when and where he was, lucky to have had the parents he did, lucky in his career, and most of all, lucky in his wives. Barney Crile’s parents were of Cleveland’s elite during that city’s self-described golden age. His father was a founder of the world-famous Cleveland Clinic and a pillar of the medical community. His mother took care of the family and in particular doted on Barney. She kept volumes of letters, photographs, and memorabilia from which her son wrote this fascinating memoir.

This seasoned newspaperman has been soaking up stray facts and vanishing information for more than five decades. Condon’s voracious appetite for facts and a nose for where to find them bring alive this Cleveland history, engaging the reader with his authentic stories, humorous anecdotes, and fond perspective. West of the Cuyahoga fills a gap in the history of Cleveland, Ohio, and reveals the gleanings of a lifetime for a local journalist and raconteur.

Euclid Avenue, which runs through the heart of downtown Cleveland, was for 60 years one of the finest residential streets of any city in 19th century America. Showplace of America is the fascinating account of the rise and fall of this elegant promenade, including portrayals of the eminent architects who created its opulent residences and colorful details about the lives of the wealthy people who occupied them.

This illustrated guide to the architecture of Oberlin, Ohio, mixes the remarkable social history of college and town with architectural commentary about one hundred thirty-two buildings built between 1837 and 1977. The result is a unique record of the ways in which the people of one Midwestern college town organized and housed their lives over the past one hundred fifty years, from the layout of the village square in 1833 to distinguished samples from the work of such twentieth-century architects as Cass Gilbert, Frank Lloyd Wright, Wallace Harrison, Minoru Yamasaki, Hugh Stubbins and Robert Venturi.

The May 4 episode has been recounted many times, in many ways. The events of the succeeding years, particularly as they affected the community in which they happened, are less well documented. As event and as symbol, Kent State/May 4 means many things to many people. This unique collection of essays and personal interviews presents a broad spectrum of these viewpoints in recounting the events of May 4 and those of the aftermath years. The result is a composite history from the perspectives of many of those who lived it, a reflection of the differing ideological stances and life experiences characteristic of that tumultuous era in American history.

Although much has been written about the Old Northwest territory, The Boundaries between Us fills a void in this historical literature by examining lesser known forms of interaction between Euro-Americans and native peoples and their struggles to gain control of the region and its vast resources. Comprised of eleven original essays, The Boundaries between Us presents unique perspectives on the history and significance of the contest for control of the Old Northwest territory.

Rolling Down Black Stockings is a personal recollection of Esther Royer Ayers’s youth spent in a highly restrictive and confined religious community. Her story is as much a search for identity and a longing for a mother’s love as it is a tale about a totalitarian culture that led to her departure from the Old Order Mennonite religion. This poignant story is told in three books: book 1 describes her youth in a farm community on the outskirts of Columbiana, Ohio; book 2 follows the struggles of Ayers as she tries to fit in with another culture after leaving the church when her family moves to Akron, Ohio; and book 3 discusses the history and cultural dynamics of the religion.

Son of an Ohio Supreme Court Justice and longtime political reporter, Rick Zimmerman presents Ohio politics from the inside. He began learning about Ohio politics and politicians as a young boy, sitting at the dinner table presided over by his father, Judge Charles Ballard Zimmerman. The author says his “father was a Democrat of sorts, but identified with the Jeffersonian wing of the party. In short, he was a conservative and a favorable mention of Franklin Roosevelt was practically banned in our house.” Yet, in spite of these philosophical leanings, the elder Zimmerman was truly nonpartisan as far as his political tales were concerned, with an opinion about most political leaders from both parties, that were for the most part negative, a “perspective which my later critics likely would suggest I inherited,” contends Zimmerman.

In the summers of 1936 and 1937, the Great Lakes Exposition was presented in Cleveland, Ohio, along the Lake Erie shore just north of the downtown business area. At the time, Cleveland was America’s sixth largest city. The Exposition was scheduled to commemorate the centennial of Cleveland’s incorporation and was conceived as a way to energize a city hit hard by the Great Depression. In its first summer, the Exposition drew four million visitors and three million more during its second and final season.