Full AspenCat Catalog

"From beloved cultural historian and acclaimed author of Ghostland, a history of America's obsession with secret societies and the conspiracies of hidden power The United States was born in paranoia. From the American Revolution (thought by some to be a conspiracy organized by the French) to the Salem witch trials to the Satanic Panic, Illuminati and QAnon, one of the most enduring narratives that defines the United States is simply this: secret groups...

"Writing from within the gay movement, Alan Bray reclaims a chapter in the buried history of homosexuality. In so doing, he explores a crucial period in the evolution of English society from a new and revealing angle. His approach is distinct both from the traditional catalogue of homosexual celebrities, and from those historians for whom homosexuality has only a marginal significance. Alan Bray's concern is with the changing ways homosexuality was...

Whether it's supplying illicit drugs, alcohol during Prohibition, gambling, prostitution, or even loans to those with bad credit, the Mafia has established itself as a part of the fabric of American society, politics, and economics for over a century. The Mafia continues to exist not only because of their immense power that allows their criminal organization to defy law enforcement, but because demand remains strong for what they offer. This book...

From the internationally acclaimed author of Hitler’s Private Library, a dramatic recounting of the six critical months before Adolf Hitler seized power, when the Nazi leader teetered between triumph and ruin In the summer of 1932, the Weimar Republic was on the verge of collapse. One in three Germans was unemployed. Violence was rampant. Hitler’s National Socialists surged at the polls. Paul von Hindenburg, an aging war hero and avowed monarchist,...

From the Haitian-style “shotgun” houses of the 19th century to the lavish high-rises of the 21st century, a walk through the streets of America’s neighborhoods that reveals the rich history—and future—of urban housing The Philadelphia row house. The New York tenement. The Boston triple-decker. Every American city has its own iconic housing style, structures that have been home to generations of families and are symbols of identity and pride....

"This-day-in-history approach to key figures and events that shaped Colorado from the 1690s to the present. A relevant vignette for each day of the calendar year, exploring Colorado's many facets through distilled tales of people, places, events, and trends that shaped, and continue to shape, the region."--

"When the U.S. economy collapsed in 1929, it ruined lives around the world. However, nowhere was hit harder than the United States. Millions of Americans lost their jobs, but they refused to give up hope for a better future. Under strong leadership, the nation survived the crisis with the help of a plan called the New Deal. It was this plan that lifted the United States out of the worst financial crisis in its history and drove the nation into the...

The siren song of Cerro Gordo, a desolate ghost town perched high above Death Valley, has seduced thousands since the 1800s, but few fell harder for it than Brent Underwood, who moved there in March of 2020, only to be immediately snowed in and trapped for weeks. It had once been the largest silver mine in California. Over $500 million worth of ore was pulled from the miles of tunnels below the town. Butch Cassidy, Mark Twain, and other infamous characters...

"Books about the origins of humanity dominate bestseller lists, while national newspapers present breathless accounts of new archaeological findings and speculate about what those findings tell us about our earliest ancestors. We are obsessed with prehistory—and, in this respect, our current era is no different from any other in the last three hundred years....Stefanos Geroulanos demonstrates how claims about the earliest humans not only shaped...