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Traditional Europe had high levels of violence and of alcohol consumption, both higher than they are in modern Western societies, where studies demonstrate a link between violence and alcohol. No other comparable book examines the relationship of alcohol to violence and disorder during this period.     (EMS 2)

A literary landmark, this bilingual collection of poems represents the only literature of the Ahtna culture in existence.  Here John Smelcer renders these poems in his native tongue with English translations.

In these lyrical poems, Carol V. Davis explores earthy and mysterious themes.

The spectacular natural wonder called Big Spring near the Current River is hidden away in Missouri’s Ozarks Hills.

Big Spring Autumn is an engagingly reflective account of both place and human experience. Bonnie Stepenoff fuses the insights of a seasoned historian and observer of landscape with personal recollections and deeply held feelings that should appeal to a broad audience. 

—Richard Longstreth, George Washington University

Drawing from a wealth of primary sources, including visitation records of bishops and other diocesan documents, Jill Fehleison contributes to our understanding of early modern Catholicism as it addressed the challenges of coexisting with Protestantism.     (EMS 5)

This work examines more than sixty years of major social and economic changes for the fiercely independent residents of the Courtois Hills in the Missouri Ozark.

Confraternities go back to the church of the patristic age; they flourished during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and they have continued to survive in the modern era.     (SCE&S 44)

Truman’s grandson provides commentary, photos, and context for the recently discovered letters Bess wrote to Harry Truman during the formative years of his political life.

The 1909 murder case surrounding the wealthy Swope family of Independence, Missouri, gripped newspaper readers throughout the nation. This book gathers the facts behind the suspicious fates of three Swope family members: the eccentric Colonel, millionaire donor of Kansas City, Missouri’s Swope Park, his affable cousin, and a young nephew and heir.

Book of the Year Award for the 2009 ForeWord Magazine, True Crime category

A series of eerie events slowly unfolds when a wine cabinet sells at an estate sale in Oregon. In this true account, a dark story comes to light—a story that began at the time of the Holocaust and seems to have come full circle.

Presenting the “lost” year of the overland emigrants in 1848, this volume sheds light on the journey of the men, women, children, and the wagon trains that made the challenging trek from Missouri to Oregon and California.

This volume contextualizes the diversity of episcopal experience across early modern Europe, while showing the similarity of goals and challenges among various confessional, social, and geographical communities.     (EMS 10)

For the first time, Amy Nelson Burnett translates Karlstadt’s thirteen pamphlets into English, illuminating his importance for the Reformation debate over the Eucharist and his contribution to what would become Reformed sacramental theology.     (EMS 6)

Finely crafted narratives and lyric meditations offer a host of small epiphanies arising from everyday life.

Thomas Quinn, DO, showcases some of the valiant women who rose above adversity to become osteopathic doctors in those early years, and includes prominent women osteopathic physicians up to the present time

Women’s stories are noticeably absent from the master narrative of the Populist and Progressive movements, where their struggle for civil rights was more evident in the Midwest than any other region in the country. This collection of eleven biographical essays highlights women leaders in the Midwest who challenged gender, racial, class, and ethnic boundaries in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Mysterious cold spots, disembodied voices, and smoky apparitions are just a few of the ghostly goings-on gathered by journalist Jason Offutt in his trek across Missouri.

Through transcendent, lyric verse, these poems explore the spiritual struggle for harmony between the contemporary and contemplative life.

This interdisciplinary art-historical survey on lepra and its visualization in sculpture, murals, stained glass, and other media provides new information on the history of art, medicine, religion, and European society.     (EMS 7)

This interdisciplinary study on disease in a metaphysical context is the first general overview of plague art written from an art historical standpoint.     (SCE&S 53)

I know of no scholar who has done more to elucidate the meaning and the significance underlying plague imagery.

—William Pressly, University of Maryland

Reformer of the church, biblical theologian, and German translator of the Bible Martin Luther had the highest respect for stories attributed to the ancient Greek author Aesop.     (EMS 8)

Martin Luther’s lectures on Genesis, delivered during the last decade of his life, allow modern readers to view a sixteenth-century professor engaging his students with the text of scripture and using that text to form them spiritually.     (SCE&S 80)

An enjoyable and edifying read, Maxfield’s book is a welcome addition to the field of Reformation scholarship.

—Ecclesiastical History

These essays add a unique perspective to studies that reconstruct the identity of manhood in early modern Europe, including France, Switzerland, Spain, and Germany.     (SCE&S 83)

Essential reading for anyone studying gender, sexuality, marriage, and family relationships in early modern Europe.

—Renaissance Quarterly

In post-Reconstruction America, John William “Blind” Boone, an illiterate, itinerate musician, overcame obstacles created by disability, exploitative managers, and racial prejudice to become one of the country’s most beloved concert performers.

The armory buildings in most Missouri towns are the unheralded local face of the Missouri National Guard.

In this collection of poems, faith brings together the mundane and mysterious to explore how the world offers the solace of forgiveness and love as a comfort against loss.

Winner of the 2011 T. S. Eliot Prize. A road trip novel-in-verse, Mutiny Gallery follows a mother and son on an exuberant cross-country journey to outposts of Americana.

Naked Heart: A Soldier’s Journey to the Front is a powerful statement about the dark and vainglorious side of combat as experienced in World War II by a young private, Harold Pagliaro.

In this inside look at the folk tradition of hand fishing, Mary Grigsby interviews thirty Missouri noodlers to examine this sport’s appeal.

Harry S. Truman made decisions as president that would have a decisive impact in determining the course of history in Northeast Asia after World War II.     (TLS 8)

The pathbreaking work of renowned historian Natalie Zemon Davis has added profoundly to our understanding of early modern society and culture. She brings to life a dazzling cast of extraordinary people, revealing their thoughts, emotions, and choices in the world in which they lived.     (EMS 4)

This extensive and rich treasure trove of cartoons from Populist newspapers of the 1890s tells the story of one of the most successful third-party movements in American history.

Available for the first time in English, these thirteen selections from André Thevet’s Les vrais pourtraits et vies des hommes illustres offer a glimpse of France during a time of great upheaval.     (EMS 3)

Michael Frome is the pioneer conservation journalist, a premier environmental muckraker.

As a seasoned watchdog and critic, no other environmental writer gave a more objective, well-documented assessment of the failures and betrayals of those in power who violated the public trust. Michael Frome’s memoirs reveal his support of activist leaders around the country who bring accountability to government. It is in these everyday citizens who fight for the public interest that he finds hope for democracy and our nation.

—Stewart Brandborg, Wilderness Society

Written by expert scholars in the field, these eighteen essays explore the fundamental points of Reformation and early modern history.     (SCE&S 79)

Comprehensive and lucidly written, Whitford’s outstanding new research guide to the last fifteen years of scholarship on the Reformation and early modern Europe will enlighten and please both lay and scholarly readers at all levels.

—Steven Ozment, Harvard University

Theology encounters history and culture in sixteenth-century France in this examination of French Protestantism.     (SCE&S 66)

Reforming French Protestantism is an invaluable contribution to our knowledge of Reformed history, religion, and their interconnections with politics in protestantism’s first half century in France. I know of no other study in English that so thoroughly describes the evolution of church governing structures and principles in France.

—Journal of Modern History

This study examines the complex and rich relationship of the noble cousins that spanned the battlefields, bedchambers, courts, and backrooms of taverns from Paris to Turin to the frontiers between the Genevois and Geneva.     (EMS 9)

Winner of the 2012 T. S. Eliot Prize. This prize-winning collection guides readers through the working-class neighborhood of Kensington, not as tourists or passersby, but as open-eyed observers of the visceral and unique spirit of the locales and its inhabitants.

David Livewell has an affectionate way of collecting his thoughts, the poems’ impulses, his personal and shared history. In the book’s beginning he collects “Philly Things”: at the summation he and his loved ones collect together.

—Sandra McPherson, 2012 T. S. Eliot Prize judge

Buried for years in family files, this important firsthand Civil War account of Franklin Dick’s experiences as Union assistant adjutant general and Missouri provost marshal general gives a new view of politics, power, and divided loyalties in the state of Missouri.

Thoughtfully annotated and supplemented with brief biographies as well as a family genealogy and bibliography, Troubled State is a welcome addition to Civil War primary source shelves.

Unbridled Cowboy is a riveting firsthand account of a defiant hell-raiser in the wild and tumultuous American Southwest.

Winner of the 2009 Will Rogers Medallion Award

Robert Graber explores the historical, philosophical, and sociological origins and nature of liberal arts and sciences education and draws on anthropology to show us how much to value such useless knowledge.

A comprehensive and comparative oral history of Asian women living in the Midwest.

This comprehensive oral history recognizes the challenges faced by immigrant women adjusting to a new culture while working to preserve their ethnic identity.

—State Historical Society of Missouri

Bringing together scholars from Europe, America, and Australia, this volume explores the more fantastic elements of popular religious beliefs: ghosts, werewolves, spiritualism, animism, and of course, witchcraft.     (SCE&S 62)

This collection of articles is a good read and a useful tool…well written, well edited, and very informative.… [It] is admirable in that the essays use a great variety of archival sources to add to our knowledge of cultural and religious practices.

—Catholic Historical Review

Jason Offutt investigates true tales of these and other paranormal events that happened within 100 miles of his home. He introduces ordinary folks who have encountered unexplained phenomena in everyday places and presents engaging accounts of their experiences.