Ohio

Fire in the Big House
America’s Deadliest Prison Disaster
By Mitchel P. Roth

Roth explores the lives of prisoners and others as well as the political and social circumstances of the Ohio Penitentiary Fire in this first comprehensive account of a tragedy whose circumstances—violent unrest, overcrowding, poorly trained and underpaid guards, unsanitary conditions, inadequate food—will be familiar to prison watchdogs today.

Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio
With Variant Readings and Annotations
By Sherwood Anderson
· Edited by Ray Lewis White

In 1919 a middle-aged Chicago ad man facing professional and personal crises published a modest book of stories intended to “reform” American literature. Against all expectations, it achieved what its author, Sherwood Anderson, intended: after Winesburg, Ohio, American literature would be written and read freshly and differently.

Players, Teams, and Stadium Ghosts
Bob Hunter on Sports
By Bob Hunter

Players, Teams, and Stadium Ghosts collects more than 130 sports columns and stories, written over three decades, to offer a smorgasbord of nostalgia and discovery—including the origin stories of some of today’s biggest names in sports—for fans in Ohio and beyond.

Rust Belt Burlesque
The Softer Side of a Heavy Metal Town
By Erin O’Brien and Bob Perkoski
· Foreword by Mike Olszewski

Rust Belt Burlesque traces the history of burlesque in Cleveland from the 1800s to the present, while also telling the story of Bella Sin, a Mexican immigrant who largely drove Northeast Ohio’s burlesque comeback. Over 100 color photos provide a peek into the raucous Ohio Burlesque Festival that packs the Beachland Ballroom every year.

The Third Brother
An Andy Hayes Mystery
By Andrew Welsh-Huggins

It’s a violent encounter that private investigator Andy Hayes could have done without. One minute he’s finishing up some grocery shopping ahead of a custody visit with his sons. The next, he must come to the rescue of a Somali American mother and her young children as anti-immigrant bullies torment them.

Fatal Judgment
An Andy Hayes Mystery
By Andrew Welsh-Huggins

Judge Laura Porter fiercely guarded her privacy, and never more so than during her long-running—and long in the past—affair with disgraced quarterback-turned-private investigator Andy Hayes. Now she’s missing, disappeared just hours after she calls Andy out of the blue explaining she’s in trouble and needs his help.

Bad Boys, Bad Times
The Cleveland Indians and Baseball in the Prewar Years, 1937–1941
By Scott H. Longert

In 1937, the Great Depression was still lingering, but at baseball parks across the country there was a sense of optimism. Major League attendance was on a sharp rise. Tickets to an Indians game at League Park on Lexington and East 66th were $1.60 for box seats, $1.35 for reserve seats, and $.55 for the bleachers. Cleveland fans were particularly upbeat—Bob Feller, the teenage phenomenon, was a farm boy with a blistering fast ball. Night games were an exciting development.

Enchanted Ground
The Spirit Room of Jonathan Koons
By Sharon Hatfield

In a fascinating work of religious history and cultural inquiry, Hatfield brings to life the true story of a nineteenth-century farmer-spiritualist, Jonathan Koons, whom thousands traveled to Ohio to see. As heirs to the second Great Awakening, he and his followers were part of a larger, uniquely American moment that still marks the culture today.

The Hunt
An Andy Hayes Mystery
By Andrew Welsh-Huggins

As a serial killer stalks prostitutes in Columbus, Ohio, a distraught brother asks private investigator Andy Hayes to find his sister before it’s too late. In a deadly race against time, Andy soon learns he’s not the only person hunting Jessica Byrnes, but he may be the only one who wants her alive.

Aminah’s World
An Activity Book and Children’s Guide about Artist Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson
By Carole Miller Genshaft

Children explore the life and art of Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson by interpreting her work and conceptualizing their own world in a fun and entertaining way.

Little Otter Learns to Swim
By Artie Knapp and Guy Hobbs

In this endearing picture book, a baby river otter learns to swim, dive, and play in her natural habitat. From children’s author Artie Knapp and wildlife artist Guy Hobbs, Little Otter Learns to Swim is an entertaining and colorful tale for ages four and up. The book includes fun facts and information from the River Otter Ecology Project.

Ohio in Photographs
A Portrait of the Buckeye State
By Ian Adams and Randall Lee Schieber
· Introduction by John Fleischman
· Foreword by John R. Kasich

Ohio in Photographs is a collection of stunning images that capture the texture of life in the Buckeye State. Two of the region’s’s leading landscape photographers, Ian Adams and Randall Lee Schieber, present a rich array of places and people from each of Ohio’s eighty-eight counties.

Asylum on the Hill
History of a Healing Landscape
By Katherine Ziff
· Foreword by Samuel T. Gladding
· Afterword by Joseph Shields and Shawna Bolin

Asylum on the Hill is the story of a great American experiment in psychiatry, a revolution in care for those with mental illness, as seen through the example of the Athens Lunatic Asylum. Katherine Ziff’s compelling presentation incorporates rare photos, letters, and records, offering readers a fascinating glimpse into psychiatric history.

Count the Wings
The Life and Art of Charley Harper
By Michelle Houts

When you look at a bird, do you see feathers and a beak? Or do you see circles and triangles? Artist Charley Harper spent his life reducing subjects to their simplest forms, their basic lines and shapes. This resulted in what he called minimal realism and the style that would become easily recognized as Charley Harper’s. Art fans and nature lovers around the world fell in love with Harper’s paintings, which often featured bright colors and intriguing nature subjects.Harper’s

The Third Brother
An Andy Hayes Mystery
By Andrew Welsh-Huggins

It’s a violent encounter that private investigator Andy Hayes could have done without. One minute he’s finishing up some grocery shopping ahead of a custody visit with his sons. The next, he must come to the rescue of a Somali American mother and her young children as anti-immigrant bullies torment them.

The Cincinnati Human Relations Commission
A History, 1943–2013
By Phillip J. Obermiller and Thomas E. Wagner
· Foreword by Michael E. Maloney

In the summer of 1943, as World War II raged overseas, the United States also faced internal strife. Earlier that year, Detroit had erupted in a series of race riots that killed dozens and destroyed entire neighborhoods. Across the country, mayors and city councils sought to defuse racial tensions and promote nonviolent solutions to social and economic injustices.

Fifty Must-Try Craft Beers of Ohio
By Rick Armon

Every craft beer has a story, and part of the fun is learning where the liquid gold in your glass comes from. In Fifty Must-Try Craft Beers of Ohio, veteran beer writer Rick Armon picks the can’t-miss brews in a roundup that will handily guide everyone from the newest beer aficionado to those with the most seasoned palates. Some are crowd pleasers, some are award winners, some are just plain unusual—the knockout beers included here are a tiny sample of what Ohio has to offer.In

Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Cleveland’s Free Stamp
By Edward J. Olszewski

In 1985, the Sohio oil company commissioned Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen to design and construct a large outdoor sculpture for its new corporate headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio. The result was Free Stamp, a bold and distinctive installation that captured both a Pop Art sensibility and a connection to the city’s industrial past. Sohio executives approved the design, and work was already underway, when British Petroleum acquired the company.

Empowering the Public-Private Partnership
The Future of America’s Local Government
By George V. Voinovich
· Introduction by R. Gregory Browning and Hunter Morrison
· Afterword by Hunter Morrison

Using lessons from Cleveland, Mayor George V. Voinovich developed this handbook for governments and private entities seeking a mutually enriching partnership. It is his legacy to those who will guide America’s cities to new growth and vitality.

Virginia Hamilton
America’s Storyteller
By Julie K. Rubini

Long before she wrote The House of Dies Drear, M. C. Higgins, the Great, and many other children’s classics, Virginia Hamilton grew up among her extended family near Yellow Springs, Ohio, where her grandfather had been brought as a baby through the Underground Railroad. The family stories she heard as a child fueled her imagination, and the freedom to roam the farms and woods nearby trained her to be a great observer.

Slow Burn
An Andy Hayes Mystery
By Andrew Welsh-Huggins

Almost two years have passed since Aaron Custer supposedly set a fire at a house in Columbus that killed three college students, when it starts to seem likely that the wrong man is in prison.

Capitol Punishment
An Andy Hayes Mystery
By Andrew Welsh-Huggins

All eyes are on swing state Ohio in the midst of a presidential election, and protecting a controversial reporter seems simple enough to Andy. But then a body shows up in the Statehouse.

The Hunt
An Andy Hayes Mystery
By Andrew Welsh-Huggins

As a serial killer stalks prostitutes in Columbus, Ohio, a distraught brother asks private investigator Andy Hayes to find his sister before it’s too late. In a deadly race against time, Andy soon learns he’s not the only person hunting Jessica Byrnes, but he may be the only one who wants her alive.

Ohio in Photographs
A Portrait of the Buckeye State
By Ian Adams and Randall Lee Schieber
· Introduction by John Fleischman
· Foreword by John R. Kasich

Ohio in Photographs is a collection of stunning images that capture the texture of life in the Buckeye State. Two of the region’s’s leading landscape photographers, Ian Adams and Randall Lee Schieber, present a rich array of places and people from each of Ohio’s eighty-eight counties.

The Jacksonian Conservatism of Rufus P. Ranney
The Politics and Jurisprudence of a Northern Democrat from the Age of Jackson to the Gilded Age
By David M. Gold

In The Jacksonian Conservatism of Rufus P. Ranney, David M. Gold works with the public record to reveal the contours of the life and work of one of Ohio’s most intriguing legal figures. The result is a new look at how Jacksonian principles crossed the divide of the Civil War and became part of the fabric of American law and at how radical antebellum Democrats transformed themselves into Gilded Age conservatives.

Driven toward Madness
The Fugitive Slave Margaret Garner and Tragedy on the Ohio
By Nikki M. Taylor

Margaret Garner was a runaway slave who, when confronted with capture, slit the throat of her toddler daughter rather than have her face a life in slavery. Driven toward Madness probes slavery’s legacy of violence and trauma to capture her circumstances and her transformation from a murdering mother to an icon of tragedy and resistance.

When Grandma Gatewood Took a Hike
By Michelle Houts and Erica Magnus

In 1955, sixty-seven-year-old Emma “Grandma” Gatewood became the first woman to solo hike the entire length of the Appalachian Trail in one through hike. Michelle Houts and Erica Magnus bring us the first children’s book about her feat and the unexpected challenges she encountered on the journey she initially called a “lark.”

No Money, No Beer, No Pennants
The Cleveland Indians and Baseball in the Great Depression
By Scott H. Longert

A lively history of the ups and downs of a legendary team and its iconic players as they persevered through internal unrest and the turmoil of the Great Depression, pursuing a pennant that didn’t come until 1948. Illustrated with period photographs and filled with anecdotes of the great players, this book will delight fans of baseball and fans of Cleveland.

Capitol Punishment
An Andy Hayes Mystery
By Andrew Welsh-Huggins

All eyes are on swing state Ohio in the midst of a presidential election, and protecting a controversial reporter seems simple enough to Andy. But then a body shows up in the Statehouse.

The Jerrie Mock Story
The First Woman to Fly Solo around the World
By Nancy Roe Pimm

In the third installment of our series Biographies for Young Readers, Nancy Roe Pimm gives us the life of Jerrie Mock, who in 1964 became the first woman to fly solo around the world. Mock, born in Newark, Ohio, received little attention for her feat, despite accomplishing what her childhood heroine Amelia Earhart died trying. Meticulously researched, Mock’s story as presented by Pimm is engaging, accessible, and packed with inspiration for middle-grade readers aspiring to adventure.