 When one thinks of Dixie... gangsters, mobsters, and Mafiosi do not normally come to mind, but it turns out that they played a major role in the seedier side of life in Hot Springs, Arkansas, during the early to mid-20thcentury.
In The Devil’s Town: Hot Springs During the Gangster Era, Philip Leigh, a rising star among American historians, tells a unique and colourful story of the small Southern resort city and how it became theater for New York and Chicago mobs during the gangster era. This is a richly detailed tale of a significant part of Southern history—exploitation of a people’s poverty, crime, evasion of law, and local and state corruption. The author names names, some of them of national importance including, among others, Frank Costello, Al Capone, Myer Lansky, “Jelly” Nash, Nick the Greek, Thomas Dewey, J. Edgar Hoover, and presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, and Clinton. This is our first foray into “New South” history and we are excited about it. We often forget that the South is much, much more than the Confederate Era. Our history stretches back for hundreds of years, from the Jamestown settlement in 1607 through our own time—that’s over 400 years for those keeping score! (Sorry to disappoint, but the first English settlers in America were not the Pilgrims. That didn’t occur until 1620.) We hope this will be the first of many books on the New South in our ever-expanding catalogue. Time shall tell… Be sure and check out Philip Leigh’s Author Page on Amazon. In addition to his biography and links to his other books, he has a very fine collection of blog posts that we highly recommend. How to Get Yours THE DEVIL'S TOWN is now available at AMAZON and most (if not all) major online book retail outlets. Electronic editions are also available on our website, the Kindle Store, iTunes, Nook, and just about everywhere else. Mash/click below to get yours today!  We are pleased to announce the publication of our 22nd book... SOUTHERN GRIT: Sensing the Siege at Petersburg by Michael Martin In Southern Grit Michael Martin provides a unique, intimate, human portrayal of the experiences of Confederate soldiers and civilians who endured the ten months’ siege of Petersburg in 1864 and 1865. Using the records of his great-grandfather Younger Longest and Longest’s comrades in the 26th Virginia Regiment, the author brings home anew the marvelous devotion, determination, endurance and “grit” of the Confederate infantryman of the ranks. In this time of vicious onslaught against our heritage, here is a message much needed: We are right to celebrate the memory of such Southern people. Says Martin: “Going inside the mind of Younger Longest gives a deep and detailed look at the grit, faith, and resolve that make the Southern people so unique.” _____________________ MICHAEL MARTIN is a teacher, writer, and historian with experience working in both public and private schools. He currently resides in Charleston, South Carolina, with his wife and daughter, where he specializes in early Virginia history, genealogy, and the emerging field of sensory history. [Mr. Martin been quite prolific on the Abbeville Institute Blog the past couple months. You can check out some of his articles HERE.] How to Get Yours SOUTHERN GRIT, is now available at AMAZON and all major online book retail outlets. Electronic editions are also available on our web site, the Kindle Store, iTunes, Nook, and just about everywhere else. Mash below to get yours today! Shotwell author Joyce Bennett is interviewed on The Dixie Heritage Hour about her book Maryland, My Maryland: The Cultural Cleansing of a Small Southern State. Check it out below:  On Saturday, February 24, 2018, in Charleston, SC, the Abbeville Institute will be hosting a conference. The topic will be Attacking Confederate Monuments and Its Meaning for America. They have an impressive slate of speakers, including Shotwell author Kirkpatrick Sale (Emancipation Hell). The keynote address will be Congressman Ben Jones (alias “Cooter” from “Dukes of Hazzard” fame). His topic: “Southern to the Bone, or How to be Happily Unreconstructed in a World Gone Crazy.”
Information and registration details can be found HERE. We will have a table set-up at this event, so come by and see us if you can!  On Saturday, February 17, 2018, The Stephen Dill Lee Institute(a Sons of Confederate Veterans program) will have a one day conference in Shreveport, Louisiana. The topic is The Rational Confederate in an Irrational World: Defending our Southern heritage in an age devoid of logic and reason. Two Shotwell authors will be presenting, James "Ron" Kennedy (Punished with Poverty, Dixie Rising) and Paul C. Graham (Confederaphobia, When the Yankees Come). For information and reservations, please mash HERE.  Confederaphobia: An American Epidemic by Paul C. Graham and Southerner Take Your Stand! by John Vinson are now available in audio format at Amazon, Audible, and iTunes. Both titles cost about $5.00. Here are the links: Confederaphobia: Amazon - Audible - iTunes Southerner Take Your Stand! at Amazon - Audible - iTunes Lies My Teacher Told Me, Emancipation Hell, and The Yankee Problem are also available at these venues. We currently have two more in the queue and another two under consideration. Keep your eyes (and ears) open for them in the coming months.  Since our last post, we have been working hard to insure 2018 will be our best year to date. We are very excited—and hope you will be too— to be starting the new year with a new title: My Own Darling Wife: Letters from a Confederate Volunteer, edited and introduced by Andrew P. Calhoun, Jr. This book is a collection of never before published letters of John Francis Calhoun written to his wife Rebecca Nobles Calhoun during the War for Southern Independence. John Francis Calhoun was a grand-nephew of the great South Carolina Statesman, John C. Calhoun.. He entered the Confederate Army in April 1861 as a lieutenant in the 7th South Carolina Volunteers. Calhoun owned several farms, a tanning yard, and a grist mill in Abbeville District of South Carolina. His letters not only give an account of his life as a soldier, and his concern for his wife and infant daughter at home, they also provide a rich source of information about farming, business, and his extended family. FROM THE LETTERS: “Those who will not now come forth and strike a blow in defence of our homes, do not deserve the name of freeman and the benefits and enjoyments of a free government.” “I hear some of the officers and men saying this war is making business women of our wives, they are economizing and attending to business like men and learning to be very ingenious in making everything at home.” “Our revolutionary fathers fought seven years, half-fed, poorly clad, and in the dead of winter they were often bare footed, and could be tracked by the blood on the snow and ice from their bleeding feet; and are we unworthy of the rich legacy they handed down to us - shall we falter when we are ‘almost there’”? My Own Darling Wife is now available in both print and digital format. Unlike most of our previous titles, the print edition is hard-bound. It is available at all major (and several minor) online book retailers including Amazon.com. The digital edition is available at our online store as well as Kindle, iTunes, Nook, and many, many other outlets. Click below to get your copy:  The antebellum and Confederate South in American history have now been officially and pervasively imagined to be evil and irredeemable. This is far from the case. Those who promote this uncharitable narrative, sadly, are astronomically ignorant of history and have never paid the least attention to the historian’s first requirement---researching the record in pursuit of understanding the people of the past. All that needs to be done to explode the tissue of lies that now constitute “Southern history” is to look at some of the records left by the people themselves. This is where our latest production comes in... Karen Stokes, in CAROLINA LOVE LETTERS, has collected beautiful and moving documents that display the interior life of Southerners of the 19thcentury. These letters portray deep and long-lasting love between husbands and wives and much else about the life of the time. They reflect the hearts and minds of a very admirable people of the antebellum and Confederate South. This charming little volume is now available for purchase. We may be biased, but we think it would make a lovely Christmas present to yourself or someone you love! How to Get Yours CAROLINA LOVE LETTERS, is now available at AMAZON and all major online book retail outlets. Electronic editions are also available on our web site, the Kindle Store, iTunes, Nook, and just about everywhere else. Mash below to get yours today!  Hot off the Press! As the cultural cleansing of all-things-Southern continues to rage on in the land of the free and the home of the brave, we are pleased to announce the release of our 19th book: Confederaphobia: An American Epidemic by Paul C. Graham. Description There is an epidemic of hate and fear sweeping the land; a wave of hostility and intolerance that shows no sign of slowing or stopping; its fury is directed at Southern symbols—flags, monuments, and other displays—in fact everything Southern now appears to be a target. Paul C. Graham has courageously examined this case of mass hysteria; a condition he has aptly dubbed “Confederaphobia.” Southern people are growing weary of the ongoing demonization; of being bullied and harassed; and have begun to realize that Confederaphobia is not a matter of monuments, but a campaign to expunge their identity. If you are a self-identified Southerner, you are a potential target! It’s not too late to inoculate yourself from the dangerous effects of this disease, but this is only possible if you recognize the problem. The problem is not Confederate flags, monuments, markers, belt-buckles, stickers, do-dads, knick-knacks, what-nots, or Dukes of Hazzard re-runs—the problem is Confederaphobia! How to Get Yours Confederaphobia is now available at Amazon.com. A downloadable edition is available directly from our web site at a reduced price, or may be purchased directly from all major online outlets (Kindle, Apple, Nook, etc.) by following THIS LINK. See what all the fuss is about! Go on and git yers today! 
Ron Kennedy, co-author of Punished with Poverty, was interviewed on MPB on the American obsession du jour, Confederate Monuments.
We have it queued-up to the segment in which Mr. Kennedy appears to spare you from the non-sense that preceded it. |
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