Raymond Bial

Full-color photographs and an informative text detail the everyday lives of slaves, explaining how they were able to preserve some elements of their African heritage despite the frequently brutal treatment they experienced on Southern plantations.

Life in the Slave Quarters

The Strength of These Arms

By ones, twos, and threes, in the years before the Civil War thousands of enslaved people slipped through the night on their way to freedom, riding the Underground Railroad. Hidden and hunted, the escape of southern slaves to the North remains a compelling event in American history. Within the pages of this book are documented, in prose and elegantly articulate photographs, examples of "stations" on the Railroad, along with images of the routes, lives, and hardships of both the "passengers" and "conductors."

The Underground Railroad

If it is abandoned by all or most of its inhabitants, a settlement becomes a ghost town. The buildings and dirt streets may remain, but the character and soul of the place change entirely. And so it was with mining camps, lumber camps, and cowboy towns scattered across America, particularly in the West: places with names like Gregory’s Diggings, Deadwood, Bodie, Calico, Goldfield, and Tombstone, some of the over 30,000 deserted towns in the United States. Why did people come to these isolated places? Why did they leave? As Raymond Bial’s narrative explores the history of our ghost towns, his well-composed photo-graphs silently tell their stories: of bustling, muddy streets, of large mercantile stores, and, ultimately, of short-lived dreams of gold, fertile land, or simply a good place to call home.

Ghost Towns of the American West

Thousands of years ago, groups of people came to settle in North America. These people are today known as Native Americans. One group of Native people is called the Huron. They came to settle in the United States and Canada. During their history, they have endured hardships and tackled many obstacles. Today they still have a presence in society. This is their story, told sensitively and with vivid period-specific and contemporary photographs.

The People and Culture of the Huron

North America has been shaped by many people, most importantly the Native Americans who were the first humans to call the continent home. Over thousands of years, numerous groups of Native Americans have settled throughout North America. Today, one of the most well-known and recognizable tribes is the Inuit. They have called the northern recesses of Canada home for many hundreds of years. Their culture, communities, and language have been well preserved and continue to fascinate people around the world. Despite their continued presence, they have endured difficulties and hardships. This is the story of the Inuit, how they became a nation, their influence on the world, and how they have evolved into the Inuit communities today.

The People and Culture of the Inuit

Michael Martone

It would not seem so important for southern writers to justify writing about the South--that region is defined. Midwestern writers, however, must first define their region, inhabit it, so that writing about it through fiction and poetry will become as natural as it is for writers in other necks of the national world. Townships seeks to prepare the ground for that work, using the very ground itself as a starting place. Each contributor--the list includes Carol Bly, Marianne Boruch, Anthony Bukoski, Amy Clampitt, Susan Dodd, Stuart Dybek, Deborah Galyan, Joseph Geha, Paul Gruchow, James B. Hall, Susan Hauser, C. J. Hribal, Ellen Hunnicutt, Verlyn Klinkenborg, Howard Kohn, Philip Levine, Michael Martone, Susan Neville, Lon Otto, Michael J. Rosen, Scott Russell Sanders, Mary Swander, David Foster Wallace, Michael Wilkerson, and Ray A. Young Bear--has written about his or her specific township of childhood or a bordered region that defined a first notion of place in the world. Complementing this diversity in writer and subject are Raymond Bial's striking and evocative photographs, a visual essay that echoes the sensibility of the township with grace and precision. Townships establishes the Midwest as an important center of creativity, a region to be noted for more than corn and prairie and neat, square patches of land. The reverberations in sensibility that make their way through these essays speak to all midwesterners and to all those for whom a sense of place is a source of inspiration.

Townships

The Shaker faith is estimated to have had a total of fewer than 20,000 members across its 250-year history, yet more than 100,000 people visit the various Shaker villages and museums scattered across the eastern United States every year. We are still fascinated with the world of the Shakers, and authentic examples of Shaker architecture, furniture, and crafts are prized wherever they remain. In The Shaker Village, author and photographer Raymond Bial brings readers the history of the Shaker religion and an examination of the Shaker way of life, which was based on cooperation and self-sufficiency. Each Shaker village was built with the goal of creating a heaven on earth for its inhabitants. The Shaker people were among the first in America to apply science and new learning directly to traditional farming and homekeeping. They invented or improved significantly upon designs of many farm and household items, including some still used today: the flat broom, the slotted spoon, the circular saw, and the idea of selling gardening seeds in packets. Although each Shaker community was self-supporting, the Shakers' success at applying their core values -- simplicity, utility, and tranquility -- carried Shaker villages to a point of abundance: they were able to export their beautiful furniture, delicious foods, and superior wares to the outside world, where they have been appreciated ever since. The Shaker Village is generously illustrated with Bial's evocative photographs of buildings and artifacts from the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, Kentucky, one of the largest and best-preserved Shaker sites. The Shaker movement reached its peak in the mid-nineteenth century. Membership began to drop with the onset of the Civil War, and as the new promise of industrialization began to take hold in America, Shaker numbers steadily dwindled. Although the Shaker religion has all but departed, The Shaker Village captures a revelatory glimpse of a legacy that still resounds with modern Americans.

The Shaker Village

Portrays the activities of the Underground Railroad in the years prior to the Civil War, and documents the routes, lives, hardships, and accomplishments of the "conductors" and their "passengers," the escaped slaves.

Looks at the problem of dog overpopulation in America, discusses the role of puppy mills, pet stores, and independent breeders, and includes a profile of a local animal shelter.

Saving America's Dogs

Rescuing Rover

Discusses the nature and importance of soil and the many forms of life it supports.

A Handful of Dirt

The history of Native Americans in North America stretches millennia. One Native group that evolved from one of the first tribes is the Crow. This group traveled the migration routes of the buffalo in the Plains. They made peace with some tribes and war with others. The men and women of the Crow Nation today celebrate their heritage and history.

Raymond Bial

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