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• THE CALIFORNIA SNATCH RACKET

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  Subtitle: "Kidnappings During the Prohibition and Depression Eras." In California in the 1920s and 1930s, kidnapping—nicknamed the “snatch racket” by a cynical newspaperman—was the most booming criminal enterprise around. Driven by greed, desperation and sometimes plain stupidity, ransom artists preyed indiscriminately on Hollywood socialites, wealthy heiresses and even poor people who couldn’t pay a dime. Every new disappearance sold more newspapers, but for both the kidnappers and their unfortunate victims, even the simplest caper often went tragically wrong. “California Snatch Racket” brings this dark and forgotten era into shockingly vivid life. Richly illustrated, “California Snatch Racket” reflects newspaper, police, court and prison accounts of the times written in a style that places the reader on the scene. Avoiding supposition and sensationalism, the book offers true accounts of the crimes and the people. These 15 bizarre, often ironic tales illustrate the complex cruelties that flourished in the Golden Era of the Golden State. A modern city rises and lynches a pair of kidnappers. A victim begs leniency for his kidnapper in a case where a technicality demands the death penalty. A couple of college kids imitate the Leopold and Loeb kidnapping to prove their intellectual prowess and famed evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson fakes her own kidnapping to cover up an affair. “California Snatch Racket” recounts its stories in the manner of the times, while leaving judgment to the courts and the readers.

• Stories of Service: Volume 2

  $24.95 $14.97 0 review(s)

  
  

  Subtitle: Valley Veterans Remember World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the Cold War. The San Joaquin Valley?s rich history of courage, military service, duty and honor is preserved for future generations in Janice Stevens? new book Stories of Service, Volume II: Valley Veterans Remember World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the Cold War (Craven Street Books, November 2011). In this fascinating sequel to Stevens? original Stories of Service, ordinary soldiers, sailors, airmen and civilians from the Valley tell in their own words their experiences during a half century of armed conflict. The one hundred personal memoirs in Stories of Service, Volume II record Valley veterans? trials, tragedies and triumphs from Pearl Harbor to the Mekong Delta. These are stories of harrowing combat, separation from loved ones, survival in POW camps, boredom, fear, bravery, victory and returning home ? plus all the bizarre, incongruous and humorous events of wartime and military service.

• SIX GUN SOUND

  $18.95 $11.37 0 review(s)

  
  

  "The Early History of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department". The dusty and lawless frontier of Los Angeles - a combustible mixture of Civil War veterans, failed gold prospectors, and desperadoes - experienced the highest recorded murder rate in U.S. history. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was created to bring law and order to this treacherous, rough-and-tumble town.

• CALIFORNIA DESPERADOS

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  "I shot him in the left temple; the gun dropped from his hands; he quivered one instant, and Andy McGinnis climbed the Golden Stairs...." This was Chris Evans speaking. Evans, the killer, train robber and fugitive, was describing the famous shootout at Young's cabin when he and his partner John Sontag ambushed and killed two members of a posse that was pursuing them. In California Desperadoes, Evans and seven other early outlaws tell their own raw stories-tales of holdups, shootouts and desperate flights from the law. Witness the cruel confessions of the ruthless gang of California bandits who murdered a whole family-men, women, and children-in the opening days of the Gold Rush. Stand on the gallows with the notorious Jim Stuart as he is hanged by San Francisco vigilantes determined to retake their city from hordes of Australian convicts, robbers and killers. The ill-starred adventures of Tom Bell, Tiburcio Vasquez and Charles Dorsey will hold you spellbound as the outlaws themselves take you along the dangerous trails they rode. And stage robbers Jim Smith and Dick Fellows will shock you with their own tales of the harrowing and sometimes hilarious antics of the California highwaymen of another day. These are true stories told by true desperadoes and illustrated with many rare photographs. Here are first-person accounts you will not soon forget!

• Choose Your Weapon

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  Choose Your Weapon: The Duel in California, 1847–1861 describes in graphic detail the major figures, causes, and means by which the Golden State’s 75 “affairs of honor” of that timeframe were fought. The number of shootouts between these “gentleman” was greater than that of any other state during those years. Because so many duels were fought over politics, the book reveals much about the major politicians and newspaper editors of that era. In addition, there is a great deal of irony. For example, in 1850 Assemblyman George Penn Johnston crafted a bill that provided severe penalties for anyone convicted of dueling. Still, it remained impossible to empanel a jury that would convict a duelist. Eight years later this same legislator sent a challenge to a member of the State Senate, and, in the shootout that followed, killed him. Though found not guilty, he was the first duelist to be tried under the very statute he had written. New evidence also reveals there was far more paradox than previously imagined regarding the infamous duel between U.S. Senator David C. Broderick and State Supreme Court Justice David Terry. One of the most grueling duels ever to take place on the frontier was the 1853 faceoff between U.S. SenatorWilliam Gwin and Congressman Joseph W. McCorckle. Fought in the hills above bucolic San Mateo with 54 caliber Mississippi Yagers at forty paces, by dint of several miracles neither was killed. In summary, Choose Your Weapon provides readers with an invaluable historical primer on California’s Golden Era, as well as the tumultuous temperament of its pioneer politicians and newspaper editors. Audience: California history readers. About the Author: Christopher Burchfield has been researching and writing about the Gold Rush Era of California for more than thirty years. Over this period he and his wife, Genendal, have traveled up and down the state, scouring its libraries and history centers, from Barstow to Yreka, often camping out under some very inclement weather conditions. He has had over 100 articles published in various magazines. $16.95 ($21.95 Canada) • Trade Paperback • 6" x 9" • 260 pages ISBN 978-1-61035-277-2

• REMEMBERING CESAR CHAVEZ: The Legacy of Cesar Chavez

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  In this collection of firsthand accounts by those who knew Cesar Chavez best, a portrait of an uncommonly complex man, both driven and focused, yet humble, empathic and exceedingly principled, emerges. The reader gains an understanding of the yoke Chavez chose to place upon his own shoulders, as well as the ideals he employed to accomplish for the migrant farmworkers what many predicted would be impossible. The more than 45 contributors range from the famous--Edward James Olmos, Henry Cisneros, Martin Sheen, Coretta Scott King, Jerry Brown and others--to members of the Chavez family, to UFW staff, to the farmworkers themselves. Illustrated by the compelling black and white photographs of George Elfie Ballis, who began photographing the farmworker movement in the 1950s.