Factory worker Warrell Swanson has always found meaning in work, dogs, hunting and waitresses. After suffering an injury, he escapes the summer heat at the local tavern with his best friend, and the library, where he falls in love with Defiance, Ohio's beautiful new librarian. But old lust challenges new love and Warrell grapples with a promotion, an indifferent management and the looming threat of a rising river as he considers escaping Defiance for good.
“Extraordinary...beautifully precise...[an] earnestly ambitious debut.” —The New York Times Book Review “A wild, angry, and devastating masterpiece of a book.” —NPR “[A] descendent of the Dickensian ‘social novel’ by way of Jonathan Franzen: epic fiction that lays bare contemporary culture clashes, showing us who we are and how we got here.” —O, The Oprah Magazine “A book that has stayed with me ever since I put it down.” —Seth Meyers, host of Late Night with Seth Meyers One sweltering night in 2013, four former high school classmates converge on their hometown in northeastern Ohio. There’s Bill Ashcraft, a passionate, drug-abusing young activist whose flailing ambitions have taken him from Cambodia to Zuccotti Park to post-BP New Orleans, and now back home with a mysterious package strapped to the undercarriage of his truck; Stacey Moore, a doctoral candidate reluctantly confronting her family and the mother of her best friend and first love, whose disappearance spurs the mystery at the heart of the novel; Dan Eaton, a shy veteran of three tours in Iraq, home for a dinner date with the high school sweetheart he’s tried desperately to forget; and the beautiful, fragile Tina Ross, whose rendezvous with the washed-up captain of the football team triggers the novel’s shocking climax. Set over the course of a single evening, Ohio toggles between the perspectives of these unforgettable characters as they unearth dark secrets, revisit old regrets and uncover—and compound—bitter betrayals. Before the evening is through, these narratives converge masterfully to reveal a mystery so dark and shocking it will take your breath away.
A brilliant, hilarious, and ultimately devastating debut novel about how racial discord grows in America In late-1980s rural Ohio, bright but mostly friendless Barry Nadler begins his freshman year of high school with the goal of going unnoticed as much as possible. But his world is upended by the arrival of Gurbaksh, Gary for short, a Sikh teenager who moves to his small town and instantly befriends Barry and, in Gatsby-esque fashion, pulls him into a series of increasingly unlikely adventures. As their friendship deepens, Barry’s world begins to unravel, and his classmates and neighbors react to the presence of a family so different from theirs. Through darkly comic and bitingly intelligent asides and wry observations, Barry reveals how the seeds of xenophobia and racism find fertile soil in this insular community, and in an easy, graceless, unintentional slide, tragedy unfolds. How I Learned to Hate in Ohio shines an uncomfortable light on the roots of white middle-American discontent and the beginnings of the current cultural war. It is at once bracingly funny, dark, and surprisingly moving, an undeniably resonant debut novel for our divided world.
Read these fascinating accounts from steamboat passengers, crews and newspapermen from the nineteenth century. This book explores all aspects of steamboating on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, from vessel construction to races and accidents.
Many people, even Christians, do not believe that hell is real. Kevin Benton gives sound Biblical doctrine about the reality of hell, leading a journey that will expose its horrors. This tour will challenge beliefs about the afterlife and motivate readers to develop a passion about fulfilling the Great Commission. A Field Trip to Hell provides an opportunity to experience hell firsthand and ultimately find true faith. This field trip is sure to be a life-altering experience. "In an age of home made spirituality where even traditional authorities hasten to change the truth of God into a lie, Kevin takes us on a journey to the other side, assaulting our senses and pricking our emotions that we may vicariously experience what really lies, for some, beyond the grave. Against the modern landscape of skepticism and rationalism, he presents a profound and penetrating expose of the dark and inescapable reality of a forever without God. His revelation of the horrors of hell makes the comforting invitation of Christ ever more appealing.A Field Trip to Hell is a call to reconsider what we believe before it is too late." -Ron Bailey Host and Presenter of the Trinity Broadcast Network Premiere, "The Lazarus Phenomenon" Gettysburg, PA."
Two founding fathers of American industry. One desire to dominate business at any price. “Masterful . . . Standiford has a way of making the 1890s resonate with a twenty-first-century audience.”—USA Today “The narrative is as absorbing as that of any good novel—and as difficult to put down.”—Miami Herald The author of Last Train to Paradise tells the riveting story of Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the bloody steelworkers’ strike that transformed their fabled partnership into a furious rivalry. Set against the backdrop of the Gilded Age, Meet You in Hell captures the majesty and danger of steel manufacturing, the rough-and-tumble of the business world, and the fraught relationship between “the world’s richest man” and the ruthless coke magnate to whom he entrusted his companies. The result is an extraordinary work of popular history. Praise for Meet You in Hell “To the list of the signal relationships of American history . . . we can add one more: Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick . . . The tale is deftly set out by Les Standiford.”—Wall Street Journal “Standiford tells the story with the skills of a novelist . . . a colloquial style that is mindful of William Manchester’s great The Glory and the Dream.”—Pittsburgh Tribune-Review “A muscular, enthralling read that takes you back to a time when two titans of industry clashed in a battle of wills and egos that had seismic ramifications not only for themselves but for anyone living in the United States, then and now.”—Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River
From the author of Ohio (Best Books of Summer 2018 Selection in Time, Vulture, and the New York Post) comes a brilliant, hilarious, and deeply touching memoir that blows the roof off the genre. Fed up with the complicated quest of trying to get a book published, Stephen Markley decided to cut to the chase and simply write a memoir about trying to publish a book--this book, to be precise. It's the most "meta" experiment he's ever untaken, and like a Mobius strip in book form, the concept is circular, self-indulgent, and--maybe, possibly, hopefully--brilliant. For fans of Dave Eggers and David Sedaris, Publish This Book is the modern day saga of an idealistic, ambitious, audacious, unyielding young writer who is tired of waiting his turn. Like any work that claims gleefully to be about nothing, it's really about pretty much everything--sex, drugs, politics, pop-culture, ex-girlfriends and sexy vampires. From the hope of early adulthood to the rage of life's many (unavoidable) disappointments, it is a story of overcoming the obstacles and discovering a happy ending at last. Most importantly, it's a story that will inspire readers to find their true voice in their work and in their life. Praise for Stephen Markley: "Markley seems clever and funny, but it may be his "fire" that ultimately makes him worthwhile." -- Literary Chicago "Compelling, emotionally resonant passages . . ." -- Publishers Weekly "Markley is a knockout storyteller" -- Kirkus Reviews
A delicious slice of undead Americana. Funny, tragic, and nicely weird--it's Monty Python meets "Night of the Living Dead." Definitely take a bite out of this one!--Jonathan Maberry, "New York Times"-bestselling author of "Rot & Ruin" and "Patient Zero."
Hauntings lurk and spirits linger in the heart of America Reader, beware! Turn these pages and enter the world of the paranormal, where ghosts and ghouls alike creep just out of sight. Author James A. Willis shines a light in the dark corners of Ohio and scares those spirits out of hiding in this thrilling collection. From ghostly soldiers that still haunt Fort Meigs to the eerie Franklin Castle, there’s no shortage of bone-chilling tales to keep you up at night. There’s even a carved tombstone of an infant at Cedar Hill cemetery, whose ghostly eyes keep watch over those wander too close. Around the campfire or tucked away on a dark and stormy night, this big book of ghost stories is a hauntingly good read.
