Georgetown and Scott County discloses the historic personality of one of mid-America's most rapidly growing communities. Scott County, for many years, was one of Kentucky's leading agricultural counties. In 1985, it leapt to the forefront among industrial communities as Toyota established a major American manufacturing operation in Georgetown, the county seat. With over 200 unique photographs, many of which are previously unpublished, this volume provides a lively glimpse into this Bluegrass county's ever-changing rural and urban communities. You will find within these pages many of the older features of the county that no longer exist, including those in areas like the small city of Stamping Ground. Take a closer look into the everyday lives of early Scott Countians at work and at play through decades of social, political, and industrial changes.
“He promised to kill me when he got out. I believed him. If I wanted justice, I had to fight both him and the courts...maybe kill him first. If I didn’t do something, I was going to die.” This is not a manufactured dialogue from a thriller but the words of attorney Sharon Muse. They came after she survived an attempted kidnapping, rape, and murder at the hands of Larry Morrison, a former client. On April 7, 2006, Muse miraculously escaped from the sociopathic Morrison, only to find that the threat to her life was just beginning. Ineptitude in the justice system threatened to release Morrison and allow him the opportunity to finish the job, which he adamantly pledged to do. Muse would have to fight at every step to ensure her safety. Muse would act as her own advocate, investigator, legal counsel, and bodyguard in the years following the event. Kidnapped by a Client covers the brutal kidnapping, two trials, two appeals, procedural errors galore, one Supreme Court reversal, and even Muse’s intricate plan to murder Morrison before he could get to her. Muse would not ultimately execute that plan, and she would emerge victorious in the legal battle thanks to her faith and her own determination and legal acumen. But her safety is not ensured: Morrison is up for parole in 2026. Muse regularly monitors his status. Muse recounts her stranger-than-fiction story in Kidnapped by a Client. Muse analyzes the failures of the legal system, the mistakes she made, the steps she took to protect herself, and how she has coped with trauma. Readers will find not only a compelling narrative, but also insight into how to protect oneself and ensure one’s own safety and well-being.
Known as the Great Compromiser, Henry Clay earned his title by addressing sectional tensions over slavery and forestalling civil war in the United States. Today he is still regarded as one of the most important political figures in American history. As Speaker of the House of Representatives and secretary of state, Clay left an indelible mark on American politics at a time when the country’s solidarity was threatened by inner turmoil, and scholars have thoroughly chronicled his political achievements. However, little attention has been paid to his extensive family legacy. In The Family Legacy of Henry Clay: In the Shadow of a Kentucky Patriarch, Lindsey Apple explores the personal history of this famed American and examines the impact of his legacy on future generations of Clays. Apple’s study delves into the family’s struggles with physical and emotional problems such as depression and alcoholism. The book also analyzes the role of financial stress as the family fought to reestablish its fortune in the years after the Civil War. Apple’s extensively researched volume illuminates a little-discussed aspect of Clay’s life and heritage, and highlights the achievements and contributions of one of Kentucky’s most distinguished families.
The story of the longest and most complex legal challenge to slavery in American history For over seventy years and five generations, the enslaved families of Prince George’s County, Maryland, filed hundreds of suits for their freedom against a powerful circle of slaveholders, taking their cause all the way to the Supreme Court. Between 1787 and 1861, these lawsuits challenged the legitimacy of slavery in American law and put slavery on trial in the nation’s capital. Piecing together evidence once dismissed in court and buried in the archives, William Thomas tells an intricate and intensely human story of the enslaved families (the Butlers, Queens, Mahoneys, and others), their lawyers (among them a young Francis Scott Key), and the slaveholders who fought to defend slavery, beginning with the Jesuit priests who held some of the largest plantations in the nation and founded a college at Georgetown. A Question of Freedom asks us to reckon with the moral problem of slavery and its legacies in the present day.
Lanie Sullivan and Isabelle (Belle) Blakely never meet, but the two girls share a fascination for all things Gone With the Wind-especially Belle Watling, a character in the book, and Ona Munson, the actress who portrays Belle in the movie. Lanie meets Ona in 1939, during the three-day movie premiere in Atlanta, Georgia. When Lanie comes between Ona Munson and disaster, Ona rewards her with a gift-a keepsake originally given to the actress by the author of Gone With the Wind herself, Margaret Mitchell. More than sixty years later, as she helps prepare a museum dedicated to Gone With the Wind for its Grand Opening, Belle comes upon letters written to Ona Munson and feels an instant connection to their naive, star-struck author, Lanie Sullivan. As Belle digs deeper into the past through Lanie's letters, her connection grows even stronger- not to mention her curiosity at Lanie's references to a special gift. Margaret Mitchell died in 1949; Ona Munson in 1955. What about Lanie? Belle begins a quest to discover what the gift was, where it is-and what became of Lanie Sullivan. Kathryn Witt's The Secret of the Belles captures the powerful spell Gone With the Wind casts over two young women generations apart. Her writing shows her love for the book and film as well as her careful research. This is a beautiful read, and another amazing tribute to the phenomenon that is Gone With the Wind. -Cammie King Conlon, "Bonnie Blue Butler," Gone With the Wind The Secret of the Belles is a MUST read for any fan of Gone With The Wind. As usual, Kathryn Witt weaves an interesting and suspenseful tale, making us ask along the way, "What is the gift and what did become of Lanie Sullivan?" -Mickey Kuhn, "Beau Wilkes," Gone With the Wind Gone With the Wind fans will love The Secret of the Belles. It is so much fun to read. Kathryn Witt did a wonderful job with the story and characters. Any age will enjoy it, and once I started it, I couldn't put it down. -Sally Tippett Rains, The Making of a Masterpiece, the True Story of Margaret Mitchell and Gone With The Wind
In 1791, shortly after the United States won its independence, George Washington personally asked Pierre Charles L’Enfant—a young French artisan turned American revolutionary soldier who gained many friends among the Founding Fathers—to design the new nation's capital. L’Enfant approached this task with unparalleled vigor and passion; however, his imperious and unyielding nature also made him many powerful enemies. After eleven months, Washington reluctantly dismissed L’Enfant from the project. Subsequently, the plan for the city was published under another name, and L’Enfant died long before it was rightfully attributed to him. Filled with incredible characters and passionate human drama, Scott W. Berg’s deft narrative account of this little-explored story in American history is a tribute to the genius of Pierre Charles L'Enfant and the enduring city that is his legacy.
Documents the efforts of the coach and four seniors from the once-prestigious Scott County High School basketball team in Kentucky to recover from a slump related to the economy, racial and religious tensions, and other community divides.
Different forms of city government are in widespread use across the United States. The two most common structures are the mayor-council form and the council-manager form. In many large U.S. cities, there have been passionate movements to change the structure of city governments and equally intense efforts to defend an existing structure. Charter change (or preservation) is supported to solve problems such as legislative gridlock, corruption, weak executive leadership, short-range policies, or ineffective delivery of services. Some of these cities changed their form of government through referendum while other cities chose to retain the form in use. More than Mayor or Manager offers in-depth case studies of fourteen large U.S. cities that have considered changing their form of government over the past two decades: St. Petersburg, Florida; Spokane, Washington; Hartford, Connecticut; Richmond, Virginia; San Diego, California; Oakland, California; Kansas City, Missouri; Grand Rapids, Michigan; Dallas, Texas; Cincinnati, Ohio; El Paso, Texas; Topeka, Kansas; St. Louis, Missouri; and Portland, Oregon. The case studies shed light on what these constitutional contests teach us about different forms of government—the causes that support movements for change, what the advocates of change promised, what is at stake for the nature of elected and professional leadership and the relationship between leaders, and why some referendums succeeded while others failed. This insightful volume will be of special interest to leaders and interest groups currently considering or facing efforts to change the form of government as well as scholars in the field of urban studies.
