From his beginnings as a guerrilla fighter for the Confederates during the Civil War, Jesse James turned to robbery, becoming one of the most famous bank and train robbers in the history of the United States. With his band of outlaws, James led dozens of robberies and killed a number of people in Missouri and other states. Though legends have painted a sympathetic portrait of James, in reality he was a dangerous criminal who used violence to achieve his ends.

Jesse James: Legendary Rebel and Outlaw (Signature Lives: American Frontier Era)

Teen & Young Adult

J. Dennis Robinson

Biographies

Compass Point Books

In 1790 the first water-powered mill in America was run by children, some as young as 7 years old. They were paid pennies for a work day that might last more than 10 hours. As America grew, the children's plight grew worse. Exhausted by six-day work weeks and harsh conditions, millions of young workers had no time to play or go outdoors. They had no childhood. In time children and adults fought back, and the children went on strike to protest harsh conditions. Finally, during the last years of the Great Depression, the government took action, passing the Fair Labor Act.

Striking Back: The Fight to End Child Labor Exploitation (Taking a Stand)

Education & Reference

Strawbery Banke Museum is a rich core sample of an ever-changing America. The ten-acre museum campus, New Hampshire's earliest neighborhood, began as a British plantation on a tidal inlet. Abandoned by its founders in 1635, the settlement "accidentally" named Strawberry Bank survived to become New Hampshire's only seaport. A century later the bustling Portsmouth waterfront was home to royal governors, tall ships, skilled artisans, and wealthy merchants. When the maritime economy crashed and the city burned in the nineteenth century, the "Puddle Dock" neighborhood drew waves of immigrant families to its ancient low-rent buildings. Then in the twentieth century, fearful of urban "blight," a federal redevelopment project went off here like a neutron bomb. The population and the junkyards disappeared, but a grassroots preservation movement saved many historic buildings from the bulldozers of progress. Rich with pictures and painstakingly researched, this work is actually two books in one. The first tracks 400 years of history along the Piscataqua River with dramatic tales that will surprise even New Hampshire natives--and reads like a thrilling adventure novel. The story then goes behind the scenes to the controversial founding of Strawbery Banke Museum in 1958. Tapping into private letters, unpublished records and personal interviews, the author explores the politics of preservation in a small blue-collar city. Always lively, this highly readable history tracks modern Portsmouth from a gritty working seaport to a cultural heritage destination, assessing what is gained and what is lost along the way.

Strawbery Banke: A Seaport Museum 400 Years in the Making

History

Americas

Strawbery Banke Museum

Portsmouth Time Machine: The Graphic History of Portsmouth NH

Children's Books

Literature & Fiction

Harbortown Press

This fully researched, color illustrated history traces the cultural development of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, from the arrival of its first settlers. The Music Hall was built in 1878 and expanded by “ale tycoon” Frank Jones in 1901. Within these brick walls generations have watched America evolve from minstrel shows to musicals and Hollywood blockbusters, from animal acts to symphony orchestras, and from vaudeville to TEDx talks. Shuttered and decaying during World War II, New Hampshire’s vintage venue went on the auction block in 1945. It served as a movie house for the next four decades. Saved from demolition by a grassroots team of volunteers in the 1980s and gradually restored to its Victorian splendor, it has been pivotal in revitalizing the city’s downtown. Signature programs like the “Telluride by the Sea Film Festival” and “Writers on a New England Stage” put this historic theater on the national map. A must-read for anyone who cherishes the performing arts.

Music Hall: How a City Built a Theater and a Theater Shaped a City

THE MUSIC HALL

New Castle: New Hampshire's Smallest, Oldest, & Only Island Town

New Castle Historical Society

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Books by J. Dennis Robinson