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  The Papers of Henry Clay. Volume 8. Candidate, Compromiser, Whig, March 5, 1829-December 31, 1836

  Returning to Kentucky in the spring of 1829 after four years as secretary of state in the administration of John Quincy Adams, Henry Clay quickly regained the political dominance at home that would carry him to the U.S. Senate in 1831. Assuming leadership of the anti-Jackson forces, Senator Clay in 1832 mounted a spirited campaign for the presidency, advocating recharter of the national bank, high protective tariffs, and internal improvements, and alleging the administrative incompetence of Jackson and his cronies. Clay's defeat by the popular military hero was probably foreordained, but he emerged with sufficient national prestige to play the ...Read More

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  The Papers of Henry Clay. Volume 7. Secretary of State, January 1, 1828-March 4, 1829

  The Papers of Henry Clay span the crucial first half of the nineteenth century in American history. Few men in his time were so intimately concerned with the formation of national policy, and few influenced so profoundly the growth of American political institutions.

  Volume 7, the fourth and final of those dealing with Clay's role as secretary of state, carries the story of his career from January 1, 1828, to March 3, 1829. During these fourteen months, Clay and President John Quincy Adams strive unsuccessfully to solve a number of nagging diplomatic problems before leaving office. Among these are the ...Read More

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  Hounds in the Morning: Sundry Sports of Merry England

  Across the rolling countryside of Regency England sound the call of the horn and the chorus of hounds, as huntsmen, hounds, and horses tear across fields and leap fencerows in ardent pursuit of Reynard.

  In a field outside London, two brawny men strip to the waist and prepare to batter each other to a pulp for the pleasure of the Fancy—the hundreds of boxing fans who have ridden from all over England to see and bet on the illegal match.

  And through the streets of a country town, the lads rough-and-tumble in a wildly joyous game of football, while the ...Read More

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  Historic Maps of Kentucky

  Maps published frorn the third quarter of the eighteenth century through the Civil War reflect in colorful detail the emergence of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the unfolding art of American cartography. Ten maps, selected and annotated by the most eminent historian of Kentucky, have been reproduced in authentic facsimiles. The accompanying booklet includes an illuminating historical essay, as well as notes on the individuaL facsimiles, and is illustrated with numerous details of other notable Kentucky maps.

  Among the rare maps reproduced are one of the battlefield of Perryville (1877), a colorful travelers' map (1839), and a map of the ...Read More

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  Little Kingdoms: The Counties of Kentucky, 1850–1891

  Kentucky’s counties though theoretically provinces of the state were in reality powerful semi-sovereign entities during the latter half of the 19th century. Their positive accomplishments were many. Government funds were wisely invested in internal improvements, road construction, law enforcement, tax collection, and relief of the poor. Keen competition for county offices, placed on an electoral basis by the Constitution of 1850, brought added vitality to Kentucky’s uniquely intense political life, and the official day on which the county courts met continued to be the foremost social and economic day of the month.

  Despite these positive facets and the good intentions ...Read More

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  The County Courts in Antebellum Kentucky

  Although an important part of local government, particularly in the South, in their early years the county courts have not been thoroughly investigated. This book offers the first comprehensive examination of the county courts during the antebellum era in one southern state Kentucky, placing them in the context of its constitutional and political structure. More administrative than judicial in function, the courts were the means of providing most services of government for the people. This range of activity is fully discussed here, from road building to tax collecting to caring for the poor.

  Robert M. Ireland also explores the political ...Read More

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  The Troubled Alliance: German-Austrian Relations, 1914–1917

  On August 1, 1914, the German and Austro-Hungarian empires stood on the brink of the greatest war history had known. Their great need was for alliances that would provide manpower and defense of their borders. In only one direction could these be sought—the Balkan Peninsula. Yet disagreements between foreign officers and high commands increased the difficulty of establishing such alliances. Austrian caution continually clashed with German persistence, for the expansionist drives of the Balkan powers threatened the monarchy’s own ambitions.

  The differences between the two allies were smoothed over in the case of Turkey and Bulgaria, but the ultimate diplomatic ...Read More

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  Three American Frontiers: Writings of Thomas D. Clark

  The casual and the serious of American history—fiddlers, yarn spinners, and riverboat gamblers, politicians, educators, and social reformers—have all concerned Thomas D. Clark, celebrated historian of the Western frontier and the changing South. Three American Frontiers, a volume of his selected writings, draws from works produced throughout Clark's long career as a writer, teacher, and lecturer on the frontier West, social change in the South, and the cutting-edge of historical research.

  An avid researcher and a tenacious collector of original materials, Clark looks to the everyday items like the record book of a country store, the file of a small-town ...Read More

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  The Civilization of the Old South: Writings of Clement Eaton

  Exhibiting a clear, straightforward style, his many works are marked by a comprehensiveness and a catholicity of view. There is hardly an element of southern thought or society, hardly a major movement of any kind or an event of any significance that has escaped his penetrating thought and discerning analysis.

  This volume of Eaton's selected writings forms a rich and provocative mosaic of southern life from the years of Thomas Jefferson to the close of the Civil War. These selections, perceptively edited by Albert D. Kirwan, show the wide range of Eaton's interests, including the impact of slavery, the influence ...Read More

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  Gold Rush Diary: Being the Journal of Elisha Douglass Perkins on the Overland Trail in the Spring and Summer of 1849

  Among the hundreds captivated by the vision of quick riches in the gold fields of California was Elisha Douglass Perkins, a tall handsome youth from Marietta, Ohio, who has here left a remarkable first-hand account of the great trek westward in 1849. Perkins’s diary is an unusually full and intimate record of crossing the plains and mountains of the Great West.

  Extensive notes supplement the text, associating it with numerous other published and unpublished accounts, while an appendix of reports and letters from the Marietta newspaper reveals the involvement of those at home with the Gold Rush. An annotated map ...Read More