James R Ashley: 27 books

The “Dust Bowl” of the early 1930s spawned the era of the Mid-West bank robbers. Gangs led by Bonnie & Clyde, John Dillinger, “Pretty Boy” Floyd, and “Baby Face” Nelson became the stuff of American legend. None of them was spectacularly successful at bank robbing and all of them came...

The “Dust Bowl” of the early 1930s spawned the era of the Mid-West bank robbers. Gangs led by Bonnie & Clyde, John Dillinger, “Pretty Boy” Floyd, and “Baby Face” Nelson became the stuff of American legend. None of them was spectacularly successful at bank robbing and all of them came...

The “Dust Bowl” of the early 1930s spawned the era of the Mid-West bank robbers. Gangs led by Bonnie & Clyde, John Dillinger, “Pretty Boy” Floyd, and “Baby Face” Nelson became the stuff of American legend. None of them was spectacularly successful at bank robbing and all of them came...

Bette Davis, despite her lack of beauty and sex appeal, rose up to be a major star, making several memorable movies that would live on as classics, never to be surpassed in any remake. She had lived a rather miserable and unhappy life and most people that worked with her disliked her, and in many...

Mae West was perhaps the most unique female actress of any age of films, in that she became the product of her mind’s eye. Neither the film studios she worked at nor her fans created her, Mae did that herself. She dictated in what she appeared, how she appeared, what her dialogue was, and how her...

The “Dust Bowl” of the early 1930s spawned the era of the Mid-West bank robbers. Gangs led by Bonnie & Clyde, John Dillinger, “Pretty Boy” Floyd, and “Baby Face” Nelson became the stuff of American legend. None of them was spectacularly successful at bank robbing and all of them came...

Jean Harlow was widely considered as the reigning sexpot of the golden age of Hollywood filmmaking. She usually played the part either of a tough-talking moll or a prostitute and was every man’s fantasy date. The reality, however, was far different. Although Jean engaged in sex from time to time,...

Clark Gable was born into a dysfunctional family, his mother being a psychotic who was said to have died insane when he was a year old and his father, who believed that brawn over brain was the only standard for measuring manhood, was a oil wildcatter, who preferred being out in the field to spending...

The starvation caused by the potato famine in Ireland resulted in a huge immigration of Irish to the United States, primarily to New York City. They settled in the lower slums of Manhattan, and by their sheer numbers overran the lower east side. Poor, uneducated, and unskilled, the Irish lived in...

Most people believe that the first English colony established in North America was at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1609. In point of fact, however, that was the second English colony. The first one was 21 years before Jamestown and was on a small island just behind the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It...

Amelia Earhart was one of the most well known and admired woman of her age. And although she was more homely than pretty, there was an earthiness, a friendliness, and a passion for flying in her that captivated everyone who came in contact with her, from U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt and his wife,...

East London included the London docks and run-down areas of Whitechapel, Spitalfields, and Bethnal Green As the parish of Whitechapel in London’s East End became increasingly overcrowded, housing conditions steadily worsened and the area was overrun with violence, robbery, and alcoholism. London’s...

I wrote this book with the experience of having been a commission salesman in a number of different positions, in a number of different retail stores. I was a keen observer of events wherever I was, and very little escaped my notice as to what was transpiring around me; in particular, what it took...