The Write Thought: 24 books

     Get ready to meet twenty of the most interesting, bizarre, colorful, and unforgettable characters to be found in the annals the most interesting, bizarre, colorful, and unforgettable city in the world.      Historian Charles F. Adams brings each...

     • Sutil Island, a 1,250 foot-long island, 1,900 feet off the southwest end of Santa Barbara Island was named after one of merchant-explorer Sebastian Vizcaino’s ships.      • Gaspar de Portola founded Presidio of San Carlos Borromeo de Monterey,...

     • The name Rancho Cucamonga, derived from an Indian word, suffered a number of bizarre spellings by early Americans including, Coco Mongo Ranch, Cocomouga’s Ranch, Qui-qual-mun-go Ranch, Kikal Mungo ranch and Rancho Cocoa-Mungo.      • A place...

     • Above-ground graves resembling small, outdoor ovens furnished the name for the Mariposa County village of Hornitos. Hornitos is a Spanish word that means “little ovens.”      • In 1885, Alexander Kirkwood founded a hotel called Rattlesnake...

     • The pueblo that became the city was established in 1781 as “El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles de la Porciuncula.” A hill located less than 1,000 feet from Los Angeles city hall was used as a base during the first American occupation of Los...

     • Wounded Knee Mountain in Del Norte County got its name from an incident suffered by an Unites States Geological Survey employee who was working in the neighborhood in 1915. The mountain sits just one and a half miles west of Broken Rib Mountain, another sore spot in California’s...

     • Steven Barton founded the town of Isabella near the Kern River and named it for Queen Isabella of Spain in 1893, the year of the Columbian Exposition celebrating the quadricentennial of the discovery of America. Sixty years later, a dam was built on the river and the original...

In the tradition of his award-winning biographies, Meriwether Lewis and Fool’s Gold, acclaimed historian Richard Dillon recreates the life of one of frontier America’s most gifted lawmen, James B. Hume.      Dillon paints a vivid picture of Hume, the greatest of Wells,...

—Inside the mind of one of the nation’s most feared thrill killers— “Silent Rage” is the shocking true history of serial killer Carroll Edward “Eddie” Cole. Raised by an abusive mother and weak father, Cole accomplished his first murder before he was ten years old. He went on...

“We have met the enemy, and they are ours.” —Oliver Hazard Perry to General William Henry Harrison, September 10, 1813 Oliver Hazard Perry fought perhaps the most perfect single battle in American naval history. How Perry turned certain defeat in what has become known...