Breweries of Dayton

Dalton, Curt. Breweries of Dayton: A Toast to Brewers from the Gem City: 1810-1961. 2nd Edition. Dayton, Ohio, 2002. There has been increased interest in the 1920s and Prohibition.  So much so, that if it has not already happened, the major networks will start bringing out historic dramas set in the 1920s, similar to HBO’s Boardwalk [...]

Guided by Voices

Greer, James. Guided by Voices: A Brief History: Twenty-one Years of Hunting Accidents in the Forests of Rock and Roll.  New York; Black Cat, 2005. “They are just making music I would make, if I could make music” – Steven Sodenbergh, from “In Lieu of an Actual Introduction”   One of the best bands to [...]

Politics, Race, and Schools

Watras, Joseph. Politics, Race, and Schools: Racial Integration, 1954-1994.  New York; Garland Publishing, 1997. This sounds worse than intended, but I would not recommend Politics, Race, and Schools to the casual reader.  It is not a beach read.  The storyline covering desegregation and integration in Dayton public and private schools in the 1960s and 70s, [...]

Broke, USA

Rivlin, Gary. Broke, USA: From Pawnshops to Poverty, Inc.: How the Working Poor became big business.  New York; HarperCollins, 2010. Though not about Ohio, much of Broke, USA‘s stories are about Ohio.  In Rivlin’s expose on the numerous businesses he terms the poverty industry (payday loans, rent-to-own, subprime mortgages, income tax return advancements, to the [...]

200 Years of Progress

Roberts, Carl V.  200 Years of Progress: A History of Dayton and the Miami Valley. Dubuque, Iowa; Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company, 1978. The Miami Valley, or Miami Country, is an ambiguous creature.  Vaguely the land surrounding the Great and Little Miami Rivers, I have seen this region defined as simply Dayton Metro to extending into Indiana [...]

Grand Eccentrics: Turning the Century : Dayton and the Inventing of America

Bernstein, Mark. Grand Eccentrics: Turning the Century : Dayton and the Inventing of America. Wilmington, Ohio: Orange Frazer Press, 1996. Bernstein’s Grand Eccentrics is five biographies in one: the Wright brothers (together as one), Charles Kettering, John Patterson, Arthur Morgan, and James Cox. Dayton. 1905. The Wright brothers have been to Kitty Hawk and are [...]