The Fascinating. . . but Forgotten series of historical biographies highights people from the past who were famous but then faded into obscurity. And yet, their stories have a startling relevance to the issues of today. Published by Quimby, Pickford and Cheshire Books, they can be found on Bookshop, Amazon, or ordered by your favorite independent bookstore.
The Books
When young Marion Alsobrook Stahlman is stricken with puerperal fever after giving birth to her second son, her husband Douglas is hundreds of miles away, working for a cult that advocates faith healing over medicine. He returns to her side in February of 1901 and makes a series of draconian decisions that lead to her death, with the national press eagerly reporting on every aspect of the controversy. Douglas is found insane by a hastily assembled commission, but is released into the care of his mother. After a failed attempt to gain custody of his two sons, he carves an ominous curse of the Alsobrook family in a large boulder in the woods of Northwestern Pennsylvania.
Who was Marion Alsobrook Stahlman, the center of this tragedy? How did she come to be the focus of intense press coverage and the subject of protests outside her sickroom window? Who was her family? Cursed has stories that reflect the sweeping course of American history, including colonial life, the Revolution, the migration of settlers westward, the Civil War and the urbanization of the United States. The story culminates with the dramatic and heart-wrenching tale of Marion’s death— a death that will haunt the reader long after the last chapter is read.
“Usually, tedious research leads to tedious writing! Not so, in this case. The history is vibrant with life, and the fictional vignettes add to the human element, weaving the whole narrative together. They do not distort the historical record in any way, which is very important. The reader will be left fulfilled by these new stories of American heritage, yet haunted by these ghosts of the past. The book ends with a prayer for the dearly departed Marion.” — Amazon Review
From a childhood filled with disadvantages, Gilbert Ball became the most influential African American politician in the racist and corrupt Philadelphia Republican machine of the 1880s. Throughout his political life, he remained loyal to the struggles against racism while operating within the political machine itself, using his influence to build a base of voters that demanded equality and self-determination. During his career, he witnessed the earliest elections of Black party delegates and councilmen, and the appointment of Black people to political offices in the country’s second largest city. Gilbert A. Ball rose from a fatherless boy carrying a hod at thirteen to a man honored in one of the largest funeral processions in Philadelphia’s history.
“At the intersection of politics, history, race, media studies, political geography and biography lies this landmark work by Patricia Thrushart. Illuminating and impeccably researched — mining archives and other primary sources to highlight the consequential life, times, and contributions of Philadelphian Gilbert Ball — this is a labor of literary love that shines in a light on a time and place in Pennsylvania and U.S. political history, where political parties, ward politics, political culture, urban life, and the press collide, constrain, and shape daily lives in a time of profound technological and social change. At the heart of it all is a citizen that merits our attention, appreciation, and further academic study.
This interdisciplinary research will find a home in undergraduate and graduate courses alike, as well as university and community libraries.”– Kevan M. Yenerall, Ph.D., Professor of political science, Pennsylvania Western University
COMING in 2026: THE ANARCHIST’S BRIDE
In 1886, twenty-two year old Nina Van Zandt had everything that America’s Gilded Age could deliver to a New Woman with wealth, handsome looks and enviable connections. The only child of a well-to-do family, she was heir to a childless Aunt’s fortune, educated at Wilson College and Vassar, and on the invitation list for the most glittering events in Pittsburgh and in Chicago. She should have gone on to make an advantageous marriage, join the ranks of the most sought-after hostesses, and become involved in her favorite, mainstream charities. Instead, she became the darling of a different set: the radical elements of the burgeoning labor movement active in Chicago. Through a romance that put soap opera stories to shame, she gained a notoriety that dogged her for the rest of her life. She fell in love with one of the Chicago Anarchists in jail for inciting the Haymarket bombing. She put her considerable talent for writing to work for his freedom with a persistence that even her detractors found astounding. Vilified, ridiculed, and maligned in the press, she became known across America simply by her first name, “Nina.” The press and the public never grew tired of her, long after the events of the trial, and for good reason. She was always fascinating.
MORE TO COME!
A Washerwoman in Philadelphia’s Underground Railroad
A Young Woman writing abolitionist poetry in the 1830s
The wife of a religious cult figure who was a household name in 1890s Chicago