Books: Cultural History

Doris Day was at an apex moment of her career and personal life in the years 1969-1974. Completing a cycle of some of the most popular films in history, she lost her third husband, Marty Melcher just before she began work on a TV series, “The Doris Day Show.” She was just beginning to re-bond with her son Terry and to cultivate her life-long interest in the humane treatment and care of animals.

The star needed a secretary, and she hired Mary Anne Barothy, one of her most devoted fans, who had had experience as an Indianapolis newspaper reporter. Mary Anne spent four years as Doris’s secretary, two of those years in the star’s home. As the only person beside a relative to live in Doris Day’s home and experience the star’s personal life and career moves first-hand, Mary Anne Barothy’s story has unique appeal.

Stories never told and personal photos of Doris never seen anywhere, bring a Hollywood world now vanished to life. Day at a Time: An Indiana Girl’s Sentimental Journey to Doris Day’s Hollywood and Beyond is full of personal stories and insights which will fascinate the millions of Doris Day fans everywhere—and intrigue a wider audience. Day at a Time is a piece of America's cultural history.

175pgs (25 pgs of photos)
Hardcover $25  ISBN:  978-09787167-3-8
Softbound     $18  ISBN:  978-09787167-4-5

Callie Rousseau and her two brothers and three sisters grew up living the happy outdoor life of children in a little Florida town by the sea. It was called Boynton long before it was a high-rise center of the tourist and technology industries.

Her descriptions of the time of woodstoves, home “lixies” for everyday illnesses, wild rides over stony roads and rocking chair stories on a relative’s front porch are graceful and evocative.

Here she tells of the hand pump which was the children’s responsibility:
One could always stand on a box if not tall enough to reach the handle or use both hands if not strong enough. Oftentimes a frog jumped out at the first push of the handle. Bees and wasps buzzed about impatiently, while birds waited their turn to drink from the pitcher. On hot days small heads and shoulders ducked under the cool water, mouths drank their fill and feet splashed on the muddy ground.

But the book is not just nostalgia. The author takes us through nine decades of her life in Florida and beyond, revealing her own openness to new experience and change. Just as little old Boynton became the prosperous city of Boynton Beach, so Callie Rousseau Brown became a woman able to manage a 38-year career in teaching, and with her husband, raise three successful children, unravel the secrets of family history, and travel the world almost into her 90s.

“I think the word change is the suitable word to describe the pattern of my life,” Callie says in this book. Both the town and the woman have proven that change indeed can be good.

280 pgs (50 photos)
Hardcover $30 ISBN: 978-0-9787167-2-1

Indiana Legends: Famous Hoosiers from Johnny Appleseed to David Letterman by Nelson Price

Now available only from Hawthorne Publishing!

Indiana Legends is the best-selling and most praised book about well known Indiana people ever published—thousands of copies sold.

The books stimulated a reaffirmation of Indiana’s contribution to the achievements of America in film, literature, sports, the arts and politics.

This 4th edition of Indiana Legends features more than 160 famous Hoosiers, with new material and updated profiles. Look for Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts quarterback; Mother Theodore Guerin, recently made a saint by the Catholic Church; Reggie Miller, former Indianapolis Pacers star; Jeff Gordon, Nascar champ; Florence Henderson, TV actress; Nancy Noel, artist; Jim Davis the creator of Garfield; David Wolf, astronaut; and John Mellencamp, musician, among the stars from all fields in this book.

Indexed 336 pp.
Paperback ISBN: 1-57860-186-X $24.95

For young people and adults in hardcover. There are even more famous Hoosiers in this book with color illustrations throughout. Nelson Price is one of Indiana’s most respected authors and the winner of numerous awards including Sagamore of the Wabash—twice.

Indexed 183 pp.
Hardbound ISBN 1-57860-097-9 $20 Many color illustrations

Over 50,000 men in Indiana served during the Civil War to form one of the Union’s strongest militias—The Indiana Legion. Often vilified as “shirkers” by the soldiers at the front, the Indiana Legion nevertheless performed credible services such as spying at the border with Kentucky, chasing and fighting with Rebels in Kentucky in the Perryville campaign, and repelling the invasion of John Hunt Morgan in 1863. The Legion also served as guards at Indiana prisoner-of-war camps. This introductory story of the Indiana Legion surveys their purpose, inception, activities and challenges, often telling the men’s story in their own words. Reproduction of several official Legion documents and photos and career summaries of its two military commanders are included.

Paperback ISBN 0-9787167-1-X $18.95

The time: The twentieth century in an earlier time: the days before twenty-four hour cable news radically altered newspaper journalism. The place: the state of Indiana, where The Indianapolis Star enjoyed dominance throughout the state with a circulation at its high point of 275,000. The stories: the high-intensity stuff of which daily news was made in those days: The Fairgrounds Coliseum blows up, killing 74; Serial killer Charles Manson is a Hoosier; Personal courage abounds as the city survives century’s worst blizzard in 1978; a two-headed baby is born and The Star reporter lives on site to help and get her scoop.

What are the journalistic standards which kept these sensational stories in check and balanced? Who were the men and women who lived their own stories in the newsroom, looking a lot like the caricatures of movie reporters but much smarter, more human, and vulnerable? People in Indianapolis came to know and love some of them whose by-lines they read and others behind the scenes: police reporters, rewrite and obit writers, sports chroniclers and feature writers who had unusual and sometimes hilarious, sometimes tragic quirks. All are described in this highly personal and qualified look at the inside of a great American newspaper which won the Pulitzer Prize for journalism twice: in 1974 and 1990. It’s by a man who spent forty-one years behind various desks at this Hoosier institution.

"The book reveals wonderful insights and details about the inner workings of the newspaper in the early days, and about many of its characters..."
-- Chris Katterjohn, publisher of the Indianapolis Business Journal

Paperback ISBN 0-9726273-6-7 190 pp. $18.95
Hardcover ISBN 0-9726273-6-5 190 pp. $26.95

Political Warrior: The Life and Times of L. Keith Bulen by Stanley A. Huseland

In 1965 Indianapolis was poised for something—and the facts dictated that it had better be growth. All around the country cities were rebuilding their downtowns, attracting commerce and devising new political systems which encompassed burgeoning suburbs. In the stale old Hoosier capital it was time for new leadership.

Out of the Republican Party emerged a dynamic young man with the driving energy of a jack hammer who was determined to be part of the city’s coming reformation—L. Keith Bulen. Handsome, charismatic, often determined to the point of ruthlessness, Bulen began to use the traditional grass-roots political system to produce first-class leaders for the town and state: party chairmen, representatives, mayors, and governors. With the old system functioning at its best, these men and women could prove themselves with voters at the precinct level, then move on to power and change. By the time all of these excellent leaders were done, and employing many facets of the community, the city had built a new, vital downtown, attracted new industry, and instituted UNI-GOV.

“Huseland has written an engaging account of one of the last political bosses of Indianapolis. . . .” - Andrea Neal, The Indianapolis Star, October 14, 2006

“Huseland’s fair-minded book tells us about a political boss whose story is a key one in Marion County history, and whose legacy stretches from the U. S. Senate to the governor’s office.” - Matthew Tully, The Indianapolis Star, December 22, 2006

Hardcover, PhotographsISBN 0-9726273-8-3 390 pp. $30.00

We are a proud bunch, those of us who are Americans. One of the things we are proud of is our local high schools and their athletic teams. And—the names we give these teams and team mascots reveal a good deal about who we are.

Emerson Houck has studied high school team and mascot names for many years. Traveling the country, he has talked to the former cheerleaders, football stars and just plain joes who keep school spirit alive years after graduation. In this lively book he tells the stories of hundreds, even thousands of school team names. He spins yarns about Cornjerkers, Apple knockers, Syrupmakers, Spongers, Cheese Makers, Harpooners, Cogs, Earwigs, Amadillos, Wildebeests, Turtles and Frogs. The book is made clever and interesting with many four-color pictures of Superchickens, Gray Ghosts and other mascots. This is a hoot of a book, and at the same time it is a thoughtful picture of Americans now—and a few years back.

400 pages
Hardcover ISBN 0-9745335-0-5 $34.95
Paperback ISBN 0-9745335-1-3 $24.95

Just out! A real-life memoir—a child’s view of the German occupation of France during World War II. Odette share the story of her town’s courage and decency amidst scenes of stress, never-ending hunger and the fear of being seized and tortured by the Nazis.

As ten-year-old Odette attempts to purchase food in the countryside for her hungry family. . .

Another farm stood on my right nearly straight across from the one I had just visited. This one was alive, and people were signaling to me from their doorstep. . . “The Gestapo is inside. They came in yesterday, arrested the whole family and took the animals away, too. A man rode in on his bicycle very early this morning. The soldiers grabbed him before he had a chance to turn back and we don’t know what has happened to him since. . . You can’t stay here. The Gestapo is next door. If they catch you buying food from us, they will arrest us too. Please go, immediately."

The book is a page-turner from beginning to end.

Paperback ISBN 0-9759421-0-7 122 pp. $15.00

Mr. Andy Jacobs, Jr. had a distinguished career in the United States House of Representatives from Indiana and came to know Washington intimately. This book lamblasts politicians, particularly a series of U.S. Presidents, for undertaking and funding fruitless and destructive wars from the Korean War through Iraq. Jacobs has appeared on C&N Book Talk and National Public Radio discussing this book, which is a wake-up call for better foreign policy and leadership. Hard-nosed discussion and wonderful personal comments and stories.

Indexed  231 pgs.  12 photo insert
Softbound $18  ISBN:  978-0-9726273-5-1