by Carole King and Karren Pell 

Brand New! Signed Copies Available!

Montgomery's first neighborhoods were nestled close to downtown for convenient shopping and working. In 1887, the electric trolley system made living beyond the city limits feasible. The first streetcar suburb, Highland Park, was developed the same year. Although Centennial Hill, Cottage Hill, the Garden District, and the Old Line Street neighborhoods existed before the trolley, it spurred their growth. Capitol Heights and Cloverdale incorporated as separate cities by 1908. Cloverdale Idlewild developed around the 1930s--by which time the automobile and bus line had replaced the trolley. Images of America: Montgomery's Historic Neighborhoods documents the changes from inner city to suburban residences and from mass transportation to the automobile. The images show the evolution of photography from formal, professional portraits to fun, family snapshots capturing birthday parties, pageants, pets, and everyday life. These compelling photographs also show how residents lived, worked, studied, worshipped, and played for over a century in Montgomery's historic neighborhoods.

published by Cecil McMillan

Only the best food ever, from Montgomery's Blue Moon Restaurant. And don't worry about that "Revisited" in the title, or the "new edition" on the cover. EVERY recipe from the original printing of this cookbook is included here, PLUS a few more!

Brand New!

Signed copies available!

Mary Ann Neeley has taken Matthew Blue's 1878 History of Montgomery, annotated it, corrected some mistakes, added Blue's history of Montgomery churches, and thrown in a Montgomery Civil War diary by Blue's own sister. And then for good measure she's sprinkled in lots of heretofore unseen photographs of 19th century Montgomery.

It's a must have for any Montgomerian!  Really.

by Beth Muskat and Mary Ann Neeley

A classic, and essential to any Montgomery library. This one was published in 1985, and nearly 25 years later it's still unsurpassed in its combination of old photographs of Montgomery's buildings and spaces and people....and its wonderful "informal essay" about Montgomery by Mary Ann Neeley. If it were published tday it would cost $35, but for the time being, at least, it's still available at its 1985 price of only $18.

by Mary Ann Neeley

An amazing concept...pictures of old Montgomery paired with pictures of those same locations today....along with little essays by Mary Ann Neeley about the history connecting the two shots. A must-have book for any Montgomery library.

BRAND NEW!

Signed copies available!

by Bobby McAlpine with Susan Sully

McAlpine Tankersley's architecture and interiors gracefully blend and distill popular enduring styles of the past with contemporary features, providing wonderfully comfortable and inspiring residences. This distinguished firm designs idyllic houses that wed historical precedent with gracious modern living. McAlpine Tankersley is renowned nationwide for their talent in creating residences that resonate with nostalgia, fantasy, and a sense of place. Their dwellings--from country and seaside retreats to homes in historic American neighborhoods--offer favorite period styles with a timeless quality. Presented are twenty-five houses in a variety of settings that illustrate concepts running throughout their work. Juxtaposing intimate spaces and lofty entertaining areas and combining unexpected materials, such as stone with thatch, are among the hallmarks of this prestigious firm. Examples include a Mediterranean-revival house with sleek factory-sash windows and old-world stone columns, a beach house with a vaulted hallway leading to a light-filled contemporary salon, and an unusual house that blends Scottish vernacular style with modern details. With lush photography capturing the allure of these houses, "The Home Within Us" is ideal for anyone wishing to be inspired by the poetic design of a romantic home.

Susan Sully is the best-selling author of The Southern Cottage: From the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Florida Keys; Casa Florida: Spanish Style Houses from Winter Park to Coral Gables; New Orleans Style: Past and Present; Charleston Style: Then and Now; and Savannah Style: Mystery and Manners. Her articles about decorative arts and architecture have appeared in The New York Times, Town & Country Travel, Art and Antiques, Metropolitan Home, Southern Accents, and Coastal Living. She lives in Charleston.

by Foster Dickson

signed copies available

The life and art of Montgomery, Alabama's most popular artist, as told to his neighbor. A must-have for anyone who owns one of Clark's wonderful paintings.

by Nancy Anderson and Blair Gaines

The only place to find out the sources of all the street names in Montgomery, Alabama...or most of them, or at least most of them in existence in 1995, when this little book was published.

by Robert Ely

From Mose T., one of America's premier folk artists, and his friend, poet Robert Ely, comes a delightful book for adults and children alike. Reproductions of Mose T's fanciful paintings, printed in full color on glossy paper, are accompanied by Ely's playful verse. Subjects include Porky Pine Turtle, the Geek Bird, Swayback Horse, and more. Recently reprinted.

by Mary Stanton

In 1955, the majority of Montgomery's Jews confounded Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by ignoring the Bus Boycott. Northern Jews were his staunchest allies, but the Montgomery Jewish community was locked in a painful ambivalence, torn between applying the torah's ethic of justice and wanting to protect their homes and businesses. The Hand of Esau illuminates why some responded positively to the demand for social justice while others vehemently opposed it. How the community dealt with this tension is the story of their Southern experience. The arrival of Jewish immigrants in Montgomery in the 1830s began a saga that eventually took on almost biblical proportions, a tale of the second son's struggle to outfox his elder brother, the designated heir, while desperately trying to maintain family peace: the story of Jacob and Esau writ large.

by Mills Thornton

With this bold offering from two decades of research, J. Mills Thornton III presents the story of the civil rights movement from the perspective of community-municipal history at the grassroots level. Thornton demonstrates that the movement had powerful local sources in its three birth cities—Montgomery, Birmingham, and Selma. There, the arcane mechanisms of state and city governance and the missteps of municipal politicians and civic leaders—independent of emerging national trends in racial mores—led to the great swell of energy for change that became the civil rights movement. "Superbly researched, forcefully presented, and clearly one of the most important works on the history of the Modern South." —American Historical Review

by Jo Ann Gibson Robinson

This fascinating memoir provides new evidence on the origins and sustaining force of the Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-56). Robinson (English, Alabama State Coll.), a founding member of the Women's Political Council (WPC) of Montgomery, shows clearly that the initial idea for boycotting buses in that city came from the WPC. Moreover, several black women, including the author, experienced and protested the agony of discrimination on city buses long before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat. One only wishes that Robinson had spent more time recounting her life before and after the boycott and less on retelling the well-known story of the tribulations and ultimate success of Martin Luther King, Jr. Still, highly recommended. Anthony O. Edmonds, History Dept., Ball State Univ., Muncie, Ind.

by Heather S. Trevino & Linda E. Pastorello

Established at the beginning of the 20th century with a total of 41 acres, Oak Park was the social and recreational center of Alabamas capital city, Montgomery. It was here in 1935 that a menagerie of animals was housed in facilities built by the Works Progress Administration called the Oak Park Zoo. As the civil rights movement gathered steam in the 1950s, there was a class action suit to desegregate the citys parks, including the zoo. In response, all parks were closed, including Oak Park. In 1967, plans were approved for a 34-acre recreational park in north Montgomery, which included acreage for a small zoo. Unfortunately, although the zoo was scheduled to open in 1971, thirteen years after the closing of Oak Park, the opening was delayed for almost a year when the zoos first director died in a car accident just 37 days after accepting his post. The opening of the new Montgomery Zoo was finally celebrated in 1972 and included the happy homecoming of a female capuchin monkey, an original resident of Oak Park.

Signed copies available

by Jim Lacefield

Only our favorite book in the store! Fun, educational, entertaining, colorful. And who'd have thought Alabama used to be where Africa is now?