Hoosier Public Enemy

During the bleak days of the Great Depression, news of economic hardship often took a backseat to articles on the exploits of an outlaw from Indiana—John Dillinger. For a period of fourteen months during 1933 and 1934 Dillinger became the most famous bandit in American history, and no criminal since has matched him for his celebrity and notoriety. Dillinger won public attention not only for his robberies, but his many escapes from the law. The escapes he made from jails or “tight spots,” when it seemed law officials had him cornered, became the stuff of legends. While the public would never admit that they wanted the “bad guy” to win, many could not help but root for the man who appeared to be an underdog. Although his crime wave took place in the last century, the name Dillinger has never left the public imagination

John Dillinger was one of the most famous and flamboyant celebrity outlaws, and this book illuminates the significnace of his tremendous fame and the endurance of his legacy of crime and violence, and the transformation of America during the Great Depression.

A supplemental textbook for middle and high school students, Hoosiers and the American Story provides intimate views of individuals and places in Indiana set within themes from American history. During the frontier days when Americans battled with and exiled native peoples from the East, Indiana was on the leading edge of America’s westward expansion. As waves of immigrants swept across the Appalachians and eastern waterways, Indiana became established as both a crossroads and as a vital part of Middle America. Indiana’s stories illuminate the history of American agriculture, wars, industrialization, ethnic conflicts, technological improvements, political battles, transportation networks, economic shifts, social welfare initiatives, and more. In so doing, they elucidate large national issues so that students can relate personally to the ideas and events that comprise American history. At the same time, the stories shed light on what it means to be a Hoosier, today and in the past.

In 1971, "D. B. Cooper" pulled off what some call the crime of the century, skyjacking a Boeing 727 and parachuting into history and legend. Here's a book that offers a gripping account of that still-unsolved case, based on never-before-published interviews, showing how it launched one of the most extraordinary eras in American aviation history. In November 1971, an unidentified man later anointed by the media as "D.B. Cooper" pulled off one of the most audacious crimes in aviation history, hijacking a Northwest Airlines flight over the Pacific Northwest and parachuting from the Boeing 727 with $200,000 in ransom. "D. B. Cooper" was never to be seen again and the FBI, which kept his case open for forty years, finally determined it would never be solved. Unsolved, perhaps, but much admired. Over the next seven months, a number of air pirates imitated Cooper's crime. None were more daring than the hijacker of American Airlines Flight 119. After commandeering the flight from St. Louis with a machine gun and collecting $502,500 in ransom, the Flight 119 hijacker parachuted into the night over Indiana. Unlike Cooper, he was found. These two crimes were part of a wave of hijackings that occurred between 1961 and 1972, "D. B. Cooper" may have been the most famous, but he was far from alone. One hijacker ran across the tarmac in Reno, Nevada with a pillowcase over his head, gun in hand, to seize a United Airlines flight. Another collected a large ransom in Washington, D.C. before jumping over Honduras. Motivations in many cases remain murky, an admixture of politics, greed, derring-do, and boredom. What they had in common was how they transfixed the nation's attention, bringing about a transformation in the ways that commercial airlines were run and how the laws of the skies were enforced. With its focus on the parachute hijackers, beginning with "D. B. Cooper," John Wigger's book gathers together the stories of this period of daring criminality and recounts them in gripping fashion, showing their effect on the public, the media, and law enforcement. Using never-before published interviews and first-hand accounts, he brings one of the most chaotic periods in U.S. commercial aviation to life.

Indiana native Paul Baer was an American pilot of many firsts. Born into a modest midwestern family in the late 1800s, Baer grew up short and shy in Fort Wayne. Not short on ambition, he volunteered to join a new breed of combatant: the fighter pilot. Dogfighting in the skies over France during World War I, Baer earned a giant reputation as the first-ever American to shoot down an enemy plane and the first to earn the title of "combat ace" for earning five victories--before being shot down himself. Author Tony Garel-Frantzen celebrates the 100th anniversary of Baer's aerial heroics with rarely seen images, a previously unpublished POW letter from Baer himself and a look at the restless raptor's life of roaming.

Hoosiers witness their share of human darkness. Stoner delves into this dark side with a look at the most heinous murders that have taken place in each of Indiana's 92 counties.

"Who is an American?" asked the Ku Klux Klan. It is a question that echoes as loudly today as it did in the early twentieth century. But who really joined the Klan? Were they "hillbillies, the Great Unteachables" as one journalist put it? It would be comforting to think so, but how then did they become one of the most powerful political forces in our nation's history? In The Ku Klux Klan in the Heartland, renowned historian James H. Madison details the creation and reign of the infamous organization. Through the prism of their operations in Indiana and the Midwest, Madison explores the Klan's roots in respectable white protestant society. Convinced that America was heading in the wrong direction because of undesirable "un-American" elements, Klan members did not see themselves as bigoted racist extremists but as good Christian patriots joining proudly together in a righteous moral crusade. The Ku Klux Klan in the Heartland offers a detailed history of this powerful organization and examines how, through its use of intimidation, religious belief, and the ballot box, the ideals of Klan in the 1920s have on-going implications for America today.

The story of this Midwestern state and its people, past and present: “An entertaining and fast read.” ―Indianapolis Star Who are the people called Hoosiers? What are their stories? Two centuries ago, on the Indiana frontier, they were settlers who created a way of life they passed to later generations. They came to value individual freedom and distrusted government, even as they demanded that government remove Indians, sell them land, and bring democracy. Down to the present, Hoosiers have remained wary of government power and have taken care to guard their tax dollars and their personal independence. Yet the people of Indiana have always accommodated change, exchanging log cabins and spinning wheels for railroads, cities, and factories in the nineteenth century, automobiles, suburbs, and foreign investment in the twentieth. The present has brought new issues and challenges, as Indiana’s citizens respond to a rapidly changing world. James H. Madison’s sparkling new history tells the stories of these Hoosiers, offering an invigorating view of one of America’s distinctive states and the long and fascinating journey of its people.

Quilt realistic people and places with artistic flair Create unique art quilts of your favorite places—and the places you want to go! Meri Vahl shares her simple yet unique method for quilting realistic nature scenes and villages from fabric. Using photographs from her travels, the author explains how to achieve stunning scenery with lifelike details. With techniques like fabric collage and tulle overlay, even beginners will learn to quilt majestic mountainscapes, charming buildings, and realistic people. A stunning gallery of quilts—some named best in the world—will inspire you to bring your own travel photos and art quilt ideas to life. From photo to art quilt! Recreate landscapes, people, and buildings with ease World-renowned art quilter Meri Vahl teaches you her award-winning process Immortalize your journeys as you paint scenes with fabric, one step at a time