This week on Fieldstone Common our featured guest is Laura Macaulso, curator of “An Artist at War: Deane Keller, New Haven’s Monuments Man,” an exhibit at the New Haven Museum in New Haven, Connecticut. This week’s discussion is a little different because we are not speaking about a particular book. Instead we are talking with Laura about Deane Keller and all she leaned about him researching for this exhibit.

Laura A. Macaluso was trained in art history, museums and cultural heritage and spent her 20s and 30s studying, working and traveling. Now, she is getting down to some writing, including a new book on portraits as a sideline to her dissertation on city identity and public art.

Laura remembers three important places in her travels: Florence, where she earned a Master’s degree in art history, Edinburgh, where she was married, and southern Africa, where she was a Fulbright Scholar. She plans to visit Egypt when she earns her PhD from Salve Regina University.

She is a recent transplant to central Virginia, where her husband Jeffrey Nichols directs Thomas Jefferson’s retreat home, Poplar Forest (www.poplarforest.org). They enjoy visiting historic sites and parks, but mostly sitting by the fire with two cats and a dog.

Title: Connecticut Explored Magazine

Publication Date: Winter 2014

Article: “New Haven’s Monuments Man,” by Laura A. Macaluso

The Monuments Men were a real unit during WWII tasked with saving the great art of Europe from Hitler and the Nazis. The Monuments Men became better known after a book of the same title by Robert Edsel and then further by the recent movie starring George Clooney. There were three Monuments Men from Connecticut, one of them, Yale Professor Deane Keller is currently being featured (December 2014-May 2015) in an exhibit at the New Haven Museum in New Haven, Connecticut. In this interview Laura Macaluso and I discuss Deane Keller’s life, his talents and his success as a Monument’s Man and how he became beloved by the people of Italy for protecting their heritage.

Links mentioned during the interview:

A one-year subscription to Connecticut Explored Magazine is given out to the Fieldstone Common audience courtesy of Connecticut Explored.

The winner is:

Congratulations to our winner and thanks to Connecticut Explored Magazine for their generosity in donating the subscription!

Make sure you qualify to win the giveaway next week by signing up for the Bonus List! Once you sign up your are in the running each week!

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BIG NEWS for Android users! Fieldstone Common is now available in the Android app Stitcher. Stitcher is a program like iTunes but is available on the Android platform. Download Stitcher and search for Fieldstone Common or click here.

Question: What’s that’s new stuff in the Fieldstone Common title (FC 99)?

Answer: That makes it easier, especially for iTunes and other podcast listeners, to keep track of which episode they are listening to. FC stands for Fieldstone Common and 99 is the number of the episode.

This week on Fieldstone Common our featured guest is Anthony Sammarco, the author of the book Lost Boston.

Since 1997, Anthony Sammarco has taught history at the Urban College of Boston, and his course “Boston’s Immigrants” is based on his book of the same name to highlight the city’s diversity. He was named educator of the year in 2003 and he serves on the UCB’s Leadership Council. Mr. Sammarco received the Bulfinch Award from the Doric Dames of the Massachusetts State House and the Washington Medal from the Freedom Foundation and was named Dorchester town historian by Raymond L. Flynn, mayor of Boston. He was elected a fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society, is a member of the Boston Author’s Club and is a proprietor of the Boston Athenaeum. In his volunteer work, he is treasurer of the Victorian Society, New England Chapter, and a trustee of the Forest Hills Cemetery Educational Trust. He is past president of the Bay State Historical League and the Dorchester Historical Society. He lives in Boston and in Osterville on Cape Cod.

Book Summary

A nostalgic journey back in time to visit some of the disappeared buildings and places in all their grandeur, before the wrecking ball and decline set in.

From the 1850s up to the present day, 68 different losses are represented here, including schools, churches, theaters, grand mansions, dockyards, racetracks, parks, stores, hotels, offices, and factories. Organized chronologically starting with the earliest losses and ending with the latest, the book features much-loved insitutions that failed to stand the test of time, along with old-fashioned hotels and sports facilities that were beyond updating or refurbishment. Losses include Franklin Place, Boston City Hall, Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Hancock House, Gleason’s Publishing Hall, Fort Hill, Franklin Street, Boston Coliseum, Boylston Market, Merchants Exchange, Haymarket Square, Boston Public Library, Horticultural Hall, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Revere House (Hotel), Huntington Avenue Grounds, Charlestown City Hall, Molasses Tank, Cyclorama, Readville Trotting Park and Race Track, East Boston Airport, Boston Latin School, East Boston Ferries, Braves Field, Massachusetts State Prison, Boston Opera House, Boston Aquarium, The Howard Athenaeum, and Dudley Street Station.

Title: Lost Boston

Publisher: Pavilion Books (2014)

Oversized Hardcover – 144 pages with lots of photos and an index.

Lost Boston is available for purchase from Amazon.com and other booksellers.

In this interview Anthony Sammarco and I discuss the great variety of building and public places that have been removed from the Boston, Massachusetts landscape. They range from the Old Feather Shop to prisons, ferries and baseball fields. There was even a Victory Garden in what is now a park-like Copley Square. We discuss why the demolitions occurred and the way some buildings still remain but have been transformed. We also talk about the Boston Athenaeum as a historical repository and the importance of local history in the lives of neighborhood residents.

Links mentioned during the interview:

One copy of Lost Boston is given out to the Fieldstone Common audience courtesy of Pavilion Books.

The winner is:

Congratulations to our winner and thanks to Pavilion Books for their generosity in donating the book!

Make sure you qualify to win the giveaway next week by signing up for the Bonus List! Once you sign up your are in the running each week!

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Fieldstone Common is now broadcast every other week.

BIG NEWS for Android users! Fieldstone Common is now available in the Android app Stitcher. Stitcher is a program like iTunes but is available on the Android platform. Download Stitcher and search for Fieldstone Common or click here.

This week on Fieldstone Common our featured guest is author Liz Petry. This week’s discussion is a little different because we are not speaking about a particular book. Instead we are talking with Liz about her inspirational and extraordinary family which include two of the first licensed African American Pharmacists in the state of Connecticut and her mother, Ann Petry who was the first best selling female African American author.

With more than 10 years of experience in journalism and a degree in law, Liz Petry has found great rewards in researching and writing two books about aspects of the African American experience. Her first book “Can Anything Beat White?: A Black Family’s Letters,” explored the lives of her maternal grandmother’s family as they traveled to Hawaii, the Philippines and parts of the Deep South between the 1890s and 1910. Her second book, “At Home Inside: A Daughter’s Tribute to Ann Petry,” is a memoir about her amazing and multifaceted mother, the renowned author, Ann Petry. Liz is currently working on a new non-fiction book that engages topics beyond her family and beyond the twentieth century.

Title: Connecticut Explored Magazine

Publication Date: Fall 2014

Article: “Just Like Georgia Except for the Climate,” by Elisabeth Petry

In this interview Liz Petry and I discuss her family’s transformation from Southern escaped slaves to educated middle class residents of Connecticut. Her grandfather, Peter Lane, was the first male African American pharmacist in the State of Connecticut and her great aunt, Anna Louise James, was the first female African American pharmacist. Her mother was the first African American Best Selling Author in the United States. We dig deep into her heritage and discuss the successes and challenges that her family has faced through the generations.

Links mentioned during the interview:

Please see the WikiPedia listing above for other books by Ann Petry.

A one-year subscription to Connecticut Explored Magazine is given out to the Fieldstone Common audience courtesy of Connecticut Explored.

The winner is:

Congratulations to our winner and thanks to Connecticut Explored Magazine for their generosity in donating the subscription!

Make sure you qualify to win the giveaway next week by signing up for the Bonus List! Once you sign up your are in the running each week!

The Direct Link to this post is

BIG NEWS for Android users! Fieldstone Common is now available in the Android app Stitcher. Stitcher is a program like iTunes but is available on the Android platform. Download Stitcher and search for Fieldstone Common or click here.

Question: What’s that’s new stuff in the Fieldstone Common title (FC 97)?

Answer: That makes it easier, especially for iTunes and other podcast listeners, to keep track of which episode they are listening to. FC stands for Fieldstone Common and 97 is the number of the episode.

This week on Fieldstone Common our featured guest is Jerry Roberts, the author of the book The British Raid on Essex: The Forgotten Battle of the War of 1812. This book re-introduces a part of the War of 1812 that was erased from American history.

Jerry Roberts has been in the history business for over 30 years. He has served as Vice President in charge of Exhibits at the Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum in New York City, Executive Director of Connecticut River Museum in Essex CT, and Battlefield Historian for the British Raid on Essex Project. He has designed and built over forty exhibits, has written or co-written several books and documentaries and has published dozens of newspaper and magazine articles.

Roberts is an avid sailor and merchant marine master and has navigated the eastern seaboard in small boats and historic vessels from The Gulf Coast to Nova Scotia.

He now lives overlooking the Connecticut River with his wife and two children where he continues to write about adventures large and small while designing exhibits and public programs.

This is the dynamic account of one of the most destructive maritime actions to take place in Connecticut history: the 1814 British attack on the privateers of Pettipaug, known today as the British Raid on Essex. During the height of the War of 1812, 136 Royal marines and sailors made their way up the Connecticut River from warships anchored in Long Island Sound. Guided by a well-paid American traitor the British navigated the Saybrook shoals and advanced up the river under cover of darkness. By the time it was over, the British had burned twenty-seven American vessels, including six newly built privateers. It was the largest single maritime loss of the war. Yet this story has been virtually left out of the history books—the forgotten battle of the forgotten war. This new account from author and historian Jerry Roberts is the definitive overview of this event and includes a wealth of new information drawn from recent research and archaeological finds. Illustrations and detailed maps bring the battle to life.

Title: The British Raid on Essex: The Forgotten Battle of the War of 1812

Publisher: Wesleyan University Press (2014)

Hard cover; 197 pages with appendices including transcriptions of original documents, a chronology, end notes and an index.

The British Raid on Essex is available for purchase from Amazon.com and other booksellers.

In this interview Jerry Roberts captivates us with the riveting story of a long forgotten but dramatic raid on the town of Essex, Connecticut during the War of 1812. The casualties during the raid were minor but the devastation was great with the destruction of over 25 vessels being built in Essex. Learn about the traitor who helped the British navigate their way up the Connecticut River and how the British escaped despite being surrounded by American troops.

Links mentioned during the interview:

One copy of The British Raid on Essex: The Forgotten Battle of the War of 1812 is given out to the Fieldstone Common audience courtesy of Wesleyan University Press.

The winner is:

Congratulations to our winner and thanks to Wesleyan University Press for their generosity in donating the book!

Make sure you qualify to win the giveaway next week by signing up for the Bonus List! Once you sign up your are in the running each week!

The Direct Link to this post is

BIG NEWS for Android users! Fieldstone Common is now available in the Android app Stitcher. Stitcher is a program like iTunes but is available on the Android platform. Download Stitcher and search for Fieldstone Common or click here.

Question: What’s that’s new stuff in the Fieldstone Common title (FC 95)?

Answer: That makes it easier, especially for iTunes and other podcast listeners, to keep track of which episode they are listening to. FC stands for Fieldstone Common and 95 is the number of the episode.

This week we are doing something a little different here on Fieldstone Common. We are going on-site to the 2014 Massachusetts History Conference which was themed “Never Done! Interpreting the History of Women at Work in Massachusetts.”

We’ll hear from a number of the speakers at the conference including keynote speaker Laurel Thatcher Ulrich.

The Massachusetts History Conference was held June 2, 2014 on the Campus of College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Both presenters and attendees at the conference are featured in this episode, including two previous Fieldstone Common Guests Marla Miller and Michelle Marchetti Coughlin.

Featured guests in this broadcast include:

Links mentioned during the interview:

The Direct Link to this post is

This week on Fieldstone Common our featured guest is Gregory N. Flemming, the author of the book At the Point of a Cutlass: The Pirate Capture, Bold Escape, and Lonely Exile of Philip Ashton. This book tells the fantastic story of a fisherman’s capture by a notorious pirate and his risky and dramatic escape.

Gregory Flemming spent more than three years researching At the Point of a Cutlass, which tells for the first time the complete story of Marblehead fisherman Philip Ashton and the horrific pirates who captured him.

When researching and writing At the Point of a Cutlass, Greg explored many of the key locations in Ashton’s odyssey, from the remote Nova Scotia harbor where Ashton was captured at gunpoint to the Caribbean island of Roatan, forty miles off the coast of Honduras, where Ashton escaped. Much of Roatan’s hilly terrain remains, even today, unpopulated and heavily forested — the eastern part of the island, where Ashton was marooned and lived, is still accessible only by boat.

The book draws not only on Ashton’s own first-person account of his experiences, but also a wealth of other materials, including hundreds of colonial newspaper reports, trial records, and the hand-written logbooks and correspondence from the British warships that patrolled the Bay of Honduras and fought with Edward Low’s pirate crew.

Greg is a former journalist with a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. A New England native, he is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire. He lives with his family in New England. You can learn more about Greg at gregflemming.com.

Based on a rare manuscript from 1725, At the Point of a Cutlass uncovers the amazing voyage of Philip Ashton — a nineteen-year old fisherman who was captured by pirates, escaped on an uninhabited Caribbean island, and then miraculously arrived back home three years later to tell his incredible story.

Taken in a surprise attack near Nova Scotia in June 1722, Ashton was forced to sail across the Atlantic and back with a crew under the command of Edward Low, a man so vicious he tortured victims by slicing off an ear or nose and roasting them over a fire. “A greater monster,” one colonial official wrote, “never infested the seas.” Ashton barely survived the nine months he sailed with Low’s crew — he was nearly shot in the head at gunpoint, came close to drowning when a ship sank near the coast of Brazil, and was almost hanged for secretly plotting a revolt against the pirates.

Like many forced men, Ashton thought constantly about escaping. In March of 1723, he saw his chance when Low’s crew anchored at the secluded island of Roatan, at the western edge of the Caribbean. Ashton fled into the thick, overgrown woods and, for more than a year, had to claw out a living on the remote strip of land, completely alone and with practically nothing to sustain him. The opportunity to escape came so unexpectedly that Ashton ran off without a gun, a knife, or even a pair of shoes on his feet. Yet the resilient young castaway — who has been called America’s real-life Robinson Crusoe — was able to find food, build a crude shelter, and even survive a debilitating fever brought on by the cool winter rains before he was rescued by a band of men sailing near the island. Based on Ashton’s own first-hand account, as well trial records, logbooks, and a wealth of other archival evidence, At the Point of a Cutlass pieces together the unforgettable story of a man thrust into the violent world of a pirate ship and his daring survival and escape.

Title: At the Point of a Cutlass: The Pirate Capture, Bold Escape, and Lonely Exile of Philip Ashton

Publisher: ForeEdge, An Imprint of University Press of New England (2014)

Hard cover; 241 pages with end notes, a bibliography, an index, and some photos and illustrations.

At the Point of a Cutlass is available for purchase from Amazon.com and other booksellers.

In this interview Greg Flemming and I talk a lot about pirates! Philip Ashton, a fisherman from Marblehead, Massachusetts was taken captive for nine months by the notorious pirate Edward Low. We dive into a discussion about pirate culture, what it means to be a pirate and what life was like on board the ship. We also talk about the resources and challenges of researching in the early 18th century. This is a really fascinating tale you won’t want to miss!

Links mentioned during the interview:

One copy of At the Point of a Cutlass is given out to the Fieldstone Common audience courtesy of ForeEdge.

The winner is:

Congratulations to our winner and thanks to  ForeEdge for their generosity in donating the book!

Make sure you qualify to win the giveaway next week by signing up for the Bonus List! Once you sign up your are in the running each week!

The Direct Link to this post is

BIG NEWS for Android users! Fieldstone Common is now available in the Android app Stitcher. Stitcher is a program like iTunes but is available on the Android platform. Download Stitcher and search for Fieldstone Common or click here.

Question: What’s that’s new stuff in the Fieldstone Common title (FC 93)?

Answer: That makes it easier, especially for iTunes and other podcast listeners, to keep track of which episode they are listening to. FC stands for Fieldstone Common and 93is the number of the episode.

This week on Fieldstone Common our featured guest is Paul S. Gillies, the author of the book Uncommon Law, Ancient Roads, and Other Ruminations on Vermont Legal History. This book shows us the importance of understanding how laws came about and their significance in helping us understand history.

Paul Gillies is a partner in the Montpelier, Vermont law firm of Tarrant, Gillies, Merriman & Richardson. He co-edited The Records of the Vermont Council of Censors with D. Gregory Sanford, and wrote A Book of Opinions with James H. Douglas and A Place to Pass Through: Berlin, Vermont 1820-1991. He is a co-founder of the Vermont Judicial History Society and the Vermont Institute for Government. A former Vermont Deputy Secretary of State, he is presently Moderator of the Town of Berlin.

The 25 essays collected in this new book from the Vermont Historical Society examine the founda­tions of legal thought in Vermont, historical issues ranging from log drives to the keeping of sheep to blue laws, the state’s legal luminaries, and contemporary issues including ancient roads and Act 250.

Vermont was born in conflict and existed as an independent political community until becoming the 14th state in 1791. During those early years Vermonters had to chart their own course in matters of law. From these unique origins, the history of law in Vermont traces the evolution of social and economic developments over time and provides a fascinating lens for understanding the history of the Green Mountain State.

Title: Uncommon Law, Ancient Roads, and Other Ruminations on Vermont Legal History

Publisher: Vermont Historical Society (2013)

Trade Paperback; 414 pages with end notes, a bibliography, an index, and some photos and illustrations.

Uncommon Law, Ancient Roads, and Other Ruminations on Vermont Legal History is available for purchase from the Vermont Historical Society.

In this interview Paul Gillies and I talk about a variety of items from Vermont legal history such as the implication of towns settling the first minister and distributing land to him. We also dig into the importance of fences and why they were needed over the centuries. We discuss ancients roads that are still legal roads even though they only exist on old maps. We also discover three luminary characters from Vermont legal history – Nathaniel Chipman, the scandalous Royall Tyler and John Mattocks.

Links mentioned during the interview:

One copy of Uncommon Law, Ancient Roads, and Other Ruminations on Vermont Legal History is given out to the Fieldstone Common audience courtesy of the Vermont Historical Society.

The winner is:

Congratulations to our winner and thanks to the Vermont Historical Society for their generosity in donating the book!

Make sure you qualify to win the giveaway next week by signing up for the Bonus List! Once you sign up your are in the running each week!

The Direct Link to this post is

BIG NEWS for Android users! Fieldstone Common is now available in the Android app Stitcher. Stitcher is a program like iTunes but is available on the Android platform. Download Stitcher and search for Fieldstone Common or click here.

Question: What’s that’s new stuff in the Fieldstone Common title (FC 92)?

Answer: That makes it easier, especially for iTunes and other podcast listeners, to keep track of which episode they are listening to. FC stands for Fieldstone Common and 92 is the number of the episode.

This week on Fieldstone Common our featured guest is John Grenham, the author of the book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors. The Northeast has the highest concentration of Irish ancestry in the United States and with the help of John and his book we are going to get you started digging into your past.

John Grenham writes the ‘Irish Roots’ column in The Irish Times and runs the Irish Times Irish Ancestors website. He is a fellow of The Irish Genealogical Research Society and The Genealogical Society of Ireland. John came to professional genealogy in 1981, as one of the panel of researchers in the Office of the Chief Herald of Ireland. As in-house researcher for that Office in 1990-91, he was instrumental in setting up the Consultation Service, the forerunner of the current Genealogical Advisory Services in the National Library and National Archives and was a founder member of The Association of Professional Genealogists in Ireland in 1986. Among his publications are Clans and Families of Ireland (1995), Generations (1996), ‘The Genealogical Office and its Records’ in The Genealogical Office (1999), Grenham’s Irish Recordfinder (CD-ROM) (1995-2006), Grenham’s Irish Surnames (CD-ROM, 2003) and numerous articles and columns in the UK magazine Your Family Tree. His website is www.johngrenham.com.

This new 4th edition of Tracing Your Irish Ancestors retains the familiar structure of previous editions but is now more useful than ever. Combining the key features of a textbook and a reference book, it describes the various steps in the research process while at the same time providing an indispensable body of source materials for immediate use.

The biggest change from previous editions is in its approach to the Internet. Online research is now an essential part of any Irish family history project, so the 4th edition serves as a directory to online records, discussing their uses and outlining research strategies. The sheer scale of the data available online makes a guide such as this all the more essential, and in the hands of a master it is indispensable.

Along with its step-by-step instructions in the location and use of traditional genealogical records, its discussion of civil records of birth, marriage, and death, as well as land records and wills, and list of Roman Catholic parish records and source lists, all expanded, updated, and indexed.

Title: Tracing Your Irish Ancestors

Publisher: The Genealogical Publishing Company (2012)

Trade Paperback; 577 pages with  a bibliography, an index, and some maps and illustrations.

Tracing Your Irish Ancestors is available for purchase from Amazon.com and other booksellers.

In this interview John Grenham and I get into a discussion of Irish immigration to America from what caused the immigration to what happened after the Irish arrived. And of course we talk about genealogy, providing tips for those just getting started researching their Irish ancestry.  John will be coming to the United States in August for the Celtic Connections conference and in September for the IFEST event (see links below). This broadcast is packed with history, genealogy and great information!

Links mentioned during the interview:

One copy of Tracing Your Irish Ancestors is given out to the Fieldstone Common audience courtesy of The Genealogical Publishing Company.

The winner is:

Congratulations to our winner and thanks to The Genealogical Publishing Company for their generosity in donating the book!

Make sure you qualify to win the giveaway next week by signing up for the Bonus List! Once you sign up your are in the running each week!

The Direct Link to this post is

BIG NEWS for Android users! Fieldstone Common is now available in the Android app Stitcher. Stitcher is a program like iTunes but is available on the Android platform. Download Stitcher and search for Fieldstone Common or click here.

Question: What’s that’s new stuff in the Fieldstone Common title (FC 91)?

Answer: That makes it easier, especially for iTunes and other podcast listeners, to keep track of which episode they are listening to. FC stands for Fieldstone Common and 91 is the number of the episode.

This week on Fieldstone Common our featured guest is Daniel J. Tortora, the author of the book Fort Halifax: Winslow’s Historic Outpost.

Daniel Tortora is an assistant professor of history at Colby College. An expert on early American and Native American history, he speaks extensively on the French and Indian War and Revolutionary War eras. He leads battlefield and historic tours and has contributed to numerous films, archaeological projects, websites, exhibits and research projects. In 2011, he was appointed to the Fort Halifax Park Implementation Committee.

Winslow has grown up around Fort Halifax in its many, many incarnations. Beginning as a French and Indian War garrison and trading post, the fort welcomed historic figures from Benedict Arnold and Aaron Burr to Paul Revere and Chief Joseph Orono. Reduced to one small blockhouse in the 1800s, Fort Halifax hosted archaeologists, travelers, artists, politicians and students. The Flood of 1987 swept away the blockhouse, leaving the fort and its supporters to fight an uphill battle for reconstruction. Throughout varied iterations, uses, trials and tribulations, Fort Halifax has remained the symbol of a community. Join historian Daniel J. Tortora in this engaging narrative of Fort Halifax’s fight for survival. Meet the famous visitors to the fort, the local residents who have cared for it and the figures who have kept its memory relevant and its future hopeful.

Title: Fort Halifax: Winslow’s Historic Outpost

Publisher: The History Press (2014)

Trade Paperback; 158 pages with end notes, a bibliography, an index, and some photos and illustrations.

Fort Halifax: Winslow’s Historic Outpost is available for purchase from Amazon.com and other booksellers.

In this interview Daniel Tortora and I discuss the strategic location of Fort Halifax at the confluence of the Kennebec and Sebasticook rivers. Fort Halifax became the most northern outpost for the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Though the history of Fort Halifax as an active military outpost was short-lived it was witness to skirmishes with the Native American population and was host Benedict Arnold during the Revolutionary War.  Much of the story of Fort Halifax is the tenacity of its survival and its rebirth with the help of the Daughters of the American Revolution and devoted preservationists.

Links mentioned during the interview:

One copy of Fort Halifax: Winslow’s Historic Outpost is given out to the Fieldstone Common audience courtesy of The History Press.

The winner is:

Congratulations to our winner and thanks to The History Press for their generosity in donating the book!

Make sure you qualify to win the giveaway next week by signing up for the Bonus List! Once you sign up your are in the running each week!

The Direct Link to this post is

BIG NEWS for Android users! Fieldstone Common is now available in the Android app Stitcher. Stitcher is a program like iTunes but is available on the Android platform. Download Stitcher and search for Fieldstone Common or click here.

Question: What’s that’s new stuff in the Fieldstone Common title (FC 90)?

Answer: That makes it easier, especially for iTunes and other podcast listeners, to keep track of which episode they are listening to. FC stands for Fieldstone Common and 90 is the number of the episode.

This week on Fieldstone Common our featured guest is Susan Tejada, the author of the book In Search of Sacco and Vanzetti: Double Lives, Troubled Times and the Massachusetts Murder Case that Shook the World.

Susan Tejada is a former writer and editor at the National Geographic Society, where she was editor-in-chief of National Geographic World magazine and authored and edited geography books for young readers. She was previously the associate editor of EPA Journal, reporting on environmental issues. A native of Providence, Rhode Island, she has taught non-fiction writing for young readers at the Highlights Foundation summer Writers’ Workshops in Chautauqua, New York.

Tejada received a research fellowship from The Lilly Library of Indiana University for In Search of Sacco and Vanzetti. The book is the recipient of the 2013 Independent Publisher Book Award gold medal for true crime.

It was a bold and brutal crime–robbery and murder in broad daylight on the streets of South Braintree, Massachusetts, in 1920. Tried for the crime and convicted, two Italian-born laborers, anarchists Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, went to the electric chair in 1927, professing their innocence. Journalist Susan Tejada has spent years investigating the case, sifting through diaries and police reports and interviewing descendants of major figures. She discovers little-known facts about Sacco, Vanzetti, and their supporters, and develops a tantalizing theory about how a doomed insider may have been coerced into helping professional criminals plan the heist.

Tejada’s close-up view of the case allows readers to see those involved as individual personalities. She also paints a fascinating portrait of a bygone era: Providence gangsters and Boston Brahmins; nighttime raids and midnight bombings; and immigration, unionism, draft dodging, and violent anarchism in the turbulent early years of the twentieth century. In many ways this is as much a cultural history as a true-crime mystery or courtroom drama. Because the case played out against a background of domestic terrorism, in a time that echoes our own, we have a new appreciation of the potential connection between fear and the erosion of civil liberties and miscarriages of justice.

Title: In Search of Sacco and Vanzetti: Double Lives, Troubled Times and the Massachusetts Murder Case that Shook the World

Publisher: University Press of New England (2012)

Hard Cover; 386 pages with end notes, selected bibliography, index and some photos.

In Search of Sacco and Vanzetti: Double Lives, Troubled Times and the Massachusetts Murder Case that Shook the World is available for purchase from Amazon.com and other booksellers.

In this interview Susan and I discuss the complex case of Sacco & Vanzetti amidst the tumultuous times of the early 20th century complete with the end of WWI, the Red Scare, Anarchism, the rise of the labor movement and an anti-immigrant backlash. Were Sacco & Vanzetti guilty of robbery and murder or were they the unwilling victims of their times? We dig into some surprising evidence!

One copy of In Search of Sacco and Vanzetti: Double Lives, Troubled Times and the Massachusetts Murder Case that Shook the World is given out to the Fieldstone Common audience courtesy of the University Press of New England.

The winner is:

Congratulations to our winner and thanks to the University Press of New England for their generosity in donating the book!

Make sure you qualify to win the giveaway next week by signing up for the Bonus List! Once you sign up your are in the running each week!

The Direct Link to this post is

BIG NEWS for Android users! Fieldstone Common is now available in the Android app Stitcher. Stitcher is a program like iTunes but is available on the Android platform. Download Stitcher and search for Fieldstone Common or click here.

Question: What’s that’s new stuff in the Fieldstone Common title (FC 89)?

Answer: That makes it easier, especially for iTunes and other podcast listeners, to keep track of which episode they are listening to. FC stands for Fieldstone Common and 89 is the number of the episode.