Bøger af Ron Elliott

For decades following the Civil War, people used the expression "when Kentucky goes Republican" in the same way someone today might say "when hell freezes over" to indicate the improbability of some event. Indeed from 1859, a Democrat occupied Kentucky's Governor's chair for the next nine terms. Then, in 1895, the unthinkable occurred: Kentucky elected its first Republican Governor! When Republican presidential candidate William McKinley carried Kentucky the following year, the Democrats felt something must be done to stem this alarming trend. Elliott's detailed examination of the vitriolic 1899 political campaign, the ensuing assassination of William Goebel and the resulting political and civil turmoil sheds an informative and intriguing light into this darkest corner of Kentucky's history. The author's equally fascinating investigation of the criminal proceedings, which lasted twenty years, and the political legacy of this quintessential story of Kentucky politics prove that "politics are the damnedest" in Kentucky.

The passion that is University of Kentucky basketball's Big Blue Nation is not a recent phenomenon. In fact, fans' maniacal devotion to the 'Cats traces back to Coach Adolph Rupp's early days at UK in the 1930s. As Rupp grew into his job, his teams steadily grew more formidable until they became nearly invincible in what came to be known as UK's "glory years," 1946-1951. In that time frame, Kentucky's Fabulous Five merely: won the National Invitational Tournament (NIT), which was considered the national championship at the time, once; finished runner-up once; won the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Tournament three times and could have won it a fourth time and formed the nucleus of the United States Olympic team which won the Gold Medal. Then, on a crisp October day in 1951, the roof caved in. Authorities arrested the stars, Ralph Beard and Alex Groza, on charges of conspiring with gamblers to "shave points" as the "fixers'" felt that UK's teams were talented enough to win by any chosen margin. While that activity was poor ethics anywhere, it was illegal in the State of New York. As many of Kentucky's games were played in Madison Square Garden -- "The Mecca of College Basketball" -- the players were guilty of a serious crime.

Twelve-year-old David Donald is a simple boy with an amazing gift-he is a spinner: a sportsman who becomes the stuff of legend. His guardian, Uncle Michael, is a spinner as well, though a different kind- a trickster, a shyster, and a mythmaker. Set between the wars at the beginning of a drought and a great depression, this David-and-Goliath story tells how a talented young boy beat the English at their own game. Exploring the violence and conflict, the honor and deep bonds created by war and sport within men, this unique fable investigates the tale teller who spins lies to reveal the truth.

The image of the U.S. Marines raising the Stars and Stripes on Iwo Jima may very well be the most famous photograph of all time. While Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal's iconic picture - captured in the final stages of World War II - fuses the men into a single historic unit, they remain six individuals and each was an American woman's precious baby boy.From an overall historical viewpoint, given that what we see in the photograph is American teamwork, courage and victory, the individual identities may not matter; nonetheless, each of the six men has a unique background and traveled a distinctive path to reach the summit of Mt. Suribachi.Through exhaustive research into sources public and private, Ron Elliott has detailed the heart-warming and heart-wrenching drama that is the life and legacy of one of the flag raisers, Franklin Runyon Sousley. Sousley's story is related with all the tragedy, humor and excitement that compose the remarkable life of one chosen by fate to be representative of the thousands of Americans who sacrificed so much to preserve our way of life.