Iowa History Journal at the Iowa State Fair

Monday, August 18th, 2014 | Book Signing, Books, Iowa History Journal | No Comments

Mike was a special guest at the Iowa History Journal booth at the Iowa State Fair last week. He signed dozens of books for fairgoers and hung out with Michael and Rebecca Swanger, the new owners of Iowa History Journal. Bev also worked at the Fair two days.

Iowa History Journal Volume 6, Issue 1, Now Available

Saturday, March 1st, 2014 | Iowa History Journal | No Comments

Bonnie and Clyde stormed out of Texas in the 1930s to blaze a trail of terror until their gang ran into big problems in a park area outside of Dexter, Iowa. Read about how this small Iowa town will forever go down in history as the place that marked the beginning of the end for these notorious bank robbers and killers.

Contents

• Publisher’s Perspective: Five years behind us… ready for the grand future by Mike Chapman
• JFK Assassination: Tragic moment in history has Iowa connections by Bill Sherman
• Adventures of Harriet: Des Moines girl becomes TV legend by John Busbee
• Country Roads: This great rumble fizzled at the end by Arvid Huisman
• No Hawkeye star ever stood taller than Chuck Darling by Buck Turnbull
• Shooting down Bonnie & Clyde legend in Dexter by Mark Yontz
• The Way We Were: Dress hats were once common attire in Iowa by John McNeer
• What’s In A Name: Little Brown Church put Nashua on map by John Skipper
• Dairy business in Des Moines now an Iowa tradition by Jeff Stein
• Book Review: New book on Lincoln has strong Iowa angle by Mike Chapman
• Farmer Burns: The Founding Father of Iowa Wrestling
• Iowa History Quiz
• Letters to the Editor

Tags: Bonnie and Clyde, Chuck Darling, Farmer Burns, Little Brown Church

Iowa History Journal Volume 5, Issue 6, Now Available

Monday, November 4th, 2013 | Iowa History Journal | No Comments

On 300 plus acres of land outside the town of Missouri Valley are the remnants of a forgotten piece of Cold War history. Fifty years ago, on Iowa soil, stood an incredible weapon that could reach speeds of 15,500 miles per hour and travel 9,000 miles. On impact, it generated an explosion almost 175 times the power and destruction force of the nuclear bomb dropped on Japan to end World War II. It was the Atlas-D Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, the first ICBM of the United States and the last resort for preservation of the county. Historian Michael Reece has written a spellbinding story of Iowa’s “Guardian of Peace.”

In addition, Brian Cooper writes about Dubuque’s Jay Berwanger, who in 1935 became the first winner of the legendary Heisman Trophy: Jeff Stein describes the stunning veterans museum in Waterloo named after the Sullivan brothers: Don Doxsie describes the successful business Happy Joe’s……and two writers, Jessica Lowe and Bob Denny, recall the role of Iowans in the stories of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King.

Click to see the full contents of the issue…

Tags: Atlas-D, Happy Joe's, Jay Berwanger, Missouri Valley, Orange City, Sullivan Brothers Museum

Iowa History Journal Volume 5, Issue 5, Now Available

Friday, September 6th, 2013 | Iowa History Journal | No Comments

Few Iowans have had a bigger impact on the overall prosperity of the state than “Tama Jim” Wilson, who spent most of his adult life in Traer. Wilson served as Secretary of Agriculture for sixteen years under three presidents – William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. In this issue of Iowa History Journal, Jerry Harrington provides an in-depth look at this very influential Iowan and also has thumbnail sketches of the other five Iowans who have held that prestigious position.

In addition, Don Doxsie writes about the devastating tornado of 1860 that left the city of Camanche in total ruin; Pat Kinney gives readers a tantalizing trip back in time to WWII with his interview of the widow of one of the five Sullivan brothers; Jeff Stein informs of the period in 1953 when television exploded onto the eastern Iowa scene, and John Skipper writes about the amazing success of the Sukup family in the grain bin business.

All that and much more in the latest issue of Iowa History Journal – including Winterset’s latest efforts in expanding the legacy of John Wayne.

Click to see the full contents of the issue…

Tags: Camanche, Fort Dodge, John Wayne, Pocahontas, Sukup, Tama Jim Wilson