STEPHEN H. PROVOST (2024)

Stephen H. Provost presents this new expanded version of his 2015 release, Fresno Growing Up, packed with new and updated information, a new format and more than 80 new images. Fresno Growing Up is the first book to tell the story of Fresno during those memorable days when the city was growing up—and so were we. Fresno Growing Up documents the Fresno experience and Fresno popular culture during its dramatic postwar period, when the city abruptly shifted from a small town to the fastest growing city in the United States. Surveying the businesses, restaurants, movie houses, malls, personalities, sports, bands, and fads that made Fresno fun from the forties to the eighties, “Fresno Growing Up” is a nostalgic look back at both the city’s adolescence and our own.

Paperback (335 pages, 8.25 x 11)
Color keepsake hardcover, eBook
suitable for all ages

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STEPHEN H. PROVOST (2019)

Packed with more than 300 images and chock full of details, Martinsville Memories is a look at a diverse town built on tobacco, textiles and furniture that occupies a unique place in the nation’s fabric and history. From its the town’s historic beginnings through its 20th century heyday, this volume offers a nostalgic trek through time, with stops at drive-ins, old hotels and iconic storefronts along the way. Martinsville Memories doesn’t stop at the city limits, but gives the reader a tour of surrounding communities such as Collinsville, Ridgeway, Bassett, Axton, and Spencer as well. With a foreword by author and Martinsville native Stephen Mark Rainey, Martinsville Memories captures the triumphs and struggles of a city at the heart of the South and the soul of America.

Paperback (222 pages, 8 x 10), eBook
suitable for all ages

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STEPHEN H. PROVOST (2021)

The author of Fresno Growing Up presents new anecdotes and new details of familiar stories you thought you knew, all in an easy-to-read timeline format. You'll also find more than 100 images not included in "Fresno Growing Up." In these pages, you'll find stories of Olympic athletes, movie stars, and mayors. You'll rediscover old stores like Radin & Kamp, Gottschalks, Arthur's Toys, and Coffee's. You'll read about tough-guy mayor "No Fun Dun" and pioneering aviator Glenn L. Martin. Fresno Century takes you through the history of Central California's largest city year by year from 1900 to 1999, with stops at Ratcliffe Stadium, Hotel Fresno, the Forkner Fig Gardens, Grant's Tomb, and many other familiar destinations.

Paperback (253 pages, 6 x 9)
Hardcover, eBook
suitable for all ages

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STEPHEN H. PROVOST (2021)

For a little village, a lot has happened in Cambria. It’s on the road to Hearst Castle and the most scenic stretch of Highway 1, where you can see zebras roaming beside the freeway and elephant seals lounging in the sun. But it’s also a destination in its own right, where a rare stand of Monterey pines meets the sea, and where dozens of lively shops and galleries lie nestled at the base of the green Santa Lucia foothills. Former Cambrian editor Stephen H. Provost takes you on a journey through the 20th century in Cambria, one of California’s favorite places to relax, retire, and sometimes have a lively debate.

Paperback (221 pages, 6 x 9)
Hardcover, eBook
suitable for all ages

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STEPHEN H. PROVOST (2022)

The 20th century brought seismic changes to this town at the southeast corner of a tight geographic triangle that included Reno to the north and Lake Tahoe to the west. The Virginia & Truckee Railroad connected Carson to Virginia City and the Comstock lode. The famed Lincoln Highway linked Carson with the eastern United States and crossed the Sierra to San Francisco. Federal highways (U.S. 50 and 395) replaced dirt roads, and an interstate eventually bypassed Carson to the east. The Stewart Indian School won state athletic championships as it evolved from an oppressive vehicle for forced assimilation into a place of pride for Native Americans. Carson City Century, illustrated with 130 historical and contemporary images, tells the story of Nevada's capital in the 20th century.

Paperback (212 pages, 6 x 9)
Hardcover, eBook
suitable for all ages

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STEPHEN H. PROVOST (2021)

There is a lot more to Charleston's story than its role as the capital of West Virginia. It's the birthplace of the nation's petrochemical industry. An oil field near Cabin Creek supplied the raw material that made the Pure Oil company a leader in the field. If Cabin Creek sounds familiar, it's probably because an NBA Hall of Famer went to high school there. Jerry West, aka "Zeke from Cabin Creek," became an pro basketball star, top executive, and the inspiration for the league's iconic logo. The Shoney's restaurant chain got its start in Charleston as the Parkette Drive-In. And one of the nation's most mysterious unsolved murders happened in the city. Country music star Kathy Mattea was born in South Charleston, and the city had an undefeated pro football team seven years before the Miami Dolphins pulled off the feat.

Paperback (214 pages, 6 x 9)
Hardcover, eBook
suitable for all ages

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STEPHEN H. PROVOST (2021)

Packed with nearly 150 images, Danville Century tells the story of a town at the southern edge of central Virginia. And it's a city with many stories to tell. Did you know Danville was the site of a train wreck that inspired America’s first million-selling record? That it was the birthplace of the first woman to be seated in Britain’s Parliament? The first African American to sign a contract with a major U.S. opera company? Or the first Black driver to win a NASCAR Grand National race? Richard Petty led for 103 laps, but he didn’t win it. Wendell Scott did. And Richard Pryor later portrayed him in a movie. Whether you answered, “I didn’t know that,” to any of those questions, or whether you just want to be reminded of the stories behind them, you’ll find it all in Danville Century.

Paperback (221 pages, 6 x 9)
Hardcover, eBook
suitable for all ages

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STEPHEN H. PROVOST (2021)

There are a lot of abandoned buildings in Goldfield because at one time, this living ghost town was the largest city in Nevada. Back in 1906, more than 20,000 people lived there, compared with maybe half that many in Reno. Goldfield hadn't even existed four years earlier, but it got very big very fast thanks to the discovery of gold in the area. It didn't stay that way long, though. Like other boomtowns, the mines eventually dried up, and most of the townsfolk moved on, looking for greener (or more golden) pastures. But during its heyday, Goldfield had it all: saloons and tycoons, gunmen and prospectors, the fanciest hotel between Kansas City and San Francisco, and even a deputy named Earp. It also had boxing's biggest promoter: a local saloon owner named Tex Ricard who later owned Madison Square Garden but got his start staging the first "fight of the century" right there in Goldfield.

Paperback (239 pages, 6 x 9)
Hardcover, eBook
suitable for all ages

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STEPHEN H. PROVOST (2022)

Greensboro is perhaps best known as the birthplace of the lunch-counter sit-in movement that helped break segregation in the South. It was there, at a Woolworth's on Elm Street, that four Black college students from North Carolina A&T sat down at a segregated counter to be served. It was the beginning of a movement that would spread across the South, a key moment in the struggle for civil rights. The 20th century saw Greensboro grow from a city of barely 10,000 people at its outset to a bustling metropolis of more than 220,000 by the end of the millennium. In the meantime, it gave birth to a textile boom, hosted a major golf tournament and even had its own pro basketball team. The famed short story writer O. Henry worked at a downtown pharmacy, and a later owner of that same drugstore developed a famous cold remedy that's still popular today.

Paperback (216 pages, 6 x 9)
Hardcover, eBook
suitable for all ages

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STEPHEN H. PROVOST (2021)

Huntington started off as a railroad town on a river in West Virginia. In this case, the railroad was the C&O, short for Chesapeake and Ohio, and the waterway was the Ohio River. It was the site of the easternmost bank robbed by the James-Younger Gang, and it's home to the state's largest mall. Marshall University, near the center of town, has drawn headlines for winning national championships and for a tragic plane crash that took the lives of the football team and everyone else on board in 1970. NASCAR greats raced at a track just west of town on the Grand National circuit. Camden Park — the state's largest amusement park — has drawn families from around the Tri-State area (where West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky meet) for more than a century. Huntington's hometown heroes include an NBA Hall of Famer, the founder of a major restaurant chain, and a comedy legend.

Paperback (203 pages, 6 x 9)
Hardcover, eBook
suitable for all ages

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STEPHEN H. PROVOST (2021)

Do you remember when Dr. J played in Roanoke? When Santa's train stopped at Miller & Rhoads downtown? When a native son starred in one of the biggest holiday classics of all time? Whether you answered, "I didn't know that," or whether you just want to be reminded, you'll find it all in Roanoke Century. It was headquarters for the Norfolk & Western railroad and a thriving textile industry. Growth eventually slowed, and the "Magic City" moniker gave way to "Star City of the South" in the mid-20th century, when a giant neon star appeared on Mill Mountain overlooking a thriving and historic downtown. Roanoke was once home to the state's biggest football stadium and its first indoor mall.

Paperback (186 pages, 6 x 9)
Hardcover, eBook
suitable for all ages

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STEPHEN H. PROVOST (2021)

From the Mission to the Madonna Inn, from Ozzie Smith’s heroics to Weird Al’s weirdness, San Luis Obispo saw its share of landmarks and highlights in the 20th century. It’s home to the world’s first motel and one of the West Coast’s most vibrant classic theaters. It’s a university town that’s the hub of a coastal community and a gateway to the most scenic stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway. Former Tribune columnist and Cambrian editor Stephen H. Provost takes you on a journey through the 20th century in San Luis Obispo, once dubbed “The Happiest Place in America.” San Luis Obispo Century contains a wealth of anecdotes, nearly 100 contemporary and historic images, and details of familiar stories you thought you knew, all in an easy-to-read timeline format.

Paperback (196 pages, 6 x 9)
Hardcover, eBook
suitable for all ages

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