When Joe Louis (1914-1981) knocked out the German boxer Max Schmeling in 1938 in two minutes and four seconds, the entire nation--black and white--celebrated the "fight of the century" as a victory of the United States against the ominous tide of Nazism. Never had an African-American received such universal praise across racial lines. Heavyweight champion for a record twelve years from 1937 to 1949, Louis opened the doors for such future black athletes as Jackie Robinson, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Muhammad Ali.Joe Louis depicts the prizefighter's life, and the times in which he lived,...
When Joe Louis (1914-1981) knocked out the German boxer Max Schmeling in 1938 in two minutes and four seconds, the entire nation--black and white--cel...
The period from 1920 through the early post-World War II years remains the greatest in the long history of the Detroit Tigers Baseball Club. Between 1920 and 1950 the club won four pennants and two World Series, placed second seven times, and regularly fielded exciting, competitive teams.
Richard Bak spent ten years recording the life stories of nearly two dozen Tigers players from Detroit's "golden age." There was no pattern to how life had treated them since their playing days-some had stayed in the game as broadcasters or scouts; others had slipped into quiet anonymity as milkmen or...
The period from 1920 through the early post-World War II years remains the greatest in the long history of the Detroit Tigers Baseball Club. Betwee...
On April 28, 1896, baseball fans traveled in horse-drawn buggies to watch the Detroit Tigers play their first baseball game at the site on the corner of Michigan and Trumbull Avenues. Starting out as Bennett Park, a wooden facility with trees growing in the outfield, Tiger Stadium has played a central
role in the lives of millions of Detroiters and their families for more than a century.
During the last century, millions of fans have come to Michigan and Trumbull to watch the Tigers' 7,800 home games, as well as to attend numerous other sporting, social, and civic events, including...
On April 28, 1896, baseball fans traveled in horse-drawn buggies to watch the Detroit Tigers play their first baseball game at the site on the corn...
From the earliest burial mounds to today's simple street shrines, Boneyards: Detroit Under Ground reveals how Metro Detroiters have interred their dead and honored their memory. Author Richard Bak investigates the history of dozens of local cemeteries and also explores the cultural and business side of dying, from old-fashioned home funerals to the grave-robbing "resurrectionists" of the nineteenth century to modern funeral directors. Bak presents a mix of historic and contemporary photographs to illustrate each site or event alongside lively prose descriptions. Taken together, Bak's...
From the earliest burial mounds to today's simple street shrines, Boneyards: Detroit Under Ground reveals how Metro Detroiters have interred their ...
In Detroitland: A Collection of Movers, Shakers, Lost Souls, and History Makers from Detroit's Past prolific local historian and journalist Richard Bak has assembled many of his award-winning historical features, all originally written for such periodicals as Hour Detroit, Detroit Monthly, and Michigan History and now updated and expanded for this collection. In twenty-seven chapters that cover roughly a century of Detroit's rich and colorful history, Bak relives the scandals, mysteries, catastrophes, triumphs, and celebrations that have rocked Detroit. He also...
In Detroitland: A Collection of Movers, Shakers, Lost Souls, and History Makers from Detroit's Past prolific local historian and journalist ...
In this new addition to the Images of America series, Richard Bak takes us on a visual journey through Detroit's golden era, encompassing the first three decades of the twentieth century. It was during this time that the City of Detroit experienced its most rapid physical growth and underwent an unprecedented pace of social and technological change. Detroit: 1900-1930 contains nearly 190 illustrations, including studio portraits, snapshots, postcards, songsheet covers, and period advertisements. Collectively, these images evoke a past that is often too easily forgotten as older Detroiters...
In this new addition to the Images of America series, Richard Bak takes us on a visual journey through Detroit's golden era, encompassing the firs...
