Biography

The story of legendary still-busting Sheriff Franklin Smith

     Newly elected Sheriff Franklin Smith and his family moved into their new home on the first floor of the Lawrence County, Alabama, Jail in January 1951. He would lead a war against moonshine liquor that became the stuff of legend, rising from the mists like a ghost, the story goes, to nab unsuspecting makers and sellers of illegal spirits.
     Sheriff Smith and his fellow moonshine raiders busted more than 1,000 stills during his eight-year tenure and jailed hundreds of distillers. But the aftershocks of one of those raids turned the sheriff’s life upside down. Facing possible prison time, his quest to regain his good name and reputation is a compelling part of “My Father, the Ghost.”
     But there’s another side to this “Ghost” story. You will meet a delightful array of jail characters, like Jackleg, the whiskey hauler; Big Richard, the murderer; and Peg, the nervous floor mopper.
     Screwdriver was the little 11-year-old prisoner who became everybody’s favorite, including the sheriff’s. You will meet Willie B., whose cat phobia had him climbing cell bars; Leland Herschel Bull, who sawed his way out of a third floor cell; and Sherman Lancaster, the jailed preacher whose flock tried to pray his cell door open.
     Luvenia, the jail cook, prepared banana pudding and yeast rolls for the prisoners upstairs; John Franklin, a prisoner, taught the sheriff’s daughter to drive.
     The still raids, the arrests, the sheriff’s federal trial, gutter politics, and jail characters . . . they’re all part of the true story of this Southern sheriff and his family of the 1950s.
     You will laugh and you may cry as you read the touchingly intimate story of the man they called “The Ghost.”

This is a true story about a boy whose life revolved around God and basketball. Matt Espinoza aka “Noza” was taught about the game of basketball at a very young age. During that time he faced many obstacles, the most difficult one being that he lost his mom to brain cancer when he was nine years old. His dad raised him and his brother and continued developing them for basketball. Other challenges would confront Matt. He was dealing with a blood platelet condition he had not grown out of yet. Matt had a love for the game of basketball but his body was not developing as fast as most kids. In his younger years things were going great. But when he got to Jr. High other kids seem to be passing him up and he was struggling for playing time. Matt would always tag along with his older brother, Jake, but always found himself watching and not playing. When Matt was a freshman and a sophomore he almost didn’t make McNary High School’s basketball team. His dad speaks of the challenges and lessons learned in this amazing story. Matt was always trying to keep up with his older brother Jake. They would eventually battle it out in a college basketball game. This is an inspirational, encouraging, and an amazing story of a young man that believed in himself and was not going to be denied. Matt set goals for himself and he worked hard to reach those goals. His attitude of never giving up, and having faith paid off big time.

Michael John Fitzgerald - From Immigrant to Officer in the Indian Fighting Army

The story of Michael Fitzgerald is the story of a nine-year-old Irish boy who traveled across the Atlantic without his parents to live in the slums of Baltimore. At the age of seventeen, young Michael enlisted in the Army at Fort McHenry and began a military life that would take him to key areas of America’s growth. He was a young Army private in the Artillery sloshing through the Florida Everglades in the Third Seminole War. He and his family were held prisoners by the rebellious mob in Charleston, South Carolina after Major Anderson fled with the folks at Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter. For his efforts as a field medic he became a hospital steward and helped care for the thousands of men wounded and killed at Antietam. For his actions in Frederick during this time he became a commissioned officer, serving on the West Coast and the Great Plains. During his career he married four wives, the first two in the frontier wilderness.

Michael Fitzgerald was a witness and participant in American History. This book follows Michael’s life and directs our attention to how and where his life intersected with the making of America.

Reminiscences of a group of school girls growing up in Germany during WWII, including the naivety, fellowship and propaganda of grade school Hitler Youth camps, growing disillusion during the war, hardships and survival within total destruction at the end, and the search for an education after the war.

There are millions of words that have been written on the divisive history of the War Between the States, commonly referred to as, “The Civil War.” Thousands of stories have been placed in book form.

Robert S. Heflin lived a truly remarkable life at a time in our country’s development and change which required a special courage, a steadfast and resolute commitment.

It was his country, above all else, that he pledged to support. He felt it to be his duty. At risk were the bonds of love and the nurturing of his wife and children, his father and mother, his brothers and sisters and his friends and neighbors.

It was the Union of the United States for which he risked all of this. It was for more than honor; much more.

Set in the notoriously poor Appalachian region of Kentucky, this story chronicles the life of Sheila and her seven siblings as they experience one tragedy after another. After her coal mining father passes away at an early age, Sheila and her family struggle to survive under the direction of a mother who can often provide little more than beans and cornbread for long stretches of time. As the family weathers tragedy after tragedy, the siblings believe they have seen it all until Sheila must face the most difficult trial of all, Lou Gehrig’s disease. Experience the true meaning of what it means to struggle and triumph as a family in this tale of how one group of siblings must come of age in the grip of poverty.

Placed in an orphanage at age three, following his mother’s death, young Arthur Vucci endured unimaginable beatings, verbal and physical abuse, and starvation for the next twelve years of his life. The innocence of his childhood now lost, he had every right to come out of the orphanage a bitter young man. But Arthur, tightly clutching his faith in God, set out on a journey to find family, love and the security he so desperately sought. This inspirational story will follow Arthur through his struggles and obsessive determination to reach the ultimate goal of having his own family to nurture and protect. In his mind, once he had that family, no one would ever take it away from him.

The True Story of Trucker Bob and Roberta Brown

Roberta Brown, the courageous wife of trucker Bob Brown, tells her true story in her own words. She relives their not so long time together in a story that will melt your heart with beauty and magic until the terrible end. But the story does not end there...it is also the story of the many friends who came to the aid of Roberta and her family; friends who continue to stand by them as they seek the courage and determination to move on with their lives.

“Life is short, but we didn’t know how short, until what we were familiar with was gone, it can change in a moment. Join me in this ride to the end with my husband which started out as a beginning of a brand new day of joy then changed to tragedy at the blink of an eye and a split second on a clock.”

Retrace the steps of Linda Aldridge-Robertson, through childhood on up to adulthood. You will vividly see all of the things that she saw and feel all of the things that she felt, when she came into the realization that she was adopted.

Later she would deal with being despised and ridiculed for wanting to help everyone else to see that African-Americans are beautiful people, too, and running for Homecoming Queen was definitely her way of bringing this fact to light.

Had her sense of self been less potent, she might have walked away before deciding that she was bigger than all that was coming against her.

Her mother’s passing would take place only months after gaining the title, but the fact that she lived to see her make history was a welcomed comfort.

This book is very short and direct, but it will leave you with much to ponder.

This is the story of Harry Kahn, also known as Bobbie Ray or Soldier Ray. His life began in 1903, the year Soldier Ray was born on a ship coming to America from Finland. During his fascinating life he became the welterweight champion of the Armed Forces – not just once, but twice. After leaving the US Army he did what many boxers did in those days, he went to work for the Mob. There are a lot of stories that need to be told and this is one of them.