"Arkansas Backstories: Quirks, Characters, and Curiosities of the Natural State; Volume 1"

Arkansas is complex place- part Old South, part Old West, and part tradition hill country- and much of what makes Arkansas so special remains largely unrecognized. To help right this wrong, the short essays in the handsomely illustrated book offer surprised for even the most dedicated and devoted students of the state. How many readers, for instance, realize the state's capital city was once known as Arkopolis? Or that the first sitting member of Congress to be assasssinated was shot to death in Monroe County? Or that baseball's spring training routine originally began in Hot Springs? Or that there's good evidence that Abraham Lincoln lived for a time in northeast Arkansas, chopping wood for a plantation owner?

Written by Joe David Rice