This is the story of the human effort that went into completing one of the most complex feats of engineering in Alabama history, the building of four major hydroelectric dams by the Alabama Power Company. Between 1910 and 1930 the Alabama Power Company built four major hydroelectric projects: Lay Dam (1914), Mitchell Dam (1923), and Jordan Dam (1929) on the Coosa River and Martin Dam (1926) on the ...
The intricate personal relationships of a notable Alabama family. Known respectively as the chief of the Confederate Ordnance Bureau and as the university librarian, Josiah and Amelia Gorgas were important members of the University of Alabama and regional communities. Their marriage spanned the Civil War and its aftermath and epitomized the Victorian concept of ...
Like a photo album, "Back Home" presents close-up portraits of everyday places and ordinary people. There are meditations on downtown Mobile, where Roy Hoffman's grandparents arrived as immigrants a century ago; the waterfront where lonshoremen labor and shrimpers work their nets; the back roads leading to obscure but intriguing destinations. Hoffman records local people telling their own tales of ...