Book Description

Celebrate the bicentennial of Maine statehood. Historian Tom Huntington covers the course of Maine’s often turbulent history, decade by decade. He writes about the death of Congressman Jonathan Cilley in a duel; the Portland Rum Riot and the birth of Prohibition; the Confederate raid on Portland Harbor; James G. Blaine’s scandal-ridden try for the presidency; the triumph and tragedy of Louis Sockalexis, the first Native American to play major league baseball; Sangerville native Hiram Maxim’s transformation of modern war; Charles Lindbergh’s 1927 visit to Maine (and the Portland resident who became the first person to stowaway on a transatlantic flight); the bloody shootout that killed gangster Al Brady in Bangor; the German saboteurs who came ashore on Mt. Desert Island during World War II; Margaret Chase Smith’s principled stand against Senator Joseph McCarthy; Samantha Smith’s plea for world peace; the arrival of Somali immigrants in Lewiston; and much, much more. It’s an entertaining and informative look at key events, milestones and personalities from two fascinating centuries of statehood.