To order a book, click on the cover!



The 17-Inch Baseball Bat

The 17-Inch Baseball Bat:  On the 19th of August, 1951, Bill Veeck, the owner of the St. Louis Browns
Baseball Team sent a 3-foot, 7-inch midget to Home Plate to bat against the Detroit Tigers. It was Veeck's
greatest, most memorable stunt, and it set a historical milestone that will never be equaled. This is the story
of Bill Veeck, Eddie Gaedel,  and the one and only time a midget  stood at home plate in a  Major League
baseball game with a 17-Inch Toy Baseball Bat. The following day, the President of the American League
canceled Eddie's contract, ordered his name be stricken from the record books, and proclaimed that midgets
would never be allowed in American League baseball. This is the complete story of that fascinating day
in Sportsman's Park in St. Louis when Veeck, Gaedel, and the St. Louis Browns made baseball history.




Helen

Helen is the story of a women who leaves Cedar Rapids, Iowa to put bad memories of her past behind her.
In 1951, Helen travels to San Diego, California where she was stationed while in the Navy's "WAVES"
during World War II and she begins a new life along with her mother and her unborn child. It's a story
of struggle, perseverance, survival, and indomitable spirit.



The Lead Belt News: Inspection Tours of the St. Joe Mines in 1950

The Lead Belt News; Inspection Tours of the St. Joe Mines:  In 1950,  Wendell L. Bouchard (owner, publisher, and editor
of The Lead Belt News of southeast Missouri)  took a series of  tours to all of the  surface and underground  operations of the
St. Joseph Lead Company in the "Lead Belt." He subsequently wrote a series of articles about his tours and the "condition"
of the mines in 1950. Charles M. Province has edited and re-written this series or articles into a single book showing how
mining operations worked in the 1940s  and 1950s in southeast  Missouri. Mr. Province has added  new material and
photographs, which include a few stories about his childhood and young adulthood in the lead mining community.




The Mineshaft in My Backyard

The Mineshaft in My Back Yard:  In 1891, Arthur Thacher's daughter,  Theodora, was born in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1894
 when Mr. Thacher organized a new  mining company in  Flat River,  Missouri, he named  his company "The Theodora Lead
Company," and he began mining on the 184 acres of land that was previously the George Williams Farm. In the late 1940s,
I was a child living in Flat River and until my Grandpa Province told me the story, I had no idea that the huge pile of rocks
I played on every day in my backyard was the filled-in 350-foot shaft to the Theodora Mine. This book delves into the
history of the Theodora Lead Company and at the same time, provides a good description of the mining activities in
Flat River (and the surrounding Lead Belt) from the late 1890s until the close of the mines in 1973.
It's a bit of history that should never be forgotten.





Wallis Rigby; Paper Model Monarch

Wallis Rigby; Paper Model Monarch tells the story of how Mr. Rigby created a small empire in the publishing
industry by designing books of Paper Models of airplanes, boats, cars, ships, spaceships, and toys of all kinds.
In the 1940s and 1950s the name Wallis Rigby was synonymous with Paper and Card Models; there were
two types of paper models back then; Rigby Paper Models and "everyone else." This book brings to life
the story of Rigby's acumen, talent, art, design, and model construction using examples of all types of
the models for which Mr. Rigby was famous.





Ben Hogan Says . . .






Adventures of the Flat River Kid; the Audiobook version.
(Available on Audible and Amazon.com)

Adventures of the Flat River Kid is the  complete anthology of stories from the series
by Charles M. Province. Mr. Province recalls his years in a small mining town and on
his Grandpa's farm and expands to the time when he left his home town to live in San
Diego, California. The stories are appealing and  fascinating, displaying the formative
years of a little kid from a little town. This is the story of America.





Adventures of the Flat River Kid; The Complete Anthology.
(All Four A Little Kid From Flat River books in a single volume)

Adventures of The Flat River Kid is the complete anthology of stories from the series
by Charles M. Province. Mr. Province recalls his years in a small mining town and on
his Grandpa's farm and expands to the time when he left his home town to live in San
Diego, California. The stories are appealing and fascinating, displaying the formative
years of a little kid from a little town. This is the story of America.




The Blood-Stained Benders; More Evil Than You Know.
The Dreadful Deeds of the Bender Family.

A history of the Bender family in Kansas, including a "dime novel" of the events leading up
to the massacre of unsuspecting travelers in the days of the wild west. Also included are
newspaper accounts, the trial transcript of the prosecution of "the Bender Women," and
testimony of witnesses who were present during the time of the grisly murders.




A History of the St. Joseph Lead Company.

A history of the St. Joseph Lead Company in the Missouri "Lead Belt" from 1864 to 1892.
A summary  of the origins  of the lead mining industry in southeast  Missouri which  lasted
over a hundred years.



           

A Little Kid From Flat River;
The Original 4-book Series.
Each book is still available if you prefer individual
volumes instead of the anthology offered above.

A Little Kid From Flat River is a series containing  the childhood memories of  Charles M. Province.
A departure from  his usual fare of  military and history books,  Mr. Province delves into his past with
stories that recall his years growing up in a small mining town and on  his Grandpa's farm. The stories
range from sad to funny but they are all appealing and fascinating, displaying the formative years of a
little kid from a little town. This is what America is all about.





A Living History of Flat River, Elvins, Desloge, and Farmington, Missouri (1953).

A Living History of Flat River,  Elvins, Desloge, and Farmington,  Missouri is a snapshot  of small town
life in America a few years following World War II. A history of the towns of Flat River, Elvins, Desloge,
and Farmington, Missouri in 1953, including a history of the lead mining industry in the area from the
1720s to 1953, the year Mr. Province's "old man" was mayor of the town.




A Long Way From Flat River;
My Newspaper Years With The San Diego Union-Tribune;
The Audiobook version.
(Available on Audible and Amazon.com)

A Long Way  From Flat River  encapsulates Mr. Province's  36-year newspaper  career
with the  San Diego Union-Tribune.  The book not  only provides a  background of  the
Copley  family who owned the newspaper, in addition to many other newspapers in the
Los Angeles  area and in Illinois,  it gives a  behind-the-scenes look  at the  newspaper
industry and Mr. Province's  personal involvement  and history  with the Copley Press
from 1969 until his retirement in 2005.




A Long Way From Flat River;
My Newspaper Years With The San Diego Union-Tribune.

A Long Way  From Flat River  encapsulates Mr. Province's  36-year newspaper  career
with the  San Diego Union-Tribune.  The book not  only provides a  background of  the
Copley  family who owned the newspaper, in addition to many other newspapers in the
Los Angeles  area and in Illinois,  it gives a  behind-the-scenes look  at the  newspaper
industry and Mr. Province's  personal involvement  and history  with the Copley Press
from 1969 until his retirement in 2005.





A Message To Garcia; The Complete Story
(Facsimile Edition)

A Message to Garcia  has become one of the most  popular stories in the world. Following
Lt. Col. Andrew S. Rowan's incredible mission to carry a secret message to Cuban General
Calixto Garcia at the  start of the Spanish-American war  in 1898, Elbert Hubbard wrote an
essay about  Rowan's  adventure into Cuba.  Hubbard's original  book is reproduced  in  an
exact facsimile  in this  volume as well as Rowan's  1898 magazine  article and 1922 book
re-telling of his journey. It's a story of initiative, perseverance, and duty.





Bushwhacker; A True Story of Bill Wilson,
Missouri's Most Famous Desperado.

The story of Bill Wilson has been told and re-told throughout the Ozarks Mountains
since he began his bloody career in 1861. He is a true folk hero from the time when
the Ozarks were  full of men who took to  the bush and waged  war on the Yankees
who had  invaded their state.  In the summer of 1861,  Bill was accused  of stealing
horses from the Union. He was questioned and released, but a few days later, while
he was away  from home, a  group of Yankees,  Red Legs, and Jawhawkers ejected
his family from  his house, stole  everything worth  stealing, and  burned the house,
barn, and outbuildings. From that  day forward, Bill became a one-man army intent
on killing every Yankee,  or Yankee sympathizer, he could find. He became one of
the best known  Bushwhackers in Missouri,  along with men  like Sam Hildebrand,
another Missouri Bushwhacker legend.After the war ended, with a $300 bounty on
his head, Bill  left Missouri. As did many  ex-Confederates, he  took off for Texas.
The end of the  Bill Wilson story is  said to have come in Sherman,  Texas. Two of
his ex-comrades, former Missouri Partisan Rangers, apparently got the drop on him
and murdered  him for the cash he  was carrying. The men,  William O. Blackmore
and John Thompson,  were apprehended, tried,  and convicted of the  murder. They
were hanged on March 26, 1869 in Sherman, Texas at 1:00 p.m.





General Patton's Medals.

General Patton's Medals  contains every  available  piece of  information  concerning
all of the awards given to General George S. Patton, Jr. during his long and illustrious
career with the United States Army.  Included are clear, crisp color photographs of all
of the medals, ribbons, and devices that he wore up to the end of his life.





General Patton's Punch Cards.

General Patton's Punch Cards  is a history of Mobile Machine Records Units  and IBM
Punch Card Machines in World War II based on the activities of the 44th MRU (Mobile)
in Patton's Third Army.  The book also includes previously  unknown information  about
Neil H. Shreve,  the author of the famous Patton Speech. Shreve was one  of the original
members  of the 44th  MRU(M) and a newspaper  writer who chronicled  the movements
of The Mighty 44th.





General Patton's Third Army in World War II
(Juvenile Reading Level)

General Patton's Third Army in World War II is a short history of General Patton's
most  famous  fighting unit -- the U.S.  Third Army.  Covering the combat years  of
World War II, it is written for an audience of Junior and High School youngsters.





Generalship; Its Diseases And Their Cure.
A Study of the Personal Factor in Command.

This reprint of the classic J.F.C. Fuller book on Generalship contains a new introduction
by Charles M. Province reflecting on the  current problems with Generals in the modern
U.S. Army.  It was one of General Patton's favorite books.  He once made a  number of
enemies by sending a copy of this book to some Generals he thought needed it.





General Walton H. Walker;
The Man Who Saved Korea.

This  biography of General Walton H.  Walker details  the debacle of the Korean War and
how the United  States managed to lose that war. It shows how General Walker was  used
as a  scapegoat to hide  the ineptitude  and incompetence  of General  MacArthur and  his
lapdog General "Ned" Almond. Following WWII, American political and military leaders
arrogantly  assumed the  United States was  invincible and no one would dare to oppose a
nation  with the atomic bomb.  This book tells the sordid story of  the political hubris  and
military incompetence that caused the U.S. defeat.





Great Comic Book Literature;
Fantastic, Fabulous, Filler-Fiction
From Golden Age Comics.

Great Comic Book Literature  is a huge collection of entertaining  short-stories from
Comic Books published during the “Golden Age” of the American Comic Book. The
stories in  this volume were chosen  randomly to provide a  general representation of
numerous  types of one-and-two-page  stories originally  written to be  “Comic Book
filler stories.”  It's a comprehensive  assortment of stories from  Superhero,  Western,
Romance, Science-Fiction,  Horror, Humor, Adventure,  Crime, Suspense,  War, and
other “one-shot” Comic  Book publications from  the 1940s and  early 1950s.  Comic
Book Filler Stories are a unique form of American Literature -- these stories prove it.
These are gems of Great Comic Book Literature.





Hildebrand; Missouri's Most Dangerous Bushwhacker.

Hildebrand; Missouri's Most Dangerous Bushwhacker comes in three parts. Part One
is an Introduction by Charles M. Province.  Part Two is a reprint of  the Autobiography
or “confession” of Samuel S. Hildebrand as compiled,  written,and published by James
W. Evans  and A. Wendell Keith.  Because Sam was illiterate,  he narrated his  book to
Evans and  Keith who transcribed and compiled  the stories for publication.  Part Three
is a facsimile reproduction of an extremely  rare DeWitt Dime Novel published  in New
York City in 1869.  It's a Ten Cent Romance by Col. Cris Forrest.  The story is told out
of chronological order,  confuses many details of Sam's life, and the “romance” is quite
absurd, but such was the case during the wild west era. Publishers were more concerned
with selling a cracking good yarn than they were with telling the truth.





I Was Patton's Doctor;
The Reminiscences of Colonel Charles B. Odom, M.D.

Colonel Charles B. Odom, M.D. was General George S. Patton's personal physician  during
World War II. From North Africa to Sicily and Europe,  Colonel Odom became a close and
personal friend of General Patton.  He was  involved in all  of the day-to-day operations  of
the  highest  levels of General  Patton's commands  throughout  the war.  His reminiscences
reflect his friendship with Patton and his involvement in the creation of the Medical System
that saved thousands of lives during the war. Colonel Odom was  the most decorated doctor
in the  European Theater of Operations and he won the Purple Heart  for being wounded by
a sniper's bullet during the battle of the Falaise Gap in 1944.





Japanese Assault Board, Shanghai, 1937.

In 1937,  while stationed  with the  4th Marines in China,  Lieutenant  Victor H. Krulak  wrote
a specialized  report on the types  of landing  craft used  by the Japanese  during  their invasion
of Shanghai. It was this report that prompted the Marine Corps Commandant to appoint Krulak
as the Marine Corps Boat Man.  Krulak subsequently worked  closely with  Andrew Higgins to
design The Higgins Boat, which made it possible for U.S. military amphibious landings all over
the world during World War II.





Mom's Eat-a Bite-a Pie Cookbook;
Old-Time Pie Recipes From World War II.

Old recipes  handed down through the generations  for every
kind of delicious pie. Some recipes go back to the late 1800s.





Patton's One-Minute Messages;
Tactical Leadership Skills For Business Management.

This  collection  of  General Patton's  "one liners" shows  how business managers  can
succeed by  applying combat tested principles of  one of American's  greatest military
leaders.  General  Patton  was  a  professional  soldier  who  spent  his  life  inspiring
people  to  accompllish the  seemingly  impossible.  Now business managers  can use
his  secrets to motivate employees.   The author  uses brief  quotes from the  General
to explain  their inner philosophy and to obtain greater performance and productivity
from  employees.  The book  also  presents  references  to W.  Edwards  Deming  and
Walter A. Shewhart,  two  American experts on statistical quality control.  This is not
surprising when it is  realized that fundamental principles of both military leadership
and business management are universal.





Patton's Third Army;
A Chronical of Third Army's Advance From August 1944 to May 1945.

For the Third U.S. Army under  General  Patton, VE  Day (the end of World War II in
Europe) marked the end of 281 days of constant battle in the heart of Europe. During
this  time it  engaged  in every  type  of  combat  except  defensive.  This  fine-grained
study chronicles the day-by-day situations which developed and the tactics applied for
their  successful  solution.  Amidst  the  chaos of  war,  the story told here  reveals the
unflagging energy  of experienced staff,  the sterling ability of the  commanders in the
field, and the fighting heart of the American soldier. The author, Charles M. Province,
is president and founder of The George S. Patton, Jr. Historical Society and the author
of The Unknown Patton and Patton's One-Minute Messages.





Pure Patton; A Collection of Military Essays, Commentaries, Articles, and Critiques
by George S. Patton, Jr.

This collection of  written material covers the breadth of  General George S. Patton,  Jr.'s
entire career in the military. Starting with material written when he was a Lieutenant and
encompassing the  years up to and including  his command of Third Army as a  four-star
general, these  pieces show Patton's  salient thoughts, studies, education,  and philosophy
throughout his military career.





Saber Exercise, 1914
by Lt. George S. Patton, Jr.
(U.S. Army; Master of the Sword).

This booklet is a true facsimile reproduction of the Saber Exercise Manual - 1914 published
on 23 March,  1914 by the Office of the Chief of Staff, War Department.  This manual was
written  by  Master of  the Sword, Lieutenant George S. Patton, Jr.  for use with the Model
1913 Cavalry  Saber which was  designed by Lt. Patton.  The drawings  in this  booklet are
exact reproductions of the originals.





Steel Steeds Christie
How a Little Book
Caused a Big Kerfuffle

J. Edward Christie's  little book  Steel Steeds Christie was  attacked from all
sides by military history writers, reviewers, and researchers when it was first
published.  Charles M. Province offers  the complete  story about the reviews
of the book,  the rebuttals,  and the final complaints  from all of the military
"experts" along  with his small involvement  in the sordid affair. It makes for
interesting  reading  and asks the  basic question,  "Why should  critics  tell
people what  to read and what  not to read."  This book will let you make up
your own mind on the subject.





Tail Gunner; The Leonard E. Thompson Story.

A short history  of  Leonard Thompson's service  as a  B-17 Tail Gunner
with  the  401st Bombardment Group  in  Europe during  World  War II.
Thompson had two bombers shot out from under him and he still made
it back home to tell the tale.




Ten Twisted Tawdry Tales

Ten creepy,  twisted,  and tawdry  short stories  about the  horror,  the terror, and the evil that
people bring upon themselves  . . . and upon others. Each story has a twisted, unexpected, and
horrible ending they never planned. If you enjoy grisly, horrible stories, you'll like this book.




The Unknown Patton.

The Unknown Patton is both a history and a study of the life and career of General
George S. Patton, Jr. This book contains a wealth of knowledge concerning portions
of Patton's life that have not been explained in previous biographies. Learn the truth
about the slapping incidents, read  about  Patton's  personal philosophy of  life, war,
and citizenship,  and find out why the General  was planning on  resigning from the
U.S. Army instead of simply retiring.




 
cmprovince@gmail.com