Builders of Ohio: Biographical History

Van Tine and Pierces "Builders of Ohio is composed of twenty-four essays that use biography to explore Ohio's history. Collectively, they provide a historical overview of the state's development from George Croghan's search for fame and fortune on the seventeenth-century frontier through Dave Thomas's more recent creation of a fast-food empire. Each chapter also addresses important events and transformations in the state's history such as: European settlement; Native American resistance; the creation of territorial and state governments; the development of the state's educational and economic institutions; the disruption created by the Civil War; the struggle of African Americans and women to participate in Ohio's public life; efforts to ameliorate the pernicious effects of industrialization; the negotiation of the state's role in a nation increasingly dominated by the federal government; or the ramifications of de-industrialization and rise of a service economy.

Warren Van Tine is professor of history at The Ohio State University. Michael Pierce is associate director of the Arkansas Center for Oral and Visual History, assistant editor of the Arkansas Historical Quarterly, and instructor of history at the University of Arkansas.

Michael Pierce is a former editor of Kites, the magazine of the Highgate Poets. He has performed at major arts festivals, including the Cambridge Poetry Festival and Capital Radio Arts Festival. His poem "Shabbat" was commended in the Blue Nose Poets National Poetry competition, and another of his poems, "On Vivie and Ivan's Engagement," won the Robooth Publications Nature Poetry competition.