Ray E. Boomhower's Books
Mar.01.2008
On April 4, 1968, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., arrived in Indiana to campaign for the Indiana Democratic presidential primary. As Kennedy prepared to fly from an appearance in Muncie to Indianapolis, he learned that civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had been shot outside his hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. When his plane landed in Indianapolis, Kennedy heard the news...
Oct.15.2007
Famed Indiana author Booth Tarkington once took on the task of naming three of Indianapolis's most outstanding citizens. Two of the three he named--former president Benjamin Harrison and legendary poet James Whitcomb Riley--were well-known people. The third, however, was someone whose memorable accomplishments have become lost to history--educator, woman's rights pioneer, and peace...
Oct.01.2006
To the millions of Americans on the home front during World War II, Ernie Pyle’s column in newspapers across the country offered a foxhole view of the struggle as he reported on the life and death of the average soldier. When he died, Pyle’s popularity and readership was worldwide, with his column appearing in 400 daily and 300 weekly newspapers.
Written by award-winning author and...
Oct.01.2005
From fighting for the cause of freedom during the Civil War to writing of one of the best-selling books of all time, Lew Wallace of Indiana enjoyed a remarkable career that touched the lives of such famous figures in American history as Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Mark Twain, James Garfield, James Whitcomb Riley, and Billy the Kid.
The ups and downs of Wallace’s amazing...
Oct.01.2004
In the late 1950s the Soviet Union shocked the world by placing a small satellite—Sputnik—in orbit around the earth. Treated as a technological Pearl Harbor in the United States, the Russian achievement prompted the federal government to create a civilian organization, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, to manage the American space program.
By April 1959, NASA had...
Sep.01.2004
American GIs who participated in the invasions of such far-flung Pacific Ocean locations as New Georgia, Makin, Tarawa, Kwajalein, and Eniwetok during World War II could always count on a blistering reception from the Japanese forces defending those isles. They could also depend on their efforts being documented for their fellow soldiers and folks back home by a good-natured,...
Oct.01.1997
From his key role in adopting the Australian ballot system in Indiana to his ultimately failed attempt at enacting a new state constitution, Jacob Piatt Dunn, Jr. did more than anyone to reduce fraud and ensure honest elections in Indiana.
Boomhower documents Dunn's merging of his careers in both politics and the study of history, becoming a political man of letters. He also...
About Ray
Ray E. Boomhower is senior editor of the Indiana Historical Society’s quarterly popular history magazine Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History. Boomhower has been with the Society since 1987, beginning work for the statewide, nonprofit organization as its...