Footnote 2

by Leah Angstman, Mary Buchinger, Raymond Luczak

The second issue of Alternating Current Press’ annual literary publication dedicated to historical and contemporary views on history contains poetry, maps, photographs, fiction, essays, articles, and nonfiction by various authors about various historical topics. Within these pages, you will find contemporary outlooks on history right alongside little-known public domain works that feel as fresh and as vibrant (and as scary) as if they were written today. Here, the old meets the new, and you’ll discover fascinating history from a personal, non-scholarly literary approach.

In this issue, you’ll meet Jack the Ripper, Fanny Hooe, Jesse James, Geronimo, Lewis & Clark, Nikolai Vavilov, and the crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald. You’ll learn of the catastrophic Hartley Colliery mining disaster, the woman who went over Niagara Falls in a barrel, the lost language of the Clatsop, harvesting sugar beets during World War II, how Commonwealth Indians were treated during World War I, and the costs of artistic patronage. You’ll discover what Dorothy was like during the Great Depression and how Lucile Fitch gave birth to an atomic bomb. Writers speak about deafness, queerness, and birth control in the face of Margaret Sanger’s and Alexander Graham Bell’s abhorrent eugenics rants, alongside the effects of the Oklahoma City bombing, erasure poems of Jules Verne, and the sacrifices of historical witchcraft. The Featured Writer, Holly M. Wendt, mines 18th-century New England newspapers for responses to clippings about lost items, weeks at sea, feminism, and transporting lions. Her work is showcased next to the winners and finalists for the 2016 Charter Oak Award for Best Historical.

Find more information on the press page: http://tinyurl.com/footnotejournal2.

136 pages, Paperback

First published February 5, 2019

About the author

Leah Angstman is a researcher, transplanted Michigander living in Boulder, and executive editor of Alternating Current Press and The Coil magazine. She is the author of OUT FRONT THE FOLLOWING SEA (Regal House, 2022), SHOOT THE HORSES FIRST (Kernpunkt Press, 2023), and FALCON IN THE DIVE (Regal House, 2024), and her writing can be found in Publishers Weekly, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Nashville Review, and elsewhere. You can find her at leahangstman.com and on social media as @leahangstman.

Reviews

[Sara Gerot · Rating 5 out of 5]

This journal is amazing. The mixture of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and historical commentary is just an awesome concept. I enjoy history only when the stories are well-told and the writing is good. Also, I like a bit of fiction in my history. I'm so delighted to have found this thanks to Emily Kiernan.

[Leah Angstman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I edited this journal, so of course I'm biased, but it is tremendous. Well worth your time, whether you're a history lover or not.

[VT · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very professional effort from a small publisher.

I was somewhat discomfited by the inclusion of QR codes scattered throughout the book. I felt left out as someone not equipped to scan the codes, although I assume they would provide additional multi-media type information for others.

Among the thirty pieces included in this edition there were some that I didn't particularly care for and others that I thought were very well done.

This is the first of Footnotes that I have read and I would now consider purchasing others.