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All THE BOOKS

Cincinnati's West End

Cincinnati’s West End is a snapshot of a community in Cincinnati, Ohio named the West End, during a specific time, 1940-1970, when the political and social climate was in a slow crawl from segregation to integration and affirmative action. With its ever-changing boundaries, the West End was a citadel for a population in constant migration from the South to the North in search of positive economic, social, political, and educational opportunities. Uprooted and destroyed in the late nineteen fifties and early sixties, the West End of old bears little resemblance to the current West End.

Cincinnati’s West End is an illumination of the institutions, people, places, sounds, smells, customs, myths and ultimate successes of inner-city pioneers. Their personal histories are spiritual testimonies of people who, in spite of racism, segregation, and poverty succeeded in a profusion of professions unknown to their ancestors.

I take off my hat to you. This is a fascinating book that will remain an important work for years to come.
George Ferguson-Cincinnati, Ohio

I am enjoying this book and remembering so much. Thanks for writing it
Al Nelson-Harrisburg, PA

Whether you lived in the West End or not, this book is full of so much history
Bill Clarke-Cincinnati, OH

Do you remember Peanut Jim, The Black Beer Lot, Caldonia, The Cotton Club, Holidays in The West End, Playing The Numbers, The Regal, Hippodrome, Lincoln, Piken, Roosevelt, State and Dixie Theaters? Once I started reading Cincinnati’s West End I couldn’t put it down. What a trip down memory lane it was. I am going to read it again in the next few weeks to fully digest all the material that was in the book. Your memory and research were phenomenal. The contributors were very good and I knew some of them but not all. I talked to my brother who still lives in Forest Park, a 1960 Taft graduate, and he seems to remember even more of them then I did. I particularly enjoyed reading the section when you spoke about yourself in such great detail. I felt like I knew you when it was over. Barbara Jean “BJ” Arnold-Ballard-Haskins (the longest darn name I know) was of particular interest as well, since she was in my graduating class and I always thought she was the finest thing.

Taft colors, Taft Capades, Union Terminal, marbles, walking on bare feet to Lincoln Center to swim, the movie theaters, Black Beer lot, the numbers racket, I could go on and on. I know you worked your butt off on it and it shows.

One thing. How did you get the contributors responses? Did you have a list of questions or personal memories you wanted feedback on and they supplied them to you electronically? It appears they could see each other’s responses. I really liked that format.

Thank you so much for writing the book.

Skip Harrison California

This book is written with so much love. Thank You, John, for writing it.

Calvin Shears aka Cashears- Los Angeles, Ca.

I have bought eight copies of this book and intend to buy more so that all my West End Family has a copy

Ron Bailey, Downey California

Bankers, Writers, and Runners

Before there were state lotteries with their pick threes, fours and super jackpots, there was, across the United States, the Numbers Game.

"Bull" Payne, Percy Williams, James Willard Whitley, Gus Postel, Melvin Clark, Irvin Deese, Harry Lackey, Albert “White Smitty” Schmidt, “Black Smitty”, “Screw” Andrews, Hattie Parker, Sue and Lillie Bohannon were the numbers bankers during a period when pennies, nickel, dimes and quarters created a multimillion-dollar cash cow in Cincinnati’s West End and beyond before the State Lottery killed the game and reaped the profits from a game that was called “Nigger Pool”. Within this environment and in Cincinnati, the Numbers Game flourished and generated an annual estimated three to five million dollars in income for the Bankers and daily earnings of as much as forty-five hundred dollars a day for Writers and Runners.

Before there was Las Vegas, there was Newport Kentucky, known as Sin City, which was a short trip across the bridge from Cincinnati, Ohio. Conventioneers from across the country found time to visit the brothels, supper clubs, casinos and small “bust out” joints throughout Newport. Though prostitution and gambling were illegal, law enforcement looked the other way and the citizens were comfortable with the jobs, income to the city and businesses that the enterprise brought with it. The Cleveland Four, one of the most powerful syndicates in the United States, transacted business in Newport, Covington, and Cincinnati.

I finished your latest book (Bankers, Writers, and Runners) a day or so ago and I am still impressed with the effort you must have put into it. I may have been a year or two too young to know the main characters you wrote about or I was just too current event naive to care at that time.

I asked my brothers (2 and 4 years older that still live in Cincinnati) and they were very familiar with most of the people you wrote about. It was a fascinating read and I am going to read it again to absorb a little more of what you wrote. I had no idea of how detailed and intricate the system was, and the violence that was piece and parcel of the business.

I left Cincinnati in 1963 and I have learned more about the 'real' history of the West End reading your books (3) than I ever thought possible.

This book filled in a lot of questions I had about the Numbers Racket in the Greater Cincinnati area. I was vaguely familiar with some of the intricacies of the game but I found out my knowledge about it was limited at best. The author went into detailed information about the different levels of "management", the rules, odds, etiquette, intimidation, and even alleged murder involved with the establishment of control of the various areas in Ohio and Northern Kentucky.

Documentation of the adversarial relationship between two men, one white and one black, was riveting. Even transcripts from statements and trials were presented and that gave me a sense of being taken back to the era when this was taking place. Having grown up in the area it was also nostalgic to read about the various neighborhoods, clubs, and bars that I would hear my parents talk about. I had forgotten about the radio station WCIN and the controversial African-American City Councilman Theodore Berry and how "Ted" was implicated in the struggle with Melvin Clark and Screw Andrews whether he wanted to be or not.

Quotes that were gathered from relatives, friends, and children of some of the characters involved were an added treat that added to the realization of the overall story. Highly recommended.

Thanks, John.

Skip Harrison California

Bankers, Writers, and Runners is Awesome

Charles Ferguson Cincinnati, Ohio

In The Lives of Snakes And Chamelions

When a two-legged snake has his identity stolen by a two-legged chameleon, things turn deadly. Set in the mountains of East Tennessee, Arizona and Central Africa, In the Lives of Snakes and Chameleons takes you inside The Church of God With Signs, a snake worshiping church, to Africa, exposing the blood inside every cell phone and laptop and back to Tennessee, where two letters, CP, are the only clues to murder.

I read this book and bought 20 copies for my friends. Great job, my friend

Cal Veasey-Oakland California

I've read other books by this author and this one was right in my wheelhouse genre of Murder/Mystery. I have read hundreds of novels in this category from dozens of authors, so I know what I like.

I liked this one. This book had the necessary twist and turns to make it a good read. Sometimes thinking you have the case solved only to find out you were lead down the wrong path to finding the perpetrators.

Writers write about what they know. It's apparent that the author did his homework pointing out interest in the Smoky Mountains, the Southwest, and educating me about an issue in West Africa, The Congo, that I and maybe most people were not aware of. Read the book for further information on that.

I gave the book 4 of 5 stars holding out on the fifth star because there were a couple characters, one the main player, whose character development could have been given a little more ink. Maybe that was his intention, but it left me wondering.

I'd recommend this book to anyone that likes Murder/Mystery that includes romance and family interpersonal relations.

Skip Harrison-California

Since I had previously read a book written by John Harshaw; "Jazz On A Broken Piano", I found the book "In The Lives Of Snakes And Chameleons" to be equally captivating. Each sentence led to the next paragraph, and each paragraph led to the next chapter and so forth. It was a quick read for me because I literally couldn't put it down until I was finished. I thought the ending was quite obvious until I got to the end and found a bit of a surprise.
"In The Lives Of Snakes and Chameleons" was enjoyable, quick, and easy to read.

James Brock- Cincinnati, Ohio

Jazz On A Broken Piano

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Spellbinding and erotic, Jazz On A Broken Piano takes the reader on a traumatic, gut-wrenching roller coaster ride with Jasmine Butler, a beautiful and cunning twenty-two-year-old woman. Unsatisfied with the lifestyle she is expected to live, she risks her husband, children, mother and her own life for a path she thought would be more fulfilling. Life’s unrelenting changes forced her to make choices; some good, some bad and some tragic.

Jazz On A Broken Piano is a tale of love, lust, and loss that puts the reader in the midst of a unique community struggling, like Jasmine, for existence. Along the way, Jasmine shares her love of jazz, secrets, and fears, not knowing she would become an infamous first in Ohio history.