Outskirts Press, INC.

The reader is placed in the action as witness to the high and low events that enmeshed the country's rich and famous in their winter playground, Aiken, South Carolina. The activities of the Astors, Iselins and Hitchcocks, among others, are restored to life offering the reader insight into their desires, joys, fears, and regrets. Each chapter delivers a riveting story about the lives and times of those who occupied the highest perches of America's societal peaks. “Eyewitness to History and/or The Great Escape could be the title of Tavernier’s latest book, sequel to his well-received earlier work. Now the reader is also present and mesmerized as he or she watches the burning of the Highland Park Hotel, witnesses the abject horror from a lifeboat as the Titanic sinks, and is in a heartbeat with Tommy Hitchcock, Jr. as he escapes from a German POW train in World War I. Once again the author’s laidback style and imaginative approach make for easy and enjoyable reading. Highly recommended.” —Robert J. Harrington, Headmaster Emeritus, Aiken Preparatory School More Stories of the Rich and Famous offers a wealth of stories centered around Aiken, South Carolina—a small town that attracted some of the country’s most affluent and powerful families in the 19th century and on past World War II. Based on extensive research, this collection is a fascinating piece of historical fiction featuring the rich and famous of “the Newport of the South.”

From chapter one, "Aiken Remembers the Titanic." As we passed E Deck, we heard the desperate, frantic cries of third-class passengers begging to be let up to the lifeboat deck, hoping to get a seat. We could see the ship's head taking on water as people ran toward the stern in a futile attempt to escape the rising ocean. Only a few feet away, we looked face to face into the eyes of desperate men standing on the deck's rail, and having been denied lifeboat seats, stood staring straight out with bug eyes and jumping to a certain hypothermic death in the waiting, freezing water below.