Joe Cuhaj grew up in northern New Jersey where his love of obscure and offbeat history was nurtured by history loving family and exceptional high school teachers.

The former radio broadcaster now lives in L.A. (Lower Alabama) on the Gulf Coast and is the author of twenty books. His first, Hiking Alabama, was released in 2000 and is now in its fifth edition. From there, Joe has authored a total of thirteen outdoor recreation guides on hiking, kayaking, and camping in the state and along the gulf, and seven non-fiction history titles including Space Oddities: Forgotten Stories of Mankind's Exploration of Space and Everyone's Gone to the Moon: July 1969, Life on Earth, and the Epic Voyage of Apollo 11.

Joe is also a freelance writer, having penned articles for various newspapers, magazines, and websites.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Alabama’s Notable Women (History Press, 2025)
• The Pig War and Pelican Girls: 21 Extraordinary Tales of American History (Spring 2025, Prometheus Books)
• Everyone’s Gone to the Moon: July 1969, Life on Earth, and the Epic Voyage of Apollo 11 (Prometheus Books, October 2023)
• Best Easy Day Hikes Birmingham (Fall 2023, Falcon Books)
• A Travel Lover’s Guide to Mobile and the Alabama Gulf Coast (2023, History Press)
• Space Oddities: Forgotten Stories of Mankind’s Exploration of Space (Prometheus Books, 2022)
• Hiking Alabama (5th Edition, 2022, Falcon Books)
• Hiking Waterfalls Alabama (2021, Falcon Books)
• Paddling Alabama (2021, Falcon Books – 2nd Edition)
• Hidden History of Mobile (2020, History Press)
• Best Dog Hikes Alabama (2019, Falcon Books)
• Hiking Through History Alabama (2016, Falcon Books)
• Hiking the Gulf Coast (2015, Falcon Books)
• Hiking Alabama (2014, Falcon Books – 4th Edition)
• Best Tent Camping Alabama (2013, Menasha Ridge Press)
• Hiking Alabama (2007, Falcon Books – 3rd Edition)
• Baseball in Mobile (2004, Arcadia Publishing)
• Hiking Alabama (2003, Falcon Books – 2nd Edition)
• Paddling Alabama (2002, Falcon Books – 1st Edition)
• Freelance Writer, Various (2002-Present)
• Hiking Alabama (2000 / 2001, Beachway Press/Falcon Books)

The Pig War and the Pelican Girls is a riveting collection of forgotten and obscure tales from American history. This page-turner unearths the stories of men and women who strove to save their country from aggressors, better the lives of others, or simply survive under mysterious and extraordinary circumstances.

From the tale of the Pelican Girls, a group of women deemed of “virtuous character” by the Catholic Church and sent to the first French colonies in the New World in an attempt to recreate the Garden of Eden, to the story of the “limping lady,” declared the most dangerous of all allied spies by the Germans in World War II, the true tale of Pan American Airlines signing up passengers for a flight to the moon when mankind had barely left earth orbit, and many, many more, Joe Cuhaj reveals real-life history that has been buried for centuries.

Whether you're an armchair historian or a lover of all things unusual and astonishing, this collection of little known history shows that life surely is stranger than fiction.

1. Can you summarize what “The Pig War & the Pelican Girls” is all about?

As the sub-title implies, The Pig War & the Pelican Girls is a collection of little known, obscure, and often forgotten stories from American history, stories that your teachers never told you. Some of the stories will leave you scratching your head asking, “how could that happen?” Others are fascinating, deeper tales from our history, while others will leave you laughing.

2. The book has an odd title. What is that title represent?

The title came from two of the interesting early American stories in the book. The first is the story of how the U.S. and Britain nearly went to war once again with each other in 1859 when a pig was shot by an American settler in an area that had a disputed boundary between the two countries between Vancouver and the Washington Territory. The second story occurred in 1704 when France was attempting to establish their first colony on the Gulf Coast in what would later become Mobile, Alabama. To foster population growth in the new settlement, the king of France sent a group of young women with “virtuous character” to the colony, promising them they were heading to the Garden of Eden. Their journey aboard the ship, the Pelican (hence the name, the Pelican Girls) and their struggle in an untamed land is truly remarkable.

3. Each chapter of the book features “Footnotes to History.” What are those about and how do they fit in with each chapter?

The book itself features 21 forgotten stories from American history, but there are many, many more fascinating tales I wanted to include but were not long enough for a full chapter. I decided to add these stories to the end of appropriate chapters. For example, there is a chapter about the woman many historians have called the “first woman president.” Although not elected, Edith Wilson, wife of President Woodrow Wilson, overseen many of his duties when he became incapacitated with a stroke, a claim that she totally denied until her death. The “Footnote to History” following this chapter tells the tale of Victoria Claflin Woodruff, the first woman to open a Wall Street brokerage in 1870 and the first woman to run for president of the United States in 1872 against the likes of Ulysses S. Grant.

4. How did you come up with the idea for the book?

I have always been fascinated with little tidbits of history that have disappeared and have become virtually unknown. After authoring two other books for Prometheus Books, Space Oddities and Everyone’s Gone to the Moon, both books were obscure and unknown stories about space exploration, I stumbled across many other intriguing stories from American history unrelated to spaceflight and thought that a similar book on general history would be interesting.

5. How did you research the topics covered in “The Pig War & the Pelican Girls”?

Many of the stories began by rummaging through old newspapers. Sites like Newspapers.com and the New York Times Machine were valuable in my search. I would stumble on stories, maybe a paragraph or two, and my research would expand from there.

6. What is your favorite story from the book?

My favorite is the story about Melton Barker and itinerant filmmakers. Beginning in 1914 to its heyday in the 1930s, itinerant filmmakers would travel from town to town across America with only the basic of movie making equipment and promised residents in towns that they would be in a movie. Of course it would cost them but everyone wanted to be in movies so it became a very popular business. But they were not scam artists. The filmmakers did as promised: had people from town act in the movie that would then be edited and shown at the town’s movie theater for a short run. The most famous of these filmmakers was Melton Barker over 300 movies in 29 states, all with the same script, “The Kidnapper’s Foil”, starring a bunch of kids from each town called “The Local Gang”, a not-so-subtle rip-off of the Little Rascals / Our Gang comedies. The films were, as one historian described them, “so bad they were good.” 7. What story surprised you the most?

Until the end of the Civil War, there were many Free Blacks living across America, including the South. The free men and women owned their own homes and ran their own businesses, but during the war, the threat of racist attacks on their lives forced many to do the unthinkable: they would find a “friendly” slave holder and petition their local government to become a slave to the slave holder.

8. Is there a companion podcast to the book?

Yes. A companion podcast is available with additional stories that didn’t make the book. Episodes can be downloaded on Public Radio Remix (PRX), Podbean, and on my website.