A Concise History of Kentucky (Co-authored with Freda Klotter), University Press of Kentucky, 2008.
Faces of Kentucky (Co-authored with Freda Klotter), University Press of Kentucky, 2006.
Kentucky Justice, Southern Honor, and American Manhood: Understanding the Life and Death of Richard Reid, LSU Press, 2003.
A New History of Kentucky (Co-authored with Lowell Harrison), University Press of Kentucky, 1997.
Kentucky: Portrait in Paradox, 1900-1950 , Kentucky Historical Society, 1996.
History Mysteries: The Cases of James Harrod, Tecumseh, “Honest Dick” Tate, and William Goebel, Kentucky Historical Society, 1989.
The Breckinridges of Kentucky, 1760-1981 , University Press of Kentucky, 1986.
William Goebel: The Politics of Wrath, University Press of Kentucky, 1977.
Kentucky: Decades of Discord, 1865-1900 (Co-authored with Hambleton Tapp), Kentucky Historical Society, 1977.
Edited Works
Bluegrass Renaissance: The History and Culture of Central Kentucky, 1792-1852 (Co-edited with Daniel Rowland), University Press of Kentucky, 2012.
The Human Tradition in the New South, Rowman & Littlefield, 2005.
The Human Tradition in the Old South, Scholarly Resources, 2003.
Our Kentucky: A Study of the Bluegrass State, University Press of Kentucky, 2000.
Kentucky: Land of Tomorrow (Co-edited with Thomas Appleton), Kentucky Historical Society, 1998.
The Kentucky Encyclopedia (Associate Editor), University Press of Kentucky, 1992.
The Public Papers of Governor Simeon Willis, 1943-1947 (Co-edited with Simeon S. Willis, Edmund D. Lyon, and C. David Dalton), University Press of Kentucky, 1987.
The Union, the Civil War, and John W. Tuttle: A Kentucky Captain’s (Co-edited with John W. Tuttle and Hambleton Tapp), Kentucky Historical Society, 1982.
Kentucky Profiles: Biographical Essays in Honor of Holman Hamilton (Co-edited with Peter J. Sehlinger and Frank Rankin), Kentucky Historical Society, 1982.
Book Chapter
"Kentucky Historian" in Thomas D. Clark of Kentucky: An Uncommon Life in the Commonwealth, University Press of Kentucky, 2003.
Journal Articles
"Charting the Path of Twentieth-Century Kentucky: Current Courses and Future Directions." The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Volume 113 No. 2 & 3 (Spring/Summer 2015): 171-99.
"Kentucky, the Civil War, and the Spirit of Henry Clay." The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Volume 110 No. 3 & 4 (Summer/Autumn 2012): 243-263.
“Promise, Pessimism, and Perseverance: An Overview of Higher Education History in Kentucky.” Ohio Valley Histroy, Volume 6 No. 1 (Spring 2006): 45-60.
“Undertaking a Capital Campaign: Lessons from the Kentucky Historical Society.” Histroy News, Volume 56 No. 2 (Spring 2001): 1-8.
"Moving Kentucky Into the 21st Century: Where should we go from here?" The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Volume 97 No. 1 (Winter 1999): 83-112.
"Snapshots of a State in Change: An Overview of Kentucky in the Twentieth Century." Filson Club Quarterly, Volume 66 (July 1992): 421-448.
"Two Centuries of the Lottery in Kentucky." The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Volume 89 No. 4 (Autumn 1989): 405-425.
"Hatfields and McCoys Revised." Appalachian Journal, Volume 15 No. 4 (Summer 1988): 354-359.
"Boss Ben Johnson, the Highway Commission, and Kentucky Politics, 1927-1937" (Co-authored with John W. Muir). The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Volume 84 No. 1 (Winter 1986): 65-88.
“Little Shepherds, Little Colonels, and Little Kingdoms: A Selective Review of Kentucky Writing, 1784-1950.” Journal of Kentucky Studies, Volume 3 No. 1 (October 1986): 61-72.
"Clio in the Commonwealth: The Status of Kentucky History." The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Volume 80 No. 1 (Winter 1982): 65-88.
“A Hatfield-McCoy Feudist Pleads for Mercy.” West Virginia History, Volume 43 No. 4 (Summer 1982): 322-328.
"Appalachian Feuds: An Overview." Filson Club Quarterly, Volume 56 (July 1982): 290-317.
“Mary Desha: Alaskan Schoolteacher of 1888” (Co-authored with Freda Klotter). Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Volume 71 No. 2 (April 1980): 78-86.
“The Black South and White Appalachia.” Journal of American History, Volume 66 No. 4 (March 1980): 932-949.
“Sex, Scandal, and Suffrage in the Gilded Age.” The Historian, Volume 42 No. 2 (February, 1980): 225-243.
“Slavery and Race: A Family Perspective.” Southern Studies, Volume 17 No. 4 (Winter, 1978): 375-397.
“The Austro-Polish Solution: Diplomacy, Politics, and State Building in Wartime Austria-Hungary 1914-1918.” East European Quarterly, Volume 42 No. 3 (September 2008): 253-279.
“No Return Address: An American POW’s Experience in the Philippines and Japan, 1941-1945.” Michigan Quarterly Review, Volume 43 No. 3 (Summer 2004): 365-391.
“The Economic Collapse of Austro-Hungarian Dualism, 1914-1918.” East European Quarterly, Volume 34 No. 3, (September 2000): 261-288.
“A High Price for Bread: The First Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the Break-Up of Austria-Hungary, 1917-1918.” The International History Review, Volume 19 No. 4 (November 1997): 757-788.