About Us:

The Paragon Agency

Our Content

This is Douglas Westfall, Historical Publisher.    I have been publishing for over thirty years, and during this time I have had the opportunity to publish some of the really great stories of America's History.    Some of our books I author, and many are written by selected authorities, while others are reproductions of significant historical publications.    Over the years, I have discovered dozens of artifacts, hundreds of manuscripts, and literally thousands of historic photographs -- all previously unpublished. All of the historic photos are carefully restored and each artifact, manuscript, and photograph we obtain is donated to public archives.

Douglas Westfall, Publisher

Current Books

Mission Dolores courtesy Koerper Collection      Chinaware courtesy Chinese Historical Society of America

Examples from these include: The painting of Mission Dolores by Napoleon Vallejo, son of General Vallejo and Chinaware looted from Chinatown during San Francisco's 1906 Earthquake and Fire [Two Weeks in San Francisco].

            Postcards  courtesy Joseph Dew            CSS David courtesy Drew Glassell

Also, Postcards and letters written in the field by 2nd Lt. Wallace, who survived the Battle of the Little Bighorn and was the first officer to discovered Brvt. Gen. George A. Custer's body [Letters from the field] and the illustrated Memoirs of Capt. William T. Glassell the first person to pilot a submarine during the American Civil War [Prisoners of the Civil War].

Future Books

Soon to come are three new books on America's History:

Mission San Juan Capistrano Panorama courtesy Sands Edward Cochems collection

Crater of Grotto Geyser courtesy Yellowstone National Park Museum Collections

Panorama photos, stereo views, and rare historical photography fill the pages of our books, like The Mission San Juan Capistrano Panorama [Panoramas of Orange County History], Stereo views of Yellowstone National Park [A Century in Yellowstone], and rare photography from the story of America's Jazz [Thirty Days with Nat King Cole].

Teddy Wilson & Billie Holiday courtesy Morte collection

These are all first person accounts, taken from unread postcards, letters, journals, diaries, and memoirs. Richly illustrated with unpublished photographs, maps, charts, and manuscripts -- our books contain eye witness accounts of significant events and include undiscovered artifacts, machines, and stories of America's History. Original panoramas, historic artwork, and stereo views bring realism to each book.

Thank you for shopping at SpecialBooks.com -- Very Unique Books on America's History.

Ourselves

Douglas & Jackie Westfall

Douglas Westfall is a writer, lecturer, and publisher. Born in Los Angeles in 1949, he began writing history at age 10. He has published historical materials over the last two decades, and has given presentations in over half of the United States, plus several countries including Canada, Latin America, Europe, and the Philippines. "History is better than fiction, but only if you can get to the heart of it." -- Douglas Westfall He is available for historical lectures at no charge. Please see Contact Us. Jackie Westfall is graphic designer and publisher, and has designed hundreds of books, magazines and newspapers. She continues to develop and build historical books on America with her husband.

Our Logo

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Our Logo is the edge of a book, impressed with an American Flag of 13 stars. It is taken from the first American Flag flown over California, when this region was Spanish territory.   The flag was brought here in 1804c and this photo was taken in 1939 at the Mission San Juan Capistrano. No one knows where the flag is today.   Not the usual pattern of a circle for a 13 star flag, the stars were in rows like that of a modern American flag.   Our Catalog logo is the that of an open book.

13 Star American Flag courtesy SJC Historical Society

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Our Book Catalogs
Our catalog on America's History contains our most prominent books and is a series which will continue to grow each year. Because we live in California, we also produce books on our local history and continue to add interesting historic pieces we find through our research, into our California's History catalog. Books found in our Other Kinds of History catalog, include biographies, poetry, cookbooks, genealogy, and books by other authors.

Our Policy
Privacy for our customers is always first. We do not allow any of our client's names or information to be accessed by anyone else nor by any other service, period.

Security is also important such that we operate a secure site for the use of charge cards through Secure Sockets Layer Technology (SSL) through Verisign.

Postage is all that we charge for the shipping of our books. We make no profit on postage, and often discount these costs to our clients.

Our books are shipped the same day we receive an order. If there is a backorder situation, we will notify you immediately by email. For out of print books, you should allow from six to eight weeks for a book to ship.

Our reader's guarantee is that all returns are accepted, and refunds are available if the books are received postpaid and in saleable condition.

For any questions or requests, please see Contact Us.