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The 151st Pennsylvania Volunteers at Gettysburg: Like Ripe
Apples in a Storm Originally dubbed a school teacher's Regiment, the 151st Pennsylvania Volunteers, under the command of Lt. Col. George McFarland arrived at Gettysburg well trained and disciplined, but with little combat experience. They soon distinguished themselves in the opening rounds of the war's decisive battle. Author Michael Dreese pored over diaries, letters, and official records to tell, for the first time, the story of this group of Pennsylvanians who participated in the repulse of Pickett's charge.
In "1776," acclaimed historian David McCullough tells the intensely human story of the Revolutionary War during the nation’s tumultuous beginning, and the ragtag army on whose shoulders the fate of the war and the revolution rested. It is a story of all-too-few victories, of sustained suffering, disease, hunger, desertion, cowardice, disillusionment, defeat, terrible discouragement, and fear. It is also a story of phenomenal courage, bedrock devotion, unparalleled sacrifice, and perseverance on the brink of disaster. David McCullough has twice received the Pulitzer Prize for "Truman" and "John Adams," and twice received the National Book Award, for "The Path Between the Seas" and "Mornings on Horseback."
In May of 1889, following days of rain, the South Fork Dam on the Little Conemaugh River burst, sending 20,000,000 tons of water and countless tons of debris through the middle of Johnstown PA. When the water receded, the city counted more than 2,000 dead. Michael McGough, professor in the Department of Education at York College, tells the history, the causes, and the human tragedy that resulted from the greatest flood ever created by the bursting of a dam.
Robert Gordon has been covering the Philadelphia sports scene for 13 years, including five years as sports editor of Delaware Valley Magazine. He tells the story of Buck Shaw, Norm Van Brocklin, Ted Dean, Tom Brookshier, Tommy McDonald, Pete Retzlaff, Clarence Peaks, Sonny Jurgensen, and the last of the 60-minute men, Chuck Bednarik. The 1960 Philadelphia Eagles were a team that had grit, heart, and old-time football characters who compensated for their lack of glitz with a remarkable group dynamic, and a leader who transformed the ordinary into the extraordinary.
Chris Coste dreamed of playing major-league baseball from the age of seven. But after eleven grueling years in the minors, a spot on a major-league roster still seemed just out of his reach–until that fateful call came from the Philadelphia Phillies in May 2006. At age thirty-three (“going on eighty”), Coste was finally heading to the big time. But that year, during the Phillies’ major-league spring training, Coste was demoted to the minors at the last minute to make room for a utility outfielder, despite having hit a blistering .463 and earning the trust of the team’s pitchers. Later that season, though, Coste finally got the call-up, and he hit .364 during the Phillies’ furious battle to nail down the final postseason berth. Coste takes us through the 2006 spring training season and into his first season as a major-league catcher with the Phillies. From tense stretch-run games that kept Phillies’ fans on the edge of their seats to moments of intimate personal reflection, Coste’s saga offers baseball aficionados an inside look at a remarkable life and career. Chris Coste was an All-American at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, and played five seasons in various independent leagues before finally getting a shot with the Cleveland Indians’ organization in 2000. From there, he moved to the minor league systems of the Boston Red Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, and Philadelphia Phillies. Coste was awarded the 2006 Dallas Green Award for Special Achievement and the 2007 Media Good Guy Award in the Philadelphia area. He lives in Fargo, North Dakota, with his wife, Marcia, and their daughter, Casey.
The case of Kitzmiller v. Dover Board of Education, which was decided in early 2006, had all the elements of a movie. There were heroes and villains, opportunists and the innocent, and a judge who rendered a strong verdict against the teaching of creationism (renamed more benignly as “intelligent design” by its proponents) in one Pennsylvania school district. The case had national repercussions, all the way up to President Bush’s statement in August of 2005 that intelligent design should be taught as “an alternative theory” to evolution. Author Matthew Chapman is the author of Trials of the Monkey. He is a film director, with credits including “Consenting Adults” and “The Color of the Night” and co-wrote the film “Runaway Jury.” Chapman is the great-great grandson of Charles Darwin.
Acres of Skin The author discusses his story about human experiments conducted on inmates at Philadelphia's Holmesburg Prison between the early 1950's until the mid-1970's.
Writer of the National Geographic Magazine underground railroad story as well as eleven books, Charles L. Blockson, presents the culmination of forty years of historical research and collection of African American documents. Well known as a leading authority on African American history, Blockson has accumulated one of the nation's largest private collections of black history artifacts, photographs, maps and over 150,000 books and manuscripts. Blockson is curator of Temple University's Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection, a founding member of the Pennsylvania Black History Committee, and the co-founder of the African American Museum in Philadelphia.
Trotter, a history professor at Carnegie Mellon University and Smith, a historian for the PA Historical and Museum Commission discuss their collection of articles tracing African American history in the state from the 1680's to the present.
In "After the Smoke Clears" author Steve Mellon draws from his own experiences, grappling with what happens to one's sense of self when a job is lost. The book is a cautionary tale about the hidden costs of corporate economic policies when they abandon the towns that made them strong. Mellon takes readers on an unforgettable trip through five communities, including Braddock and Homestead, PA, which had staked their fortunes on a single company. Author Steve Mellon, a staff photographer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, has been a journalist for more than twenty years. He has been named National Newspaper Photographer of the Year Runner-up, PA Newspaper Photographer of the Year, and Indiana Newspaper Photographer of the year.
The Allegheny National Forest exists on what
might have been the most heavily exploited landscape in the
history of civilization. Careful stewardship over the last
eight decades has transformed it into a beautiful forest that
contains countless wildlife species and some of the world's
most valuable timber. Unfortunately, the Allegheny is now
the focus of a caustic new timber war that will ultimately
test the limits of American environmentalism. No longer satisfied
with protecting the pristine old growth that captured the
national imagination in the early 1990s, activists have embarked
on campaign to put an end to the Allegheny timber program.
Litigation and protests have shaken the region for a decade.
More recently, it has become a hotbed of eco-terrorism.
Air Wars is the story of how the author and a group of local activists fought the management of WQED-TV, the public television station in Pittsburgh, over the station's plans to sell its second station, WQEX to cover the stations debt of $14 million. According to Starr, the stations' debt was the result of a widely publicized financial scandal involving excessive salaries, payoffs, and the skimming of travel accounts. Starr is founder and executive director of Citizens for Independent Public Broadcasting, an organization established to promote non-commercial broadcasting in the service of the public interest.
Terry Bradshaw came back to Pittsburgh and appealed to everyone to forgive him and welcome him back into the Steelers family. The prodigal son sought forgiveness from the fans, Coach Chuck Noll, the Rooneys and anyone else he might have offended for staying away for so long, only to learn that he was still one of Pittsburgh's most popular sports performers. “Always a Steeler” is a collection of stories that provide insight into the Pittsburgh Steelers and the world of pro football, from the comeback of Tommy Maddox, the tragic death of Mike Webster, and other challenges that reverberated the Steelers' family. Author Jim O'Brien is a Pittsburgh native. This is his 18th book, his 15th celebrating Pittsburgh sports history. He is a member of the advisory board for the Sports Museum of the Heinz History Center, and has been a sportswriter with various newspapers. He is married to Kathleen Churchman O'Brien and has two daughters.
The book is about the trials and tribulations of life in a Pennsylvania coal town (Richeyville, Washington County) during the Great Depression and World War II, as seen through the eyes of the author and 60 miners and their families.
American
Aurora The author discusses his history of the Philadelphia Aurora, America's leading opposition newspaper from 1790 through 1800. The Aurora, published by Benjamin Franklin Bache, grandson of Benjamin Franklin, provided daily attacks on the administrations of presidents Washington and Adams, and suffered persecution under the Adams administration's Sedition Laws. The book's cover announces: "200 years ago a Philadelphia Newspaper claimed George Washington wasn't the 'father of his country.' It claimed John Adams really wanted to be king. Its editors were arrested by the federal government. One editor died awaiting trial. The story of this newspaper is the story of America."
Joseph J. Ellis received the Pulitzer Prize for Founding Brothers and the National Book Award for his portrait of Thomas Jefferson, American Sphinx. He is the Ford Foundation Professor of History at Mount Holyoke College. He lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, with his wife, Ellen, and their youngest son, Alex.
On October 2, 2006, a thirty-two-year-old gunman entered a one-room Amish school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. Ordering the boys and other adults to leave, the killer opened fire and shot the 10 remaining girls execution-style, killing five and leaving the others critically wounded. He then shot himself as police stormed the building. Before the sun had set on that awful October day members of the Amish community brought words of forgiveness to the family of the one who had slain their children. Those in the outside world were incredulous that forgiveness could be offered so quickly for such a heinous crime. The story of Amish grace eclipsed the story of violence and arrested the world’s attention. Amish Grace explores the many questions this story raises about the religious beliefs and habits that led the Amish to forgive so quickly. It examines forgiveness embedded in a separatist society and questions if Amish practices parallel or diverge from other religious and secular notions of forgiveness. It also asks why and how forgiveness became international news. Donald Kraybill is senior fellow at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College. He has authored many books and publications on the Amish, including The Riddle of Amish Culture. Steven Nolt is associate professor of history at Goshen College. His books on the Amish include A History of the Amish and Plain Diversity: Amish Cultures and Identities. David Weaver-Zercher is associate professor of American religious history at Messiah College. He is the author or editor of numerous books on the Amish, including The Amish in the American Imagination and Plain Talk: The Amish and the Media.
On October 2, 2006, a thirty-two-year-old gunman entered a one-room Amish school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. Ordering the boys and other adults to leave, the killer opened fire and shot the 10 remaining girls execution-style, killing five and leaving the others critically wounded. He then shot himself as police stormed the building. Before the sun had set on that awful October day members of the Amish community brought words of forgiveness to the family of the one who had slain their children. Those in the outside world were incredulous that forgiveness could be offered so quickly for such a heinous crime. The story of Amish grace eclipsed the story of violence and arrested the world’s attention. Amish Grace explores the many questions this story raises about the religious beliefs and habits that led the Amish to forgive so quickly. It examines forgiveness embedded in a separatist society and questions if Amish practices parallel or diverge from other religious and secular notions of forgiveness. It also asks why and how forgiveness became international news. Donald Kraybill is senior fellow at the Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies at Elizabethtown College. He has authored many books and publications on the Amish, including The Riddle of Amish Culture. Steven Nolt is associate professor of history at Goshen College. His books on the Amish include A History of the Amish and Plain Diversity: Amish Cultures and Identities. David Weaver-Zercher is associate professor of American religious history at Messiah College. He is the author or editor of numerous books on the Amish, including The Amish in the American Imagination and Plain Talk: The Amish and the Media.
Editor Brad Igou pored over 25 years of issues of Family Life, a magazine published by Amish which tells in their own words, why they drive buggies, wear plain clothes, and do not pose for photographs. Igou discusses Amish history, theology, and church practices, as well as the challenges faced by the Amish in dealing with a modern world.
Set against a backdrop of aggressive rock, frenzied fans, moshing, stage diving, crowd surfing, security brutality, and occasional outright violence, “Amp’d: A Father’s Backstage Pass” follows four years in the life of Gary Fincke’s son Aaron, a rock-and-roll guitarist. From Strangers With Candy (winner of MTV’s Ultimate Cover Band Prize in 2000), to Lifer (signed with Universal/Republic Records and released a national CD in 2001, to Breaking Benjamin (signed with Hollywood Records and released CDs in 2002 and 2004), Fincke Provides a unique perspective to the bizarre and fantastical world of commercial rock and roll. Aaron’s rock life is chronicled first-hand by his father, who attends more than fifty shows, spends time with the bands before and after shows, follows them to national tour sites, and talks intimately with his son as well as the members of the bands and some of their fans and managers. Gary Fincke, winner of the 2003 Flannery O’Connor Award, is the Writers’ Institute Director and Professor of English and Creative Writing at Susquehanna University. He has written fourteen books. He is the recipient of the 2003 George Garrett Fiction Prize, and his writing has been recognized with two Pushcart Prizes.
For the first time, the entire range of amphibians and reptiles, the herpetofauna of Pennsylvania has been assembled in a book. Complete with more than 130 color photos, Amphibians and Reptiles of Pennsylvania and the Northeast gives a description of each species including color and pattern variations, range, habitat, and reproduction. Arthur Hulse is professor of Biology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania is home to many classic amusement parks, several of which began operating as early as the 1880's. Some of the parks maintain rides and amusements from their early years, preserving an atmosphere of nostalgia. Others have evolved with new trends in the industry, adding high-tech rides and water parks. Author Jim Futrell, director and historian of the National Amusement Park Historical Association offers a close look at 13 of Pennsylvania's largest amusement parks and a number of smaller ones, giving complete information on rides, attractions, and tips about getting the most out of a day at the park.
Andrew Wyeth is probably America’s best-known living artist. His paintings are enormously popular but his achievement is controversial. Over his long career, he has mostly stood apart- sporadically celebrated, often taken for granted, sometimes ignored, seldom studied in depth. It has been more than three decades since Wyeth’s huge body of work has received concentrated scholarly attention. As the artist approaches his ninth decade, “Andrew Wyeth: Memory & Magic” considers his work anew. Anne Knutson is guest curator for the exhibition Andrew Wyeth: Memory & Magic. Kathleen Foster is the Robert L. McNeill, Jr. Curator of American Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
For more than fifty years, Dr. Robert Spencer practiced medicine in the small coal mining town of Ashland, PA. As the only town doctor, he was known as a dedicated professional who worked long hours, charged a modest fee, and never turned anyone away who could not pay. At the same time, Dr. Spencer ran an illegal abortion practice, in his career performing an estimated 100,000 abortions. Free lance writer Vincent Genovese tells the story of this controversial physician whose death in 1969 made headlines in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and on NBC's Huntley-Brinkley Report.
"The Angry Child: Regaining Control When Your Child Is Out Of Control" breaks new ground on the roots of anger and how to help children. The book outlines the traits of angry children, family influences, school, and media concerns. Dr. Murphy, a Pennsylvania State Senator, steps the reader through the four stages of anger, and includes suggestions about how to react at each interval. Dr. Murphy, in addition to his duties with the Senate, is a child psychologist affiliated with many children's hospitals in the Pittsburgh area.
In his fifty year career as a veterinarian on Philadelphia's Main Line, Dr. Edward Scanlon counted among his clients some of the area's most distinguished citizens. The CEO of 7 Up, the director of the Barnes Foundation, and Walter Annenberg, owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer, brought their pets to Dr. Scanlon for his special care. In addition to them, however, the good doctor counted among his clients a Philadelphia mob boss, the Philadelphia police, and the owner of a local brothel, who turned out to be a valuable source of contacts.
Anna Sunday is the story about a twelve-year-old girl in Civil War-era New Oxford, PA who learns that her father, a Union soldier, has been wounded in Virginia and is not expected to live. Along with her nine-year-old brother she undertakes a daring journey across rebel lines with the goal of finding her father and bringing him safely home. Sally Keehn, who writes novels for young readers, is the author of three previous books, The First Horse I See, Moon of Two Dark Horses, and the now-classic I Am Regina.
Every day during a recent Summer, nature writer Marcia Bonta walked around her 648-acre property near Tyrone, PA, and wrote down what she saw: the flowers, ferns, deer, bears, weasels, birds, insects, and all manner of living things. The result is her book, Appalachian Summer, a chronicle of a Pennsylvania Summer in nature.
Winter is the season that most tests our mettle. The challenges of the weather, such as freezing rain, wind chill, deep snow, and dangerous ice, can make winter feel like a burden and a chore. There is plenty of beauty and life to be found, though, if only we know where to look. The stark, white landscape of the woods sparkles in the sunshine and glows beneath the moon on crisp, clear nights; a hush falls as leaves drop and the forest transforms into an open landscape and even animals that should be hibernating make surprise visits from time to time. In Appalachian Winter- the fourth and final volume of her seasonal meditations on the natural history of the northern Appalachian Mountains- acclaimed naturalist Marcia Bonta breathes new warmth into the coldest months of the year with her accounts of the vibrant flora and fauna she finds in the woods and fields near her home. Marcia Bonta is the author of nine books, including Outbound Journeys in Pennsylvania. A popular lecturer, whose column” The Naturalist’s Eye” appears regularly in Pennsylvania Game News, she lives in Tyrone, Pennsylvania.
Architecture and Artifacts of the Pennsylvania Germans How did a mid-eighteenth-century group, the so-called Pennsylvania Germans, build their cultural identity in the face of ethnic stereotyping, nostalgic ideals, and the views imposed by outside contemporaries? Numerous forces create a group’s identity, including the views of outsiders, insiders, and the shaping pressure of religious beliefs, but to better understand the process, we must look to clues from material culture. Then we will move toward understanding what influenced Pennsylvania German communities and Pennsylvania Germans as they constructed identities for themselves. Cynthia Falk is Assistant Professor of Material Culture at Cooperstwn Graduate Program of SUNY Oneonta.Art Held Hostage “Art Held Hostage” is the first full account of the secrecy-enshrouded Barnes Foundation and its art collection, how it was born, and how it became hostage to those who ran it. The Barnes collection houses scores of Matisses, Picassos, and Cezannes, yet it sits along an unlikely side street in suburban Philadelphia. Due to a racial and political battle between corporate Philadelphia and an impoverished black institution, the fate of the $6.5 billion collection is left to the courts. Author John Anderson is a contributing editor to “The American Lawyer.” He holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University and lives in Ossing, New York, with his wife and son.
The Civilian Conservation Corps was one of the most popular programs of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. Over the nine years of the program, from 1933 to 1942, over two and one-half million unemployed young men found work on conservation projects across Depression-stricken America. “Roosevelt’s Tree Army,” as the CCC men were sometimes called, planted billions of trees, fought forest fires, did historic preservation work, and constructed recreational facilities in state and national parks. At Work in Penn’s Woods offers a portrait of Pennsylvania’s CCC program. Joseph M. Speakman is Professor of History at Montgomery County Community College near Philadelphia. Speakman’s father served in Pennsylvania’s CCC in 1933–34.
Backcountry Crucibles American historians have emphasized major cities as cultural and economic centers. This volume explores the vitality of cultural, economic, and political life beyond those cities. The Lehigh Valley is a place where integral events occurred, but is also an example of regional growth outside large cities. Its unique location, close enough to New York and Philadelphia to market grain, iron, coal, and steel, yet distant enough to develop its own cultural life, offers a regional model persisting for more than two centuries heretofore unexplored in American historical scholarship. This persistence of cultural and economic patterns, including the capacity to change, makes Lehigh Valley history particularly intriguing. Jean Soderlund is a Professor of History at Lehigh University. Catherine Parzynski teaches at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.
The largest maker of heavy machinery in Gilded Age America and an important global exporter, the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia achieved renown as one of the nation's most successful and important firms. Relying on gifted designers and skilled craftsmen, Baldwin built thousands of standard and custom steam locomotives, ranging from narrow gauge 0-4-0 industrial engines to huge mallet compounds. John K. Brown analyzes the structure of railroad demand; the forces driving continual innovation in locomotive design; Baldwin's management systems, shop floor skills, and career paths; and the evolution of production methods. The author teaches the history of engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Virginia.
Barbaro, the charismatic 2006 Kentucky Derby winner, thrilled racing fans with his brilliant victories. But he won hearts the world over with his gallant and courageous fight for life after his breakdown in the Preakness Stakes. Barbaro: The Horse Who Captured America's Heart chronicles Barbaro's early days, his life at bucolic Fair Hill and journey down the Triple Crown trail, and the heroics of his trainer, former Olympic show jumper Michael Matz. Award-winning writer Sean Clancy details Barbaro's surgery and ensuing complications, bringing the reader close to the cutting-edge veterinary science and dedicated surgeon who nearly pulled off the impossible. Sean Clancy, a critically acclaimed author and former champion jockey, has had a lifelong association with horses. Clancy rode steeplechase races professionally for 13 years, and won a total of 152 races and a national championship in 1998. He was the 10th highest winner of all time upon his retirement in 2000. Clancy is the author of Saratoga Days and co-author of The Best of the Saratoga Special. He also has written for Daily Racing Form, The Blood-Horse, Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred, and Newsweek among others.
Baseball's Natural: The Story of Eddie Waitkus is John Theodore's true account of the slick-fielding first baseman who played for the Cubs and Phillies in the 1940s and became an immortalized figure in baseball lore as the inspiration for Roy Hobbs in the Robert Redford film The Natural. One night, while playing for the Philadelphia Phillies, Waitkus's bright career took a tragic turn. He received a note summoning him to meet a young fan, Ruth Steinhagen. When Waitkus entered her hotel room, she proclaimed, “I have a surprise for you.” She then she produced a gun and shot him in the chest. Waitkus survived the shooting, made an inspirational return to baseball in 1950, and led the Phillies to the World Series. Baseball's Natural chronicles Waitkus's remarkable comeback as well as the difficult years following his eleven-year major league career. Currently a freelance writer, Chicago native John Theodore has served as a reporter, writer, editor, and television and radio producer for United Press International, WGN and WGN-TV.
In September of 1777, a Continental Army force of 1500 under the direction of General Anthony Wayne were dispatched by George Washington to harass the British army near Paoli, PA. In the ensuing fight, the British attacked by night with bayonets fixed. The defeat of the Americans was so total that the battle has come down in history as “the Paoli Massacre”. Thomas McGuire, a teacher of history at the Malvern Preparatory School, tells the story of the encounter and its aftermath, when the words “Remember Paoli!” became the Continentals' battle cry. Celeste Morello, a criminologist and historian in Philadelphia discusses her book, the first study of the history of the Sicilian American Mafia and La Cosa Nostra in Philadelphia before 1959, the year Angelo Bruno became boss of the local family.
The author, a member of the Communist Party in the 1950's, tells the story of his experiences with the Communist Party and the McCarthy era, his arrest under the "Smith Act", and his trial. Benjamin
Franklin and His Gods
by Kerry Walters University of Illinois Press, 1325 South Oak Street, Champaign, IL 61820 Kerry Walters, professor of philosophy at Gettysburg College discusses the religious beliefs of Philadelphia's First Citizen. Franklin has been called a Calvinist, a Deist, a Polytheist, and even an Atheist. Professor Walters examines this fascinating Philadelphian and compares the various religions of the colonial era.
Benjamin Franklin is known as America's best scientist, inventor, diplomat, writer, and business strategist. This biography follows Franklin's entire 84-year-life, from his poor days as a runaway printer, to his triumphs as a statesman, scientist, and Founding Father. Author Walter Isaacson notes that the most interesting thing that Franklin invented, and continually reinvented, was himself. Walter Isaacson, the president of the Aspen Institute, has been the chairman of CNN and the managing editor of Time magazine. He is the author of Kissinger: A Biography and the coauthor of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and daughter.
Benjamin
Franklin: In Search of a Better World
by Page Talbott Yale University Press, P.O. Box 209040, New Haven, CT 06520-9040 January 17, 2006 marks the tercentenary of Franklin’s birth, a cause for celebration and fresh consideration of his amazing legacy. Both ends are beautifully accomplished in Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World, edited by Page Talbott. The book combines new scholarship with more than 265 color images, many of which have never been seen before: portraits, manuscripts, drawings, maps, paintings, engravings, and a trove of Franklin’s possessions, from teacups to printing equipment. The book examines the many facets of America’s most extraordinary founding father. Politician, diplomat, scientist, printer, and civic improver, Franklin influenced every aspect of American life, from his own time to the present. Page Talbott is associate director of the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary and chief curator of the exhibition Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World. Benjamin Rush: Patriot and Physician by Alyn Brodsky St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010 One of the earliest crusaders for independence from Great Britain, Dr. Benjamin Rush was a vocal dissenter of the Stamp and Declaratory Acts, a contributor to Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, a co-signer of the Declaration of Independence, a member of the First Continental Congress, and a leading surgeon of the Continental Army. Often called the Father of American Psychiatry, Rush was also a major figure in the development of the American medical community. As a major reformer of medical teaching methods, it was said that every notable physician until the Civil War was either directly or indirectly a student of Rush. Author Alyn Brodsky is a university trained historian and author of “The Great Mayor and Grover Cleveland.” He currently lives and works in Florida.
Heart-shaped beds, champagne glass Jacuzzis, and artificial snow made the Poconos a premier vacation destination, one of the most diverse tourist and recreation areas on the East Coast. “Better in the Poconos” tells the story of the innkeepers, souvenir sellers, laborers, families, singles, and newlyweds who shaped the resort. Lawrence Squeri is Professor of History at East Stroudsburg University.
The American Revolution played out not just in Philadelphia, but across Pennsylvania. Penn State professors John Frantz and William Pencak tell the story of Pennsylvania's pivotal role in the state's rural areas to the north and west. They are the editors of the book Beyond Philadelphia: The American Revolution in the Pennsylvania Hinterland.
A treasury of 125 ghost stories from the Keystone State makes up this huge volume. Each region of Pennsylvania is represented by an assortment of eerie tales, gathered by two of the state’s best-known authors on the subject, including:
Mark Nesbitt lives in Gettysburg and is the author of the popular six-volume series Ghosts of Gettysburg. He also wrote 35 Days to Gettysburg, Saber and Scapegoat, and Through Blood and Fire. Patty Wilson lives in central Pennsylvania and writes about the paranormal and folklore. She is the author of The Pennsylvania Ghost Guide, Boos and Brews, and Haunted West Virginia. Nesbitt and Wilson previously collaborated on Haunted Pennsylvania.Big Steel At its formation in 1901, the US Steel Corporation was the world's largest industrial organization. Within its first year, it was producing two-thirds of America's raw steel, and soon supported the manufacturing supestructure of practically every other industry in the country. Granted unprecedented access, author Kenneth Warren examines the inner workings of this company at the center of so much of the nation's twentieth-century industrial life. Kenneth Warren, an Emeritus Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford, is widely recognized as a leading scholar of American and British heavy industry. He is the author of numerous books, including “Triumphant Capitalism: Henry Clay Frick and the Industrial Transformation of America” and “Wealth, Waste, and Alienation: Growth and Decline in the Connellsville Coke Industry.” Biggest Brother In every band of brothers, there is always one who looks out for the rest. For the Easy Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Army Airborne, the legendary fighting unit of World War II, the one man every soldier in Easy Company looked up to was Major Richard D. Winters. “Biggest Brother” is the story of an ordinary man who became an extraordinary hero-from Winters' childhood in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, through the war years in which his natural skill as a leader elevated him through the ranks in combat, to now, decades later, when he may finally be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions on D-Day. Larry Alexander has been a journalist and columnist for the Intelligencer Journal newspaper in Lancaster, PA for more than a decade, winning numerous awards for excellence in journalism. He grew up on the same street in the same town as Major Dick Winters, three decades later.
Twenty-seven-year-old Billy Heath was an immigrant coal miner from Pennsylvania, on the run from death threats in his hometown of Girardville. In a few short months he found himself among the U.S. Army's Seventh Cavalry in the Battle of Little Bighorn. Virtually every book on Custer literature agrees that not a single soldier survived the battle; the Seventh was completely wiped out by Indians. However, recent facts uncovered by author Vincent Genovese brings the universally accepted conclusion of no survivors into doubt, presenting evidence that Pvt. William (Billy) Heath did manage to escape the carnage at Custer's Last Stand. Vincent Genovese is a retired high school guidance counselor from Minersville, PA. He has also practiced as a marriage counselor and personnel consultant. He previously authored “Angel of Ashland: Practicing Compassion and Fate- A Biography of Robert Spencer, M.D. This exhaustive study looks at all 428 species of birds seen in Pennsylvania, including breeding and wintering birds, migrants, and vagrants. The authors provide both the professional ornithologist and amateur birder with an abundance of information about each species. Black Brothers Inc. The Black Mafia is one of the bloodiest crime syndicates in modern US history. From its roots in Philadelphia’s ghettos in the 1960’s, it grew from a rabble of street toughs to a disciplined, ruthless organization based on fear and intimidation. Known in its “legitimate” guise as Black Brothers Inc, it held regular meetings, appointed investigators, treasurers, and enforcers, and controlled drug dealing, loan-sharking, numbers rackets, armed robbery, and extortion. Police say the Black Mafia was responsible for over forty killings, the most chilling being the massacre of two adults and five children in a feud between rival religious factions. Despite the arrests that followed, they continued their rampage, exploiting their ties to prominent lawyers and civil rights leaders. Sean Patrick Griffin is an Associate Professor in the Administration of Justice at Penn State, Abington. He received his Ph.D. from Penn State University in 2000. Prior to his graduate education, Griffin was a Philadelphia Police Officer for four years.
"Blood and Honor" tells the inside story about the rise and fall of Philadelphia’s notorious Scarfo organization. Author George Anastasia delivers a firsthand account of murder, money, and corruption, told from the perspective of wiseguy-turned-witness Nick Caramandi. It was Caramandi who helped Nicky Scarfo get his hooks into the legitimate world of politicians, judges, unions, entertainment, and casinos. Caramandi’s testimony resulted in more than fifty convictions, bringing down Scarfo as well as launching wide-ranging investigations into the broader Mafia underworld. The author's new book, "The Last Gangster" tells the story of the last days of the rule of Philadelphia mob boss "Skinny Joey" Merlino. Author George Anastasia is a veteran reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He has authored five books of nonfiction, including four about the Philadelphia mob. He has won many awards for investigative journalism and magazine writing. "Blood and Honor" published by Camino
Books, P.O. Box 59026, Philadelphia, PA 19102
On September 11, 1780, a detachment of 41 Northampton County militiamen were surprised by a force of 30 Seneca warriors and Tories. When the fighting was over, 15 American patriots lay dead. Three more were taken prisoner, and the remainder scattered throughout what is today the Sugarloaf Valley of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Author Rogan Moore discusses his book about the violent interactions between the Iroquois and white settlers on the Susquehanna frontier during the American Revolution.
Cable television is arguably the dominant mass media technology in the U.S. today. “Blue Skies” traces its history in detail, depicting the important events and people that shaped its development, from the pre-cursors of cable TV in the 1920s and 1930s to the first community antenna systems in the 1950s, from the creation of the national satellite-distributed cable networks in the 1970s to the current incarnation of "info-structure" that dominates our lives. Author Patrick Parsons also considers the ways that economics, public perception, public policy, entrepreneurial personalities, the social construction of the possibilities of cable, and simple chance all influenced the development of cable TV. Patrick Parsons is Don Davis Professor of Ethics, College of Communications, Penn State University. He is the co-author (with Robert Frieden) of “The Cable and Satellite Television Industry.” He is also the author of “Cable Television and the First Amendment” and co-editor (with Steve Knowlton) of “The Journalist's Moral Compass.”
Diane McKinney-Whetstone, author of best-sellers Tumbling and Tempest Rising discusses her new novel, Blues Dancing. The story revolves around Verdi, the pampered daughter of a Southern preacher, who moves to Philadelphia in the 1970's and enters a world very different from the one in which she grew up.
Federal District Judge D. Brooks Smith was considered by his peers of Pittsburgh Democrat, Republican, Conservative, and Liberal attorneys and colleagues alike to be a “sterling” judge with an unmarred reputation. That is, until President George W. Bush nominated him to the United States Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Smith’s personal and professional life was turned upside down during the height of a judicial crisis in the Pennsylvania District Court. In 1987, Reagan-nominated judge Robert Bork found himself entrenched in a virtual smear campaign by the US Senate Judiciary Committee and certain special interest groups standing in the shadows who opposed his nomination to a vacant seat on the US Supreme Court. Since then, the “borking” process, like a malignant cancer, has trickled down to the lower courts confirmation process. Author Jeffrey Lord was in the Reagan White House while it was transpiring. Jeffrey Lord is a former White House Political Director who worked under President Ronald Reagan. Lord has been published in a number of major newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The Weekly Standard, The National Review Online, The Washington Times, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. This is his first book.
In the first half of the twentieth century, as smokestacks filled the sky and blast furnaces roared day and night, local and national artists sought to capture the raw energy and visual spectacle of the industrial landscape. The tools and fruits of industry became the glorified subjects of art—railroads, skyscrapers, bridges, steel mills, factories, forges, and laborers are among those portrayed. The collection is also significant for its broad range of artistic styles, and includes a variety of media: pencil drawings, etchings, lithographs, pastels, oil paintings, watercolors and photographs. Among the artists represented are Thomas Hart Benton, Reginald Marsh, Aaron Harry Gorson, Emil Bott, Otto Kuhler, Hayley Lever, Ernest Lawson, and Johanna Knowles Woodwell Hailman. Born of Fire catalogs a monumental period in the history of both art and industry, and provides a widely varied collection of artists and images that ennobled the spirit of human achievement. Barbara Jones is curator of the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, where the exhibition Born of Fire: The Valley of Work was shown from June to September 2006. She is the author of Samuel Rosenberg: Portrait of a Painter and Nature Staged: The Landscape and Still Life Paintings of Levi Wells Prentice. Edward Muller is Professor of History and Director of the Urban Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh. He is author of Before Renaissance: Planning in Pittsburgh, 1889-1943 and co-editor of The Atlas of Pennsylvania.
The Civil War brought to a climax the country’s bitter division. But the beginnings of slavery’s denouement can be traced to a courageous band of ordinary Americans, black and white, and slave and free, who joined forces to create what would come to be known as the Underground Railroad, a movement that occupies as romantic a place in the nation’s imagination as the Lewis and Clark expedition. The true story of the Underground Railroad is much more morally complex and politically divisive than even the myths suggest. Against a backdrop of the country’s westward expansion arose a fierce clash of values that was nothing less than a war for the country’s soul. Author Fergus Bordewich has written for the New York Times, Smithsonian, American Heritage, the Atlantic Monthly, and Reader’s Digest. He is the author of “Killing the White Man’s Indian” and “My Mother’s Ghost.”
On February 25, 1957, the nude, badly bruised body of a young boy was found in a cardboard box in trash-strewn woods of north Philadelphia. Posters of the “Boy in the Box” soon dotted the city and police stations nationwide—to no avail. In November 1998 the remains were exhumed for DNA analysis, and the boy was reburied as “America’s Unknown Child.” “The Boy in the Box” is the first book to examine America’s most famous unsolved case of child murder—one that led to the “Stranger Danger” child safety campaign and a Law & Order episode. Featuring never-before-seen photos, it examines half a century of shocking and mysterious events surrounding the discovery of the body. David Stout presents a timeline interwoven with flashbacks, theories, media reports, first-hand interviews, and urban myths—taking us back to the year America lost its innocence forever. David Stout, a veteran journalist with the New York Times, is currently a reporter for the paper’s Washington, DC bureau. He is the author of “Night of the Devil” and three novels, including the Edgar Award-winning mystery “Carolina Skeletons”. He lives in Washington, DC.
Brandywine, PA is the site of a devastating Revolutionary War encounter, in which British forces led by Sir William Howe defeated George Washington's Continental troops in September of 1777, paving the way for British occupation of Philadelphia. Thomas McGuire, author of “Battle of Paoli” and “The Surprise at Germantown” describes how the two armies met, their strategies, and how the outcome effected the fight for independence.
In "A Brilliant Solution: Inventing the American Constitution" author Carol Berkin brings to life the summer of 1787. The men who ventured to Philadelphia to establish a more stable government had no great expectations for the document they were fashioning. The book presents the Constitutional Convention delegates as men, not just historical figures, and reveals the process behind their closed-door meetings to save the Confederation. Author Carol Berkin is a professor of American History and Deputy Executive Officer in the History Ph.D. program at the City University of New York and Baruch College. She lives in New York City.
The subtitle for this book is: "The Completely True and Hilarious Misadventures of a Good Girl Gone Broke." Nissel recounts her senior year at the University of Pennsylvania, where she struggles to get a degree in medical anthropology at the same time she is trying to scrounge up 35 cents, the price of a tasty meal of Ramen noodles. While in college, Angela launched her "Broke Diary" (www.thrbrokediaries.com) an on-line journal that developed a cult following that had readers consoling, empathizing, and laughing. She is co-founder and site manager for Okayplayer.com, a popular on-line community that also houses the official sites of several hip-hop and soul musical artists. She is no longer broke.
A Villanova University professor, Richard Juliani examines Italian settlement in Pennsylvania from pre-Revolutionary times to the eve of the mass migration of the 1870's.
The author, Curator of Collections and Exhibitions at the Hershey Museum tells the story of the rise of the Hershey chocolate company and chocolate magnate Milton Hershey in his lavishly illustrated book.
After the French and Indian War, the British claimed control of the Forks of the Ohio. The Indians of the area felt threatened by hard-fisted British control and began seizing forts in the Ohio Valley. This guidebook focuses on the turning point of the resulting Pontiac's War, the Battle of Bushy Run, fought near Jeanette, Pennsylvania, in August 1763, between several Indian nations and three British regiments led by Col. Henry Bouquet. Author David Dixon is a professor of history at Slippery Rock University in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, and author of “Hero of Beecher Island: The Life and Military Career of George A. Forsyth” which won a Spur Award from the Western Writers of America for Best Biography. Born in South Carolina to a wealthy white father and mixed race mother, Robert Purvis (1810–1898) was one of the nineteenth century’s leading black abolitionists and orators. In this first biography of Purvis, Margaret Hope Bacon uses his eloquent and often fierce speeches to provide a glimpse into the life of a passionate and distinguished man, intimately involved with a wide range of major reform movements, including abolition, civil rights, Underground Railroad activism, women’s rights, Irish Home Rule, Native American rights, and prison reform. Citing his role in developing the Philadelphia Vigilant Committee, an all black organization that helped escaped slaves secure passage to the North, the New York Times described Purvis at the time of his death as the president of the Underground Railroad. Voicing his opposition to a decision by the state of Pennsylvania to disenfranchise black voters in 1838, Purvis declared “there is but one race, the human race.” But One Race is the story of one of the most important figures of his time. Margaret Hope Bacon is an independent scholar and the author of many books, including Valiant Friend: The Life of Lucretia Mott and Abby Hopper Gibbons: Prison Reformer and Social Activist, also published by SUNY Press.
Temple University History Professor Ella Forbes discusses her study of the 1851 “Christiana Resistance”, a clash between free blacks and slave catchers in pre-Civil War Lancaster County.
A
Capitol Journey The last half of the 20th century was a time of great social and economic change for Pennsylvanians. It was also a tumultuous time in state politics. Vincent Carocci lived through these years, spending the last four decades of the century as a journalist and political insider, rising to the post of Press Secretary to Governor Robert P. Casey in 1989. In "A Capitol Journey," this veteran journalist and political insider offers a colorful and honest look at the ups and downs of state politics, Pennsylvania-style. Carocci’s story is the story of a professional lifetime in and around Pennsylvania state government. He was part of the State Capitol press corps during an era that is now long gone, and never likely to return. He describes the characters who covered the news in the State Capitol, their work habits, their character, their strengths, and their foibles. Vincent Carocci covered state politics in Harrisburg during the 1960s for UPI and AP and then again in the early 1970s for The Philadelphia Inquirer. He then served on the Democratic staff of the Pennsylvania Senate for thirteen years. From 1987 to 1995 he was a senior staffer for Governor Robert Casey during his two terms in office. From 1995 to 2003 he was Director of Government Affairs for Capital Blue Cross. Now retired, he lives near Harrisburg.
One of the major figures in American history, Andrew Carnegie was a ruthless businessman who made his fortune in the steel industry and ultimately gave most of it away. He used his wealth to ascend the world's political stage, influencing the presidencies of Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, and Theodore Roosevelt. In retirement, Carnegie became an avid promoter of world peace, only to be crushed emotionally by World War I. In this biography, Peter Krass reconstructs the complicated life of this titan who came to power in America's Gilded Age. He transports the reader to Carnegie's Pittsburgh, where hundreds of smoking furnaces belched smoke into the sky and the air was filled with acrid fumes . . . and mill workers worked seven-day weeks while Carnegie spent months traveling across Europe. "Carnegie" explores the contradictions in the life of the man who rose from lowly bobbin boy to build the largest and most profitable steel company in the world. Krass examines how Carnegie became one of the greatest philanthropists ever known–and earned a notorious reputation that history has yet to fully reconcile with his remarkable accomplishments. Author Peter Krass lives in Hanover, New Hampshire, but his family roots are in Pittsburgh. Krass has written other books, including "The Book of Business Wisdom", "The Book of Leadership Wisdom", and "The Book of Investing Wisdom."
Rich Westcott, reviews Philadelphia's twentieth century players, coaches, teams, stadiums, announcers, and fans in his book “A Century of Philadelphia Sports.” The survey includes looks at not only the Phillies, ‘76ers, Eagles, and Flyers, but also lesser-known or now departed teams like the Tapers, Ukranian Nationals, Frankford Yellowjackets, Atoms, Blazers, and the city's first NHL entry, the Quakers (lasting only one season, 1933). Athlete profiles include Bill Tilden, one of the world's greatest tennis players; Temple sprinter Eulace Peacock, who raced and beat Jesse Owens many times during the 1930s; Willie Mosconi, 15-time world pocket billiards champion; and field hockey sensation Betty Shellenberger, who was name first team All-American 15 times. Westcott is also author of “Philadelphia's Old Ballparks” and “The Phillies Encyclopedia.”
The Chief:
Art Rooney and His Pittsburgh Steelers The year 2001 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Art Rooney, the owner and patriarch of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Rooney, who bought the franchise in 1933 for $2500, was always called "Mr. Rooney" by his players, and "The Chief" by his friends and family. Rooney was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1964, and saw the Steelers win four Super Bowl before his death in 1988. His statue now graces Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, the new home of the Steelers. Jim O'Brien has covered sports for the Pittsburgh Press, the New York Post, the Miami News, and was, for nine years, a columnist for The Sporting News. He is the author of 16 books, 13 of them about Pittsburgh sports. Originally published in 1959, Christmas in Pennsylvania is a classic work which examined the folk traditions of the holiday celebration in the Keystone State. Included are looks at the Philadelphia Mummers, Belsnickels, Moravian pyramids, and Pittsburgh firecracker celebrations. Written by the late Alfred Shoemaker, a pioneer in American folklife studies, the book will be discussed by Don Yoder, retired Professor of Folklife Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, who prepared this new edition.
In 1919 the victors of World War I gathered in Paris to negotiate the peace and determine the fate of the world. Among the American delegation was Vance McCormick (1872-1946), a member of a prominent family from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. After studying at Yale, where he was noted for his prowess on the football field, McCormick pursued an illustrious career in business and politics, including mayor of Harrisburg, publisher of the Patriot newspaper, manager of Woodrow Wilson's 1916 re-election campaign, and director of the War Trade Board. McCormick's diaries chronicle his diplomatic duties in London and Paris, and other documents highlight aspects of his diverse life. Michael Barton is professor of American Studies at Penn State Harrisburg and author of An Illustrated History of Greater Harrisburg: Life by the Moving Road.
William Martin, best-selling author of Back Bay, Cape Cod, and Annapolis, turns his attention to the nation's first President in his historical novel, Citizen Washington. While born in Virginia, most of the major events of George Washington's career took place in Pennsylvania: Fort Necessity and the French and Indian War, the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, the encampment at Valley Forge, his crossing of the Delaware, the writing of the US Constitution, and his term as President of these United States.
Code of
the Street In his book, Code of the Street, University of Pennsylvania Professor Elijah Anderson explains the rigid rules that make up every aspect of life in the inner-city black community of Philadelphia: dress, speech, behavior, and body language. Professor Anderson discusses how the "code of the street" has replaced the rule of law in the urban ghetto, why the police are ineffective, and why "respect" is the most cherished currency.
A Cold, Bleak Hill A work of historic fiction, “A Cold, Bleak Hill” follows George Washington and the Continental Army through the Summer of 1777, the most discouraging period of the American Revolution. Defeats at the battles of Germantown and Brandywine, the Paoli massacre, the British occupation of Philadelphia, and the fleeing of the government to York are a prelude to Washington's decision to settle his army in for the Winter at Valley Forge. Ron Carter published his first work in 1988. This book is volume five in the “Prelude to Glory” series, which uses fictional characters to portray the hardships, disappointments, struggles, and triumphs that were part of America's fight for independence.
One of the most significant industrial states in the country, with a powerful radical tradition, Pennsylvania was, by the early 1950's, the scene of some of the fiercest anti-Communist activism in the United States. Philip Jenkins, Professor of History at Penn State, examines the political and social impact of the Cold War across Pennsylvania.
“Colonial Records of the Swedish Churches in Pennsylvania” is designed to collect in one place the documentary history of the Old Swedes churches of Pennsylvania during the colonial period up to 1786. The volume marks the birth of Sweden’s “American Mission” under King Carl XI in 1696, designed to provide ministers and Swedish religious books to the Swedes living on the Delaware. One of these ministers was Andreas Rudman, who as the eldest of the ministers, chose the congregation at Wicaco to be his congregation. Under Rudman’s inspired leadership, the first masonry church in Pennsylvania, Gloria Dei Church, was constructed to serve the congregation formerly served by old Jacob Fabritius, who died in 1696 as the new ministers started their perilous journey to America. The new church is today the oldest historic structure in Philadelphia. Peter Craig is a Historian and Genealogist with the Swedish Colonial Society. Kim-Eric Williams serves as Governor of the Swedish Colonial Society.
In the summer of 1863, as Union and Confederate armies marched on southern Pennsylvania, the town of Gettysburg found itself thrust onto the center stage of war. The three days of fighting that ensued decisively turned the tide of the Civil War. “The Colors of Courage: Gettysburg’s Forgotten History- Immigrants, Women, and African-Americans in the Civil War’s Defining Battle,” shows Gettysburg from the viewpoint of three unsung groups- women, immigrants, and African Americans- and reveals how wide the battle’s dimensions were. With the arrival of the Confederate army in Pennsylvania’s borderland, African Americans, free and fugitive alike, faced the real possibility of capture and enslavement. In Gettysburg itself, civilian women were caught in the crossfire, as the homefront became the battlefront. Author Margaret Creighton is a professor of history at Bates College. The author of “Rites and Passages: The Experience of American Whaling,” and co-editor of “Iron Men, Wooden Women: Gender and Seafaring in the Atlantic World, 1700-1920” she lives in Yarmouth, Maine.
Over the years, Pennsylvania has been graced with an abundance of writers whose work draws imaginatively on the state’s history and culture. Common Wealth sings the essence of Pennsylvania through contemporary poetry. Whether Pennsylvania is their point of origin or their destination, the featured poets ultimately find what matters: heritage, pride, work, inventiveness, struggle, faith, beauty, hope. Marjorie Maddox is Director of Creative Writing and Professor of English at Lock Haven University. A resident of central Pennsylvania since 1990, she has published several award-winning poetry collections, including Transplant, Transport, Transubstantiation (2004), When the Wood Clacks Out Your Name: Baseball Poems (2001), and Perpendicular as I (1994). Jerry Wemple is Associate Professor of English at Bloomsburg University. He is the author of You Can See It from Here (2000), which won the Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award, and The Civil War in Baltimore (2005). He grew up in the Susquehanna Valley.
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was a unique colonial town. It was the first permanent outpost of the Moravians in North America and served as headquarters for their extensive missionary efforts. It was also one of the most successful communal societies in American history. Bethlehem was founded as a “congregation of the cross” where all aspects of personal and social life were subordinated to the religious ideal of that community. In “Community of the Cross” Craig Atwood offers a convincing portrait of Bethlehem and its religion. Craig Atwood is Theologian in Residence at Home Moravian Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and is on the faculty of Wake Forest Divinity School.
Some two million people visit the battlefield at Gettysburg each year. It is one of the most popular historical destinations in the United States. Most visitors tour the field by following the National Park Service's suggested auto tour. The standard tour, however, skips crucial monuments, markers, battle actions, town sites, hospital locations, and other hidden historical gems that should be experienced by everyone. These serious oversights are fully rectified in The Complete Gettysburg Guide, penned by noted Gettysburg historian J. David Petruzzi and illustrated with the full-color photography and maps of Civil War cartographer Steven Stanley. J. David Petruzzi is the author of many magazine articles on Eastern Theater cavalry operations, conducts tours of cavalry sites of the Gettysburg Campaign, and is the author of the popular “Buford’s Boys” website.
In the annals of American criminal history, there has never been anything quite like Philly’s K&A Gang. For more than 25 years, from the early 1950’s to the late 1970’s, this group of predominately Irish hoodlums from the working-class Kensington section of Philadelphia ran roughshod over hundreds of affluent communities along the East coast. From Bar Harbor to Boca Raton, ragtag crews of K&A second-story men, led by Junior Kripplebauer, burgled wealthy suburban residences with assembly line precision and an uncanny sense for where the loot was hidden. Long an urban legend in the Philadelphia area, the elusive Irish mob is pinned down for the first time in the pages of Confessions of a Second Story Man. Allen Hornblum is a Professor of Urban Studies at Temple Univesity. He has served as a member o the PA Crime Commission and the Board of Trustees of the Philadelphia System, and was Chief of Staff of the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office. He is also author of Acres of skin: Human Experiments at Holmesburg Prison.
The greatest team in the history of baseball may not have been the 1927 Yankees or the 1961 Yankees or even the 1998 Yankees. In his book Connie Mack's ‘29 Triumph, author Bill Kashatus makes a convincing case that Mr. Mack's Philadelphians deserve that honor. Fielding a team that included hall-of-famers Mickey Cochrane, Jimmy Dykes, Jimmy Foxx, Lefty Grove, and Al Simmons, the A's won three straight American League pennants and the 1929 and 1930 World Series.
"Conrad Richter: A Writer's Life" is the story of an aspiring writer who failed and then, desperate for money, tried again and wrote himself out of penny-a-word pulp magazines and into a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award. Based upon unrestricted access to all of Richter's letters, journals, notebooks and private papers, this biography offers an intimate account of Richter's personal struggle to achieve success in his own and in other people's terms. Born and raised in the small Pennsylvania town of Pine Grove, Conrad Richter is best known for his books "The Sea of Grass", "The Trees," and "The Light in the Forest." David Johnson is Professor of English at Lafayette College. This is his first book.
John Kennedy, Professor of Political Science at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, investigated the workings of the PA House and Senate, showing how social and technological changes have affected the legislature. He compares the legislature in the 1950's with today's legislature, and discusses party loyalty, candidate recruitment, and party ideology.
Could the next September 11 be nuclear? This is no theory, says Congressman Curt Weldon, in “Countdown to Terror.” It is a fact as real as the arrest of Muslim terrorists who planned to crash a plane into the Seabrook nuclear power plant in New Hampshire in 2004. Congressman Weldon tried to warn American intelligence about the attack—but no one in America’s intelligence community would listen. Congressman Weldon discusses his secret source, an intelligence contact code-named Ali who has been a treasure trove of reliable intelligence—intelligence that, despite Congressman Weldon’s strenuous efforts, has been routinely ignored by the CIA and the rest of America’s intelligence services. But in “Countdown to Terror,” Congressman Weldon reveals what the CIA doesn’t want to know. Congressman Curt Weldon has represented Pennsylvania in Congress for nearly twenty years. A graduate of West Chester University in Russian Studies, he is a long-standing expert on defense, intelligence, and terrorism. He founded the Homeland Security Caucus, is vice chair of the Homeland Security Committee, and serves as vice chair of the House Armed Services Committee. He divides his time between Washington, DC, and Thornbury Township, Pennsylvania, where he lives with his family.
Best-selling author Lisa Scottoline draws on her insider's experience as a former trial lawyer, her judicial clerkships in the state and federal court systems, and her years of practicing law in one of Philadelphia's most prestigious firms to create legal thrillers which feature an all-female Philadelphia law firm. Scottoline, who has been called “the female John Grisham” by People magazine, is also the author of “Mistaken Identity”, “Moment of Truth”, and “The Vendetta Defense.”
“Crime Scene Investigation” takes readers inside the daily activities of a forensic pathologist and a forensic photographer, revealing exactly how the experts sort through the minutiae of a murder to build an airtight case against a killer. The book follows investigators as they secure a crime scene, identify the time of death, lift fingerprints, trace evidence from firearms and explosives, examine hair and fibers, match DNA, and prepare a case for trial. The book goes on to follow investigators into the autopsy room, where they discover clues that help paint a picture of the killing.
Jim Fisher, professor of criminology at Edinboro
University of Pennsylvania tells the story of Edward Gingerich,
the only Amish man ever convicted of homicide in criminal
court. Gingerich, who lived near Mill Village in Crawford
County, PA was charged with the murder of his wife in a true
story that received national attention. Crossroads of Commerce No Railroad in America was more aware of its importance than the Pennsylvania Railroad. For a third of a century, beginning in 1925, the Pennsylvania Railroad published large wall calendars with railroad art so striking and distinctive, they were sought by bankers and brakemen alike. Each year an oil painting was commissioned to serve as the centerpiece of the calendar, which was distributed by hundreds of thousands to customers. “Crossroads of Commerce” examines how the company's calendar program reflected what railroading meant to its time. The book describes the evolution of the calendar series, including subtle changes in perspective or subject that often mirrored company politics or attitudes. Author Dan Cupper is a journalist and historian whose family roots run deep in the railroad industry: he is the grandson and great-grandson of Pennsylvania Railroad men, and his father once worked for a subsidiary of the Baldwin Locomotive Works. He is a graduate of Penn State University, and spent over a decade as a newspaper reporter and editor. He is currently a full-time freelance writer and editor, speaker, and transportation history consultant.
With the Seven Years’ War, Great Britain decisively eliminated French power north of the Caribbean- and in the process destroyed an American diplomatic system in which Native Americans had long played a central, balancing role- permanently changing the political and cultural landscape of North America. Author Fred Anderson reveals the clash of inherited perceptions the war created when it gave thousands of American colonists their first experience of real Englishmen and introduced them to the British cultural and class system. Colonists who assumed that they were partners in the empire encountered British officers who regarded them as subordinates, and who treated them accordingly. Thus, the war taught George Washington and other provincials profound emotional lessons, as well as giving them practical instruction in how to be soldiers. Fred Anderson is Associate Professor of History at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is the author of “A People’s Army: Massachusetts Soldiers and Society in the Seven Years’ War”, as well as articles, essays, and reviews.
The
D-Day Bank Massacre: The True Story of the Martin Appel Case June 6, 1986, on the 42nd anniversary of D-Day, Martin Appel robs a bank in East Allen, Pennsylvania, slaughtering three employees. He confesses to the crime and begs to be sentenced to death, but when he gets his wish, he has a change of heart. “The D-Day Bank Massacre” is the shocking true story of murder, lies, and twisted justice, written from the eyes of the chief prosecutor on the Martin Appel case. John Morganelli is the District Attorney of Northampton County, PA and Past President of the PA District Attorneys Association. Morganelli has successfully prosecuted murder cases, and has argued capitol cases before the state and federal appellate courts.
Damn Dutch is the first work to highlight the contributions at the Battle of Gettysburg of regiments of Pennsylvania Dutch- descendents of eighteenth-century German Speaking immigrants who had developed their own dialect and culture in Pennsylvania- and post-1820 German-born immigrants. On the first day of the battle, the Union Army’s 1st Corps, in which many of the Pennsylvania Dutch regiments served, and the half-German 11th Corps, which had five regiments of either variety in it, bought with their blood enough time for the federals to adequately prepare the high ground-a sacrifice that proved critical in the end for the Union victory. On the second day, they participated in beating back Confederate attacks that threatened to crack the Union defenses on Cemetery Hill and in other strategic locations. The book focuses on the distinctions and tensions between the two groups- then lumped together and sometimes referred to as the “Damn Dutch”- and how their ethnic identities shaped their behavior before, during, and after the battle. David Valuska is Fryberger Professor of Pennsylvania German Studies and professor of military history at Kutztown University. He serves as executive director of the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center. Christian Keller is assistant professor of American History at Dickinson College.
This is a biography of one of the most prominent members of the U.S. House of Representatives during the twentieth century. A Democrat, Flood represented Pennsylvania's 11th Congressional District for thirty-one years. His ability to provide for his depressed district emanated mainly from his chairmanship of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-HEW. Flood surpassed most of his colleagues in the extremism of his anti-Communist rhetoric. Focusing frequently on Eastern Europe helped him politically, given the demographics of the district. But his real obsession was the Panama Canal. He advocated permanent U.S. possession of the canal and Canal Zone and publicized the issue from 1958 until 1978, his next-to-last year in office. Flood's career ended with his indictment and trial on a variety of corruption charges. A plea agreement allowed him to evade prison time, but he resigned his long-held seat in January 1980 and remains a figure whose achievements are clouded by scandal. Sheldon Spear is retired from the history department at Luzerne County Community College.
The Day the Earth Caved In accounts the nation’s worst mine fire, beginning on Valentine’s Day, 1981, when twelve-year-old Todd Domboski plunged through the earth in his grandmother’s backyard in Centralia, Pennsylvania. Author Joan Quigley, the granddaughter of Centralia miners, ushers readers into the dramatic world of the underground blaze-from the media circus and back-room deal-making spawned in the wake of Todd’s sudden disappearance, to the inner lives of every day Centralians who fought a government that wouldn’t listen. Drawing on interviews with key participants and exclusive new research, Quigley paints portraits of Centralia and its residents, from Tom Larkin, the short-order cook and ex-hippie who rallied the activists, to Helen Womer, a bank teller who galvanized the opposition, denying the fire’s existence even as toxic fumes invaded her home. Here, too, we see the failures of major political and government figures, from Centralia’s congressman, “Dapper” Dan Flood, a former actor who later resigned in the wake of corruption allegations, to James Watt, a former lawyer-lobbyist for the mining industry, who became President Reagan’s controversial interior secretary. Joan Quigley first glimpsed the Centralia mine fire at age fifteen, during her grandmother’s funeral at St. Ignatius Cemetery. A former Miami Herald business reporter, she is a graduate of Princeton and of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. She is a recipient of the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award for this book.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette outdoors writer Mike Sajna tells fish stories: the legends, secret locations, techniques, and characters in his book Days on the Water: The Angling Tradition in Pennsylvania.
A Deadly
Secret: The Strange Disappearance of Kathie Durst When 29-year-old Kathie Durst vanished in 1982, her friends pointed the finger at her reclusive husband, from whom she was seeking a divorce. Nearly twenty years later, a disheveled man was arrested for shoplifting in Pennsylvania. He turned out to be Robert Durst, heir to a fortune and on the run from a murder indictment. What transpired between Kathie's disappearance and the shoplifting arrest was a nineteen-year, cross-country mystery of stolen IDs and multiple identities. "A Deadly Secret" is the definitive account of the search for Kathie Durst, and the shocking secrets held by those closest to her. Author Matt Birkbeck is a veteran investigative journalist who has been featured in both Readers Digest and People. He is the recipient of a prestigious Investigative Reporters & Editors Award and has reported on a host of true crime/human interest stories. He lives in Pennsylvania.
Since 1870, mining disasters have claimed the lives of thirty thousand miners who toiled underground in the anthracite mines of Pennsylvania. The constant threat of explosions, cave-ins and deadly gas brought miners face to face with death on a daily basis. Sometimes they survived; many times they did not. Through original journals and newspaper accounts, J. Stuart Richards’s “Death in the Mines” revisits Pennsylvania’s most notorious mining accidents and rescue attempts from 1869 to 1943. From the fire at Avondale Colliery that resulted in the first law for regulation and inspection of mines, to the gas explosion at Lytle Mine in Primrose that killed fourteen men, Richards reveals multiple facets of Pennsylvania’s most perilous profession.
In “The Declaration of Independence,” author David Armitage reveals the document in a new light: through the eyes of the rest of the world. Not only did the Declaration announce the entry of the United States onto the world stage, it became the model for other countries to follow. Armitage examines the Declaration as a political, legal, and intellectual document, and is the first to treat it entirely within a broad international framework. He shows how the Declaration arose within a global moment in the late eighteenth century similar to our own. He uses over one hundred declarations of independence written since 1776 to show the influence and role the U.S. Declaration has played in creating a world of states out of a world of empires. He discusses why the framers' language of natural rights did not resonate in Britain, how the document was interpreted in the rest of the world, whether the Declaration established a new nation or a collection of states, and where and how the Declaration has had an overt influence on independence movements--from Haiti to Vietnam, and from Venezuela to Rhodesia. David Armitage is Professor of History at Harvard University.
You can have too much of a good thing when it comes to white-tailed deer, say some of the farmers, foresters, bird watchers, auto insurance agents, biologists, and even hunters who have to deal with the deer that roam Pennsylvania from the big woods of the northern tier to the suburbs around Pittsburgh and the parks within Philadelphia. All agree they want deer in Pennsylvania, but in manageable numbers in the right places. There have been and will continue to be problems until that balance is achieved. That's because deer, though beautiful, can also be devastating. Knowing that is one thing. Being able to do something about it - especially in Pennsylvania, where deer hunting traditions are as deeply rooted as 100-year-old white oak - is something else. A number of people, some Game Commission officials included, say they deer herd has been mismanaged for 80 years. That must change, they say, if deer populations are to finally be brought into balance with their habitat and if hunting as we know it is to survive. Bob Frye is an award winning outdoors journalist and the Outdoors Editor for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Democracy and Populism, Fear and
Hatred “Democracy and Populism, Fear and Hatred” is John Lukacs’ observation that American democracy has changed in such a way as to make our way of life vulnerable to the shallowest possible demagoguery. Lukacs contrasts the political systems, movements, and ideologies that have bedeviled the twentieth century: democracy, Liberalism, nationalism, fascism, Bolshevism, National Socialism, populism. Reflecting on American democracy, Lukacs describes its evolution from the eighteenth century to its current form-a dangerous and possibly irreversible populism. John Lukacs writes widely on American and European history. One of the world’s great experts on Churchill and on Hitler, Lukacs’ works include “Five Days in London: May 1940” and “A New Republic: A History of the United States in the Twentieth Century.”
During the Civil War, there were throughout the Union explosions of resistance to the war—from the deadly Draft Riots in New York City to other, less well-known outbreaks. In Deserter Country, Robert Sandow explores one of these least-known “inner civil wars,” the widespread, sometimes violent opposition in the Appalachian lumber country of Pennsylvania. Sparsely settled, these mountains were home to divided communities that provided safe haven for opponents of the war. The dissent of mountain folk reflected their own marginality in the face of rapidly increasing exploitation of timber resources by big firms, as well as partisan debates over loyalty. Robert Sandow is Associate Professor of History at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania.Designing the Centennial: A History of the 1876 International
Exhibition in Philadelphia “Designing the Centennial” is a behind-the-scenes look at the planning of America's first important world's fair—the 1876 United States Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, where much of the Industrial Revolution's newest technology was put on display. Bruno Giberti uses the official reports of the US Centennial Commission and photographs of the Centennial Photographic Company, as well as books, magazines, and newspapers to examine the concept of world's fairs, comparing the 1876 event to other nineteenth and early twentieth-century exhibitions. Nineteenth or early twentieth-century visitors to Pittsburgh were frequently shocked by the ways the industrial environment dominated the natural landscape. Steel mills and coal mines left Pittsburgh's rivers to run brown from the toxic chemicals, sewage, and refuse. After forests were cut down for fuel, the remaining flora and fauna died from the acidic elements, garbage, and slag that piled up. Today, the steel industry that defined Pittsburgh for over a century is virtually gone. In “Devastation and Renewal,” leading environmental scholars examine Pittsburgh's process of reclamation, as well as how power was used to cause change or prevent it. Editor Joel Tarr is the Richard S. Caliguiri Professor of Urban and Environmental History and Policy at Carnegie Mellon University.
Claudio Salvucci, author of A Dictionary of Pennsylvanianisms and A Grammar of the Philadelphia Dialect discusses the various accents and dialects in Pennsylvania and the origins of some of our words like “hoagie”, “gruntbecky”, and “yo”.
In an era when the countryside is dotted with fast-food restaurants from national chains, the traditional Diner is alive and well. Brian Butko, author of The Lincoln Highway, teams with Kevin Patrick to study the character and variety of the Diners of Pennsylvania. The book offers complete lists of the diners in each region of the state including maps showing Diner Highways, information on styles and manufacturers, and many photographs. Dirty Blonde Cate’s dark double life- the one that she doesn’t even tell her best friend about- comes shockingly to light when a case in her courtroom explodes in a murder-suicide. The tabloids scream her secrets, her boyfriend dumps her, and her judgeship hangs in jeopardy. When a killer comes after her, she runs for her life, only to bring her own mysterious past to the present. Lisa Scottoline, a New York Times best-selling author, is a former trial lawyer and judicial law clerk. She won the Edgar Award for crime fiction and teaches Justice and Fiction at her alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She lives in Philadelphia.
Founded in Philadelphia in 1791 by Richard Allen, the African Methodist Episcopal Church originally served as a center of spiritual and cultural life in the pre-Civil War African American community. While generally identified with the pursuit of liberty for African Americans, the AME Church also extended its concerns beyond the U.S. borders. In this new study, Villanova University history professor Lawrence Little describes how the AME Church reacted to American foreign policy in the years from the partition of Africa in 1884 to the U.S. invasion of Haiti in 1916.
Doo-dah! Stephen Foster and the Rise of American Popular Culture by Ken Emerson Da Capo Press, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013 The author tells the story of Stephen Foster, life-long Pittsburgh resident and author of the songs Camptown Races, Oh! Suzanna, My Old Kentucky Home, Old Folks At Home, and Hard Times Come Again No More. Dorney Park by Wally Ely & Bob Ott Arcadia Books, 420 Wando Park Blvd., Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464 Dorney Park was founded by Solomon Dorney in 1884. Originally a fish hatchery, Dorney Park expanded to include a hotel, casino, bowling alley, Ferris wheel, carousel, roller coaster, roller-skating rink, and many traditional mechanized rides and modern amusements. Throughout the book, vintage postcards and photographs illustrate the development of one of America’s greatest historic amusement parks. Wally Ely grew up within walking distance of Dorney Park. He produced a segment featuring Bob Ott and the Dorney Park Zephyr for a RCN Cable television magazine show, which was voted the viewers’ choice for the most popular segment in the show’s fifteen-year history. Bob Ott, one-time owner of the park, shares his photographs, postcards, and experiences with Wally Ely to bring the history of Dorney Park to life. Double Buckeyes by Congressman Bud Shuster White Main Publishing Company, 63 West Burd Street, Shippensburg, PA 17257 (717) 532-2237 Former United States Congressman Bud Shuster grew up in a small steel mill town in Western Pennsylvania during the depression. His book, Double Buckeyes is a fictitious story based on his own life, featuring the experiences, memories, and values that shaped him in his early years. Through his eyes we can see and understand the lives of thousands of Pennsylvanians of his generation. Down the
Susquehanna to the Chesapeake As the largest river on the East Coast of the United States, the rolling Susquehanna is the indispensable tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, the nation's largest estuary. Gathering strength from scores of streams along its 444-mile journey, the river delivers half of the freshwater the bay requires to maintain its ecological balance. With the aid of more than 70 maps and illustrations, Down the Susquehanna to the Chesapeake provides a bold new look at a dynamic old river. This powerful journey brings alive the Susquehanna, its history, and the colorful personalities who live along its banks. Jack Brubaker is a columnist of the Lancaster New Era. His previous books include The Last Capital: Danville, Virginia, and the Final Days of the Confederacy (1979; 1996) and Hullabaloo Nevonia: An Anecdotal History of Student Life at Franklin and Marshall College (1987).
The
Eagles Encyclopedia Capturing all of the triumph and tragedy of every season since the franchise formed in 1933- “The Eagles Encyclopedia” provides a play-by-play history of the illustrious team. From portraits of Bert Bell and the birth of the Eagles, to today’s Head Coach Andy Reid, quarterbacks Randall Cunningham, Ron Jaworski, and Donovan McNabb, and Hall of Fame players like Chuck Bednarik and Mike Ditka, this benchmark volume is chock-full of athlete profiles, milestone moments, and descriptions of the fans who have supported the team through 458 wins, 511 losses, and 25 ties throughout the years. Ray Didinger has won four Emmy Awards as a writer and producer at NFL Films. Before that, he was a reporter covering the National Football League for the Philadelphia Bulletin, and later The Philadelphia Daily News. Robert Lyons has covered professional and college sports for the Associated Press, and has contributed to numerous national publications. He is the author of “Palestra Pandemonium: A History of the Big Five.” Lyons serves as President of RSL Communications.
Thomas Eakins is widely considered one of the great American painters, an artist whose uncompromising realism helped move American art from the Victorian era into the modern age. Yet beneath the surface of Eakins’s pictures is a sense of brooding unease and latent violence- a discomfort voiced by one of his sitters who said his portrait “decapitated” her. In “Eakins Revealed,” art historian Henry Adams examines the dark side of Eakins’s life and work, in a startling new biography that will change public understanding of this American icon. Adams uncovers the bitter personal feuds and family tragedies surrounding Eakins- his mother died insane and his niece committed suicide amid allegations that Eakins had seduced her- and documents the artist’s tendency toward psychological abuse and sexual harassment of those around him. Henry Adams is Chair of the Department of Art History at Case Western Reserve University. An award-winning art historian, h is the author of more than 200 publications on American art, including books, exhibition catalogues, and scholarly and popular articles.
Originally published in 1960, Eastertide in Pennsylvania examines the folk traditions of the holiday celebration in the Keystone State. Included are looks at the Fastnachts, the custom of eating green food on Maundy Thursday, the Pennsylvania Dutch tradition of dying and scratch carving Easter Eggs, and the now forgotten celebrations of Whitsuntide. Written by the late Alfred Shoemaker, a pioneer in American folklife studies, the book will be discussed by Don Yoder, retired Professor of Folklife Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, who prepared this new edition. In addition, Mr. Yoder discusses his book, Hex Signs which looks at the popular Pennsylvania Dutch tradition of barn decorating.
Ed Delahanty's career spanned the last decades of the nineteenth century during a time when the sons of post-Irish famine refugees dominated baseball and changed the playing style of America's national pastime. Baseball for Delahanty and other young Irishmen was a ticket out of poverty and into a life of fame and fortune. The allure and promise of celebrity and wealth, led Delahanty enmeshed in desperate contract dealings and a gambling addiction that drove him to alcohol abuse. The owner of the fourth highest lifetime batting average, Delahanty mysteriously disappeared and was found at the bottom of Niagara's Horseshoe Falls. Jerrold Casway is a professor of history and chair of the Social Sciences/ Teacher Education Division at Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland. He specializes in early modern Irish history and nineteenth-century baseball.
Robert Spencer was one of the most important painters associated with the Pennsylvania impressionist art colony in Bucks County, but stylistically his work differed strongly from that of most of his New Hope colleagues. Instead of painting scenes from nature, Spencer made his reputation with skillful, evocative views of everyday life, often depicting the mills, tenements, and factories of New Hope and surrounding areas. Another Pennsylvania impressionist, Edward Redfield, was recognized as one of the foremost landscape painters in the United States by 1910. Though he preferred not to think of himself as a member of any colony or school of artists-he worked in isolation and was reputed to be a curmudgeon- Redfield would arguably become known as the stylistic leader of Pennsylvania Impressionist school of painting that flourished in Bucks County in the early decades of the twentieth century. Brian Peterson, Senior Curator at the James A. Michener Art
Museum, has more than twenty years of experience as curator,
critic, artist, and arts administrator in the Philadelphia
area. Constance Kimmerle is Curator of Collections at the
James A. Michener Art Museum. Eisenhower In his portrait, “Eisenhower”, Geoffrey
Perret presents a coherent, original and provocative portrait
of “Ike” as both a soldier and a president. Drawing
from new material that has become available over the last
two decades, including many volumes of Perret is the author of 10 books, including “Days of Sadness, Years of Triumph”, “A Country Made By War”, and biographies of Douglas MacArthur and Ulysses S. Grant.
The most comprehensive state election study ever undertaken, Elections in Pennsylvania provides data and analysis for more than 13,000 general elections and more than 6,000 primary elections held in the state between 1900 and 1998, with a postscript examining in less detail the elections of 2000 and 2002. Included are all elections for president, governor, U.S. senators and representatives, statewide offices, and members of the General Assembly. The extensive period of time covered allows the author to provide an important historical perspective on electoral trends, distinguishing what are genuinely new developments in electoral dynamics and voting behavior in recent decades from what are continuations of patterns earlier in the century. Jack Treadway is Professor of Political Science at Kutztown University.
Eliot Ness, leader of “The Untouchables” and famous prohibition-era G-man spent his final years in business in Coudersport, PA. Paul Heimel tells the story of Ness and his target, Al Capone, while discussing his book Eliot Ness: The Real Story , the first biography of this crimestopper.
In 1841, Joseph Willson, a black man who had
moved to Philadelphia from the South published Sketches of
the Higher Classes of Colored Society in Philadelphia, a book
intended to demonstrate to whites that a class structure existed
among 19th century blacks in the city, and to describe society
among upper-class free blacks in the years before the Civil
War. The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars by Joel Glenn Brenner Random House, 201 East 50th Street, New York, NY 10022 Former
Washington Post reporter Joel Glenn Brenner describes how
she spent eight years studying the inner workings of
the nation's two largest candy companies, Hershey Foods of
Hershey, PA, and Mars, which manufactures its chocolate in
Elizabethtown, PA. Both companies fiercely guard their privacy,
granting no interviews and allowing no tours. Ms. Brenner
was successful in learning more about the two companies than
any reporter had ever been. The result is her book,
The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of
Hershey and Mars. Empires at War:
The French and Indian War and the Struggle for North America,
1754-1763 On May 28, 1574, a group of militia and Indians led by a twenty-two-year-old major named George Washington surprised a camp of sleeping French soldiers near present-day Pittsburgh. The brief and deadly exchange of fire that ensued lit the match that, in Horace Walpole’s memorable phrase, would “set the world on fire.” The resulting French and Indian War in North America became part of the global conflict known as the Seven Years War, fought across Europe, India, and the East and West Indies. Before it ended, nearly one million men had died. “Empires at War” captures the sweeping panorama of this first world war, especially in its descriptions of the strategy and intensity of the engagements in North America, many of them epic struggles between armies and the wilderness. Author William Fowler is director of the Massachusetts Historical Society, consulting editor at The New England Quarterly, and honorary professor of history at Northeastern University. His books include “Jack Tars and the Commodores: The American Navy, 1783-1815” and “The Baron of Beacon Hill: A Biography of John Hancock.” Encounters Paul Gottfried has spent a lifetime asking politically incorrect questions, untimely questions that have made him more unpopular among some timid "movement" conservatives than among critical theorists, Central European Marxists, and assorted other debating and dining partners. But in Encounters: My Life with Nixon, Marcuse, and Other Friends and Teachers, Gottfried puts past political battles aside in order to recount his varied associations and friendships with a host of fascinating figures, including his father, Herbert Marcuse, Paul Piccone, Christopher Lasch, Richard Nixon, and Patrick J. Buchanan. Paul Gottfried is Professor of Humanities and holds the Raffensperger Chair in the Department of Political Science at Elizabethtown College. A distinguished historian and interpreter of the American conservative movement, he is the author of numerous books, including Conservatism in America: Making Sense of the American Right, Multiculturalism and the Politics of Guilt: Towards a Secular Theocracy, and After Liberalism: Mass Democracy in the Managerial State.
The world's first computer was built in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1940's. The computers creators were John Mauchly, Penn professor and “dreamer”, and Presper Eckert, Philadelphia blue-blood and electronic genius. Their invention, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, or ENIAC. Their story is told by Scott McCartney in his book ENIAC: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the World's First Computer.
Joseph Priestley, a contemporary and friend of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, exceeded even those polymaths in the breadth of his curiosity and learning. Yet Priestley is often portrayed in negative terms, as a restless intellect, incapable of confining himself to any single task, without force or originality, and marked by hasty and superficial thought. In The Enlightened Joseph Priestley, he emerges as a man learned in an extraordinary variety of subjects, from grammar, education, aesthetics, metaphysics, politics, and theology to natural philosophy. Robert Schofield is Professor of History Emeritus at Iowa State University, where he was also Director of the Program in History of Technology and Science The firt volume of his Priestley biography, The Enlightenment of Joseph Priestley, was published by Penn State Press in 1997. He is also the editor of A Scientific Autobiography of Joseph Priestley.
The
Fabric of America Throughout Measuring America, author Andro Linklater relates how the borders and boundaries that formed states and a nation inspired the sense of identity that has ever since been central to the American experiment. Linklater opens with America’s greatest surveyor, Andrew Ellicott, measuring the contentious boundary between Pennsylvania and Virginia in the summer of 1784; and he ends standing at the yellow line dividing the United States and Mexico at Tijuana. In between, he chronicles the evolving shape of the nation, physically and psychologically. As Americans pushed westward in the course of the nineteenth century, the borders and boundaries established by surveyors like Ellicott created property, uniting people in a desire for the government and laws that would protect it. Challenging Frederick Jackson Turner’s famed frontier thesis, Linklater argues that we are defined not by open spaces but by boundaries. “What Americanized the immigrants was not the frontier experience,” Linklater writes, “but the fact that it took place inside the United States frontier.” Those same borders had the ability to divide as well as unite, as the great battle over internal boundaries during the Civil War would show. By century’s end, however, we were spreading U.S. power beyond our borders, an act that, seen through Linklater’s eyes, offers an intriguing perspective on our role in the world today. Andro Linklater is the author of Measuring America: How an Untamed Wilderness Shaped the United States and Fulfilled the Promise of Democracy as well as The Code of Love and several other books. He lives in England.
The anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania helped power industrialization in the United States, and created a booming regional prosperity. Today very little mining or industry remains, although residents have made valiant efforts to restore the fabric of their communities. In “The Face of Decline,” historians Thomas Dublin and Walter Licht offer a sweeping history of this area over the course of the twentieth century. Combining business, labor, social, political, and environmental history, the authors delve into coal communities to explore grassroots ethnic life and labor activism, economic revitalization, and the varied impact of economic decline across generations of mining families. Thomas Dublin is Professor of History at Binghamton University, State University of New York. He is the author of many books, including “When the Mines Closed: Stories of Struggles in Hard Times.” Walter Licht is Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of several books, including “Working for the Railroad: The Organization of Work in the Nineteenth Century.”
Andy Warhol's Silver Factory was a collaboration of artists that came together to produce more than 500 movies, the music of the Velvet Underground, and the paintings and sculpture that would influence the future art world. Author Steven Watson tells the story of the unusual interaction between Andy Warhol and his fellow artists at Silver Factory, including Edie Sedgwick, Lou Reed, Paul Morrissey, and many others between 1963 and 1968, when Warhol was shot by an enraged hanger-on, Valerie Solanas. Steven Watson is a cultural historian and documentary filmmaker. His other books include “Strange Bedfellows,” “ The Harlem Renaissance,” “The Birth of the Beat Generation,” and “Prepare for Saints: Gertrude Stein, Virgil Thomson, and the Mainstreaming of American Modernism.” He lives in New York City.
Doylestown, Pennsylvania, was home to the greatest high school football rivalry in the state. There was Central Bucks West, captained by senior fullback/ linebacker Bryan Buckley. And there was Central Bucks East, led by senior lineman Colby Umbrell. Bryan and Colby met as opponents in a game played on a grass field, but their dreams and devotion to their country led each of them to the Middle East- Colby as an Army Ranger and Bryan as a Marine. Only one of them made it back to Doylestown. Mike Sielski has won seven awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Newspaper Association of America named him one of the 20 best newspaper people in the nation under 40. He is the co-author of “How to Be Like Jackie Robinson: Life Lessons from Baseball’s Greatest Hero.”
Fallingwater Rising by Franklin Toker Alfred Knopf Publishers, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10171 Fallingwater Rising is the biography of the most famous house of the twentieth century. Scholars and the public have long extolled the house that Frank Lloyd Wright perched over a Pennsylvania waterfall in 1937. When he got the commission to design the house, Wright was nearing seventy, his youth and his early fame long gone. It was the Depression, and Wright had no work in sight. Into his orbit stepped Edgar Kaufmann, a Pittsburgh department-store mogul and philanthropist with the burning ambition to build a world-famous work of architecture. The two men collaborated to produce an extraordinary building of lasting architectural significance that brought international fame to them both and confirmed Wright's position as the greatest architect of the twentieth century. Franklin Toker, a professor of the history of art and architecture at the University of Pittsburgh, has published books on church architecture in French Canada, the ancient cathedral of Florence (which he excavated), and the architecture of urbanism of Pittsburgh. He has won both the Porter Prize and the Hitchcock Award. Toker lives with his family in Pittsburgh.
Fantasy Camp Lambert
Obituary writer Lenny Holcomb has reached a dead end. Burned-out and uninspired, he knows life in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has nothing left to offer. Until secrets of the dead begin to reveal themselves in his work, sending Lenny into the streets armed with a shrewd mind and a recharged sense of purpose. Lenny gets hot on the trail of a popular governor with presidential ambitions who may have had a role in the death of his beautiful press secretary. As the murderous truth unravels, Lenny realizes that he's made a very powerful and dangerous enemy, and that the last obituary he pens may be his own. John Luciew has been a working journalist for
more than fourteen years, writing at various newspapers in
Pennsylvania. Born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, he lives, writes,
and practices journalism in Harrisburg. This is his first
novel. He is at work on a second Lenny Holcomb mystery, forthcoming
from Pocket Books. Fifty Acres
and a Poodle Living a comfortable life as a single writer in downtown Pittsburgh, Jeanne Marie Laskas, columnist for Washington Post Magazine, always dreamed of living on a farm. In Fifty Acres and a Poodle, Laskas tells the story of her adjustment to life at Sweetwater Farm in scenery Hill in Southwestern Pennsylvania. The sometimes humorous, sometimes harrowing book is the story of a woman who pursues her dreams, and deals with the realities that come with it.
Charles McCollester, editor of Fighter With A Heart: Writings of Charles Owen Rice discusses the life and work of Pittsburgh's Labor Priest, who had a major impact on the American labor movement as a radio commentator for forty years and a newspaper columnist for sixty.
Fighting
for the Union Label As the Pennsylvania anthracite coal industry was declining, garment industry factories began to set up shop in mining towns where labor was plentiful and unions scarce. By the 1930's garment factories employed thousands of wives and daughters of unemployed coal miners in the Wyoming Valley. “Fighting for the Union Label” tells the story of how those workers banded together to build one of the largest and most activist units in the vast International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union. Kenneth Wolensky is a Historian at the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Robert Wolensky in Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Nicole Wolensky is a graduate student at the University of Iowa.
The author, a high school English teacher and track and cross-country coach at Moravian Academy in Bethlehem, PA tells the story of her teenage runners through an entire season from the spaghetti dinner the night before the first race to the triumphal ending.
In the first major biography of Benjamin Franklin in more than half a century, H.W. Brands tells the captivating story of one of the most brilliant, original, and important figures in American history. A scientist, businessman, philosopher, writer, politician, ladies man, and wit, Franklin founded the University of Pennsylvania, the American Philosophical Society, the first fire department in the colonies, and the nation's first lending library. He served as clerk of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, America's first Postmaster, diplomat in the Paris during the Revolution, and delegate to the Constitutional Convention. As an inventor he is credited with the lightning rod, the Franklin stove, bifocals, and the idea of positive and negative electricity. Brands is also author of TR: The Last Romantic,
a biography of Theodore Roosevelt. The First Americans Archaeologist J. M. Adovasio has spent the last thirty years at the center of one of our most fiery scientific debates: Who were the first humans in the Americas, and how and when did they get here? For many years it was thought that the first
Americans were a band of hunters who crossed the frozen Bering
Strait during the Ice Age some twelve thousand years ago,
and whose descendants spread to the tip of South America in
five hundred years. Now, in no small part because of
J. M. Adovasio's work as the archaeologist in charge of the Adovasio is the founder and director of the Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute, generally recognized as the finest small-college–based research and training program in North America. He lives near Erie, PA.
With its rich foundation stories, Philadelphia
may be the most important city in America's collective memory.
By the middle Author Gary Nash is a professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles, and author of many books on early American history. The First
Wall Street When Americans think of investment and finance, they think of Wall Street—though this was not always the case. During the dawn of the Republic, Philadelphia was the center of American finance. The first stock exchange in the nation was founded there in 1790, and around it the bustling thoroughfare known as Chestnut Street was home to the nation's most powerful financial institutions. The First Wall Street recounts the fascinating history of Chestnut Street and its forgotten role in the birth of American finance. Robert Wright is clinical associate professor of economics in the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University. He is the author of Origins of Commercial Banking in America, 1750-1800; Hamilton Unbound: Finance and the Creation of the American Republic; and The Wealth of Nations Rediscovered: Integration and the Expansion in American Financial Markets, 1780- 1850.
Baseball's fall classic was born in October 1903, when the Boston Americans, the American League champions, and the Pittsburgh Pirates, the National League pennant winners, played the first World Series. In this vivid and lively account, Roger Abrams recaptures the drama and color of this historic sporting event, showcasing the larger-than-life characters that made the game memorable. Published in the centennial year of the World Series, “The First World Series and the Baseball Fanatics of 1903” looks back at the sports spectacle that firmly established baseball as America's national pastime. Roger Abrams is Richardson Professor of Law at Northeastern University. He is the author of “The Money Pitch: Baseball Free Agency and Salary Arbitration” and “Legal Bases: Baseball and the Law.” He lives in the Boston area.
There were four strong contenders when the Republican party met in June of 1940 in Philadelphia to nominate its candidate for president: the crusading young attorney and rising Republican star Tom Dewey, solid members of the Republican establishment Robert Taft and Arthur Vandenberg, and dark horse Wendell Willkie, utilities executive, favorite of the literati and only very recently even a Republican. The leading Republican candidates campaigned as isolationists. The charismatic Willkie, newcomer and upstager, was a liberal interventionist, just as anti-Hitler as FDR. After five days of floor rallies, telegrams from across the country, multiple ballots, rousing speeches, backroom deals, terrifying international news, and, most of all, the relentless chanting of "We Want Willkie" from the gallery, Willkie walked away with the nomination. The story of how this happened — and of how essential his nomination would prove in allowing FDR to save Britain and prepare this country for entry into World War II — is all told in Charles Peters' “Five Days in Philadelphia”. As Peters shows, these five action-packed days and their improbable outcome were as important as the Battle of Britain in defeating the Nazis. Author Charles Peters managed John F. Kennedy's 1960 primary in West Virginia's largest county, then moved to Washington D.C. to help launch the Peace Corps and to found the Washington Monthly, which he edited for thirty-one years. His previous books include “How Washington Really Works.”
Five-and-ten stores were immensely popular during the middle fifty years of the twentieth century, selling cheap, dependable goods to people from all walks of life. Now the product of a bygone era, these stores were revolutionary in their time, but few today appreciate how important they were in creating our present-day consumer culture. In this caring but honest look at one of the best-known chains of five-and-tens, Jason Togyer traces the history of the G. C. Murphy company, headquartered in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. Jason Togyer is managing editor of The Link, the magazine of the School of computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University.
During its first heady decades, the United States promised to become a fully democratic society with unprecedented liberty and opportunity. Yet, as political rights spread, a rising elite gained control over the sources of prosperity by means of the institution that has since come to symbolize capitalist America—the corporation. From the 1780s through the 1820s, members of Philadelphia’s privileged class formed corporations in order to consolidate their capital and political influence. By controlling regional transportation networks as well as banks and the municipal water supply, they exploited the ambitions of local farmers, artisans, and entrepreneurs who depended upon corporate services. Meanwhile, corporate insiders managed to insulate their decision making not only from the public but even from the majority of their own stockholders. In short, in this leading commercial city with a reputation for innovation, a corporate aristocracy created a new form of power. Andrew Schocket is Assistant Professor of History at Bowling Green State University.
Much has been written about the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, battled the British, and framed the Constitution, however the wives and mothers left behind have been little noticed by history. In “Founding Mothers,”ABC political correspondent Cokie Roberts provides an intimate look at the fervently patriotic and passionate women whose tireless pursuits on behalf of their families-and their country- proved just as crucial to the forging of a new nation as the rebellion that established it. Cokie Roberts is co-anchor of the ABC news program This Week, and an ABC special correspondent covering politics, Congress, and public policy; she also serves as a news analyst for National Public Radio. Roberts has won many awards, including an Emmy and the coveted Edward R. Murrow award. She lives in Washington, D.C.
This book is the first to chronicle the lives of African American women in the urban north during the early years of the republic. “A Fragile Freedom” investigates how African American women in Philadelphia journeyed from enslavement to the precarious status of “free persons” in the decades leading up to the Civil War and examines comparable developments in the cities of New York and Boston. Erica Armstrong Dunbar argues that early nineteenth-century Philadelphia, where most African Americans were free, enacted a kind of rehearsal for the national emancipation that followed in the post–Civil War years. She explores the lives of the “regular” women of antebellum Philadelphia, the free black institutions that took root there, and the previously unrecognized importance of African American women to the history of American cities. Erica Armstrong Dunbar is associate professor of history, University of Delaware. She lives in Wyncote, PA.
Tracing the life of Frank Rizzo from son of a cop, to cop on the beat, to police commissioner, to mayor of Philadelphia, to candidate on the comeback trail, “Rizzo: The Last Big Man in Big City America” tells the story of one of the most beloved and feared public figures in urban American history. The book is packed with colorful details and revealing stories about a man whose life demonstrated how the force of personality can affect history. Formerly a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Sal Paolantonio now works as a sports reporter for ESPN.
Franklin is a study of a man of ceaseless energies and remarkable accomplishments: an apprentice printer from Boston who made his name and fortune in colonial Pennsylvania before having his greatest adventures in Europe's leading capitals, London and Paris. In this book award-winning biographer James Srodes portrays the complete Franklin--scientist, diplomat, tradesman, author, inventor, celebrated wit, spymaster, propagandist, military leader, and quartermaster. James Srodes is author of Allen Dulles: Master
of Spies and is co-author of a best-selling biography of auto
maker John DeLorean.
In the summer of 1754, deep in the wilderness of western Pennsylvania, a very young George Washington suffered his first military defeat, and a centuries-old feud between Great Britain and France was rekindled. The war that followed would decide the fate of the entire North American continent—not just between Great Britain and France, but for the Spanish and Native Americans as well. The French and Indian War: Deciding the Fate of North America presents the triumphs and tragedies of this epic struggle for a continent, placing them in the larger context of France and Great Britain's global conflict—what Samuel Eliot Morison called truly the first world war—and emphasizes that the seeds of discord sown in its aftermath would give root to the American Revolution. Walter R. Borneman is the author of Alaska: Saga of a Bold Land; 1812: The War That Forged a Nation; and several books on the history of the western United States. He lives in Colorado.
In 1799 the Seneca Indian tribe lived in an ever-shrinking area of western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania. A series of military defeats and fraudulent treaties had deprived them of nearly all of their ancestral lands, and Chief Cornplanter was seeking ways to ensure the survival of the tribe. He accepted an offer from the Quakers of Philadelphia to educate the Senecas and to introduce them to plow agriculture and animal husbandry. Historian David Swatzler tells the story through the eyes of one young Quaker missionary, Henry Simmons, who spent a year among the Senecas, and whose journal forms a large part of this story.
In 1798, the federal government levied its first direct tax on American citizens, one that seemed to favor land speculators over farmers. In eastern Pennsylvania, the tax assessors were largely Quakers and Moravians who had abstained from Revolutionary participation and were recruited by the administration of John Adams to levy taxes against their patriot German Reformed and Lutheran neighbors. Led by a local Revolutionary hero, John Fries, the farmers drew on the rituals of crowd action and stopped the assessment. Following the Shays and Whiskey rebellions, Fries’s Rebellion was the last in a trilogy of popular uprisings against federal authority in the early republic. Author Paul Douglas Newman is Associate Professor of History at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.
After World War II, large numbers of Puerto Ricans migrated to the United States mainland, many of them coming to Philadelphia. The came for a variety of reasons: the island's colonial relationship to the U.S., changes in local and regional economies, and immigrants' social networks. Carmen Teresa Whalen, Assistant Professor of Puerto Rican and Hispanic Caribbean Studies at Rutgers University recounts the experiences of this group of migrants and how they transformed themselves into a respectable “underclass”.
In From the Miners’ Doublehouse, archaeologist Karen
Metheny examines the physical and cultural landscape of the
now-abandoned coal-mining town of Helvetia in western Pennsylvania.
The author weaves together documentary sources, oral history,
and archaeological evidence to reveal the ways in which mine
workers constructed a sense of community in this company town
from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth. Karen Bescherer Metheny is a research fellow at the Department of Archaeology, Boston University. She is coeditor, with Rebecca Yamin, of Landscape Archaeology: Reading and Interpreting the American Historical Landscape.
In 1974, John Murtha became the first Vietnam combat veteran elected to Congress. In the nearly three decades since then, Rep. Murtha has been intimately involved with governmental decisions about America's national security and foreign policy, adding his unique perspective to international affairs while faithfully representing Pennsylvania's twelfth district. From Vietnam to 9/11 presents Rep. Murtha's involvement with international affairs, and the lessons he learned from those experiences. Rep. John Murtha volunteered to serve in Vietnam in 1966, where he was twice wounded. He was elected to Congress in 1974, and continues to serve there currently. Rep. Murtha and his wife, Joyce, reside in Johnstown, where they raised their three children.
The first issue of the Pittsburgh Gazette was published on Saturday, August 12, 1786. Nearly 220 years later, it lives on as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the dominant paper in a major U.S. city: survivor of name changes, ownership sales, numerous mergers, and a competitive landscape once populated by more than fifty newspapers. Clarke Thomas’s history of the paper stretches from the Whiskey Rebellion to the controversies of today and reveals how the first newspaper published west of the Alleghenies emerged as the last one standing in Pittsburgh following the devastating labor strike of 1992. Clarke Thomas spent forty-three years as a newspaperman in Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania. Now retired, he retains the title of senior editor at the Post-Gazette, and in 1997 received the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania President’s Award “in recognition of outstanding career achievement and contributions to Western Pennsylvania journalism.”
The name Daniel Boone conjures up the image of an illiterate, coonskin cap-wearing patriot who settled Kentucky and killed countless Indians. The scarcity of surviving autobiographical material has allowed tellers of his story to fashion a Boone of their own liking, and his myth has evolved in countless stories, biographies, novels, poems, and paintings. In Frontiersman: Daniel Boone and the Making of America, author Meredith Mason Brown separates the real Daniel Boone from the many fables that surround him, revealing a man far more complex—and far more interesting—than his legend. Brown traces Boone's life from his Pennsylvania childhood to his experiences in the militia and his rise as an unexcelled woodsman, explorer, and backcountry leader. In the process, we meet the authentic Boone: he didn't wear coonskin caps; he read and wrote better than many frontiersmen; he was not the first to settle Kentucky; he took no pleasure in killing Indians. Meredith Mason Brown, a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, is a lawyer who lives in Stonington, Connecticut. His ancestors in Virginia and Kentucky knew Boone.
General
Ike: A Personal Reminiscence
by John Eisenhower Free Press, 1230 Avenue of the America, New York, NY 10020 (800) 323-7445 General Ike is an affectionate and admiring son to a great father. John chose to write about the "military Ike," as opposed to the "political Ike," because Ike cared far more about his career in uniform than about his time in the White House. A series of portraits of Ike's relations with soldiers and statesmen, from MacArthur to Patton to Montgomery to Churchill to de Gaulle, reveals the many facets of a talented, driven, headstrong, yet diplomatic leader. Taken together, they reveal a man who was brilliant, if flawed; naïve at times in dealing with the public, yet who never lost his head when others around him were losing theirs. Above all, General Ike was a man who never let up in the relentless pursuit of the destruction of Hitler. Here for the first time are eyewitness stories of General Patton showing off during military exercises; of Ike on the verge of departing for Europe and assuming command of the Eastern Theater; of Churchill stewing and lobbying Ike in his "off hours." Faced with giant personalities such as these men and MacArthur, not to mention difficult allies such as de Gaulle and Montgomery, Ike nevertheless managed to pull together history's greatest invasion force and to face down a determined enemy from Normandy to the Bulge and beyond. John Eisenhower masterfully uses the backdrop of Ike's key battles to paint a portrait of his father and his relationships with the great men of his time. "General Ike" is a ringing and inspiring testament to a great man by an accomplished historian. It is also a personal portrait of a caring, if not always available, father by his admiring son. Rachel Carson's Silent Spring antagonized some of the most powerful interests in the nation--including the farm block and the agricultural chemical industry--and helped launch the modern environmental movement. In The Gentle Subversive , Mark Hamilton Lytle offers a compact life of Carson, illuminating the road that led to this vastly influential book. Lytle explores the evolution of Carson's ideas about nature, her love for the sea, her career as a biologist, and above all her emergence as a writer of extraordinary moral and ecological vision. We follow Carson from her childhood on a farm outside Pittsburgh, where she first developed her love of nature (and where, at age eleven, she published her first piece in a children's magazine), to her graduate work at Johns Hopkins and her career with the Fish and Wildlife Service. The author contends that despite Carson's demure, lady-like demeanor, she was subversive in her thinking and aggressive in her campaign against pesticides. Carson became the spokeswoman for a network of conservationists, scientists, and concerned citizens who had come to fear the mounting dangers of the human assault on nature. Mark Hamilton Lytle is Professor of History and Environmental Studies and Department Chair of the Historical Studies Program at Bard College, and Mary Ball Washington Professor of American History at University College Dublin. He is co-author of After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection and Nation of Nations: A Narrative History of the American Republic, and author of America's Uncivil Wars: The Sixties Era from Elvis to the Fall of Richard Nixon.
Born in 1766 into a free black family, James Forten grew to become an innovative craftsman, a successful manager of black and white employees, and an outspoken abolitionist. Emerging in the early 1800's as Philadelphia's leading sail maker, he became prosperous, and was one of the most influential shapers of race relations in American society. Julie Winch is Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts in Boston, and is author of three books on African American history.
Delaware County native and first-time novelist Tom Coyne brings to life a story of a young man and his experiences on the golf course. More than just a golf story, the novel is a story of fathers and sons, of class, and of the pressure to succeed in an era of envy. Tom Coyne received his master's degree in creative writing at the University of Notre Dame, and still lives outside of Philadelphia. A film based on this book is scheduled to be released in the Fall of 2001. It will star Gary Sinise, Mason Gamble, Philip Baker Hall, and Dylan Baker. The movie was filmed on location at the same Delaware County golf course where the author learned to play the game.
Bureau
of Topographic and Geologic Survey Pittsburgh
Geological Society
The words Abraham Lincoln spoke at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery at Gettysburg comprise perhaps the most famous speech in history. It has been quoted by popes, presidents, prime ministers, and revolutionaries around the world. From "Four score and seven years ago..." to "government of the people, by the people, for the people," Lincoln's words echo in the American conscience. Many books have been written about the Gettysburg Address and yet, as Lincoln scholar Gabor Boritt shows, there is much that we don't know about the speech. In The Gettysburg Gospel he reconstructs what really happened in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on November 19, 1863. Boritt tears away a century of myths, lies, and legends to give us a clear understanding of the greatest American's greatest speech. Gabor Boritt is the Robert Fluhrer Professor of Civil War Studies and Director of the Civil War Institute at Gettysburg College. He is the author, coauthor, or editor of sixteen books about Lincoln and the Civil War. Boritt and his wife live on a farm near the Gettysburg battlefield, where they have raised their three sons.
Harry Pfanz, author of “Gettysburg-The Second Day” and “Gettysburg-Culp's Hill & Cemetery Ridge” now turns his attention to a tactical analysis of the events of July 1, 1863--the first of the three days of the battle. The highlights of Pfanz' narrative include the decimation of Iverson's North Carolina brigade, the smashing of the Eleventh Corps at Blocher's Knoll, and the final Union stand at the seminary. The author uses many primary sources to set the record straight, and includes 14 maps with descriptions that can be used by visitors touring the battlefield.
As dawn broke on July 3, 1863, after two days of intense combat in the small Pennsylvania farm town of Gettysburg, the conclusion of this pivotal battle between the Union and the Confederacy remained undecided. By the end of day three, one of the bloodiest days of the entire war, the engagement would have a victor, and the Civil War would take a new direction. In "Gettysburg: Day Three" acclaimed Civil War scholar Jeffrey Wert, the author of five previous books on the war, describes the personalities, decisions, and extraordinary heroics of the men who fought on the decisive day in the decisive battle of the war. In 1832, 57 Irish Catholic workers were brought to the United States to lay one of the most difficult miles of American railway, Duffy's Cut of the Pennsylvania Railroad. These men were chosen because, in the eyes of the railroad company that hired them, they were expendable. Deaths were common during the building of the railway, but this stretch was worse than most. When cholera swept the camp basic medical attention and community support was denied to them. In the end all 57 men--the entire work crew--died and were buried in a mass unmarked grave. Their families in Ireland were never notified about what had happened to them. The company did its best to cover up the incident, which was certainly one of the worst labor tragedies in U.S. history. Set against the backdrop of a rapidly industrializing America, this books tells the story of these men, the sacrifices they made, and the mistreatment that claimed their lives. William Watson is Associate Professor and Chair of History at Immaculata College in Pennsylvania. He is the author of Tricolor and Crescent and The Collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union. John Ahtes is Assistant Professor of History, Immaculata College. He has published in Irish Review.
Gifford Pinchot is known primarily for his two terms as Pennsylvania's governor (1922-1926 and 1930-1934), his work as first chief of the U. S. Forest Service and for his argument that resources should be used to provide the "greatest good for the greatest number of people." But Pinchot was a more complicated figure than has generally been recognized, and more than half a century after his death, he continues to provoke controversy. This new biography, the first in more than three decades, offers a fresh interpretation of the life and work of the famed conservationist and Progressive politician. Char Miller is professor of history at Trinity University in San Antonio, TX.
"The Glorious Cause" tells the story or the American Revolution through the eyes of key participants. Told through the voices of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and others, the story follows a timeline shortly after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and progresses throughout the Revolutionary War. Author Jeff Shaara highlights the primitive nature of the war, and pays tribute to the individuals who fought and sacrificed for the independence Americans today enjoy. Jeff Shaara has written "Gone for Soldiers" and the New York Times bestsellers "Rise to Rebellion," "The Last Full Measure," and "Gods and Generals."
In the author's first novel, Good in Bed, readers meet Cannie Shapiro, a young woman reporter for the fictional Philadelphia Examiner who loves her job, loves her dog, and has had a life-long struggle with her weight. When her ex-boyfriend divulges secrets of their former love life in a column for a national magazine, discussing what it was like to "love a larger woman," Cannie is mortified. Good in Bed is the funny and heartbreaking story of the journey Cannie embarks on after reading that magazine column entitled "Good in Bed." The author, Jennifer Weiner, is staff writer and columnist for the real-life Philadelphia Inquirer.
George Anastasia, who has spent many years covering organized crime for the Philadelphia Inquirer, talks about the organization, operations, and people of the Philadelphia mob, and the FBI's efforts to break it.
After the war, George Washington laid down his sword and returned home to Mount Vernon after eight and a half years as commander of the Continental Army. He vowed that he had retired forever, that he would be a farmer on the bank of the Potomac River. Within a year, accompanied by a small party of associates, Washington headed west on horseback across the Alleghenies, using the Potomac as his pathway. “The Grand Idea” is the story of Washington’s ambitions for the brand-new republic that he had fought so hard to create. His western journey culminates in a scheme to transform the Potomac River into a commercial artery that will link the new West to the old East. The future of the Union, Washington believes, depends on the Potomac route to the West, which will bind the country to one enterprise. Author Joel Achenback is a staff writer for The Washington Post and author of five previous books. He writes a monthly science column for National Geographic magazine and has been a commentator on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition. He lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and three children.
In 1970, a sixty-five-year-old Philadelphian named Maggie Kuhn began vocally opposing the notion of mandatory retirement. Taking inspiration from the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements, Kuhn and her cohorts created an activist organization that quickly gained momentum as the Gray Panthers. After receiving national publicity for her efforts—she even appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson—she gained thousands of supporters, young and old. Their cause expanded to include universal health care, nursing home reform, affordable and accessible housing, defense of Social Security, and elimination of nuclear weapons. Gray Panthers traces the roots of Maggie Kuhn's social justice agenda to her years as a YWCA and Presbyterian Church staff member. It tells the nearly forty-year story of the intergenerational grassroots movement that Kuhn founded and its scores of local groups. During the 1980s, more than one hundred chapters were tackling local and national issues. By the 1990s the ranks of older members were thinning and most young members had departed, many to pursue careers in public service. But despite its challenges, including Kuhn's death in 1995, the movement continues today. Roger Sanjek is Professor of Anthropology at Queens College, City University of New York. He is a J. I. Staley Prize winner, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellow, and the author of The Future of Us All: Race and Neighborhood Politics in New York City.
Harrisburg attorney William Costopoulos, author of Principal Suspect, the true story of the Main Line murders, tries his hand at fiction with his newest book, Guilty of Innocence, a legal thriller based in Central Pennsylvania. Costopoulos discusses the experience of trying criminal cases, and offers his views on the judicial system and the meaning of justice.
H.J. Heinz Though Heinz Ketchup is one of the most recognized corporate symbols in the world, few people know anything at all about H. J. Heinz. Industrial giants Rockefeller, Carnegie, Westinghouse, and Mellon became household names, and Heinz slipped into obscurity. Yet during a time of great transfers of wealth brought about in part by these famous robber barons, Heinz was well known for his humane treatment of his employees, customers, and suppliers. At the same time Heinz built a commercial empire by his use of industrialized food processing before Henry Ford. This book includes 45 photographs many of which are being published for the first time. Quentin Skrabec is the author of more than 20 books. He lives in Maumee, Ohio.
Nearly two million people visit the legendary Gettysburg Battlefield every year to witness the land that staged the greatest loss of American lives in a single event. More than 11,000 soldiers were killed at Gettysburg, another 29,000 were wounded and survived, and about 10,000 were missing. James McPherson's “Hallowed Ground: A Walk at Gettysburg” takes readers on a tour of the site to attempt to explain why 165,000 soldiers converged on this small market town in rural Pennsylvania during the first few days of July 1863. James McPherson is a professor of history at Princeton University. He is the author of “Battle Cry of Freedom” for which he won a Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, as well as other works on the Civil War.
Harrisburg was the capital of an increasingly urban and progressive Pennsylvania at the turn of the twentieth century, with the remnants of an older, more diverse city thriving in its midst. As the streets were paved for the first time and the new state capitol building rose over a humming industrial city ready to embrace change, Harrisburg's Eighth Ward clung to its rambunctious past. When the "Old Eighth" stood in the way of the new Capitol Park, one journalist asked his readers to take a stroll through the streets one last time. J. Howard Wert's "Passing of the Old Eighth" articles-awash in images of decrepitude and vice-appeared in the Harrisburg Patriot in 1912-1913 and introduced readers to such cheats, fools, and boozers as Harry Cook and "Billy Jelly." This volume presents the complete series of 35 articles chronicling the adventures of people who lived through some of the most sweeping changes in American history. More than 100 photographs-most never before published-evoke Wert's tales of a turbulent Harrisburg now long gone.
Born in York County in 1918, George Leader has pursued several careers over his lifetime, from poultry farmer to Governor of Pennsylvania (1955-1959) to a career in service to the elderly. When he reached age 70 he began writing poetry. "I have never suffered under the illusion that I was a great poet," he wrote. "Rather, I have tried to express a few simple ideas that might reach the mind or touch the heart of the reader."
Fourteen years ago, Tim Stark was living in Brooklyn, working days as a management consultant, and writing unpublished short stories by night. One evening, chancing upon a Dumpster full of discarded lumber, he carried the lumber home and built a germination rack for thousands of heirloom tomato seedlings. His crop soon outgrew the brownstone in which it had sprouted, forcing him to cart the seedlings to his family’s farm in Pennsylvania, where they were transplanted into the ground by hand. When favorable weather brought in a bumper crop, Tim hauled his unusual tomatoes to New York City’s Union Square Greenmarket, at a time when the tomato was unanimously red. The rest is history. Today, Eckerton Hill Farm does a booming trade in heirloom tomatoes and obscure chile peppers. Tim’s tomatoes are featured on the menus of New York City’s most demanding chefs and have even made the cover of Gourmet magazine. Tim Stark is the proprietor of Eckerton Hill Farm in Lenhartsville, Pennsylvania. His writing has appeared on National Public Radio as well as in Gourmet, Condé Nast Traveler, Washington Post, Missouri Review, Alimentum, and Organic Gardening. Tim and his farm have been profiled on National Public Radio.
Martha Frick Sanger, author of Henry Clay Frick: An Intimate Portrait tells stories about her great-grandfather, the powerful and controversial founder of the Frick Coke Company and Chairman of Carnegie Steel. Her book includes more than 100 color reproductions of art masterpieces from the famous Frick Collection. Drawing from newly catalogued Washington papers at the University of Virginia, author Joseph Ellis paints a full portrait of George Washington’s life and career- from his military years through his two terms as President. Ellis illuminates the difficulties the first executive confronted as he worked to keep the emerging country united in the face of adversarial factions. His Excellency: George Washington details Washington’s private life and illustrates the ways in which it influenced his public persona. The layers of myth are peeled back and Washington is uncovered in the context of eighteenth-century America. Joseph Ellis is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Founding Brothers. His portrait of Thomas Jefferson, American Sphinx, won the National Book Award. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, Ellen, and their youngest son, Alex.
The author tells stories about some of Philadelphia's most beautiful and historic houses from the colonial era and later. The program was recorded at historic Powell House, in Philadelphia's colonial section.
Architectural historian Roger W. Moss and photographer Tom Crane set out to celebrate the surviving accessible historic architecture of Philadelphia, envisioning a series of books that would provide much more than the snapshots found in guidebooks. In Historic Landmarks of Philadelphia, Moss and Crane feature prominent, memorable structures that reflect stages in Philadelphia's growth. There are sixty-five National Historic Landmarks in Philadelphia, structures that have been identified as being "nationally significant" and having "meaning to all Americans." This newest addition to Moss and Crane's trilogy includes a wide array of historic sites, ranging from concert halls to prisons, train stations to museums, banks to libraries. The buildings are arranged chronologically rather than geographically, to emphasize Philadelphia's evolution from modest mercantile outpost of a colonial power, to capital of a proud new nation, to a robust world-renowned cosmopolitan city. Roger W. Moss is Emeritus Executive Director of The Athenaeum of Philadelphia and retired Adjunct Professor of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of a dozen books, including Historic Houses of Philadelphia and Historic Sacred Places of Philadelphia. Tom Crane is a widely published freelance photographer whose work is featured in Historic Houses of Philadelphia and Historic Sacred Places of Philadelphia.
Each day, Bob Sheasley leaves Lilyfield Farm and heads into the city. And each day, he brings along a basket of eggs for his coworkers at The Philadelphia Inquirer. Depending on the breed of hen, these eggs may be white, green, rose, blue, or as brown as chocolate. And they are all deliciously fresh, a taste of the rural way of life that people have enjoyed for millennia, one in which chickens have played a supporting role for nearly as long. In Home to Roost, Sheasley tells of the intertwined relationship between humans and chickens. He delves into where chickens came from, what their DNA tells us about our kinship, how we’ve treated our feathered fellow travelers, and the roads we’re crossing together. This is a story of agriculture and human migration, of folk medicine and technology, of how we dreamed of the good life, threw it away, and want it back. Bob Sheasley is a farm boy in the city. A lifelong Pennsylvanian, he grew up on a 100-acre dairy farm in Old Order Amish county. He works at The Philadelphia Inquirer and lives with his wife, son, and three daughters in their 1830s farmhouse, where he keeps a coop of fifty or so chickens.
Hoop Roots is John Edgar Wideman's memoir of discovering the game that has been his passion for more than 50 years. It is, at the same time, the story of the roots of black basketball in America-a story of race, culture, love, and home. Combining memoir with history, folklore, and commentary, Wideman evokes a unique slice of the American experience. Wideman grew up in his grandparents' home and learned the game of basketball in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Homewood. He starred for the University of Pennsylvania basketball team, where he was named All-Ivy League. His is twice the winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award, in 1884 for Sent For You Yesterday , and in 1990 for Philadelphia Fire. On Easter Sunday of 1927, progress and tradition collided at the Groffdale Old Order Mennonite Church in eastern Pennsylvania when half the congregation shunned the cup of wine offered by Bishop Moses Horning. The boycott of this holiest of Mennonite customs was in direct response to Horning’s decision to endorse the automobile after years of debate within the church. The resulting schism over opposing views of technology produced the group known as the Wenger Mennonites. In the nearly eighty years since the establishment of this church, the initial group of fifty dissenters has grown to a community of 16,000 Wenger Mennonites. They have large families and typically retain 95 percent or more of their youth. For many years their main community was based in Lancaster County, but in recent decades they have expanded into eight other states, with new communities most recently established in Iowa and Michigan. Despite their continued rejection of modern technology, the Wengers—popularly known as horse-and-buggy Mennonites—continue to thrive on their own terms. In this first-of-its-kind study of the Wenger Mennonites, Kraybill and Hurd—a sociologist and an anthropologist— use cultural analysis to interpret the Wengers in both Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. They systematically compare the Wengers with other Mennonite groups as well as with the Amish, showing how relationships with these other groups have had a powerful impact on shaping the identity of the Wenger Mennonites in the Anabaptist world. Donald Kraybill is Distinguished Professor and Senior Fellow at Elizabethtown College’s Young Center for Anabaptist and Pietist Studies. He is a nationally recognized scholar on Anabaptist groups and has written or edited more than eighteen books, including The Riddle of Amish Culture (1989; rev. ed. 2001) and Amish Enterprise: From Plows to Profits (1995; rev. ed. 2004). James Hurd is Chair of the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at Bethel University. An anthropologist by training, he has done fieldwork in Venezuela, Nicaragua, and rural Pennsylvania.
The Nazi plot to destroy the Horseshoe Curve, a mission that Adolph Hitler himself conceived, was one of the world’s deadliest terrorist acts. Had the Nazis succeeded in demolishing the Horseshoe Curve, they could have crippled the American war machine and changed the course of history. Most people know of the internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans in the United States during World War II, but few people know that this nation also interned 15,000 German and Italian Americans during the war, 75 percent of whom were United States citizens. Even fewer people know that on July 1, 1942, the Federal Bureau of Investigation searched the homes of 225 “alien enemies” in Altoona, Pennsylvania- suspected Nazi sympathizers- in response to discovering the Nazi sabotage plot against the Horseshoe Curve. The Horseshoe Curve ties these events to the personal and organizational drama of founding the Pennsylvania Railroad and building the Horseshoe Curve, two of the nation’s most important transportation achievements. Dennis McIlnay is the author of Juniata, River of Sorrows. McIlnay is professor of management at Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania.
In “A House on Fire: The Rise and Fall of Philadelphia Soul,” John Jackson takes us inside Philadelphia International Records, the musical empire created by Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, and Thom Bell. Arguably the most successful music producers of the seventies, Gamble, Huff, and Bell developed a black recording empire second only to Berry Gordy’s Motown, pumping out a string of chart-toppers from Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, the Spinners, the O’Jays, the Stylistics, and many others. Jackson underscores the endemic racism of the music business at that time, revealing how the three men were blocked from major record companies and outlets in Philadelphia, forcing them to create their own label, sign their own artists, and create their own sound. For a brief period of time, Gamble, Huff and Bell were able to overcome the country’s racial divisions and make skin irrelevant by showing that blacks and whites could get down to the same music. John Jackson is the author of award winning books “Big Beat Heat: Alan Freed and the Early Years of Rick and Roll” and “American Bandstand: Dick Clarke and the Making of a Rock and Roll Empire,” and has appeared on Rock and Roll Invaders and VH-1’s Behind the Music. He lives outside Tampa, Florida.
Ramon “Tru” Dixon, author of How Far Do You Wanna Go? tells how he took a group of 16 inner-city Pittsburgh youths, turned them into a baseball team, and taught them how to be winners.
I Am
Regina The challenges of working in an urban school are not for every teacher. Some lose sight of why they started teaching to begin with. "I Choose to Stay" is the memoir of one teacher who returned to his roots, and in turn impacted upon the lives of economically disadvantaged children. Salome Thomas-EL is currently Principal of Reynolds Elementary School in Philadelphia, close to Roberts Vaux Middle School, where he continues to influence the lives of students and educators. He has received several service awards, including the University of Pennsylvania's Martin Luther King Award and the Marcus Foster Award as outstanding principal and administrator in Philadelphia.
Pat Croce, self-made millionaire and president of the Philadelphia 76ers basketball team discusses his book, subtitled "An Inspiring Journey of Success with Practical Tips on How to Score Big in Life" in which he shares his motivational philosophy for positive achievement. A self-proclaimed wild man, Croce traces his life from a Philadelphia working-class neighborhood to his founding of a chain of sports therapy centers to his eventual ownership and presidency of the 76ers.
Matt Cvetic was the man who loosely provided the inspiration for the 1950's B-grade movie “I Was a Communist for the FBI.” In 1943, Cvetic became an FBI plant in a Pittsburgh branch of the Communist Party USA, and was later dubbed “Pennsylvania's most significant mole.” His life, however, was marred by alcoholism, and the FBI fired him in 1950 because of his erratic behavior. Daniel Leab, Professor of History at Seton Hall University compares Cvetic's real life with that portrayed in the movie and in a series of articles that ran nationally in the Saturday Evening Post. Leab writes about Cvetic's life prior to his involvement with the FBI, his glory days, and shows that there is much to be learned from the story of an “anti-Communist icon.” Former Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Steve Lopez discusses his latest novel, which employs his trademark blend of rich characters and biting humor. It is the story of Albert LaRosa, now the sheriff of a small New Jersey island town, who was forced back to his home town of Harbor Light after his one shot at the big time as a Philadelphia cop ended by an unfortunate incident one dark night. Lopez is the author of two previous novels,
“The Sunday Macaroni Club” and “Third and
Indiana” as well as a book of his collected Inquirer
columns. A long-time resident of Philadelphia, he is now an
editor-at-large for Time magazine, and live in Los Angeles. In the Thick of
the Fight” “In the Thick of the Fight” provides a snapshot of how one county in Pennsylvania threw its might behind Allied forces in World War II. Thousands of York County’s fighting men dug into foxholes in Europe and stormed beaches in the Pacific. Almost 600 men lost their lives. At home, businessmen opened their briefcases in smoke-filled rooms to pore over lists of small companies to cover massive government war contracts. Women operated lathes, drills, and punches in dusty, darkened manufacturing plants. Author James McClure tells the story of one community’s role in global war, fighting for American freedoms, and doing what it could with what it had. James McClure is editor of the York Daily Record/ Sunday News. He earned a master’s degree in American studies from Pen State Harrisburg, and is Past-President of the PA Associated Press Managing Editors and the Pennsylvania Society of Newspaper Editors. His previous historical publications include four books.
Independence Hall is a place Americans think
they know well. Within its walls the Continental Congress
declared independence in 1776, and in 1787 the Founding Fathers
drafted the U.S. Constitution there. Painstakingly restored
to evoke these momentous events, the building appears to have
passed through time unscathed, from the heady days of the In her book, Mires rediscovers and chronicles the lost history of Independence Hall, in the process exploring the shifting perceptions of this most important building in America's popular imagination. A former editor for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Charlene Mires teaches history at Villanova University and is a corecipient of the Pulitzer Prize in journalism. This book, authored by C. Hale Sipe, was originally published in 1927. Ron Wenning and Wennawoods Publishing have reprinted it and other books that tell the history if American Indians in Pennsylvania. Mr. Wenning discusses the Lenape, Susquehanna, and Iroquois tribes and some of their prominent chiefs, their relationship with the Penn family, the Swedes, the Dutch, the English, the French, and each other. In The Inheritance of Exile, Susan Muaddi Darraj weaves a tapestry of the events and struggles in the lives of four Arab-American women. Hanan, Nadia, Reema, and Aliyah search for a meaningful sense of home, caught in the cultural gap that exists between the Middle East and the United States. Daughters of Palestinian immigrants who have settled into South Philly, each struggles to reconcile her Arab identity with her American one. Muaddi Darraj adds the perspectives of the girls’ mothers, presented in separate stories, which illuminate the often troubled relationship between first and second generations of immigrants. Susan Muaddi Darraj is associate professor of English at Harford Community College in Bel Air, Maryland. She is the editor of Scheherazade’s Legacy: Arab and Arab American Women on Writing. Her fiction, essays, and articles have appeared in several publications and anthologies. She is Senior Editor of The Baltimore Review. For nearly its entire existence – from its incorporation in December 1904 until its sale in May 2003 – Bethlehem Steel Corporation was the second-largest steel company in the United States of America. The early and tremendous successes of Bethlehem, nicknamed Bessie, earned the company a position on the Dow Jones Industrial Index in 1918, and it became the darling of Wall Street for many years. During its life, it also was a large, worldwide company engaged in the extraction of raw materials and, during the years of World War II, the world’s largest shipbuilder. This book has captured the images of steel production at the once great company as well as the history and emotions of its employees during the long, but futile, effort to survive. Peter Treiber photographed Bethlehem Steel’s mills and clients’ projects nationwide for 24 years, both as a staff photographer in the Advertising Department, and later as a contract photographer. He currently maintains a photography business and lives with his family in Bethlehem, PA. Elizabeth Kovach worked at Bethlehem Steel from 1976- 2003. She maintains a corporate communications business and lives with her family in Bethlehem, PA
James Merrell, professor of history at Vassar College, tells a long-forgotten story of the early Pennsylvania colonists who acted as intermediaries between the Indians and European settlers, with the goal of preventing wars and winning peace. Into the American Woods: Negotiators on the Pennsylvania Frontier recreates several treaty councils of the period while describing the difficulties these negotiators faced while attempting to bridge these two vastly different cultures.
Pennsylvania is one of the few states that neither contains a reservation nor officially recognizes any Native American group. The stance of state government is that there are no Native Americans in the state. However, there is a large and growing community of Native Americans that is growing more active and more frustrated with the state's position. Invisible Indians is based on three years of research with Native Americans in Pennsylvania. The authors have crossed the state to attend powwows and tribal meetings, as well as interview individual Indians. Based on several, extensive ethnographic interviews, this book provide an extremely insightful account of Native Americans in Pennsylvania. The book also examines the history of Native American/government relationships within the state, as well as critical issues such as casino gambling and state recognition that are the crux of current negotiations. The book is also about the ways Pennsylvania's Native Americans are reinventing their history and their cultures to meet their own social and psychological (identity) needs. David Minderhout is Professor of Anthropology at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. He earned his PhD in linguistic anthropology from Georgetown University, and his MA and BA in anthropology from Michigan State University. His previous research has been with creole languages in the Caribbean, ethnopharmacology, and ethnic groups in Pennsylvania.
Among politicians of national stature today,
there is perhaps none more respected as a principled conservative
than Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA). In “It Takes a Family:
Conservatism and the Common Good,” his first book, Santorum
articulates the humane vision that he believes must inform
public policy if it is to be effective and just. An appreciation
for the civic bonds that unite a community lies at the heart
of genuine conservatism. Moreover, Senator Santorum demonstrates
how such an approach to political, social, and economic problems
offers the most promise for those on the margin of life: the
poor, the vulnerable, and minorities who have often been excluded
from opportunity in America.
J.
Horace McFarland: A Thorn for Beauty Pennsylvania's Johnston Gang, led by Bruce Johnston Sr. and his brothers Norman and David, netted millions through a prolific burglary ring during the 1960s and '70s. But in 1978, fearing that younger members of the gang were going to rat them out to the authorities, the brothers killed four teenagers and nearly killed Bruce Sr.'s own son. This book draws on personal interviews with investigators, attorneys, and even former gang members to detail how the combined efforts of federal, state, county, and local law enforcement agencies brought the brothers to justice. Bruce Mowday, an author of ten books, is an award-winning reporter who covered the Johnston brothers’ murder trials and knew the participants. He worked in journalism for more than 20 years as a reporter and editor before starting his own media relations firm, The Mowday Group. He lives in Chester County, Pennsylvania.
When James Buchanan was elected to the presidency in 1856, he was one of the most well-trained and well-prepared politicians ever to take office, having served in the Pennsylvania state legislature, the US House, the US Senate, and as James K. Polk’s secretary of state. By the time Buchanan left office four years later, the country was in shambles and he was well on his way to becoming one of the most vilified presidents in American history. Buchanan finished his term, leaving behind a fundamentally split Democratic Party (thereby ensuring the election of the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln) and a nation teetering on the brink of an all-but-inevitable Civil War. Author Jean Baker is a professor of history at Goucher College. She has written several books, including “The Stevensons” and a biography of Mary Todd Lincoln, and she is at work on a book about the suffrage movement. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland. James Buchanan and the American Empire by Frederick Moore Binder Susquehanna University Press, 440 Forsgate Drive, Cranbury, NJ 08512 (717) 372-4199 "James Buchanan and the American Empire" deals with the influence of James Buchanan of Pennsylvania on the direction of American foreign policy over a period of almost thirty years from 1832 to 1861. During those three decades Buchanan served as Andrew Jackson's minister to Russia, senator, secretary of state under James K. Polk, and Pierce's minister to the Court of St. James. From 1857 to 1861 he was president of the United States. During those tragic years, while presiding over the disintegration of the Union on the eve of the Civil War, he continued to pursue an aggressive but unsuccessful foreign policy. This book is concerned with the significant part James Buchanan played in the foreign policy of the United States, his victories and his defeats, and his consuming desire to advance the cause of the American empire.
When Buchanan entered the White House in March 1857, he seemed well positioned to accomplish his main objectives. A canny and seasoned politician from Pennsylvania with a reputation for moderation on slavery-related issues, Buchanan had a straightforward agenda: the amelioration of sectional tensions, the promotion of American prosperity, and the extension of the Democrats' control of the federal government. Four years later, Buchanan left Washington convinced that he had done his best and accomplished much. In fact, he left behind a shattered Democratic party, a new Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, and a ruptured Union. Except for a cadre of faithful Pennsylvania friends, Buchanan's reputation lay in ruins. He has consistently been ranked among the least effective presidents in American history.
Sportscaster George Paterno discusses his book Joe Paterno: The Coach from Byzantium, the biography of his famous brother. George Paterno is retired Athletic Director for the Merchant Marine Academy, and served for many years as color commentator for the Penn State football radio network.
John Wanamaker, Philadelphia Merchant by Herbert Ershkowitz Combined Publishing, PO Box 307, Conshohocken, PA 19428 (800) 418-6065 John Wanamaker played a major role in the development of American retailing and consumerism. Opening a small men's store in Philadelphia in 1861, he was one of the country's largest merchants by the turn of the century. His story is told by author Herbert Ershkowitz in John Wanamaker, Philadelphia Merchant. The flood of 1889 has often taken center stage in the history of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, but the history of this community is greater than this tragedy. In this first installment of a two-volume set, local author Randy Whittle explores in-depth the history of this quintessential American community that has endured and prospered through generations. Beginning with the aftermath of the 1889 flood, Whittle describes the key events and issues that the community’s institutions and many of its leading personalities have wrestled with from the mid-1890’s.
19th century contemporaries of Philadelphian Joseph Leidy considered him to be the supreme consultant on subjects relating to anatomy, paleontology, anthropology, mineralogy, botany, and many other scientific fields. He seemed to be, in short, the man who knew everything. Author Leonard Warren tells the story of this genius in his book Joseph Leidy: The Last Man Who Knew Everything.
On the weekend of June 22-25, 1979, in the Main Line’s Ardmore area, a few miles north of Philadelphia, Susan Gallagher Reinert and her two children left their home for Cape May, New Jersey. On Monday, June 25th, her sexually abused and naked body was found stuffed in the tire well of her Plymouth Horizon. Her two children have never been found. This began a murder investigation and trials that lasted thirteen years. After Susan Reinert’s body was found, investigators also learned about Reinert’s sexual involvement with fellow faculty member, William Bradfield Jr., which he tried to deny and to cover up. With all the publicity that surrounded the murders of Reinert and her two children, plus the sex angle and strange sex philosophy, famous cop-books author, Joseph Wambaugh, got interested and came to the King of Prussia-Valley Forge area to write the story—called the Main Line Sex Murders by some, the Valley Forge Murders by others. Wambaugh met secretly with the investigators and promised them money, $50,000 plus hero parts, provided they arrested Principal Jay Smith as well as Bradfield for the murders. Without Jay Smith, there would be no story. No book. No movie. No moola. The detectives framed Smith so they could get the money and so the book would be written. The frame-up of Principal Jay Smith was hidden for twelve years, along with the secret Wambaugh Agreement involving the investigators. Jay Smith lives in a Senior Citizens Village near Hunlock Creek, Pennsylvania, not far from the New York border. He devotes his public activities as a speaker against the Death Penalty as part of authoress of Dead Man Walking, Sister Helen Prejean’s WITNESS TO INNOCENCE organization.
Dennis McIlnay dreamed of being a modern-day Huck Finn since the age of thirteen, when his grandfather had taken him fishing. “Juniata, River of Sorrows” is the result of the author’s fifteen-day journey down 100 miles of one of the nation’s most scenic waterways. Throughout the book, McIlnay combines remembrance and research, a documentary of his trip down the river, and a portrait of some of the Juniata’s most interesting people and important events. Dennis McIlnay is Professor of Management at Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania. He holds a Doctorate in Higher Education Administration from Seton Hall University. McIlnay has authored two other books: “How Foundations Work” and “Foundations and Higher Education.” Located just over the Mason Dixonline dividing free and slave states, Chester County was an important and dangersous junction on the underground Railroad’s Eastern Line. Predominantly populated by Quakers, the county saw much debate and conflict brough about by the risk involved in this radical and subversive activity. William Kashatus, director of public programs at the Chester County Historical Society, teaches at West Chester University. He is the author of “Connie Mack’s ‘29 Triumph,” Diamonds on the Coalfield,” and a biography of Mike Schmidt.
When she was down on her luck, Slim Lambright found an application for a Temple University writers’ workshop posted in a grocery store. She signed up for the class, and the result is her first novel, “The Justus Girls.” It is the story of four African-American girls in 1960’s Philadelphia who form a crack drill team. They vow to be friends forever, but time and the stresses of life cause them to grow apart. It is when one of them is killed that the others gather together and rediscover the love, laughter, and support they had forgotten. Slim Lambright says she has been a waitress, a bartender, a go-go dancer, a model, a singer, and a numbers runner, among other things. She lives in Philadelphia.
Keystone
of Democracy: A History of Pennsylvania Workers Historian Howard Harris discusses this definitive volume on the history and contributions of Pennsylvania’s workers to the heritage of the state and the nation. The book includes chapters on the “Disaster at Avondale”, “Lock Haven’s Last Piper Airplane”, the Lattimer Massacre, and printing in Colonial Pennsylvania.
The Superior Court of Pennsylvania was established in 1895 as an intermediate appellate court, in an effort to ease the case load on the state Supreme Court. By the late 1970’s, according to the National Center for State Courts, members of the PA Superior Court were the busiest appellate judges in the nation. The history of the court is examined in “Keystone of Justice: The Pennsylvania Superior Court.” Judge Patrick Tamilia, a Senior Judge on the Superior Court, and John Hare, an attorney and legal historian discuss their book, and are joined by President Judge Joseph Del Sole. Together they explain the operations of the Superior Court and its role in the Pennsylvania judicial system. Kids on
Strike! Susan Campbell Bartoletti, author of Growing Up in Coal Country tells stories of labor strikes led by young people in the coal mines and garmet industries of Pennsylvania. By the early 1900’s, nearly tow million children were in the workforce in America. Kids on Strike chronicles some of these children who stood up against powerful company owners to try to gain better working conditions, and a chance to go to school. During World War II, in addition to the interment of Japanese-Americans, 10,000 Italian-born Americans were also evacuated form their homes and placed in internment camps; 600,000 more were registered as “enemy aliens,” losing their civil rights. In “Killer Smile” Lisa Scottoline takes this little-known chapter in history, and weaves it into a plot that features the Philadelphia-based law firm Rosato and Associates. This time, a young attorney’s pro bono work to obtain reparations for an Italian-American internee leads to a ransacked office, and a fellow lawyer being murdered. Author Lisa Scottoline is a New York Times bestselling author and former trial lawyer. She has won the highest prize in crime fiction, the Edgar Award, and has lectured at law schools and bar associations on issues of legal ethics. This is her eleventh novel. Joseph Eckhardt, Montgomery County Community College history teacher tells the story of movie-making in the 1900’s while discussing his book The King of the Movies: Film Pioneer Siegmund Lubin. The book tells the tale of film pioneer Siegmund Lubin, whose Philadelphia-based Lubinville Studio produced hundreds of early silent movies which were popular world wide.
The authors, professors of history at Lafayette College in Easton, PA trace the story of the anthracite coal industry, the rise of industrialization, American immigrants, big capital, and unions in their book The Kingdom of Coal. The Knox Mine Disaster by Robert Wolensky, Kenneth Wolensky and Nicole Wolensky Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, P.O. Box 1026, Harrisburg, PA 17108 (717) 783-2618 In January of 1959, twelve men died in an accident at the Knox mine near Pittston, Pennsylvania. The mine had been illegally excavated under the Susquehanna River, and when the ice-filled waterway broke through a thin layer of rock, more than ten billion gallons of water flowed into the mine. Brothers Robert and Kenneth Wolensky tell the story in The Knox Mine Disaster, which ended deep mining in much of Pennsylvania's Wyoming Valley.
Lambert
and Fantasy Camp Fantasy Camp Lambert
Larry Bowa’s initiation into the big leagues began in Philadelphia in 1970, and has spanned the life of three Phillies ballparks. During those early years, with stints at organizations like the Mets and the Cubs, he gained a reputation as a passionate loud mouth. Although he admits his misdeeds were a result of nothing more than youthful inexperience, he still has a flame in his heart and a flair for winning. Larry Bowa is the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies. His career as player, coach, and manager began as an All-Star shortstop with the Phillies, Cubs, and Mets from 1970-1985. He spent more than a decade as a third base coach with the Phillies, Angels, and Mariners, before triumphantly returning to Philadelphia as manager in 2001, with a contract that runs through the 2005 season.
The author, former heavyweight champion of the world and the “Easton Assassin” discusses growing up in Pennsylvania, his career in the ring and his autobiography, Larry Holmes: Against the Odds. Larry Kane is the news anchor of Philadelphia's KYW-TV, and the dean of Philadelphia broadcast journalists. During his 34 years covering Philadelphia news he has rubbed shoulders with Ed Rendell, Frank Rizzo, Vince Fumo, Cardinal Krol, Boyz II Men, the Pope, Bob Casey, and the Beatles. In Larry Kane's Philadelphia , the author recalls his colorful career and weighs in on the state of television journalism today, citing what works and what doesn't work in the age of the Internet. The Last
Gangster and Blood and Honor "Blood and Honor" tells the inside story about the rise and fall of Philadelphia’s notorious Scarfo organization. Author George Anastasia delivers a firsthand account of murder, money, and corruption, told from the perspective of wiseguy-turned-witness Nick Caramandi. It was Caramandi who helped Nicky Scarfo get his hooks into the legitimate world of politicians, judges, unions, entertainment, and casinos. Caramandi’s testimony resulted in more than fifty convictions, bringing down Scarfo as well as launching wide-ranging investigations into the broader Mafia underworld. The author's new book, "The Last Gangster" tells the story of the last days of the rule of Philadelphia mob boss "Skinny Joey" Merlino. Author George Anastasia is a veteran reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He has authored five books of nonfiction, including four about the Philadelphia mob. He has won many awards for investigative journalism and magazine writing. "Blood and Honor" published by Camino
Books, P.O. Box 59026, Philadelphia, PA 19102
In Last Harvest,
author Witold Rybczynski tells the story of New Daleville,
a brand-new residential subdivision in rural Pennsylvania.
When Rybczynski first heard about New Daleville, it was only
a developer's idea, attached to ninety acres of cornfield
an hour and a half west of Philadelphia. Over the course of
five years, Rybczynski met everyone involved in the transformation
of this land -- from the developers, to the community leaders
whose approvals they needed, to the home builders and sewage
experts and, ultimately, the first families who moved in.
Rybczynski looks at this "neotraditional" project,
with its houses built close together to encourage a sense
of intimacy and community, and explains the trends in American
domestic architecture -- from where we place our kitchens
and fences to why our bathrooms get larger every year.
During the 1960s and ‘70s, if you were in Philadelphia and in trouble with the law, the word on the street was: “Hire Bobby Simone and you will win.” With that reputation, Simone attracted many clients, including Philadelphia mob boss Angelo Bruno, his successor Phil Testa, and alleged head of La Cosa Nostra, Nicky Scarfo. Simone defended so many accused mobsters that he gained a reputation as Philadelphia’s “mob lawyer.” Simone offers a fascinating look into the legal system from the other side--the rats, the set-ups, the wires, the bugs, the juries, and the Feds.
During World War II, the National Football League faced a crisis unimaginable today: a shortage of players. By 1943, so many players were in the armed forces that the league was forced to fold one team (the Cleveland Rams) and merge two others: the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles. Thus were the Steagles born. The Steagles included military draft rejects, aging stars lured out of retirement, and even a couple of active servicemen who managed to get leave for the games. The center was deaf in one ear, the wide receiver was blind in one eye (and partially blind in the other), and the halfback had bleeding ulcers. One player was so old he'd never before played football with a helmet. Yet, somehow, this motley bunch managed to post a winning record--the first in the history of the Eagles and just the second in the history of the Steelers. Last Team Standing isn't just about football. It's also about life in the United States during World War II, a time of fear and hope, of sacrifice and momentous change. It's about rationing, racism, and Rosie the Riveter. It's about draft boards, bond drives, the A-bomb, and movie stars. Above all, it's about the men and women of the Greatest Generation who couldn't fight, but helped win the war in immeasurable ways. Matthew Algeo is a public radio reporter whose work appears on "Morning Edition," "All Things Considered," and "Marketplace." He lives in Arlington, Virginia.
The editors discuss the history of the colonial PA legislature, pre-Revolution representative government, Philadelphia in the 1700's, the building of Independence Hall, then the Pennsylvania State House, and the commissioning of casting of the Liberty Bell.
“Lawmaking and Legislators in Pennsylvania: Volume Three” covers the General Assembly terms from 1757 through 1775. This time period witnessed the French and Indian War, the expansion of Pennsylvania with the addition of Bedford, Northumberland, and Westmoreland counties, the Stamp Act crisis, the development of extra-legal committees, the creation of county militias, and the eventual overthrow of the colonial government. Biographical profiles of legislators include Benjamin Franklin, William Allen, Joseph Galloway, and others. Also included are a series of introductory essays focusing on topics such as the rules and procedures of the Assembly, the Pennsylvania Iron Industry, the legislators and civic improvement, the Quaker party, and the prelude of revolution. Craig Horle is Director and Chief Editor of the Biographical Dictionary of Early Pennsylvania Legislators, 1682-1790, project at Temple University. He has also edited “Lawmaking and Legislators in Pennsylvania: Volumes 1 and 2” and “The Papers of William Penn.” He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Maryland. An idealistic trial lawyer who believes in the Rule of Law and the integrity of the judicial system is placed on a collision course with a Supreme Court Justice. This true story, in narrative form, tells of the fall of this Justice and the battles of the lawyer with a judicial system that has been corrupted by the Justice. It describes the ascendancy of the trial lawyers who create crisis in the health care delivery system and the end of investigative reporting by the print media as a result of libel suits brought by justices and judges in their own courts. Author Robert Surrick names names, and raises serious questions about the conduct of many lawyers and judges. Robert Surrick graduated from Dickinson School of Law in 1960, and was later appointed to the PA Judicial Inquiry and Review Board, in 1979. He was the recipient of the 1987 Public Service Achievement Award from Common Cause/ PA for his efforts to reform the Pennsylvania Judicial system. In 1993 and 1995, Mr. Surrick was a candidate for the PA Supreme Court and in 1997 for the PA Superior Court.
It is 1969 and Cecil Street is "feeling some kind of way," so the residents decide to have two block parties this year. These energetic, sensual street celebrations serve as backdrops to the stories of the people on the block. Joe, a long-ago sax player, has turned his eye across the street to a newly arrived young southern beauty even as he is suddenly haunted by memories of his horn-playing nights and his affection for a shy, soft hooker from years ago. Joe's wife, Louise, a licensed practical nurse, is losing her teeth to gum disease and her joy to sensing that Joe's attention has wandered. Their teenage daughter, Shay, is consumed with helping her best friend and next-door neighbor Neet, who has gotten pregnant by a Corner Boy. Neet's mother, Alberta, is shunned by the block because of her immersion in a religion that has no name. As the novel opens, the first block party has ended and a naked woman has secretly taken up residence in Joe and Louise's cellar. Diane McKinney-Whetstone is the author of Tumbling, a national bestseller, Tempest Rising, and Blues Dancing. She teaches fiction writing at the University of Pennsylvania and lives in Philadelphia with her husband Greg.
On July 1, 2, and 3, 1863, Gettysburg, PA was the scene of the climactic battle of the Civil War. In his book, Troy Harman takes a new look at Robert E. Lee's strategy during the battle, and argues that many commonly-held beliefs about the confederate battle plan may not be accurate. Harman has been a National Park Service Ranger since 1984, having worked in historical interpretation at Appomattox Court House, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Independence Hall, and not at Gettysburg.
Christopher Ogden discusses his book Legacy:
A Biography of Moses and Walter Annenberg, a dual biography
of Walter Annenberg, publisher, philanthopist, art collector,
and ambassador, and his father Moses, publisher of the Daily
Racing Form, who clashed with Frank Nitti and Al Capone in
Depression-era Chicago. The Lehigh
Valley: A Natural and Environmental History Comprising 730 square miles and over half a million residents, the Lehigh Valley is the third largest metropolitan area in Pennsylvania, encompassing the cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton. While much is known about its industrial history, few have discovered the valley’s natural history: the Blue Mountain, the raptor migrations, the wetlands and the watercourses. “The Lehigh Valley” explores the land and the natural forces and human history that have altered it. Robert Halma is Professor Emeritus of Biology at Cedar Crest College, and Carl Oplinger is Professor of Biology at Muhlenberg College. They are also authors of “The Poconos: An Illustrated natural History Guide.”
Discover the mysteries and myths behind John Lennon. Learn about the talented musicians who took his celebrity and turned it into a public platform. Witness a man who not only lived a life of sex, drugs, and rock & roll, but also slept for peace, fought against his deportation, and was gunned down tragically. “Lennon Revealed” gives an in-depth look into Lennon’s personal path from public glory to individual destruction, and ultimately to his rebirth. Twenty –five years after his death, Kane reveals some of Lennon’s most fascinating moments, and the remarkable talent and inspiring message that still resonates today. Larry Kane is an Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist who had a 45-year career as a TV journalist, most notably in Philadelphia. Kane was the only American reporter who traveled in the Beatles entourage in ’64-’65 and is author of “Ticket to Ride: Inside the Beatles’ 1964 Tour that Changed the World.” He lives in Philadelphia with his wife. Letters to Gabriel by Karen Garver Santorum CCC of America, 6000 Campus Circle Drive, Irving, Texas 75063 The author, wife of Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, talks about her book Letters to Gabriel, a collection of letters she wrote to her baby during her pregnancy. The child, born prematurely, lived only two hours. Mrs. Santorum reflects on the effect the child had on her and her family. Letters to the Editor: Two Hundred Years in the Life of an American Town edited by Gerard Stropnicky, Tom Byrn, James Goode, and Jerry Matheny Touchstone/Simon & Schuster, Rockefeller Center, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020 The guests, members of the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble gather to discuss their book, based on their stage play of the same name. The authors reflect on the breadth of American history as seen through the eyes of citizens of one small town, Bloomsburg, PA.
The dark side of the American dream: the true story of the first African-American family to move into the iconic suburb, Levittown, PA . In the decade after World War II, one entrepreneurial family helped thousands of people buy into the American dream of owning a home. The Levitts—William, Alfred, and their father, Abe—pooled their
“The Liberty Bell Era” tells the story of Black America during the era of America’s proclamations of liberty and justice, as symbolized by the Liberty Bell. Author Charles Blockson’s essays account the success and tragedy of African Americans who played pivotal roles during America’s founding years of liberty, even as liberty was not yet extended to Black America. Charles Blockson is the author of eleven books, including “African Americans in Pennsylvania” and is curator of the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection at Temple University in Philadelphia. He has lectured across America, as well as Europe, the Caribbean, Africa, and South America.
Julia Hansen first lit up at nineteen. Twenty years later,
she was editing books about health -- and smoking a pack or
two a day. She denied her son fast food, but smoked in the
house and car; curtailed his video games, but lit up at his
soccer matches. Despite repeated attempts to quit, she always
crawled back to her beloved menthol lights. Smoking had become
a metaphorical chain around her neck, shackling her to an
early death. Haunted by a nightmarish vision of her future
-- her son at her deathbed, begging her not to leave him --
Hansen devised a drastic quit method. She bought a 72-foot
length of chain that was "unwieldy as a corpse"
and locked herself to a radiator in her dining room. What
followed: seven days of cold-turkey misery, comic absurdity,
and revelation as Hansen stepped from behind her wall of smoke
to face her addiction to nicotine -- and some painful truths.
Benjamin Franklin’s life and careers were so varied and successful that he remains, even today, the epitome of the self-made man. Born into a humble tradesman’s family, this adaptable genius rose to become an architect of the world’s first democracy, a leading light in Enlightenment science, and a major creator of what has come to be known as the American character. Journalist, musician, politician, scientist, humorist, inventor, civic leader, printer, writer, publisher, businessman, founding father, philosopher, Franklin is a touchstone for America’s egalitarianism. J.A. Leo Lemay is H.F. du Pont Winterthur Professor of English at the University of Delaware. He has written extensively on early American literature and is author of numerous books, including The American Dream of Captain John Smith.
This is the story of Abraham Lincoln in the Keystone State--the chronicle of where he went, what he did, and what he said in the state. The trail begins with Lincoln's Pennsylvania ancestors, moves on to his travels, public appearances, and speeches, and concludes with his funeral train in 1865. The Lincoln Trail in Pennsylvania tells a story for the reader, but it is also a guide for those who would travel the state to recover the memory of America's sixteenth president. Rarely seen photographs, engravings, and maps enrich this volume. The final chapter offers a guide of sites to visit in present-day Pennsylvania. Bradley Hoch is founding partner of Gettysburg Pediatrics. Lincoln and the Civil War are deeply ingrained in his family: two of his great grandfathers fought as volunteers in Pennsylvania regiments during the Civil War.
Since 1812, Harrisburg has served as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s State Capitol. The current Capitol building was completed in 1906 by architect Joseph Miller Huston in the American Renaissance style. The building unites art and architecture by melding old world motifs and new world ideas. The edifice is one of the most ornamental state capitols in America, replete with murals and gold leafing in all of its principle chambers. Literature in Stone focuses on the construction, dedication, and restoration of the current Capitol, in commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Pennsylvania State Capitol with a colorful review of the building's history, including a special chapter revealing original project photos and information from restoration work done by the Capitol Preservation Committee over the past twenty-four years.
Before there was Marley, there was a gleefully mischievous boy growing up in a devout Catholic home outside Detroit in the 1960s and '70s. Despite his loving parents' best efforts, John's attempts to meet their expectations failed spectacularly. Whether it was his disastrous first confession, the use of his hobby telescope to take in the bronzed Mrs. Selahowski sunbathing next door, the purloined swigs of sacramental wine, or, as he got older, the fumbled attempts to sneak contraband past his father and score with girls beneath his mother's vigilant radar, John was figuring out that the faith and fervor that came so effortlessly to his parents somehow had eluded him. And then one day, a strong-willed young woman named Jenny walked into his life. As their love grew, John began the painful, funny, and poignant journey into adulthood—away from his parents' orbit and into a life of his own. It would take a fateful call and the onset of illness to lead him on the final leg of his journey—the trip home again. John Grogan spent more than twenty years as an award-winning newspaper journalist in Michigan, Florida, and Pennsylvania. His first book, MARLEY & ME, was a number one international bestseller, soon to be released as a major motion picture. He lives in eastern Pennsylvania with his wife and three children.
Over the past century Longwood Gardens has matured into one of the world’s great horticultural showplaces. This is the first time its complete story has been told, from the planting of the original arboretum by a Quaker family , to Pierre du Pont’s creation of the gardens, conservatory, and fountains, to its transformation from a private estate to a very public garden bout to begin its second century. Author Colvin Randall has been studying the Gardens’ history since 1973. In 2004, he was named Longwood’s Historian. (IncludesThe Magic Shrub by Eileen Maroney & Plant Exploration for Longwood Gardens by Tomasz Anisko)
Conventional wisdom holds that General Robert E. Lee risked everything at Gettysburg. Victory would have virtually ensured Confederate triumph in the war, forcing the Union into submission. In “Lost Triumph: Lee’s Real Plan at Gettysburg and Why It Failed” West Point graduate and military historian Tom Carhart asserts that Lee had an as-yet undiscovered plan for victory at Gettysburg. Drawing from institutional records, official reports, and private correspondence, Carhart painstakingly recreates the events of those crucial days, shedding new light on Lee’s dramatic failure. Tom Carhart has been a lawyer and historian or the Department of the Army in Washington, DC. He is a graduate of West Point, a twice-wounded Vietnam veteran, and has earned a Ph.D. in American and Military History from Princeton University. He authored four previous books of military history and is Adjunct Professor of History at the University of Mary Washington near his home in the Washington DC area. Luke Swank Luke Swank: Modernist Photographer reintroduces the work of an important artist who had been relegated to virtual anonymity after his untimely death in 1944. As both a biography of Swank (1890-1944) and an analysis of his work, the book focuses on his essential contribution to the modernist movement and positions Swank alongside contemporaries Edward Weston, Margaret Bourke-White, and Walker Evans. In 1930, at age forty, Luke Swank was selling cars in his hometown of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Just two years later, his five-part photo mural "Steel Plant" was featured in Murals by American Painters and Photographers, the first show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York to include photography. Howard Bossen is a professor of journalism and an adjunct curator at the Kresge Art Museum at Michigan State University. He is guest curator of the Carnegie Museum of Art exhibit Luke Swank: Modernist Photographer. Bossen is also the author of Henry Holmes Smith: Man of Light, a biography of this photographer, educator, and critic.
Making
and Re-Making Pennsylvania's Civil War For many people, Pennsylvania’s contribution to the Civil War goes little beyond the battle of Gettysburg. The essays in this book, assembled and edited by Penn State history professor William Blair, suggest a few ways to reconsider the impact of the Civil War on Pennsylvania and the way its memory remains alive even today.
Kevin Kenny, history professor at the University of Texas at Austin tells the story of the Molly Maguires, the secret organization that operated in Pennsylvania’s coal region in the 1870’s. The Man
Who Had Been King Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples and Spain, claimed that he had never wanted the overpowering roles thrust upon him by his illustrious younger brother Napoleon. Left to his own devices, he would probably have been a lawyer in his native Corsica, a country gentleman with leisure to read the great literature he treasured and oversee the maintenance of his property. When Napoleon's downfall forced Joseph into exile, he was able to become that country gentleman at last, but in a place he could scarcely have imagined. Author Patricia Tyson Stroud recounts how Joseph became friend and host to many of the nation's wealthiest and most cultivated citizens, and how his art collection played a crucial role in transmitting high European taste to America. Patricia Tyson Stroud is an independent scholar who lives in Wayne, Pennsylvania, and East Blue Hill, Maine. She is the author of The Emperor of Nature: Charles-Lucien Bonaparte and His World, which won the Athenaeum of Philadelphia Literary Award, and Thomas Say: New World Naturalist, both published by the University of Pennsylvania Press. She is a fellow of the International Napoleonic Society.
It was the height of the Gilded Age and J. Pierpont Morgan controlled the fate of railroads, corporations, and governments. The wealthy and influential were said to tremble before his blinding intellect and intimidating gaze, yet he deferred to one man: Anthony J. Drexel. Drexel--whose name is familiar today only through the university he founded and his recently canonized niece and protegee, Katharine--was the most influential financier of the nineteenth century. The second son of an Austrian emigre, Anthony Drexel (1826-1893) soon established himself as the preeminent financial mind in the Philadelphia currency brokerage his father began in 1838. Shunning publicity, self-promotion, and high-profile public accolades--he declined President Ulysses S. Grant's invitation to become Secretary of the Treasury--Drexel initiated a partnership with J. P. Morgan and his father, Junius, that became the most powerful financial combination of its age. Dan Rottenberg is the editor of Family Business magazine. He is the author of seven books and has written for Town & Country, New York Times Magazine, Forbes, Civilization, TV Guide, and Rolling Stone.
Born in Philadelphia in 1897, Marian Anderson possessed a singing voice which captivated audiences worldwide. The New York Times called her “arguably the greatest contralto of the century.” In 1939 legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini, upon hearing Anderson sing, said, “What I heard today one is privileged to hear only once in a hundred years.” A signature moment in Miss Anderson’s career came when she was denied the opportunity to sing at the Daughters of the American Revolution’s Constitution Hall in Washington, DC because of her race. The controversy culminated in Anderson’s performance on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial before 75,000 devoted fans. Author Allan Keiller, a professor of music
at Brandeis University, discusses his book, the only definitive
biography of this renown singer. Mario
Lanza: Tenor in Exile Almost forty years after his death, the mystique of legendary tenor Mario Lanza continues. Born in South Philadelphia, Lanza attained a cult-like following, starring both on the opera stage and the silver screen. His story is told by author Roland Bessette in Mario Lanza: Tenor in Exile.
John Grogan, a metropolitan columnist at The Philadelphia Inquirer, and his wife, Jenny, were newlyweds when they brought home an irresistible yellow Labrador retriever puppy and named him after a mellow reggae star. But Marley soon would grow into a 97-pound powerhouse of nervous, pulsating intensity and mischief. Marley, the incorrigible, excitable, destructive, and intensely loyal creature that graced the Grogan home for thirteen years, was not the mellow, well-behaved pet his owners had envisioned. His slobber was legendary, his manners appalling, and his fear of thunderstorms expensive. He decimated walls, screen doors, car upholstery, and dinner parties. Even as the Grogans tried everything to mold him to their will, Marley, with his utter devotion and unharnessed zeal for life, helped shape them into the family they would become. He was kicked out of obedience training, and the veterinarian prescribed tranquilizers to no effect. But his heart was pure. As he crashed through life, he taught two newlyweds about faithfulness and commitment, two parents about patience and perseverance, and a five-person family about the greatest gift of all- the gift of unconditional love. Award-winning journalist John Grogan is a columnist with the Philadelphia Inquirer and former metropolitan columnist and urban-sprawl reporter for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He is also a former editor of the magazine Organic Gardening. He lives with his family in Pennsylvania.
From the infamous "Elvi" guitar owned by Elvis Presley (his original D-18 missing the "s" from his name) to customized instruments belonging to Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Joan Baez, Sting, and Eric Clapton, the Martin Guitar company has made a guitar for nearly every notable musician who's ever held a six-string. Martin Guitar’s head of Artist Relations and Publicity at C. F. Martin, Dick Boak, acts as the artist liaison in these collaborations, and enthusiastically outlines his experiences. Dick Boak lives in Nazareth, Pennsylvania, and is head of Artist Relations and Publicity at C. F. Martin & Co., collaborating with artists in the design of their Limited Edition Artist Signature Models. Pennsylvanian Maxfield Parrish is one of the most popular American artists of the twentieth century, with reproductions of his paintings, posters, and illustrations finding their way into most American homes through the 1920s. Born into a Philadelphia Quaker family, Parrish was educated at Swarthmore College, Haverford College, and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Sylvia Yount, curator of collections at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and her co-author, Mark Bockrath, discuss their lavishly illustrated book.
Following a boyhood in nineteenth-century Pittsburgh, during which he learned from his Scotch-Irish immigrant father the lessons of self-sufficiency and accumulation of wealth, Andrew Mellon overcame painful shyness to become one of America’s greatest financiers. Across an unusually diverse range of enterprises, from banking to oil to aluminum manufacture, he would build a legendary personal fortune, tracking America’s course to global economic supremacy. Personal happiness, however, eluded him: his loveless marriage at forty-five to a British girl less than half his age ended in a scandalous divorce, and for all his best efforts, he would remain a stranger to his children. He had been bred to do one thing, and that he did with brilliant and innovative entrepreneurship. The Mellon way was to hold companies closely, including such iconic enterprises as Alcoa and Gulf Oil. Collecting art, a pursuit inspired by his close friend Henry Clay Frick, would become his only nonprofessional gratification. And by the end of his life, Mellon’s “pictures” would constitute one of the world’s foremost private collections. David Cannadine was educated at Cambridge, Oxford, and Princeton. He is the author of many acclaimed books, including the prizewinning The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy. He has taught at Cambridge and Columbia universities and now at the Institute of Historical Research, University of London.
In March of 1979 a combination of technical failure and human error triggered the worst nuclear power accident in the United States and, within hours, the eyes of the world would be on Three Mile Island, on the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg. Wilborn Hampton, now an editor at the New York Times, tells the hour-by-hour story of how he covered the accident as a reporter for UPI.
A saga about one of the oldest and most romantic enterprises in the land—America's railroads—The Men Who Loved Trains introduces some of the most dynamic businessmen in America. Here are the chieftains who have run the railroads, including those who set about grabbing power and big salaries for themselves, and others who truly loved the industry. Author Rush Loving uncovers intrigue, greed, lust for power, boardroom battles, and takeover wars. Included is the story of how the chairman of CSX Corporation, who later became George W. Bush's Treasury secretary, was inept as a manager but managed to make millions for himself while his company drifted in chaos. Men such as he were shy of scruples, yet there were also those who loved trains and railroading, and who played key roles in reshaping transportation in the northeastern United States. Rush Loving has written for Fortune magazine, served as assistant director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Jimmy Carter, and worked as a consultant specializing in transportation economics, issues before Congress, and corporate communication problems. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.
Herman Silverman, founder of Sylvan Pools and life-long friend of Bucks County, Pennsylvania author James Michener, discusses his work, Michener and Me. The book is an intimate portrait of the famous American writer who has penned best-sellers Tales From the South Pacific, Hawaii, Centennial, The Source, and Chesapeake. Michener: A Writer’s
Journey Raised in dire poverty, James Michener became one of the most beloved storytellers of our time, captivating readers with sweeping historical plots that educated and entertained. In this first full-length biography of the private as well as public Michener, Stephen May reveals how an aspiring writer became a best-selling novelist. It is the only book to draw on Michener’s complete papers as well as interviews with his friends and associates. The result conveys much about Michener never before revealed in print. Stephen May is the author of a literary biography of Zane Grey. He resides in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Nearly 250 years ago a war broke out that, in later years, was called the first "world war." The conflict between England and France, known in this country as the French and Indian War, escalated until most of Europe was involved. One of the incidents that ignited the war took place in 1754 near present-day Mount Summit, PA, where a group of Virginia soldiers under the command of 22-year-old Colonel George Washington ambushed a scouting party of 50 French soldiers led by Ensign Coulon de Jumonville, resulting in the death of Jumonville. Much of the war that followed took place in Pennsylvania. "Jumonville Glen" and dozens of related areas are described in The Mid-Appalachian Frontier: A Guide to Historic Sites of the French & Indian War. Author Robert Swift has been interested in the French and Indian War since his childhood in the 1950s. he is currently Statehouse Bureau Chief for Ottaway Newspapers at Harrisburg, PA.
William Kashatus, Historian for the Chester
County Historical Society and author of Connie Mack’s
‘29 Triumph turns his attention to another Philadelphia
baseball institution, Mike Schmidt, who played his entire
career from 1973 to 1989 with the Phillies. Perhaps the
greatest third baseman of all time, Schmidt hit 548 home
runs, won 10 Gold Gloves, was a 12 time All-Star, and was
elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot.
The book is the first serious account of Schmidt’s
celebrated career. Millenium
Philadelphia This book, drawn from the archives of the
Philadelphia Inquirer, looks at 100 years of Delaware Valley
history, presenting hundreds of photographs showing the
people, politics, skyline, sports heroes, artists, entertainers,
industries, celebrations and disasters that defined the
region in the 20th century.
Adam Taliaferro, a freshman cornerback for the Penn State Nittany Lions, had it all: smarts, an easygoing personality, and incomparable athletic ability. But on September 23, 2000 while tackling an Ohio State running back, Taliaferro suffered a broken neck that left him paralyzed. Miracle in the Making chronicles Adam's promising start as a National Honor Society and star high school athlete through his devastating injury, his grueling rehabilitation, to his return to Penn State. The book has been described as Brian's Song--with a happy ending. Scott Brown is a sportswriter for Florida Today. Sam Carchidi is a staff writer and South Jersey sports columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The author, who has been called "the female John Grisham" by People magazine writes legal thrillers that draw on her experience at a prestigious Philadelphia law firm. Scottoline is a winner of the Edgar Allen Poe Award, and all of her novels have received critical acclaim. For more than 25 years as a reporter with the Philadelphia Inquirer George Anastasia has made tracking the American Mafia his regular beat, writing investigates pieces, profiles and slices of underworld life. Mobfiles is a compilation of his best work -- stories told from street level and often based on insights and access provided by investigators, prosecutors and the mobsters themselves. Mobfiles provides the true stories around which classics like The Godfather and The Sopranos have been built. George Anastasia, a veteran reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, is the grandson of Sicilian immigrants who settle in South Philadelphia. He is the author of five books of nonfiction, including Blood and Honor, which Jimmy Breslin called the "best gangster book ever written." He has won many awards for investigative journalism and magazine writing.
In Mobfather, George Anastasia exposes what it really means to be married to the mob- and fathered by it. As revealed through personal accounts, the life for wife and sons of Thomas “Tommy Del” DelGiorno became a descent into hell. When Maryann Welch ignored misgivings on her wedding day and plunged into marriage with the small-time gangster, she could not have foreseen how swiftly his greed and bloodlust would propel him to the highest ranks of the South Philadelphia mafia. In the end, guilty of a raft of crimes that included multiple murders, Tommy Del served less than a year in prison in exchange for turning government witness during a dozen trials against fellow mobsters. George Anastasia, a veteran reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, is the author of five books of nonfiction. Four of these, including Blood and Honor, also published by Camino Books, are about the Philadelphia mob. He has won many awards for investigative journalism and magazine writing.
From bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize– winning journalist Edward Humes comes a dramatic story of faith, science, and courage unlike any since the famous Scopes Monkey Trial. Monkey Girl takes you behind the scenes of the recent war on evolution in Dover, Pennsylvania, the epic court case on teaching "intelligent design" it spawned, and the national struggle over what Americans believe about human origins. Told from the perspectives of all sides of the battle, Monkey Girl is about what happens when science and religion collide. Edward Humes is the author of eight critically acclaimed nonfiction books, including Mississippi Mud, School of Dreams, and Over Here. A recipient of a Pulitzer Prize and a PEN Award, Humes lives in California.
Michael Smerconish, the nationally syndicated radio talk show host who has delighted and challenged listeners with his unique brand of outspoken candor, has written a memoir offering readers an assessment of the issues confronting America- complete with behind-the-scenes encounters with the pundits and politicians who conspire to control debate and discussion. As Smerconish evolves from high school activist to a paid analyst on MSNBC appearing as a regular on “Hardball” and other major cable news programs, readers learn how his is frequently remanded to “the wing nut chair.” Smerconish educates readers on the “preparation” that leading talk show hosts engage in before issues are presented- “preparation” that frequently calls for guest guarantees on what political position they will take on key issues and election-related news so as to engender television and radio food fights. Michael Smerconish is the coauthor of the best-selling Murdered by Mumia and the host of the nationally syndicated “The Michael Smerconish Program.” He is a paid analyst for MSNBC News.
In "Mrs. Ike" Susan Eisenhower presents her grandmother as her grandfather saw her- an heroic and irresistible figure in her own right. The book incorporates hundreds of unpublished letters between her grandparents during the war, and accounts life with Ike by family and friends. Author Susan Eisenhower, President of the Eisenhower Group and chair of the Center of Post-Soviet Studies, writes for many magazines and newspapers and is a frequent public speaker. She lives near Washington, D.C.
In 1969, York, a blue-collar city in Central Pennsylvania was on fire. The racial tension and social unrest that plagued so much of the nation at that time had exploded into rioting and the city was a war zone, literally in flames. As attorney William Costopoulos writes, “In York, whites and African Americans were showering hell on each other.” And in this hell, on July21, an African American woman, Lillie Belle Allen, a 27-year-old preacher’s daughter, was fatally wounded as she entered a white neighborhood. “Murder is the Charge” follows the events thirty-two years later, when criminal charges for Allen’s tragic death are brought up, leaving the city once again divided and a popular mayor accused of the crime. William Costopoulos is the author of four books, including “Principal Suspect” and is known for high-profile criminal defense cases. Brad Bumsted is an award-winning, statewide political reporter for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Lucretia Chapman had aspirations that exceeded those of many early nineteenth century women, but Lucretia’s dedication to the education of women were no match for Lino Espos y Mina, perhaps the greatest con artist in American history. Shortly after Lucretia provided a room for the handsome Latino stranger, the two started a passionate love affair. Hardly a month after the affair began, Dr. Chapman died of a mysterious illness. The 1831 murder of Dr. Chapman rocked the young American nation and led to a scandalous dual trial, a prosecution that drew greater public attention than any since Aaron Burr’s trial for treason. Author Linda Wolfe is an acclaimed journalist and novelist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Vanity Fair, Playboy, New York Magazine, and many other publications. She received an Edgar Award nomination for "Wasted: The Preppie Murder.
Bob Hoffman founder of York Barbell is credited with being the father of weightlifting in America. Dominating the sport from the 1930’s until the 1980’s, he positioned York, PA as the capital of weightlifting of America. His story is told by Georgia history professor John Fair in his book Muscletown USA: Bob Hoffman and the Manly Culture of York Barbell.
In his new book, “Muzzled: From T-Ball to Terrorism, True Stories That Should Be Fiction” Philadelphia radio host Michael Smerconish documents the most radical, comical, absurd, and ridiculous instances of political correctness. Smerconish has compiled more than two-dozen true stories- a litany of examples where he sees this trend both at home and in the war on terror. In the past, such indiscretions might have been dismissed with a hand gesture. Now they’re litigated. As “Muzzled” demonstrates, the silliness has spiraled out of control and threatens the safety of our citizens. Michael Smerconish hosts a radio talk program in Philadelphia. He is a familiar face on Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN, where he provides commentary on current events. Under the administration of President George H.W. Bush, Smerconish was named Regional Administrator of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. He maintains an on-counsel relationship with the Beasley Law Firm in Philadelphia.
Claude-Anne Lopez, for many years editor of
The Papers of Benjamin Franklin discusses her book, a collection
of incidental pieces that reveal little-known aspects of
the life and personality of Pennsylvania’s greatest
citizen. Myron
Cope: Double Yoi! Myron Cope has been on the sidelines of Steelers’ football for more than thirty years and has witnessed an essential part of the team's history. This autobiography recounts the life and times of one of Pittsburgh's most colorful characters. Readers are given a behind the scenes look at famed Steelers players and management through the author’s personal memories. Myron Cope has been on the airwaves for more than thirty years, providing color commentary for Steelers football on both radio and television. He has received numerous awards, including the E.P. Dutton Prize for Best Magazine Sportswriting in the Nation. Myron Cope lives in Pittsburgh.
N.C.
Wyeth: A Biography The history of America is written over every mile of the National Road in Pennsylvania. The original National Road can be traced to Native American trails. George Washington, Gen. Edward Braddock, and James Burd converted portions of Native American trails into a roadway suitable for military purposes and westward expansion. Then came the National Road, built in the early 1800’s to accommodate increased traffic traveling westward on the existing road. It was the first federally built road in the United States. Alternately called the National Pike and the Cumberland Road, the National Road was overlaid by segments of US Route 40 in the 1920’s. Today, the National Road is designated as a National Scenic Byway as well as an All-American Road. Author Cassandra Vivian is the author of “Monessen: A Typical Steel Country Town,” the founder and chair of the Greater Monessen Historical Society, and a professional photographer, and a historian.
The guests, all former reporters and columnists for the Bulletin (the Philadelphia evening newspaper which closed in 1982), recall that paper, tell stories of some of the interesting characters who worked there, and discuss how newspapers and the news business have changed since then. Peter Binzen is now a business columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer, Claude Lewis, long-time Inquirer columnist is now semi-retired, and still writing for the Inquirer , and Rose DeWolf is a reporter for the Philadelphia Daily News.
Prior to the American Revolution, the Ohio River Valley was a cauldron of competing interests: Indian, colonial, and imperial. The conflict known as Pontiac’s Uprising, which lasted from 1763 until 1766, erupted out of this volatile atmosphere. “Never Come to Peace Again,” the first complete account of Pontiac’s Uprising to appear in nearly fifty years, is a richly detailed account of the causes, conduct, and consequences of events that proved pivotal in American colonial history. David Dixon is Professor of History at Slippery Rock University, Pennsylvania. He is the author of the award-winning book “Hero of Beecher Island: The Life and Military Career of George A. Forsyth.”
In early 2004, Senator Specter was in the midst of a grueling primary race, facing significant opposition from the right as he worked to win his party’s nomination to run for reelection for his Pennsylvania senate seat. It would be the most difficult election in his quarter-century career in the Senate. Following on its heels were two more challenges---the general-election race and opposition to his elevation as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, his lifelong ambition. He overcame all three challenges in time for his seventy-fifth birthday.
Stadium construction has altered the physical landscape of many major metropolitan areas throughout North America and has had a profound psychological and economic impact on these urban centers. How athletic facilities have been constructed, from the ritual-centered beginning of stadium construction in ancient Greece to large-scale construction of professional sports facilities in present day global centers, reveals a culture’s values and priorities and how it defines its recreational needs. With in-depth analysis and research, Robert Trumpbour examines the political institutions, commercial entities, civic leadership, and media organizations that influenced new stadium construction. The author analyzes three significant recent historical periods: the Progressive Era, when modern fireproof stadiums were first built; the late 1960s and early 1970s, when multipurpose stadiums were built in downtown areas to promote urban redevelopment; and the late 1990s, when retro ballparks were designed to accommodate commercial and entertainment space. Robert C. Trumpbour is assistant professor of communications at Pennsylvania State University, Altoona College. He has written numerous articles on media studies and stadium construction.
"The New Rabbi" is an intimate portrait of American Judaism, following a nationally known congregation as it seeks to replace its legendary retiring rabbi, and reinvent itself for the next generation. Author Stephen Fried takes readers into the intense personal life of the clergy and the complex behind-the-scenes life of organized religion in America, exploring both congregational politics and the search for faith. Stephen Fried is an award-winning investigative journalist and essayist. His work has appeared frequently in Vanity Fair, The Washington Post Magazine, Glamour, GQ, and Philadelphia magazine. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife, author Diane Ayres.
When British troops seized Philadelphia in 1777, the Continental Congress, the government of the new republic, fled 100 miles west to the safe haven of York, PA, then a small town perched at the edge of the frontier. Along with the Congress came such luminaries as John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Thomas Paine, "Mad" Anthony Wayne, and Martha Washington. During its time in York, the Continental Congress passed the Articles of Confederation, chose sides in General Horatio Gates' effort to unseat George Washington as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, celebrated the victory over the British army at Saratoga, and continued to press the war for independence. James McClure, is managing editor of the York Daily Record and author of “Never to be Forgotten,” a history of York County.
Jackie Esposito and Steven Herb discuss their book, the story of Penn State’s ubiquitous mascot, its history and legends. Included are the stories of the famous Nittany Lion statue and stories about some of the people who have worn the lion suit.
On
the Backroad to Heaven Donald Kraybill, professor of sociology and Anabaptist studies at Messiah College, and one of the world’s foremost authorities on the subject provides a unique study of the country’s four major Old Order Anabaptist groups: the Amish, Brethren, Hutterites, and Mennonites, contrasting the strategies each has used to persevere and adapt in the face of both internal and external pressures. Kraybill has a particular interest in how Old Order groups continue to maintain such viable communities--not vanishing, but indeed flourishing--and the book focuses on how these groups have repeatedly renegotiated their relationship with the outside world.
Kanigel discusses his biography of Pennsylvanian Frederick Winslow Taylor, the inventor of "scientific management" and pioneer in business efficiency and time-and-motion studies. Taylor, according to many scholars, is more responsible for the way we live today than anyone else, including Henry Ford and Thomas Edison.
Palestra
Pandemonium: A History of the Big Five University of Pennsylvania's Palestra has hosted more fans at more games over more seasons than any other college arena in history. "Palestra Pandemonium" commemorates college basketball and the shrine in which the game was played. Author Robert Lyons profiles the legendary coaches and players that made the game great, and depicts stories about the arena itself. Robert Lyons has covered professional and college sports for the Associated Press. Formerly associated with La Salle University, Lyons is now president of RSL Communications. He lives in Philadelphia.
A lifelong golfer and former caddy, Tom Coyne could drive the ball 300 yards but always struggled against stiff competition; he had often wondered whether the pros won because they were more innately talented or just because they were more obsessed. On the cusp of turning thirty, overweight, and saddled with a 14 handicap, Coyne embarked on a yearlong quest to do everything he could to lift his game—and find out if he could make it through the PGA Tour Qualifying School. With his girlfriend as caddy, Coyne traverses from Miami to Chicago to Toronto to see how he stacks up against the competition. Ultimately he takes his game to a new level, on the links of Australian Q-School, where amidst forty-mile-an-hour winds he must choose between the love of a fickle game and the love of the long-suffering woman who has stood by him throughout all the shanks, hooks, yips, and chili dips. Tom Coyne is the author of the novel A Gentleman’s Game and cowriter of the screenplay for the novel’s film version. He is a contributor to Golf magazine and teaches creative writing at St. Joseph’s University. Coyne lives in Philadelphia.
Since 1963, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore has been the home of a massive project to accumulate and catalog the papers of Gettysburg’s own Dwight Eisenhower. The recently published volumes 28 to 31 conclude the series with an inside look at the second term of America’s 34th president. It was during that period, 1957-61 that Ike dealt with the Communist takeover in Cuba, the Russian launch of Sputnik, integration of the Little Rock, AK schools, and such towering world figures as Charles DeGaulle, Nikita Kruschev, and Gamel Abdel Nasser. The papers give a personal perspective on the great issues of the era in Eisenhower’s own words. Discussing the project and the man are editors Louis Galambos, Daun Van Ee, and Elizabeth Hughes who among them represent more than 60 years of study into the career of Dwight David Eisenhower. The project to accumulate and publish the Papers of George Washington was established in 1969 at the University of Virginia, under the joint auspices of the University and the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association of the Union. The goal of the project is to publish a complete edition of Washington's correspondence. Letters written to Washington as well as letters and documents written by him will eventually be published in the complete edition that will consist of approximately 90 volumes. Forty-four volumes are now finished. Several editors currently working on the project will reflect on Washington the farmer, soldier, rebel, and president, concentrating on the many chapters of Washington's life that took place in Pennsylvania.
Senator Arlen Specter discusses his autobiography, in which he recounts his early career as an Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia investigating corruption in the Teamster's Union and the city magistrates, as a member of the Warren Commission investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and as a candidate for Philadelphia District Attorney, advertising "He's younger, he's tougher, and nobody owns him." As a candidate, Specter was unsuccessful running for mayor, governor, US Senator, and president. In 1980, however, he was elected to the Senate, where he is now Pennsylvania's senior senator. His Senate career has seen him at center stage of the Clinton health care plan, the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill hearings, and the impeachment of President Clinton. Sen. Specter also tells stories of his experiences with Richard Nixon, Frank Rizzo, Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev, Yassir Arafat, and other notables. Philadelphia lawyer Victor Carl has no income, no clients, no love life, and his estranged father is in the hospital, slowly dying of lung disease. When a deadbeat client of Carl’s reveals his part in a shakedown, the client is soon found with a slashed throat before the lawyer can get involved. Carl knows he should stay out of whatever mess his client was in, but he can’t. Carl’s investigation takes him on a twisting journey from Philadelphia’s toughest neighborhoods to the chambers of a judge with a deadly secret. Author William Lashner, a former Philadelphia lawyer, is a graduate of New York University Law School and the University of Iowa Writes’ Workshop. He has served as trial attorney in the Criminal Division of the US Justice Department. He lives with his family outside of Philadelphia.
William Penn established Pennsylvania in 1682 as a "holy experiment" in which Europeans and Indians could live together in harmony. In this book, historian Kevin Kenny explains how this Peaceable Kingdom--benevolent, Quaker, pacifist--gradually disintegrated in the eighteenth century, with disastrous consequences for Native Americans. Kenny recounts how rapacious frontier settlers, most of them of Ulster extraction, began to encroach on Indian land as squatters, while William Penn's sons cast off their father's Quaker heritage and turned instead to fraud, intimidation, and eventually violence during the French and Indian War. In 1763, a group of frontier settlers known as the Paxton Boys exterminated the last twenty Conestogas, descendants of Indians who had lived peacefully since the 1690s on land donated by William Penn near Lancaster. Invoking the principle of "right of conquest," the Paxton Boys claimed after the massacres that the Conestogas' land was rightfully theirs. They set out for Philadelphia, threatening to sack the city unless their grievances were met. A delegation led by Benjamin Franklin met them and what followed was a war of words, with Quakers doing battle against Anglican and Presbyterian champions of the Paxton Boys. The killers were never prosecuted and the Pennsylvania frontier descended into anarchy in the late 1760s, with Indians the principal victims. The new order heralded by the Conestoga massacres was consummated during the American Revolution with the destruction of the Iroquois confederacy. At the end of the Revolutionary War, the United States confiscated the lands of Britain's Indian allies, basing its claim on the principle of "right of conquest." Kevin Kenny is Professor of History at Boston College where he specializes in eighteenth and nineteenth-century Atlantic migration. He is author of Making Sense of the Molly Maguires and The American Irish: A History , and editor of Ireland and the British Empire.
Journalist and long-time Nittany Lion fan Lou Prato discusses his exhaustive look at the history of football at Penn State, startingwith first games in 1881, through the years when the team colors were pink and black, and up to the Paterno era. Lou Prado is now director of the Penn State All-Sports Museum in State College, PA. Penn State
Sports Stories and More Mickey Bergstein, long-time Penn State sportscaster discusses his book which recounts his fifty years covering football, basketball, boxing, wrestling, and people at Penn State. Jere Martin, author of Pennsylvania Almanac
discusses the state’s history, government, geology,
industry, and other elements that define Pennsylvania. Mr.
Martin also talks about the process of writing an almanac,
and the unique problems The colorful history of beer making in Pennsylvania is the subject of Lew Bryson’s book Pennsylvania Breweries. The author gives an armchair tour of many of the state’s new breweries and tells about the many tours, tastings, and souveniers available today.
“Pennsylvania Breweries” provides a new and updated tour of 53 of Pennsylvania's breweries and brewpubs. Beer writer and connoisseur Lew Bryson brings new establishments to the list, revisits some old favorites, relates some of the history of brewing in the state, and gives information for each site on tours, beers brewed, food served, and nearby lodging and attractions, along with his pick of favorite beer for each brewery. Lew Bryson writes about beer and the brewing
scene for Malt Advocate and Ale Street News. He is the author
of New York Breweries and Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware
Breweries. He lives in Newtown, Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Caves and Other Rocky Roadside Wonders reveals how natural processes created Pennsylvania’s spectacular subterranean world and how humans came to interpret caves as tourist attractions. This rocky road trip across the Keystone State also includes many other geologic wonders, such as coal mines, boulder fields, rock cities, ice mines, and profile rocks. Kevin Patrick is a professor of geography at Indiana University of Pennsylvania and coauthor of Diners of Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania’s Forbes Trail: Gateways and Getaways along the Legendary Route from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. From the dramatic story of the Forbes Expedition to more than 40 themed tours, featured activities, and lodging and dining tips, this beautifully illustrated guide puts you on the Forbes Trail, then and now. Laura Fisher (Editor) Burton Kummerow (History Text) Christine H. O’Toole (Travel) R. Scott Stephenson (History Sidebars)
Cemeteries, abandoned buildings, and roads to nowhere are all that remain of several once-thriving towns in Pennsylvania. This guidebook profiles 46 locations that have been abandoned or left to ruin, and some that have seen new life as historic sites, with discussions on their history, daily life, fall, and current condition. Susan Hutchison Tassin is a freelance writer who lives in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania Impressionists played a dominant role in the American art world of the teens and twenties. Their work was celebrated for its freedom from European influence, and was praised by a noted critic as "our first truly national expression." Pennsylvania Impressionism is lavishly illustrated with over 300 color reproductions of such work, and includes biographies of eighty-four artists, many never before published. Editor Brian Peterson is Senior Curator at the James A. Michener Art Museum, and has more than twenty years' experience as a curator, critic, artist, and arts administrator in the Philadelphia area. Thomas Folk discusses his book The Pennsylvania Impressionists, the first book to focus on the Pennsylvania School of Landscape Painting, a group of impressionist painters who settled near New Hope, PA at the turn of the century.
Samuel Newland, history professor at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, PA discusses his book The Pennsylvania Militia: The Early Years 1669-1792. Mr. Newland tells about early conflicts between the British Crown and the Quaker-led Pennsylvania Colonial Government, and about border wars between Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and Connecticut.
Pennsylvania
Traveler's Guide: The Lincoln Highway
In "The Pennsylvania Weather Book," meteorologist Ben Gelber provides the first comprehensive survey of 250 years of recorded weather in the Keystone State. He reports on noteworthy weather happenings by category (snowstorms, windstorms, cold and heat waves, thunderstorms, floods, and tropical storms) and places them in historical context. Throughout the book, Gelber clearly defines meteorological terms and explains what creates weather events. The book features appendices and tables containing useful references for average temperatures, precipitation, snowfall, and climate data. It also provides a brief history of the weather watchers who contributed to the state’s meteorological records since the late eighteenth century. This volume will serve as a valuable resource for weather professionals, amateurs, and local enthusiasts alike. Ben Gelber is an on-air meteorologist at NBC 4 (WCMH-TV) in Columbus, Ohio. He is the author of "Pocono Weather: A Weather History of Eastern Pennsylvania, the Poconos, and Northwestern New Jersey." Hidden under a massive canopy of trees is a wealth of nature, history and culture waiting to be explored. The Allegheny National Forest, an enormous ecosystem spanning 800 square miles in northcentral Pennsylvania, is an adventure-seeker’s paradise, yet few people even know it exists. “Pennsylvania Wilds” celebrates the rich cultural heritage of the Allegheny National Forest spanning millions of years, from prehistory to the present. From Native Americans who followed the receding glaciers to the pioneers who claimed the land as their own, the natural forest plays host to an unfolding drama that continues today. Lisa Gensheimer is an award-winning documentary producer and writer whose work has appeared on public television stations nationwide. She lives in North East, Pennsylvania. Ed Bernik has been a commercial photographer for 25 years, specializing in corporate and editorial images of people. He has five previous books of photography to his credit.
Pennsylvania is the home to more than 40 commercial wineries, some of them hobbies that grew out of control, some of them larger business ventures. Wine writers Linda Jones McKee and Richard Carey tell the story of the Keystone State’s wineries, discussing the winemakers, the grape growers, the mystique, and the wines that comprise Pennsylvania’s growing viniculture industry. Pennsylvania's
Covered Bridges "Pennsylvania's Scenic Route 6" shows you
where you can travel across miles of Pennsylvania road without
stop lights-long stretches of scenic farmlands and forest.
From the natural bird haven on Presque Isle to the Allegheny
National Forest and Pennsylvania's Grand Canyon to the Delaware
River, the book portrays this route as one of the most beautiful
in the United States. Readers are given insight into twenty
major historic and natural sites, including the War of 1812
U.S. Brig Niagara and giant locomotives at the Steamtown
National Historic Site. Author John Hope and photographer
Blair Seitz portray many of their own discoveries along
the way in towns and in the countryside. Pennsylvania:
A History of the Commonwealth The Keystone State, so nicknamed because it was geographically situated in the middle of the thirteen original colonies and played a crucial role in the founding of the United States, has remained at the heart of American history. Created partly as a safe haven for people from all walks of life, Pennsylvania is today the home of diverse cultures, religions, ethnic groups, social classes, and occupations. Many ideas, institutions, and interests that were first formed or tested in Pennsylvania spread across America and beyond, and continue to inform American culture, society, and politics. Pennsylvania: A History of the Commonwealth tells that story—and more. The book is the result of a collaboration between Penn State Press and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), the official history agency of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Together they gathered scholars from all over the Commonwealth to envision a new history of the Keystone State and commit their resources to make imagining and writing a new history possible.
From the Civil War through the First World War, it was a popular practice for soldiers to send letters to their home newspapers during wartime. “Pennsylvania Voices of the Great War” is a collection of letters, stories, and oral histories of Pennsylvanians engaged in World War I. The book gives readers a rare look at the soldiers’ experiences in the trenches, in the air, on the sea, in the hospitals, and on the home front. Author J. Stuart Richards is an electronics technician for the Defense Department. At the heart of the 1960’s, an unprecedented scale of student protesters on university campuses became known as the New Left. “The People of This Generation” is a comprehensive case study of the history of the New Left in a Northeast urban environment. Author Paul Lyons examines how activists interacted with the urban political environment to represent the antiwar Philadelphia Resistance and the antiracist People for Human Rights. Paul Lyons teaches history, social welfare policy, and Holocaust studies at Richard Stockton College, and is author of “Philadelphia Communists, 1936-1956”, “Class of ’66: Living in Suburban Middle America”, and “New Left, New Right, and the Legacy of the Sixties.”
When the roar of the Revolution had finally died down, a new generation of American politicians was summoned to the Potomac to assemble the nation’s newly minted capital. Into that unsteady atmosphere, which would soon enough erupt into another conflict with Britain in 1812, Dolley Madison arrived, alongside her husband, James. Within a few years, she had mastered both the social and political intricacies of the city, and by her death in 1849 was the most celebrated person in Washington. And yet, to most Americans, she’s best known for saving a portrait from the burning White House, or as the namesake for a line of ice cream. In “A Perfect Union,” Catherine Allgor reveals that while Dolley’s gender prevented her from openly playing politics, those very constraints of womanhood allowed her to construct an American democratic ruling style, and to achieve her husband’s political goals. Catherine Allgor is a professor of history at the University of California–Riverside. She has received the George Washington Egleston Prize from Yale, the Lerner-Scott Prize from the Organization of American Historians, and the James H. Broussard First Book Prize from the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic for Parlor Politics. She was awarded a Bunting Fellowship for her work on Dolley Madison. Allgor lives in Riverside, California.
The tapping of the first commercial oil well in Titusville, PA in 1859 set off a boom of industrial development in Northwestern Pennsylvania. Within a few short years, the farms and forests of the area were replaced by oil derricks, storage tanks, pump houses, and shacks. In “Petrolia”, Penn State history professor Brian Black offers a history of a region that was not only the site of America’s first oil boom, but was also the world’s largest oil producer between 1859 and 1873.
“The Philadelphia Area Weather Book” offers a little-known history of the region’s pivotal role in the development of weather science as far back as colonial times. Meteorologists Jon Nese and Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz give an account of what forecasters actually do on a daily basis, providing features on forecasting the big storms, and a glimpse at the possibilities for the future climate of the greater Philadelphia area. The regional climate is described, along with an explanation of the influence of the western mountains, the Atlantic Ocean, and urban heat from the city. Jon Nese, formerly Chief Meteorologist at The Franklin Institute, is Storm Analyst at the Weather Channel and co-author of “A World of Weather.” Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz is Chief Meteorologist for NBC-10 in Philadelphia and has been voted most trusted meteorologist in the Philadelphia area by readers of Philadelphia Magazine.
The Philadelphia Campaign examines the military engagements that resulted in the British capture of Philadelphia. Based on surviving accounts of soldiers and civilians, the author weaves together the compelling story of the fight for the Continental capital. Vol. 1 focuses on the winter of 1777, after the victories at Trenton and Princeton. George Washington painstakingly rebuilt the Continental Army. The following spring, all eyes turned to the British commander-in-chief, Sir William Howe, to see when and where he would resume the drive on the rebel capital. Numerous skirmishes and seemingly pointless maneuvers finally led to Pennsylvania. The two main armies finally clashed in the bloody Battle of Brandywine on September 11, where Howe's flanking tactics inflicted a serious defeat on Washington. Rallying his forces, Washington resumed his defense of Philadelphia, only to be thwarted at the Schuylkill and suffer a small but bloody defeat at Paoli. Congress fled the capital as the British Army approached, and the campaign to win the hearts and minds of the American people raged in full fury as the two armies marched through the region. Thomas McGuire teaches American history at Malvern Preparatory School, near Paoli, Pennsylvania, and is the author of Battle of Paoli.
The Philadelphia Campaign: Vol. 2 follows the saga from Cornwallis's triumphal march of his British and Hessian troops into Philadelphia in late September to Washington's movement of the weary Continental forces to camp at Valley Forge in December. Defeated at Brandywine, the Continental forces were worn out and ill equipped. Yet on October 4, Washington embarked on his first major offensive of the war--a surprise attack at dawn on Howe's main camp at Germantown. Only narrowly defeated, the Continentals gained valuable experience and new confidence in the possibility of victory. The seige of the Delaware River forts--one of the bloodiest and prolonged battles of the war--ended with British success in mid-November, but still Howe failed to end the war. He tried unsuccessfully to draw Washington from the fortified hills of Whitemarsh. As the Continental forces moved to Valley Forge for the winter, they would have to face their greatest challenge--survival. Thomas J. McGuire is the author of The Philadelphia Campaign, Volume I: Brandywine and the Fall of Philadelphia and Battle of Paoli. He lives near Paoli, Pennsylvania.
For the past 175 years, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society has produced the worlds’ most spectacular and popular indoor flower show. For nine days in early March, more than 300,000 visitors hoping for a break from the gray days of winter flock to downtown Philadelphia to see the Pennsylvania Convention Center transformed into a breathtaking display of flower-filled landscapes with blossoming trees and impeccably groomed perennials, exquisite floral arrangements, and thousands of cacti, orchids, bonsai, and other superbly grown plants. The Philadelphia Flower Show: Celebrating 175 Years is a behind-the scenes tour of the Show, filled with lavish full-color photographs of prize-winning plants and flowers, as well as an illustrated history of the Show and profiles of exhibitors, organizers, and designers. Adam Levine is a freelance writer who has won two magazine writing awards from the Garden Writers Association and was a Quill and Trowel winner in 2001, a contributing editor to Garden Design magazine, and is on the Publications Committee of the PA Horticultural Society. Ray Rogers has exhibited and won major awards at the Philadelphia Flower Show for many years. He edited the American Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants and the American Horticultural Society Encyclopedia of Gardening.
Liz Ball, photographer, speaker, and author of best-selling gardening books selected 175 plants that thrive in Southeastern Pennsylvania, which she calls a “horticultural heaven”. The Philadelphia Garden Book has suggestions for those attempting to grow annuals, perennials, bulbs, trees, grasses, shrubs, groundcovers, and other features of Pennsylvania gardens. Over the past century, the Philadelphia Orchestra has earned its reputation as one of the finest orchestras in the world. Philadelphia Maestros tells the tale of this marvelous orchestra through the tenures of three conductors: Eugene Ormandy, Riccardo Muti, and Wolfgang Sawallisch. With their singular approaches to sound and public image, all three maestros left an indelible mark on the Orchestra, and the cultural life of the city of Philadelphia. Phyllis White Rodriguez-Peralta is an Emeritus Professor of Temple University, formerly the Chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. She is the author of Jose Santos Chocano: An Analysis of His Works, and Tres Poetas Cumbres en la Poesia Peruana.
This Philadelphia Orchestra has long stood among the great orchestras of the world. JoAnne Barry, the orchestra’s Archivist discusses this beautifully illustrated history, covering the Stokowski era, the Ormandy years, the musicians, the best-selling recordings, the world premieres, and the very famous composers and performers with whom they have shared the stage.
In the Summer of 2000, Philadelphia played host to the Republican National Convention. It was the first time Philadelphia was the site of a national political convention since 1948 when both the Democrats and the Republican gathered there. But before that Philadelphia hosted many such conventions, including the first Republican National Convention in 1856. Author R. Craig Sautter discusses his book,
Philadelphia Presidential Conventions, which discusses the
candidates, campaigns, speeches, issues, and festivities
that have taken place in America’s original convention
city. Philadelphia's
Old Ballparks Philadelphia sportswriter Rich Westcott tells the story of Connie Mack Stadium, the Baker Bowl, the Phillies, the Athletics, and his book Philadelphia’s Old Ballparks. Mr. Westcott was founding editor and publisher of The Phillies Report. He also discusses two of his other books, The New Phillies Encyclopedia, and Phillies '93, the story of the team that surprised the baseball world.
“The Phillies Encyclopedia” recalls all the highs and the lows of one of America's most storied baseball teams. From Baker Bowl days to Citizens Bank Park, authors Rich Westcott and Frank Bilovsky include player biographies and stats, as well as over 600 illustrations spanning a century of baseball. Westcott and Bilovsky capture the 121 years of Phillies baseball history with painstaking research, hundreds of interviews, and a love and devotion of the Phils and baseball. Rich Westcott was publisher and editor of “Phillies Report.” He is the author most recently of “Native Sons: Philadelphia Baseball Players Who Made the Major Leagues.” Frank Bilovsky, business writer for the “Rochester Democrat and Chronicle,” is a former sportswriter and columnist for the “Philadelphia Bulletin.” He is also the author of “Lion Country: Inside Penn State Football.”
Carol Reardon, history professor at Penn State discusses Pickett's Charge, the Battle of Gettysburg, and the legend that has grown up about that famous event. Ms. Reardon discusses some of the principle characters associated with the charge, the 25th and 50th anniversary reunions of the charge, and the suggestion that it was really the Pickett-Pettigrew-Trimble Charge.
A great deal of the ingenuity that developed cable into today’s multibillion dollar industry came from Pennsylvania. In this state was developed the community antenna television system, the forerunner of the cable we know today. “Pioneers of Cable Television” traces the history of cable television through biographical sketches of those who were instrumental in bringing this technology to rural Pennsylvania. The contributions of such men as John Walson, Bob Tarleton, George Gardner, and Ralph Roberts are discussed and their relationships to each other examined. Information drawn from interviews with these men or people who knew them brings history to life. Topics include the roots of cable television, problems of early cable systems and the advent of HBO and its consequences. An appendix offers a commemorative history of the Pennsylvania Cable Network. Don Sarvey is an independent
writer and a communications consultant for Editorial Enterprises,
Inc., based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Pipe Dream Solomon Jones, 33, is a native of North Philadelphia. A veteran journalist who began writing professionally in 1993, Jones has been published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Tribune. This is his first novel. “Pipe Dream” is a suspenseful story against the backdrop of police corruption. "The protagonist in the story is a character based heavily on myself," Jones says. "He is an addict who knows better, a man who is embittered by the fact that he can't seem to escape from his addiction. He fancies himself an intellectual. But the irony is that he cannot outsmart the greatest challenge he has ever faced -- his addiction.
Whether winning world championships or falling into last place, the Pittsburgh Pirates, for over a century, have thrilled, frustrated, and fascinated generations of fans. One of the oldest franchises in major-league baseball, the Pittsburgh Pirates now own five world championships, and have had thirty-six players and managers inducted into the Hall of Fame. “The Pirates Reader” is a collection of baseball’s storytellers, bringing to life the players, games and magical moments of one of baseball’s classic and well-loved teams. Author Richard Peterson is professor emeritus of English at Southern Illinois University, and is editor of the SIU Press’s Writing Baseball series. A Pittsburgh native, he attended his first Pirate game in 1948 and remains a lifelong fan.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have one of the most storied histories in baseball history. “The Pittsburgh Pirates Encyclopedia” captures these stories of the individuals and the collective teams that thrilled the Steel City for 115 years. The book breaks down the team with a year-by-year synopsis of the club, biographies of over 180 of the most memorable Pirates through the ages, as well as a look at each manager, owner, general manager, and announcer. David Finoli graduated from Duquesne University and is a member of the Society for American Baseball Research. He is the author of “For the Good of the Country” and has written for Pittsburgh Magazine and Baseballspot.org. Bill Ranier is also a Duquesne University graduate and member of the Society for American Baseball Research. He received his master’s degree in social work from the University of Pittsburgh, and is employed as a therapist for Mercy Behavioral Health.
Pittsburgh Signs Project: 250 Signs of Western Pennsylvania is a crowd-sourced book of photographs documenting and celebrating the visual landscape of the region through its signs, past and present. Jennifer Baron writes for Pop City and Western Pennsylvania History Magazine. Las Vegas native Greg Langel is Media and Marketing Manager at The Frick Pittsburgh. Elizabeth Perry is a writer, artist, and teacher with a passion for social media. She works at The Ellis School. Mark Stroup hails from Western Pennsylvania. He blogs at smallstreams.wordpress.com. All four editors are fellows at Carnegie Mellow University’s STUDIO for Creative Inquiry.
Bringing together sports fans, historians,
and even a former Steelers punter, “Pittsburgh
Sports” demonstrates how Pittsburghers feel about
their teams and their heroes. From the champion Penguins
of the 1990’s and the Pirates of the 1970’s,
to the moribund Steelers and Pirates of the 1950’s
and 1960’s, these fans offer both personal recollections
and Randy Roberts, a professor of history at Purdue University, is the editor of this volume. He is the author of seven books, including biographies of Jack Dempsey, Jack Johnson, and John Wayne.
The city of Pittsburgh has been called a “bridge museum” because of its vast array of bridges of so many architectural and engineering styles. Author Walter Kidney is the architectural historian of the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. He is joined by photographer Clyde “Red” Hare, who has spent his 50 years travelling the world for National Geographic, Fortune, and other national magazines. Hare provided many stunning photographs of Pittsburgh’s bridges to enhance this beautiful volume. Pittsburgh's
Vintage Firemen The Author tells the story if Pittsburgh's firefighters from the founding of the first fire company in 1790 up to the introduction of self-propelled fire trucks in 1915.
Plain, Honest Men takes readers behind the scenes and beyond the debate to show how the world’s most enduring constitution was forged through conflict, compromise, and, eventually, fragile consensus. The delegates met in an atmosphere of crisis, many Americans at that time fearing that a combination of financial distress and civil unrest would doom the young nation’s experiment in liberty. When the delegates began their deliberations in May 1787, they discovered that a small cohort of men, led by James Madison, had prepared an audacious plan–revolutionary in its view of the nature of American government. The success of this bold and brilliant strategy was far from assured, and the ultimate outcome of the delegates’ labors–the creation of a frame of government that would enable America to flourish–was very different from what Madison had envisioned when he launched his grand scheme. Richard Beeman is a professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of five previous books on the history of revolutionary America; his biography of Patrick Henry was a finalist for the National Book Award. He has received awards from, among others, the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and he has served as Harmsworth Professor of American History at Oxford University. He also serves as a trustee and vice-chair of the Distinguished Scholars Panel of
Pennsylvania is a state of stunning natural diversity. In their more than 1000-page book, “The Plants of Pennsylvania”, Ann Fowler Rhoads and Timothy Block provide a guide to identifying the more than 3,000 species of flowering plants, ferns, trees, and all manner of plants that grow naturally in the state. The authors are botanists at the Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, located in the Chestnut Hill area of Philadelphia.
Authors Lance and Robin Van Auken have created a comprehensive and richly illustrated book--the first such history of Little League baseball. “Play Ball!” charts Little League history from its earliest days in Williamsport, PA to the 2000 World Series. The volume contains appendixes that include winners of all Little League and Softball World Series, a year-by-year history of Little League, and lists and pictures some well-known people who played the game as children, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Bradley, President George W. Bush, Kevin Costner, Mark McGwire, Tom Selleck, and George Will.
For 131 years Pittsburgh’s Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation was one of the world’s largest. The story of that legendary company is told by authors David Wollman, professor of History at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, PA, and Donald Inman, who has had a 40-year career as a master electrician with J&L and its successor, LTV Steel Co. Their book, Portraits in Steel: An Illustrated History of Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation uses hundreds of photographs of the people, plants, and products to help tell the story.
Pouring Six Beers
At A Time When someone says they’ve had a lifetime in baseball, it’s usually an exaggeration. In the case of Bill Giles, it’s no joke. “Pouring Six Beers at a Time: And Other Stories from a Lifetime of Baseball” is a revealing view into the national pastime from current Philadelphia Phillies Chairman Bill Giles. His 70 plus years of behind-the-scenes stories are an invaluable treat that no baseball fan will want to miss. From sound effects man for the radio broadcasts of the Cincinnati Reds as a teenager to owner of the Philadelphia Phillies, Bill Giles has been involved in virtually every aspect of the game of baseball. He’s a jack-of-all-trades whose father, Warren, was the president of the Cincinnati Reds and later, of the National League. Bill was raised at Crosley Field in Cincinnati and has not left sight of a ballpark since. Bill Giles graduated from Denison University in 1956 with a degree in economics and after spending three years as a navigator in the Strategic Air Command he became business manager of the Nashville Vols minor League baseball team before moving on to be publicist and marketing director of the Houston Colt .45s and the Astrodome for ten years. In late 1969 he joined the Philadelphia Phillies becoming director of Business operations. In 1981 he put a group together to purchase the Phillies and became CEO until late 1997 when he semi-retired and became chairman of the Phillies. He is still a part owner of the Phillies and Chairman. Giles is the son of former National League president Warren Giles.
Pulitzer Prize winner Bissinger is author
of the highly-acclaimed Friday Night Lights, a study of
the role of high school football in small-town Texas. Now
he does for big cities what he did for small towns in this
epic story of Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell's efforts to
save Philadelphia. Bissinger spent four years with Mayor
Rendell in preparation for this book. Prehistoric
Cultures of Eastern Pennsylvania
The author explores life on the home front during War Between the States.
W. E. B. Du Bois and Paul Robeson were both leading figures of the African American movement; their writing and teachings continue to inspire people around the world today. The Professor and the Pupil chronicles the 40-year friendship between Du Bois and Paul Robeson. Journalist Murali Balaji explores how both men evolved into leaders of the American Left, examining their philosophical transformation and their alienation from mainstream political thought following World War II. Balaji also explains why Du Bois and Robeson became ostracized for their political views and why so few African American leaders stood up to defend them during the height of the Cold War. In examining the lives of both men, The Professor and the Pupil also details the changing social and political conditions around the world that led Du Bois and Robeson to their political epiphanies and eventually their downfall in the United States. Murali Balaji is a fellow at Pennsylvania State University. He has over a decade of professional journalism experience, having written for the Washington Post, St. Paul Pioner Press, Wilmington News Journal, and other publications. He is the author of “House of Tinder.”
Millie Acevedo bore her first child before the age of 16 and dropped out of high school to care for her newborn. Now 27, she is the unmarried mother of three and is raising her kids in one of Philadelphia's poorest neighborhoods. Would she and her children be better off if she had waited to have them and had married their father first? Why do so many poor American youth like Millie continue to have children before they can afford to take care of them? Over a span of five years, sociologists Kathryn Edin and Maria Kefalas talked in-depth with 162 low-income single moms like Millie to learn how they think about marriage and family. Promises I Can Keep offers an intimate look at what marriage and motherhood mean to these women and provides the most extensive on-the-ground study to date of why they put children before marriage despite the daunting challenges they know lie ahead. Maria Kefalas is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. She is the author of Working-Class Heroes (California, 2003).
Over its long, remarkable history, beginning in the 1700’s when it first embraced the European concept of benevolence, Philadelphia General Hospital embodied the evolution in health care delivery in this country, particularly to the poorest and most vulnerable members of society. After the Civil War, the hospital played a profound role in the advance of hospitals, clinical research, medical education, nursing practice, and the means of delivering care. Throughout time, Philadelphia General Hospital became a casualty of the new demands of a slowing economy, and was finally driven to closure in 1977 by internecine turn battles among the hospital’s multiple interest groups, a calcified bureaucracy that encouraged institutional collapse, and the creation of the Hospitals Authority of Philadelphia. Donna Gentile O’Donnell is Managing Director of the Eastern Technology Council, specializing in key life sciences initiatives. O’Donnell received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied the history of applied public policy. She lives with her husband in Chestnut Hill.
A
Quaker Book of Wisdom Robert Lawrence Smith, author of A Quaker Book of Wisdom discusses what it means to be a Quaker--the philosophy and lifestyle. A retired educator, Mr. Smith served for many years as headmaster of Sidwell Friends School in Washington, DC, the nation’s largest Quaker day school.
Railroads
of Pennsylvania
by Lorett Treese Stackpole Books, 5067 Ritter Road, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055-6921 (800) 732-3669 "Railroads of Pennsylvania" divides the state into regions, exploring the major railroads of the state. The book recounts the lore, profiles the individuals involved, and identifies places one can go to experience the relics of rail culture. Author Lorett Treese is a historian and an archivist at the library at Bryn Mawr College. She is the author of "The Storm Gathering: The Penn Family and the American Revolution", "Hope Lodge and Mather Mill: Pennsylvania Trail of History Guild."
In this book, Renée Lamis investigates how Pennsylvania experienced this series of realignments, with special attention to the period since 1960. She uses a wealth of data from a wide variety of sources to produce an analysis that allows her to trace the evolution of electoral behavior in the Keystone State in a narrative that is accessible to a broad range of readers. Her account helps explain why Senator Arlen Specter was reelected whereas Senator Rick Santorum was not, and why Pennsylvania Republicans have been highly successful in major statewide elections in an era when Democratic presidential standard-bearers have regularly carried the state. Renée Lamis, who has a Ph.D. in political science from Case Western Reserve University, served as Director of the MPA Program at Gannon University in Erie from 1998 to 2007. She started her own public affairs consulting firm in Erie in October 2008 after working as a consultant for PA Futures.
Author Dianne Ashton discusses her biography of Philadelphian Rebecca Gratz, the foremost American Jewish woman of the nineteenth century. Sir Walter Scott is said to have modeled the character of Rebecca in his novel Ivanhoe on Rebecca Gratz.
Mutiny has always been a threat to the integrity of armies, particularly under trying circumstances, and since Concord and Lexington, mutiny had been the Continental Army's constant traveling companion. It was not because the soldiers lacked resolve to overturn British rule or had a lack of faith in their commanders. It was the scarcity of food—during winter months it was not uncommon for soldiers to subsist on a soup of melted snow, a few peas, and a scrap of fat—money, clothing, and proper shelter, that forced soldiers to desert or organize resistance. Mutiny was not a new concept for George Washington. During his service in the French and Indian War he had tried men under his command for the offense and he knew that disaffection and lack of morale in an army was a greater danger than an armed enemy.
Nicknamed "The Red Rose Girls" by their mentor, the famous illustrator Howard Pyle, three women, Jessie Wilcox Smith, Elizabeth Shippen Green, and Violet Oakley were highly successful, celebrated artists who captivated the public with their art and their unconventional lifestyle. Living and working together in a picturesque former inn on Philadelphia's Main Line in the early 1900's, Smith and Green were prolific Illustrators, celebrated for their work in children's books and periodicals such as Harper's Scribner's and Collier's. Oakley was a painter and muralist of national reputation. The author Alice Carter, herself an award-winning illustrator, is a professor in the School of Art and Design at San Diego State University. A descendant of four generations of Philadelphia artists, Carter grew up hearing stories about the legendary Red Rose Girls. Her book tells the story and shows many examples of the art of these three noted women. Resurrecting Allegheny City
Kent Masterson Brown’s “Retreat from Gettysburg: Lee, Logistics, and the Pennsylvania Campaign” offers the first comprehensive history of General Robert E. Lee’s logistical nightmare following the Army of Northern Virginia’s defeat at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. The book follows Lee through enemy territory, moving tens of thousands of troops, many of whom are wounded, and an almost equal amount of livestock, and more than fifty-seven miles of supply trains over mountains, through rain and deep mud, to safety. Gettysburg is placed in a broad historical perspective, situating the battle as the culmination of Lee’s invasion of Pennsylvania. Kent Masterson Brown is an attorney in Lexington,
Kentucky. He is author of “Cushing of Gettysburg:
The Story of a Union Artillery Commander” and editor
of “The Civil War in Kentucky.” Riding
the Bus With My Sister Rachel Simon's sister Beth is a spirited woman who lives intensely and often joyfully, despite her mental retardation. Beth spends her days riding the buses in her Pennsylvania city. The drivers are her mentors, the passengers are her community. One day Beth asked Rachel to accompany her on the buses for an entire year. The book is a chronicle of that remarkable time, during which she learned many lessons: how to live the moment, how to pay attention to what really matters, how to change, how to love, and how to slow down and enjoy the ride. Rachel Simon is author of a novel, The Magic
Touch, and a collection of stories, Little Nightmares, Little
Dreams. She teaches creative writing at Bryn Mawr College. |