This naval history of the Delaware Estuary spans three centuries, from the arrival of the Europeans to the end of the World War II. The author describes the shipbuilders and infrastructure, and the ships and men who sailed this surprisingly active waterway in peace and in war. From Philadelphia to the Delaware Capes, the story […]

“They Were Immigrants” tells the story of Samuel Davis’ grandparents who immigrated to Pennsylvania from Syria in the early 20th century and the lives they created in their new home. They started families. They worked hard. Their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren became teachers, judges, dentists, businessmen and businesswomen, bankers, psychologists, lawyers, doctors, and software developers. […]

Close to the Mason-Dixon line, South Central Pennsylvania was a magnet for slave catchers and abolitionists alike. Influenced by religion and empathy, local abolitionists risked their reputations, fortunes and lives in the pursuit of what they believed was right. The sister of Benjamin Lundy, one of America’s most famous abolitionists, married into an Adams County […]

“Good War, Great Men” provides first-hand accounts of more than a dozen soldiers who served together during the Great War. Their stories have been rediscovered by compiling unpublished letters and journals with historical insights to provide a compelling history of the men of the 313th Machine Gun Battalion. Endorsed by the United States World War […]

PA Press Club with Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman. Watch more PA Politics and Policy on cable and the PCN Select Streaming Service.

For more than one-fifth of his life, Benjamin Franklin lived in London. He dined with prime ministers, members of parliament, even kings, as well as with Britain’s most esteemed intellectuals—including David Hume, Joseph Priestley, and Erasmus Darwin. In this fascinating history, George Goodwin gives a colorful account of Franklin’s British years. The author offers a […]

Each of the nearly 100 essays in Insight Philadelphia tells a succinct, compelling, and little-known tale of the city’s past. Some stories are quirky, like how early gas stations were designed to resemble classical temples, or the saga of how a museum acquired a 2000-year-old Greek statue, then had it demolished with a sledgehammer. Other […]

PA Press Club with PA House Majority Leader Bryan Cutler Watch more PA Politics and Policy on cable and the PCN Select Streaming Service.

When the Museum of the American Revolution acquired the land at Third and Chestnut streets in Olde City, Philadelphia, it came with the condition that an archaeological investigation be conducted. The excavation that began in the summer of 2014 yielded treasures in the trash: unearthed privy pits provided remarkable finds from a mid-eighteenth-century tavern to […]

John James Audubon’s “The Birds of America” stands as an unparalleled achievement in American art, a huge book that puts nature dramatically on the page. With that work, Audubon became one of the most adulated artists of his time and America’s first celebrity scientist. In this fresh approach to Audubon’s art and science, Gregory Nobles […]