PA Books: “Arlen Specter” with Evan Edward Laine

From his early work as a lawyer on the Warren Commission investigating the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to his days as Philadelphia’s district attorney to his thirty-year career as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania, Arlen Specter found himself consistently in the middle of major historical events. During his five terms as senator, […]

PA Books: “A History of Pittsburgh Jazz” with Richard Gazarik & Karen Anthony Cole

Pittsburgh’s contributions to the uniquely American art form of jazz are essential to its national narrative. Fleeing the Jim Crow South in the twentieth century, African American migration to the industrial North brought musical roots that would lay the foundation for jazz culture in the Steel City. As migrant workers entered the factories of Pittsburgh, […]

PA Books: “James Monroe: A Life” with Tim McGrath

James Monroe lived a life defined by revolutions. From the battlefields of the War for Independence, to his ambassadorship in Paris in the days of the guillotine, to his own role in the creation of Congress’s partisan divide, he was a man who embodied the restless spirit of the age. He was never one to […]

PA Books: “Pittsburgh and the Urban League Movement” by Joe William Trotter

During the Great Migration, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, became a mecca for African Americans seeking better job opportunities, wages, and living conditions. The city’s thriving economy and vibrant social and cultural scenes inspired dreams of prosperity and a new start, but this urban haven was not free of discrimination and despair. In the face of injustice, activists […]

PA Books: “Germantown” with Michael Harris (2021)

General Sir William Howe launched his campaign to capture Philadelphia in late July 1777, with an army of 16,500 British and Hessian soldiers aboard a 265-ship armada sailing from New York. Six difficult weeks later, Howe’s expedition landed near Elkton, Maryland, and moved north into Pennsylvania. Washington’s rebel army did all it could to harass […]

PA Books: “Spy Sites of Philadelphia” with Robert Wallace

Philadelphia became a battleground for spies as George Washington’s Patriot army in nearby Valley Forge struggled to survive the winter of 1776-77. In the centuries that followed ― through the Civil War, the rise of fascism and communism in the twentieth century, and today’s fight against terrorism ― the city has been home to international […]

PA Books: “Blood Runs Coal” with Mark Bradley

In the early hours of New Year’s Eve 1969, in the small soft coal mining borough of Clarksville, Pennsylvania, longtime trade union insider Joseph “Jock” Yablonski and his wife and daughter were brutally murdered in their old stone farmhouse. Seven months earlier, Yablonski had announced his campaign to oust the corrupt president of the United […]

PA Books: True Murder Mysteries of Southwestern Pennsylvania

In the southwest corner of Pennsylvania, beyond the picturesque scenes of the Monongahela River Valley, there are long-forgotten mysteries of scandal and murder. Amid the hardship of life on the frontier of Washington County in 1795, young Isabel Stewart was found dead and her killer never identified in the oldest unsolved murder in the region. […]

PA Books: “Beyond the Art Spirit” with Karl Kuerner

Much has been published about the artistically talented Wyeth family—-N. C., Andrew, Carolyn, Ann, Jamie, Nicky and Victoria—-but there has been scant insight into the deeply personal interface between these individuals and a group of persons that interacted with them, talked with them almost daily, shared intimate thoughts and moments with them and were taught […]

PA Books: “Out in Central Pennsylvania” with William Burton with Barry Loveland

Outside of major metropolitan areas, the fight for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights has had its own unique and rich history—one that is quite different from the national narrative set in New York and California. “Out in Central Pennsylvania” highlights one facet of this lesser-known but equally important story, immersing readers in the LGBTQ […]