In “Running the Rails,” James Wolfinger uses the history of Philadelphia’s sprawling public transportation system to explore how labor relations shifted from the 1880s to the 1960s. As transit workers adapted to fast-paced technological innovation to keep the city’s people and commerce on the move, management sought to limit its employees’ rights. Raw violence, welfare […]
“Boathouse Row”
The history of Philadelphia’s Boathouse Row is both wide and deep. Dotty Brown, an avid rower and former editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer, immersed herself in boathouse archives to provide a comprehensive history of rowing in Philadelphia. She takes readers behind the scenes to recount the era when rowing was the spectator sport of its […]
“Labor Unrest in Scranton”
On an August morning in 1877, a dispute over wages exploded between miners and coal company owners. A furious mob rushed down Lackawanna Avenue only to be met by a deadly hail of bullets. With its vast coal fields, mills and rail lines, Scranton became a hotbed for labor activity. Many were discontented by working […]
“The Carnival Campaign”
Pulitzer Prize–nominated former Wall Street Journal reporter Ronald G. Shafer tells the colorful story of the election battle between sitting president Martin Van Buren, a professional Democratic politician from New York, and Whig Party upstart William Henry Harrison, a military hero who was nicknamed “Old Tippecanoe” after a battlefield where he fought and won in […]
“Rust Belt Boy”
Paul Hertneky is one of millions of baby boomers who fled the industrial north upon fulfilling his parents’ dreams of a college education. He returns to his roots in Ambridge, Pennsylvania in this collection of stories specific to one legendary riverfront plateau and one boy’s journey, but emblematic of immigrant life and blue-collar aspirations during […]
“Delaware’s Destiny Determined By Lewes”
Author Randy Holland tells the story of how an epic legal battle fought over many years in the English courts between Quaker William Penn, proprietor of Pennsylvania, and Lord Baltimore, proprietor of Maryland, had the unintended effect of ensuring Delaware’s future as a separate and independent state rather than a part of Maryland or Pennsylvania. […]
“The Devil Himself”
Nicholas Dukes and Captain Adam Nutt were two men with much in common. Both were prominent members of Pennsylvanian society in the 1880s, both had studied law under the same mentor, and both shared an intimate connection to the beautiful Lizzie Nutt: Dukes was her debonair fiancé, Nutt her doting father. Yet Dukes soured on […]
“A Year of Change and Consequences”
Mark Singel, a Johnstown native and Penn State graduate, won election as Lieutenant Governor in 1986 as Robert Casey’s running mate. In 1993, Governor Casey was stricken with Appalachian familial amyloidosis, a rare and usually fatal liver disorder. The governor required a multiple organ transplant, which was still experimental at that time. While the governor […]
“Amiable Scoundrel: Simon Cameron, Lincoln’s Scandalous Secretary of War”
From abject poverty to undisputed political boss of Pennsylvania, Lincoln’s secretary of war, senator, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and a founder of the Republican Party, Simon Cameron (1799–1889) was one of the nineteenth century’s most prominent political figures. The political changes of the early nineteenth century enabled him not only to improve […]
“God Almighty Hisself: The Life and Legacy of Dick Allen”
Carrying to the plate baseball’s heaviest and loudest bat as well as the burden of being the club’s first African American superstar, Allen found both hits and controversy with ease and regularity as he established himself as the premier individualist in a game that prided itself on conformity. As one of his managers observed, “I […]