January 22: “The Deviant Prison” with Ashley Rubin (2021)

Early nineteenth-century American prisons followed one of two dominant models: the Auburn system, in which prisoners performed factory-style labor by day and were placed in solitary confinement at night, and the Pennsylvania system, where prisoners faced 24-hour solitary confinement for the duration of their sentences. By the close of the Civil War, the majority of […]

PA Books: “River Boots” with Robert Lynn Steiner (2022)

River Boots is a career synopsis, a training manual, a history book and one conservation officer’s slightly twisted view of a quarter century in the business. It is a sometimes “belly laughing” look at a profession that can turn deadly serious in a second and can leave tears running down your face from laughter a […]

PA Books: “Out of the Woods” with Ellen Williams

In the spring of 1861, as the nation balanced on the brink of the Civil War, a farmer from the Hudson Valley brought a pedigreed colt to his new home in the Cowanesque Valley of northern Pennsylvania. What were his intentions for the young stallion? For the next three decades, the stallion was controlled by […]

PA Books: “Up to Heaven and Down to Hell” with Colin Jerolmack

Shale gas extraction—commonly known as fracking—is often portrayed as an energy revolution that will transform the American economy and geopolitics. But in greater Williamsport, Pennsylvania, fracking is personal. “Up to Heaven and Down to Hell” is a vivid and sometimes heartbreaking account of what happens when one of the most momentous decisions about the well-being […]

PA Books: “All Roads Led to Gettysburg” with Troy Harman

Most Civil War battles took place along major roads, railroads, and waterways; the armies needed to move men and equipment, and they needed water for men, horses, and artillery. And yet this perspective hasn’t been fully explored when it comes to Gettysburg. Look at an 1863 map, says Harman: look at the area framed in […]

PA Books: “Death of the Daily News” with Andrew Conte

The City of McKeesport in southwestern Pennsylvania once had a population of more than fifty thousand people and a newspaper that dated back to the nineteenth century. Technology has caused massive disruption to American journalism, throwing thousands of reporters out of work, closing newsrooms, and leaving vast areas with few traditional news sources—including McKeesport. With […]

PA Books: “Gettysburg’s Lost Love Story” with Jeffrey Harding

Union general John Reynolds was one of the most beloved and respected military leaders of the Civil War, yet beyond the battlefield, the captivating true story of his secret romance with Catherine “Kate” Mary Hewitt remains etched into his legacy. Clandestinely engaged before John marched off to war, the couple’s love remained a secret. Kate […]

PA Books: “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania” by John Dickinson

In 1767 a series of essays were published in the Pennsylvania Chronicle and Universal Advertiser that are known as “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania.” They were written by John Dickinson in response to the British parliament’s Declaratory Act and the Townshend Acts. Joining us to talk about Dickinson’s Letters is Jane Calvert. She is […]

PA Books: “Slavery and Abolition in Pennsylvania” with Beverly Tomek

In her concise history Slavery and Abolition in Pennsylvania, Beverly Tomek corrects the long-held notion that slavery in the North was “not so bad” as, or somehow “more humane” than, in the South due to the presence of abolitionists. While the Quaker presence focused on moral and practical opposition to bondage, slavery was ubiquitous. Nevertheless, […]