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, […]

PA Books: “Squirrel Hill” with Mark Oppenheimer

Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh, is one of the oldest Jewish neighborhoods in the country, known for its tight-knit community and the profusion of multigenerational families. On October 27, 2018, a gunman killed eleven Jews who were worshipping at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill–the most deadly anti-Semitic attack in American history. Many neighborhoods would […]

PA Books: “Somebody Else’s Dream” with Maxim Furek

The year 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the disturbing song “Timothy.” Banned by radio stations and called “the worst song ever recorded,” its lyrics about cannibalism in a Pennsylvania coal mine eerily parallel the real-life Sheppton disaster. Written by playwright Rupert Holmes, the Billboard hit launched the career of The Buoys. They went on […]

PA Books: “An Early History of the Wyoming Valley” with Kathleen Earle

When Connecticut Yankees began to settle the Wyoming Valley in the 1760s, both the local Pennsylvanians and the powerful native Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) strenuously objected. The Connecticut Colony and William Penn had been granted the same land by King Charles II of England, resulting in the instigation of the Yankee-Pennamite Wars. In 1788, during ongoing conflict, […]

PA Books: “Abolition & the Underground Railroad in Chester County, PA” with Mark Lanyon

Chester County was home to a diverse patchwork of religious communities, antislavery activists and free Black populations, all working to end the blight of slavery during the Civil War era. Kennett Square was known as the “hotbed of abolitionism,” with more Underground Railroad stations than anywhere else in the nation. Reverend John Miller Dickey and […]