PA Books, a weekly PCN program, features hour-long conversations with authors about Pennsylvania’s history and culture. For over 20 years, it has explored key events, notable figures, and significant topics.
Watch new episodes Sundays at 7 PM and weekdays at 8 AM on PCN or stream anytime with PCN Select. Listen on the go with the PA Books podcast, available on major platforms.
Upcoming Episodes:
April 13: “Threshold to Valley Forge” with Sheilah Vance - From December 12–19, 1777, Washington’s Army encamped in the towering hills of Gulph Mills, Pennsylvania, fifteen miles from Philadelphia. Known as the Threshold to Valley Forge, the Gulph Mills Encampment is often forgotten or minimized, falling as it did between the more famous military engagements of the Philadelphia Campaign and the well-known experience of the […]
April 6: “Moravian Soundscapes” with Sarah Justina Eyerly (2021) - In "Moravian Soundscapes," Sarah Eyerly contends that the study of sound is integral to understanding the interactions between German Moravian missionaries and Native communities in early Pennsylvania. In the mid-18th century, when the frontier between settler and Native communities was a shifting spatial and cultural borderland, sound mattered. People listened carefully to each other and […]
1776, PA Books
Abolition & the Underground Railroad in Chester County, PA - PA Books
All Roads Led to Gettysburg, PA Books
"American Ramble", PA Books
“American Sirens” with Kevin Hazzard, PA Books
American Workman: The Life and Art of John Kane, PA Books
Amish, The, PA Books
Arlen Specter: Scandals, Conspiracies, and Crisis in Focus, PA Books
Battle Tested! Gettysburg Leadership Lessons for 21st Century Leaders, PA Books
Beethoven in Beijing: Stories From the Philadelphia Orchestra's Historic Journey to China, PA Books
Biddle, Jackson, and a Nation in Turmoil: The Infamous Bank War, PA Books
Blue-Collar Conservatism: Frank Rizzo's Philadelphia and Populist Politics, PA Books
Boxed out of the NBA: Remembering the Eastern Professional Basketball League, PA Books
Buchanan Dying, A Play by John Updike - PA Books
Calder: The Conquest of Space: The Later Years, 1940-1976 - PA Books
Chiefs Now in This City: Indians and The Urban Frontier in Early America, The - PA Books
Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero, PA Books
Cradle of Conservation, PA Books
Death of the Daily News: How Citizen Gatekeepers Can Save Local Journalism, PA Books
Deviant Prison: Philadelphia's Eastern State Penitentiary and the Origins of America's Modern Penal System 1829-1913, The - PA Books
Digging in the City of Brotherly Love, 2nd Edition, PA Books 
The Disaffected: Britain's Occupation of Philadelphia During the American Revolution, PA Books
Dogs of War in Our Midst: Civil War Perspectives from York County, PA, The - PA Books
"Donora Death Fog," PA Books
Early History of the Wyoming Valley: The Yankee-Pennamite Wars and Timothy Pickering, An - PA Books
Emotional Brandywine, PA Books
Feeding Washington’s Army, PA Books
Frank Rizzo: The Last Big Man in Big City America - PA Books
Frederick Watts and the Founding of Penn State, PA Books
From Puerto Rico to Philadelphia, PA Books
The Game That Saved the NHL, PA Books 
Gen X Pittsburgh, PA Books
Geography, Geology, and Genius: How Coal and Canals Ignited the American Industrial Revolution - PA Books
George Marshall: Defender of the Republic, PA Books
George Marshall's Memoirs of My Services in the World War, 1917-1918, PA Books
George Nakashima Woodworkers Process Book, PA Books
George Washington in the French & Indian War, PA Books
George Washington: The Political Rise of America's Founding Father - PA Books
George Washington's Nemesis, PA Books
Gettysburg's Lost Love Story: The Ill-Fated Romance of General John Reynolds and Kate Hewitt, PA Books
Harrisburg in WWI and the 1918 Pandemic, PA Books
Harrisburg in World War II, PA Books
Hell with the Lid Off: Inside the Fierce Rivalry Between the 1970s Oakland Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers - PA Books
Hidden History of Bucks County, PA Books
History of Pittsburgh Jazz: Swinging in the Steel City, A - PA Books
The Horse at Gettysburg: Prepared for the Day of Battle, The - PA Books
I Walked With Giants: The Autobiography of Jimmy Heath - PA Books
I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had: My Year as a Rookie Teacher at Northeast High, PA Books
“If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania:” The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac March to Gettysburg - Volume 1: June 3–21, 1863 - PA Books
If We Are Striking for Pennsylvania, Volume 2, PA Books
Into the Cold Blue, PA Books
Italian Legacy in Philadelphia: History, Culture, People, and Ideas; The - PA Books
Jane Jacobs's First City: Learning from Scranton, Pennsylvania - PA Books
Jazz in the Hill, PA Books
John Marshall: The Final Founder, PA Books
"Joe Louis vs. Billy Conn," PA Books
Kaufmann's: The Family That Built Pittsburgh's Famed Department Store, PA Books
A Killer at the Door, PA Books
Lafayette at Brandywine: The Making of an American Hero, PA Books
The LaPorte Inheritance, PA Books
"Lee is Trapped and Must be Taken" - Eleven Fateful Days after Gettysburg: July 4 - 14, 1863 - PA Books
Letters From a Farmer in Pennsylvania, PA Books Founders Series
Never To Be Forgotten, PA Books
The Liberty Bell Era: The African American Story, PA Books
Liberty's First Crisis: Adams, Jefferson, and the Misfits Who Saved Free Speech, PA Books
Life, Liberty, and Death on the Appalachian Frontier, PA Books
The Lion of Round Top: The Life and Military Service of Brigadier General Strong Vincent in the American Civil War, PA Books
Marley and Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog - PA Books
Threshold to Valley Forge, PA Books
Martin Guitar Masterpieces: A Showcase of Artist's Editions Limited Editions and Custom Guitars, PA Books
Mobfiles: Mobsters, Molls and Murder - PA Books
"A Most Gallant Resistance", PA Books
Murder and Mayhem in Erie, Pennsylvania - PA Books
Never I Shall Forget These Human People, PA Books
The New Face of Small-Town America, PA Books
No Place for Glory: Major General Robert E. Rodes and the Confederate Defeat at Gettysburg, PA Books
Occupied America, PA Books
On a Great Battlefield, PA Books
Out of the Woods: From Deerfield to the Grand Circuit, PA Books
Pennsylvania Scrapple: A Delectable History, PA Books
PA Government & Politics, PA Books
Philadelphia: A Narrative History, PA Books
Philadelphia Battlefields: Disruptive Campaigns and Upset Elections in a Changing City, PA Books
Physician Soldier: The South Pacific Letters of Captain Fred Gabriel from the 39th Station Hospital, PA Books
Pirates and Privateers: From Long Island Sound to Delaware Bay, PA Books
Pittsburgh and the Urban League Movement: A Century of Social Service and Activism, PA Books
Pittsburgh and the Great Steel Strike of 1919, PA Books
Playing Politics with Natural Disaster: Hurricane Agnes, The 1972 Election, and the Origins of FEMA - PA Books
Prisoners of Congress, PA Books
River Boots, PA Books
Salut! France Meets Philadelphia, PA Books
Sewn in Coal Country: An Oral History of the Ladies’ Garment Industry in Northeastern Pennsylvania, 1945–1995 - PA Books
She Came to Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman, PA Books
Slavery and Abolition in Pennsylvania, PA Books
"Small-Town Cops In The Crosshairs", PA Books
Smalltime: A Story of My Family and the Mob - PA Books
Smiling Banjo: A Half Century of Love and Music at the Philadelphia Folk Festival, PA Books
Somebody Else’s Dream: Dakota, the Buoys, & "Timothy" - PA Books
Squirrel Hill: The Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting and the Soul of a Neighborhood, PA Books
Stealing Wyeth, PA Books*Books featured in these episodes are not available from PCN*