Pa Books On Pcn

Gettysburg’s Forgotten Cavalry Actions examines in detail three of the campaign’s central cavalry episodes. The first is the heroic but doomed legendary charge of Brig. Gen. Elon J. Farnsworth’s cavalry brigade against Confederate infantry and artillery. The attack was launched on July 3 after the repulse of Pickett’s Charge, and the high cost included the life of General Farnsworth. The second examines Brig. Gen. Wesley Merritt’s tenacious fight on South Cavalry Field, including a fresh look at the opportunity to roll up the Army of Northern Virginia’s flank on the afternoon of July 3. Finally, Wittenberg studies the short but especially brutal July 3 cavalry fight at Fairfield, Pennsylvania. The strategic Confederate victory kept the Hagerstown Road open for Lee’s retreat back to Virginia, nearly destroyed the 6th U.S. Cavalry, and resulted in the award of two Medals of Honor. Eric Wittenberg is an accomplished American Civil War cavalry historian and author. An attorney in Ohio, Wittenberg has authored ove

“Gettysburg: Day Three” Jeffry D. Wert re-creates the last day of the bloody Battle of Gettysburg in astonishing detail, taking readers from Meade's council of war to the seven-hour struggle for Culp's Hill -- the most sustained combat of the entire engagement. Drawing on hundreds of sources, including more than 400 manuscript collections, he offers brief excerpts from the letters and diaries of soldiers. He also introduces heroes on both sides of the conflict -- among them General George Greene, the oldest general on the battlefield, who led the Union troops at Culp's Hill. A gripping narrative written in a fresh and lively style, Gettysburg, Day Three is an unforgettable rendering of an immortal day in our country's history. Jeffrey Wert is the author of eight previous books on Civil War topics, most recently Cavalryman of the Lost Cause and The Sword of Lincoln. His articles and essays on the Civil War have appeared in many publications, including Civil War Times Illustrated, American History Illustrated

Thousands of books and articles have been written about the Battle of Gettysburg. Almost every topic has been thoroughly scrutinized except one: Paul Philippoteaux’s massive cyclorama painting The Battle of Gettysburg, which depicts Pickett’s Charge, the final attack at Gettysburg. The Gettysburg Cyclorama: The Turning Point of the Civil War on Canvas is the first comprehensive study of this art masterpiece and historic artifact. This in-depth study of the history of the cyclorama discusses every aspect of this treasure, which was first displayed in 1884 and underwent a massive restoration in 2008. Coverage includes not only how it was created and what it depicts, but the changes it has undergone and where and how it was moved.  A life-long love of Civil War history brought Chris Brenneman, Sue Boardman, and Bill Dowling to Gettysburg. Today they are all Licensed Battlefield Guides at the Gettysburg National Military Park. As part of his job working for the Gettysburg Foundation, Chris has spent hundreds of h

John S.D. Eisenhower modestly explains General Ike as "a son's view of a great military leader -- highly intelligent, strong, forceful, kind, yet as human as the rest of us." It is that, and more: a portrait of the greatest Allied military leader of the Second World War, by the man who knew Ike best. General Ike is a book that John Eisenhower always knew he had to write, a tribute from an affectionate and admiring son to a great father. John chose to write about the "military Ike," as opposed to the "political Ike," because Ike cared far more about his career in uniform than about his time in the White House. A series of portraits of Ike's relations with soldiers and statesmen, from MacArthur to Patton to Montgomery to Churchill to de Gaulle, reveals the many facets of a talented, driven, headstrong, yet diplomatic leader. Taken together, they reveal a man who was brilliant, if flawed; naïve at times in dealing with the public, yet who never lost his head when others around him were losing theirs. Above all,

If the railroads won the Gilded Age, the coal industry lost it. Railroads epitomized modern management, high technology, and vast economies of scale. By comparison, the coal industry was embarrassingly primitive. Miners and operators dug coal, bought it, and sold it in 1900 in the same ways that they had for generations. In the popular imagination, coal miners epitomized anti-modern forces as the so-called “Molly Maguire” terrorists.       Yet the sleekly modern railroads were utterly dependent upon the disorderly coal industry. Railroad managers demanded that coal operators and miners accept the purely subordinate role implied by their status. They refused. Fueling the Gilded Age shows how disorder in the coal industry disrupted the strategic plans of the railroads. Andrew Arnold is Chair of the History Department at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.

William Hogeland is one of my all-time favorite guests on PA Books. In “Founding Finance” he tells how America’s early economic system was established. It’s a lot more interesting than it sounds. Hogeland writes about the little-remembered election of May 1776 in which Pennsylvanians elected a General Assembly that was anti-independence and how, between then an July 4, mobs in Philadelphia overthrew the elected government and installed a pro-independence assembly. Without that coup, Pennsylvania might not have supported independence. It’s a fascinating story. Hogeland has also appeared on PA Books for “The Whiskey Rebellion” and “Declaration,” both fascinating books.

The passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11, 2001 have earned their rightful place among the pantheon of American heroes. Flight 93 provides a riveting narrative based on interviews, oral histories, transcripts, recordings, personal tours of the crash site, and voluminous trial evidence made public only in recent years. There also is plenty of chilling new detail for readers who think they know the story of the flight. Utilizing research tools that were not available in the years immediately after the crash, the book offers the most complete account of what actually took place aboard United 93 – from its delayed takeoff at Newark International Airport to the moment it plunged upside-down at 563 miles per hour into an open field in rural Somerset County, Pennsylvania. Tom McMillan has spent a lifetime in media and communications: as a newspaper sports writer, radio talk-show host, and for the past 17 years as Vice President of Communications for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey L

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission today announced the publication of “First Pennsylvanians: The Archaeology of Native Americans in Pennsylvania.” The first comprehensive review of Native American archaeology in Pennsylvania for a general audience, the book is based on recent findings and previously unpublished research.  With more than 240 illustrations of lifestyles, sites and artifacts, “First Pennsylvanians” discusses developments in the cultures of Native Americans who lived in the Delaware, Susquehanna and Ohio River basins from the Paleoindian period of 10,000 to 16,500 years ago to the time of first contact with Europeans. Authors Kurt W. Carr, Ph.D., Senior Curator of Archaeology at The State Museum of Pennsylvania, and Roger W. Moeller, Ph.D., an archaeologist who has conducted significant archaeological research in Pennsylvania and other parts of the country, characterize each period by environmental conditions, tools, food, settlement patterns and social organization.

The outbreak of World War One transformed life for the men, women, and children living in the communities of Central Pennsylvania. “Duty Calls at Home” is a collection of essays examining how the war impacted life on the home front, and the ways the war altered daily life for the people and communities of the region.

Although many books on Gettysburg have addressed the role played by Brig. Gen. John Buford and his First Cavalry Division troops, there is not a single book-length study devoted entirely to the critical delaying actions waged by Buford and his dismounted troopers and his horse artillerists on the morning of July 1, 1863. Award-winning Civil War historian Eric J. Wittenberg rectifies this glaring oversight with "The Devil's to Pay": John Buford at Gettysburg. A History and Walking Tour. This comprehensive tactical study examines the role Buford and his horse soldiers played from June 29 through July 2, 1863, including the important actions that saved the shattered remnants of the First and Eleventh Corps. Wittenberg relies upon scores of rare primary sources, including many that have never before been used, to paint a detailed picture of the critical role the quiet and modest cavalryman known to his men as "Honest John" or "Old Steadfast" played at Gettysburg. Eric J Wittenberg is an accomplished American Civ

An integral component of the transportation system that the D&H created to transport that coal to market was the Gravity Railroad that the company established between Carbondale and Honesdale. In order to meet market needs for anthracite coal, which increased dramatically in the course of the nineteenth century, the D&H established five different configurations of that Gravity Railroad between 1829 and 1899. Dr. S. Robert Powell, a retired college teacher of the humanities, was born and raised in the anthracite coal region of northeastern Pennsylvania, where the fuel that made possible the industrial revolution in America was mined, beginning in the early years of the nineteenth century. Given his passion for local history he has focused, throughout his professional life, on documenting the history of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company and its rail lines and canal, which were established to market that coal. For over thirty years, he has served as president of the Carbondale Historical Society and

“The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company Gravity Railroad, Volumes 1-5”constitute the most detailed and comprehensive history of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company's Gravity Railroad that has ever been published. S. Robert Powell is the President of the Carbondale Historical Society.

The Philadelphia Athletics dominated the first fourteen years of the American League, winning six pennants through 1914 under the leadership of their founder and manager, Connie Mack. But beginning in 1915, where volume 2 in Norman L. Macht’s biography picks up the story, Mack’s teams fell from pennant winners to last place and, in an unprecedented reversal of fortunes, stayed there for seven years. World War I robbed baseball of young players, and Mack’s rebuilding efforts using green youngsters of limited ability made his teams the objects of public ridicule. At the age of fifty-nine and in the face of widespread skepticism and seemingly insurmountable odds, Connie Mack reasserted his genius, remade the A’s, and rose again to the top, even surpassing his earlier success. Baseball biographer and historian Macht recreates what may be the most remarkable chapter in this larger-than-life story. He shows us the man and his time and the game of baseball in all its nitty-gritty glory of the 1920s, and how Connie

“The Complete Gettysburg Guide” Some two million people visit the battlefield at Gettysburg each year. It is one of the most popular historical destinations in the United States. Most visitors tour the field by following the National Park Service's suggested auto tour. The standard tour, however, skips crucial monuments, markers, battle actions, town sites, hospital locations, and other hidden historical gems that should be experienced by everyone. These serious oversights are fully rectified in The Complete Gettysburg Guide, penned by noted Gettysburg historian J. David Petruzzi and illustrated with the full-color photography and maps of Civil War cartographer Steven Stanley. J. David Petruzzi is the author of many magazine articles on Eastern Theater cavalry operations, conducts tours of cavalry sites of the Gettysburg Campaign, and is the author of the popular “Buford’s Boys” website.

The early settlement of the region around Pittsburgh was characterized by a messy collision of personal, provincial, national, and imperial interests. Driven by the efforts of Europeans, Pennsylvanians, Virginians, and Indians, almost everyone attempted to manipulate the clouded political jurisdiction of the region. A Colony Sprung from Hell traces this complex struggle. The events and episodes that make up the story highlight the difficulties of creating and consolidating authority along the frontier, where the local population’s acceptance or denial of authority determined the extent to which any government could impose its will. Ultimately, what was at stake was the nature of authority itself. Daniel Barr is professor of early American history at Robert Morris University in suburban Pittsburgh. His previous books include Unconquered: The Iroquois League at War in Colonial America and The Boundaries between Us: Natives and Newcomers along the Frontiers of the Old Northwest Territory, 1750–1850.

The Pennsylvania state leagues of the 1880s and 1890s rank among the most interesting minor leagues in the history of baseball. The rules were changing, the world around baseball, particularly the economy, was changing and things that would seem impossible in a later time were happening every year.

These leagues had not only black players but also wholly black teams. They had great major leaguers--on their way up but also on the way back down. In fact, the greatest player of the age, surrounded by what would have been a major league all-star team only a few years before, played in a Pennsylvania minor league for almost a full season. The play was exciting, the players were exciting and the owners, managers and league politics were often more interesting than the games. Paul Browne is executive director of the Carbondale Technology Transfer Center. A member of SABR since the mid-1990s, he has contributed to the SABR BioProject site, SABR’s Nineteenth and Minor Leagues Committee newsletters and local newspap

On New Year's Eve 1972, following eighteen magnificent seasons in the major leagues, Roberto Clemente died a hero's death, killed in a plane crash as he attempted to deliver food and medical supplies to Nicaragua after a devastating earthquake. David Maraniss now brings the great baseball player brilliantly back to life in Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero. Anyone who saw Clemente, as he played with a beautiful fury, will never forget him. He was a work of art in a game too often defined by statistics. During his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, he won four batting titles and led his team to championships in 1960 and 1971, getting a hit in all fourteen World Series games in which he played. His career ended with three-thousand hits, the magical three-thousandth coming in his final at-bat, and he and the immortal Lou Gehrig are the only players to have the five-year waiting period waived so they could be enshrined in the Hall of Fame immediately after their deaths. David Maraniss is

“Civil War Voices from York County, PA” “Civil War Voices from York County, PA” mixes reminiscences from the inhabitants of York County, Pa., many handed down to descendants, with a strong focus on the 1863 Gettysburg Campaign. Authors Scott Mingus and James McClure have uncovered or received dozens of previously unpublished diaries, journals, Civil War letters from the field, and similar first-person accounts that provide glimpses into the hearts of the soldiers and citizens.  We see the loneliness of a Yorker serving as a guard at Fort Monroe, Va., whose mundane routine is broken by a visit from U.S. Grant and President Lincoln. We see the fear and uncertainty expressed by a worried housewife as rumors of the impending Confederate invasion reach northwestern York County. We hear the defiance in the voice of a former soldier who is willing to pick up the musket again in defense of his country. We hear the voice of a young York man who helps in the gruesome field hospitals at Gettysburg, an experience that

“The Civil War in Pennsylvania” In partnership with Pennsylvania Civil War 150, the statewide initiative to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, the History Center recently launched a new book, “The Civil War in Pennsylvania: A Photographic History.” Written by Michael Kraus, David Neville, and Kenneth Turner, and edited by the History Center’s Brian Butko, the book features a collection of 475 rare and unpublished images that highlight Pennsylvania’s role on the battlefield and on the home front.

Despite being geographically cut off from large trade centers and important natural resources, Pittsburgh transformed itself into the most formidable steel-making center in the world. Beginning in the 1870s, under the engineering genius of magnates such as Andrew Carnegie, steel-makers capitalized on western Pennsylvania’s rich supply of high-quality coal and powerful rivers to create an efficient industry unparalleled throughout history. In City of Steel, Ken Kobus explores the evolution of the steel industry to celebrate the innovation and technology that created and sustained Pittsburgh’s steel boom. Focusing on the Carnegie Steel Company’s success as leader of the region’s steel-makers, Kobus goes inside the science of steel-making to investigate the technological advancements that fueled the industry’s success. City of Steel showcases how through ingenuity and determination Pittsburgh’s steel-makers transformed western Pennsylvania and forever changed the face of American industry and business.