PA BOOKS on PCN

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PA BOOKS on PCN episodes

October 29, 2018 "For the Love of Beer: Pennsylvania's Breweries" with Alison Feeney
"For the Love of Beer: Pennsylvania's Breweries" examines Pennsylvania's brewing history, geography, and cultural richness while highlighting over 100 of the states thriving craft breweries. It explains some of the enjoyable stories and local legends behind the naming of beers, while detailing the unique buildings and architectural treasures that contribute to the renovation of urban areas and revival of small communities. Short descriptions of each brewery provide the reader with an understanding of which brewers use local hops, fruits, and grains in their recipes and how proceeds support local rail trails, waterways, animals shelters, and community events. From long-lasting breweries that survived Prohibition to the most recent openings with upscale food and cutting edge technology, this book describes how craft breweries in Pennsylvania have something to offer everyone. Set out on the road and record your visit to each brewery and enjoy first-hand facts about local breweries with someone who lives, works, and studies this fascinating and dynamic industry.

Alison Feeney is a Professor in the Geography and Earth Science Department at Shippensburg University.

Description courtesy of Atlantic Publishing Group.
59 min
October 22, 2018 "Frontier Rebels: The Fight for Independence in the American West, 1765-1776" with Patrick Spero
Frontier Rebels tells story of the "Black Boys," a rebellion on the American frontier in 1765. In 1763, the Seven Years' War ended in a spectacular victory for the British. The French army agreed to leave North America, but many Native Americans, fearing that the British Empire would expand onto their lands and conquer them, refused to lay down their weapons. Under the leadership of a shrewd Ottawa warrior named Pontiac, they kept fighting for their freedom, capturing several British forts and devastating many of the westernmost colonial settlements. The British, battered from the costly war, needed to stop the violent attacks on their borderlands. Peace with Pontiac was their only option—if they could convince him to negotiate. Enter George Croghan, a wily trader-turned-diplomat with close ties to Native Americans. Under the wary eye of the British commander-in-chief, Croghan organized one of the largest peace offerings ever assembled and began a daring voyage into the interior of North America in search of Pontiac. Meanwhile, a ragtag group of frontiersmen set about stopping this peace deal in its tracks. Furious at the Empire for capitulating to Native groups, whom they considered their sworn enemies, and suspicious of Croghan's intentions, these colonists turned Native American tactics of warfare on the British Empire. Dressing as Native Americans and smearing their faces in charcoal, these frontiersmen, known as the Black Boys, launched targeted assaults to destroy Croghan's peace offering before it could be delivered.

Patrick Spero is the librarian of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia and is the author of Frontier Country: The Politics of War in Early Pennsylvania.

Description courtesy of W.W. Norton & Company.
57 min
October 18, 2018 “Twilight of the Hemlocks & Beeches” with Tim Palmer
The eastern hemlock and North American beech once thrived from Maine to Georgia, casting shade on trout streams, nourishing wildlife large and small, and gracing uncounted valleys, mountainsides, parks, and backyards. These trees now face tragic decimation by exotic insects and pathogens. Tim Palmer’s photos record the splendor of the cherished hemlock and beech in the same way that pictures of iconic, historic buildings commemorate classic landmarks gone the way of the wrecking ball. And yet, as Palmer underscores in his final chapter, the lessons learned as we address the fate of these trees can help us chart a better course for all wooded landscapes in the years ahead. This story of loss, scientific inquiry, and prospective recovery is vital to understanding nature in our time. As an act of artistic preservation, a report on the science vital to the survival of these trees, and a call to action, Twilight of the Hemlocks and Beeches assures a lasting legacy for this irreplaceable forest community. With more than one hundred exquisite full-color photographs, this book is a must-have for outdoor enthusiasts, natural historians, ecologists, and all lovers of nature.
Tim Palmer, an award-winning author and photographer, has written and photographed twenty-six books about the environment, forests, and adventure travel.
Description courtesy of Penn State University Press.
59 min
October 18, 2018 “Twilight of the Hemlocks & Beeches” with Tim Palmer
The eastern hemlock and North American beech once thrived from Maine to Georgia, casting shade on trout streams, nourishing wildlife large and small, and gracing uncounted valleys, mountainsides, parks, and backyards. These trees now face tragic decimation by exotic insects and pathogens. Tim Palmer’s photos record the splendor of the cherished hemlock and beech in the same way that pictures of iconic, historic buildings commemorate classic landmarks gone the way of the wrecking ball. And yet, as Palmer underscores in his final chapter, the lessons learned as we address the fate of these trees can help us chart a better course for all wooded landscapes in the years ahead. This story of loss, scientific inquiry, and prospective recovery is vital to understanding nature in our time. As an act of artistic preservation, a report on the science vital to the survival of these trees, and a call to action, Twilight of the Hemlocks and Beeches assures a lasting legacy for this irreplaceable forest community. With more than one hundred exquisite full-color photographs, this book is a must-have for outdoor enthusiasts, natural historians, ecologists, and all lovers of nature.
Tim Palmer, an award-winning author and photographer, has written and photographed twenty-six books about the environment, forests, and adventure travel.
Description courtesy of Penn State University Press.
59 min
October 08, 2018 “Unlikely General: “Mad” Anthony Wayne and the Battle for America” with Mary Stockwell
In the spring of 1792, President George Washington chose “Mad” Anthony Wayne to defend America from a potentially devastating threat. Native forces had decimated the standing army and Washington needed a champion to open the country stretching from the Ohio River westward to the headwaters of the Mississippi for settlement. A spendthrift, womanizer, and heavy drinker who had just been ejected from Congress for voter fraud, Wayne was an unlikely savior. Yet this disreputable man raised a new army and, in 1794, scored a decisive victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, successfully preserving his country and President Washington’s legacy. Drawing from Wayne’s insightful and eloquently written letters, historian Mary Stockwell sheds light on this fascinating and underappreciated figure. Her compelling work pays long-overdue tribute to a man—ravaged physically and emotionally by his years of military service—who fought to defend the nascent American experiment at a critical moment in history.
Mary Stockwell is the former chair of the history department at Lourdes University in Ohio and the author of The Other Trail of Tears: The Removal of the Ohio Indians.
Description courtesy of Yale University Press.
1 hr
October 08, 2018 “Unlikely General: “Mad” Anthony Wayne and the Battle for America” with Mary Stockwell
In the spring of 1792, President George Washington chose “Mad” Anthony Wayne to defend America from a potentially devastating threat. Native forces had decimated the standing army and Washington needed a champion to open the country stretching from the Ohio River westward to the headwaters of the Mississippi for settlement. A spendthrift, womanizer, and heavy drinker who had just been ejected from Congress for voter fraud, Wayne was an unlikely savior. Yet this disreputable man raised a new army and, in 1794, scored a decisive victory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, successfully preserving his country and President Washington’s legacy. Drawing from Wayne’s insightful and eloquently written letters, historian Mary Stockwell sheds light on this fascinating and underappreciated figure. Her compelling work pays long-overdue tribute to a man—ravaged physically and emotionally by his years of military service—who fought to defend the nascent American experiment at a critical moment in history.
Mary Stockwell is the former chair of the history department at Lourdes University in Ohio and the author of The Other Trail of Tears: The Removal of the Ohio Indians.
Description courtesy of Yale University Press.
1 hr
October 01, 2018 “The Western Delaware Indian Nation, 1730–1795: Warriors and Diplomats” with Richard Grimes
During the early eighteenth century, three phratries or tribes (Turtle, Turkey, and Wolf) of Delaware Indians left their traditional homeland in the Delaware River watershed and moved west to the Allegheny Valley of western Pennsylvania and eventually across the Ohio River into the Muskingum River valley. As newcomers to the colonial American borderlands, these bands of Delawares detached themselves from their past in the east, developed a sense of common cause, and created for themselves a new regional identity in western Pennsylvania. The Western Delaware Indian Nation, 1730-1795: Warriors and Diplomats is a case study of the western Delaware Indian experience, offering critical insight into the dynamics of Native American migrations to new environments and the process of reconstructing social and political systems to adjust to new circumstances. The Ohio backcountry brought to center stage the masculine activities of hunting, trade, war-making, diplomacy and was instrumental in the transformation of Delaware society and with that change, the advance of a western Delaware nation. This nation, however, was forged in a time of insecurity as it faced the turmoil of imperial conflict during the Seven Years' War and the backcountry racial violence brought about by the American Revolution. The stress of factionalism in the council house among Delaware leaders such as Tamaqua, White Eyes, Killbuck, and Captain Pipe constantly undermined the stability of a lasting political western Delaware nation. This narrative of western Delaware nationhood is a story of the fight for independence and regional unity and the futile effort to create and maintain an enduring nation. In the end the western Delaware nation became fragmented and forced as in the past, to journey west in search of a new beginning. The Western Delaware Indian Nation, 1730-1795: Warriors and Diplomats is an account of an Indian people and their dramatic and arduous struggle for autonomy, identity, political union, and a permanent homeland.
Richard S. Grimes is currently adjunct faculty at La Roche College and Community College of Allegheny County.
Description courtesy of Lehigh University Press.
59 min
October 01, 2018 “The Western Delaware Indian Nation, 1730–1795: Warriors and Diplomats” with Richard Grimes
During the early eighteenth century, three phratries or tribes (Turtle, Turkey, and Wolf) of Delaware Indians left their traditional homeland in the Delaware River watershed and moved west to the Allegheny Valley of western Pennsylvania and eventually across the Ohio River into the Muskingum River valley. As newcomers to the colonial American borderlands, these bands of Delawares detached themselves from their past in the east, developed a sense of common cause, and created for themselves a new regional identity in western Pennsylvania. The Western Delaware Indian Nation, 1730-1795: Warriors and Diplomats is a case study of the western Delaware Indian experience, offering critical insight into the dynamics of Native American migrations to new environments and the process of reconstructing social and political systems to adjust to new circumstances. The Ohio backcountry brought to center stage the masculine activities of hunting, trade, war-making, diplomacy and was instrumental in the transformation of Delaware society and with that change, the advance of a western Delaware nation. This nation, however, was forged in a time of insecurity as it faced the turmoil of imperial conflict during the Seven Years' War and the backcountry racial violence brought about by the American Revolution. The stress of factionalism in the council house among Delaware leaders such as Tamaqua, White Eyes, Killbuck, and Captain Pipe constantly undermined the stability of a lasting political western Delaware nation. This narrative of western Delaware nationhood is a story of the fight for independence and regional unity and the futile effort to create and maintain an enduring nation. In the end the western Delaware nation became fragmented and forced as in the past, to journey west in search of a new beginning. The Western Delaware Indian Nation, 1730-1795: Warriors and Diplomats is an account of an Indian people and their dramatic and arduous struggle for autonomy, identity, political union, and a permanent homeland.
Richard S. Grimes is currently adjunct faculty at La Roche College and Community College of Allegheny County.
Description courtesy of Lehigh University Press.
59 min
September 24, 2018 "Idlewild" with Jennifer Sopko
Idlewild was developed by Pittsburgh's Mellon family as a picnic grove to boost traffic on the Ligonier Valley Rail Road. When C.C. Macdonald took the helm in 1931, rides, entertainment and other attractions came to Idlewild over the next half century, along with the adjacent Story Book Forest. After joining the Kennywood family of amusement parks, Idlewild added a Wild West town, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood of Make-Believe and a water slide complex. Author Jennifer Sopko tells the heartwarming history of a Pennsylvania amusement park that continues to delight generations of families.

Jennifer Sopko is a writer and historian.

Description courtesy of The History Press.
58 min
September 17, 2018 "Frank Furness: Architecture in the Age of the Great Machines" with George Thomas
Frank Furness (1839-1912) has remained a curiosity to architectural historians and critics, somewhere between an icon and an enigma, whose importance and impact have yet to be properly evaluated or appreciated. To some, his work pushed pattern and proportion to extremes, undermining or forcing together the historic styles he referenced in such eclectic buildings as the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the University of Pennsylvania Library. To others, he was merely a regional mannerist creating an eccentric personal style that had little resonance and modest influence on the future of architecture. By placing Furness in the industrial culture that supported his work, George Thomas finds a cutting-edge revolutionary who launched the beginnings of modern design, played a key part in its evolution, and whose strategies continue to affect the built world. In his sweeping reassessment of Furness as an architect of the machine age, Thomas grounds him in Philadelphia, a city led by engineers, industrialists, and businessmen who commissioned the buildings that extended modern design to Chicago, Glasgow, and Berlin. Thomas examines the multiple facets of Victorian Philadelphia's modernity, looking to its eager embrace of innovations in engineering, transportation, technology, and building, and argues that Furness, working for a particular cohort of clients, played a central role in shaping this context. His analyses of the innovative planning, formal, and structural qualities of Furness's major buildings identifies their designs as initiators of a narrative that leads to such more obviously modern figures as Louis Sullivan, William Price, Frank Lloyd Wright and eventually, the architects of the Bauhaus.

George E. Thomas is a cultural and architectural historian who serves as co-director of the Critical Conservation Program at Harvard's Graduate School of Design.

Description courtesy of University of Pennsylvania Press.
59 min

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PA Books features authors of books about Pennsylvania-related topics. These hour-long conversations allow authors to discuss both their subject matter and inspiration behind the books.