PA BOOKS on PCN

Under This Beautiful Dome tells the true story of journalist Terry Mutchler’s secret five-year relationship with Penny Severns, an Illinois State Senator who mentored Barack Obama. Forced to engage in an elaborate ruse to keep their relationship a secret, the two women constantly fear discovery in their conservative town. Denied legal access to the altar, they face even greater hardships when Penny is diagnosed with cancer and begins undergoing treatment.

Set in the political arena, Under This Beautiful Dome reminds us why the march to legalize same-sex marriage is both personal and political. This vivid, beautiful story paints an intimate portrait of a loving relationship and the vast impact gay marriage legislation has on couples and families in America today. An essential look at how our laws affect our lives, Mutchler’s memoir is a must-read for those interested in politics, equality, and the changes sweeping the nation.

Terry Mutchler is an attorney and former award-winning journalist who was appointed as Pennsylvania’s first Executive Director of the Office of Open Records, ensuring government transparency. A writer for The Associated Press, she covered politics in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Alaska, and Illinois, where she was the first woman appointed AP Statehouse Correspondent. She won several Keystone Awards, Pennsylvania’s top honor for reporting, and was the AP’s state nominee for Young Writer of the Year.

Their intensive drug raid had the pusher cornered, barricaded behind the other side of a locked door. Mike Chitwood called on him to surrender. Suddenly a shot exploded through the door, hitting Chitwood’s partner, who fell seriously injured into his arms. Then a second shot rang out, narrowly missing Chitwood’s head. Enraged, he grabbed a sledgehammer to break down the door—as the pusher fired two more shots. Surrounded now by three narcotics officers, the pusher threw out his gun and emerged, but he was holding a baby as a shield. Suppressing the instinct to rub out the “scumbag,” Chitwood gritted his teeth and took him in. Suppose his shot had killed the child? Thinking it through changed Chitwood’s life.

 

Follow Mike Chitwood as he becomes the most decorated officer in Philadelphia police history, defying death in critical hostage negotiations and emerging as a key figure in an international high-profile case—he found the body of Ira Einhorn’s former girlfriend, Holly Maddux. Chitwood went on to a compelling career, heading police departments in three very different localities. He is still fighting crime today after half a century in law enforcement. As the legendary John Timoney has said, “Nobody does this better than Mike.”


Harold Gullan is a noted historian and the author of well-received books on a wide variety of topics, from presidential parents to sports and political campaigns. He is the coauthor of the popular View from the Booth: Four Decades with the Phillies with Chris Wheeler.

Their intensive drug raid had the pusher cornered, barricaded behind the other side of a locked door. Mike Chitwood called on him to surrender. Suddenly a shot exploded through the door, hitting Chitwood’s partner, who fell seriously injured into his arms. Then a second shot rang out, narrowly missing Chitwood’s head. Enraged, he grabbed a sledgehammer to break down the door—as the pusher fired two more shots. Surrounded now by three narcotics officers, the pusher threw out his gun and emerged, but he was holding a baby as a shield. Suppressing the instinct to rub out the “scumbag,” Chitwood gritted his teeth and took him in. Suppose his shot had killed the child? Thinking it through changed Chitwood’s life.

 

Follow Mike Chitwood as he becomes the most decorated officer in Philadelphia police history, defying death in critical hostage negotiations and emerging as a key figure in an international high-profile case—he found the body of Ira Einhorn’s former girlfriend, Holly Maddux. Chitwood went on to a compelling career, heading police departments in three very different localities. He is still fighting crime today after half a century in law enforcement. As the legendary John Timoney has said, “Nobody does this better than Mike.”


Harold Gullan is a noted historian and the author of well-received books on a wide variety of topics, from presidential parents to sports and political campaigns. He is the coauthor of the popular View from the Booth: Four Decades with the Phillies with Chris Wheeler.

They were the best to ever play the game: the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s. Three decades later their names echo in popular memory—Mean Joe, Bradshaw, Webster, Lambert, Ham, Blount, Franco, Swann, and Stallworth. They define not only the brotherhood and camaraderie of football, but what Americans love about their most popular sport: its artistry and its brutality. From the team’s origins in a horseplayer’s winnings to the young armored gods who immaculately beat the Raiders in 1972 to the grandfathers with hobbles in their gait, Their Life’s Work tells the full, intimate story of the Steeler dynasty. But this book does much more than that: it tells football’s story. What the game gives, what it takes, and why, to a man, every Steeler, full well knowing the costs, unhesitatingly states, “I’d do it again.”

Gary Pomerantz is a nonfiction author and journalist and has served the past seven years as a visiting lecturer in the Department of Communication at Stanford University. His work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Pomerantz has written four books, including the New York Times Notable Book of the Year, “Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn.”

They were the best to ever play the game: the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s. Three decades later their names echo in popular memory—Mean Joe, Bradshaw, Webster, Lambert, Ham, Blount, Franco, Swann, and Stallworth. They define not only the brotherhood and camaraderie of football, but what Americans love about their most popular sport: its artistry and its brutality. From the team’s origins in a horseplayer’s winnings to the young armored gods who immaculately beat the Raiders in 1972 to the grandfathers with hobbles in their gait, Their Life’s Work tells the full, intimate story of the Steeler dynasty. But this book does much more than that: it tells football’s story. What the game gives, what it takes, and why, to a man, every Steeler, full well knowing the costs, unhesitatingly states, “I’d do it again.”

Gary Pomerantz is a nonfiction author and journalist and has served the past seven years as a visiting lecturer in the Department of Communication at Stanford University. His work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Pomerantz has written four books, including the New York Times Notable Book of the Year, “Where Peachtree Meets Sweet Auburn.”

“Stopping Pickett: The History of the Philadelphia Brigade”

As Pickett's men made their final charge toward the clump of trees in the center of the Union line at Gettysburg, they smashed into the Philadelphia Brigade, which was assigned to this sector of the battlefield. This was not the first time that the brigade had distinguished itself in battle. From its first bloody battle at Ball's Bluff through the siege of Petersburg, the brigade fought in every campaign in the eastern theater of the war. One of only a handful of brigades with a unique name, it also had a distinction of being the only one that began the war under the flag of one state, and ended it under the city of another. Using a wealth of primary sources, the story of this distinguished brigade is told using a scholarly, yet highly readable approach. The reader journeys through the roller coaster of the war, from the euphoria of the early days to the grim reality of war.

Dr. Bradley M. Gottfried holds a Ph.D. in zoology and is currently dean of academic affairs at Montgomery County Community College in Pennsylvania. His lifelong interest in the Civil War has resulted in a number of articles.

“Stopping Pickett: The History of the Philadelphia Brigade”

As Pickett's men made their final charge toward the clump of trees in the center of the Union line at Gettysburg, they smashed into the Philadelphia Brigade, which was assigned to this sector of the battlefield. This was not the first time that the brigade had distinguished itself in battle. From its first bloody battle at Ball's Bluff through the siege of Petersburg, the brigade fought in every campaign in the eastern theater of the war. One of only a handful of brigades with a unique name, it also had a distinction of being the only one that began the war under the flag of one state, and ended it under the city of another. Using a wealth of primary sources, the story of this distinguished brigade is told using a scholarly, yet highly readable approach. The reader journeys through the roller coaster of the war, from the euphoria of the early days to the grim reality of war.

Dr. Bradley M. Gottfried holds a Ph.D. in zoology and is currently dean of academic affairs at Montgomery County Community College in Pennsylvania. His lifelong interest in the Civil War has resulted in a number of articles.

“Stand Firm Ye Boys From Maine”

With a new preface and updated maps and illustrations, Stand Firm Ye Boys of Maine offers a compelling account of one of the most crucial small engagements of the Civil War. This powerfully narrated history tells the story of the 20th Maine Regiment, the soldiers who won the battle of Little Round Top. The culmination of years of detailed research, the book uses more than seventy first-hand accounts to bring the personal experiences of the soldiers to life, relating the story from both sides.

Thomas Desjardin was born and raised in Maine and did his doctoral work in American History at the University of Maine. He has worked as an interpreter, giving programs on the Gettysburg battlefield for the National Park Service. The author of These Honored Dead: How the Story of Gettysburg Shaped American Memory and Through A Howling Wilderness: Benedict Arnold's March to Quebec, 1775, he is working on a TV documentary on Joshua Chamberlain.

“Stand Firm Ye Boys From Maine”

With a new preface and updated maps and illustrations, Stand Firm Ye Boys of Maine offers a compelling account of one of the most crucial small engagements of the Civil War. This powerfully narrated history tells the story of the 20th Maine Regiment, the soldiers who won the battle of Little Round Top. The culmination of years of detailed research, the book uses more than seventy first-hand accounts to bring the personal experiences of the soldiers to life, relating the story from both sides.

Thomas Desjardin was born and raised in Maine and did his doctoral work in American History at the University of Maine. He has worked as an interpreter, giving programs on the Gettysburg battlefield for the National Park Service. The author of These Honored Dead: How the Story of Gettysburg Shaped American Memory and Through A Howling Wilderness: Benedict Arnold's March to Quebec, 1775, he is working on a TV documentary on Joshua Chamberlain.

In this poignant and personal history of one of America’s oldest theaters, Leslie Stainton captures the story not just of an extraordinary building but of a nation’s tumultuous struggle to invent itself. Built in 1852 and in use ever since, the Fulton Theatre in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is uniquely ghosted. Its foundations were once the walls of a colonial jail that in 1763 witnessed the massacre of the last surviving Conestoga Indians. Those same walls later served to incarcerate fugitive slaves. Staging Ground explores these tragic events and their enduring resonance in a building that later became a town hall, theater, and movie house—the site of minstrel shows, productions of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, oratory by the likes of Thaddeus Stevens and Mark Twain, performances by Buffalo Bill and his troupe of “Wild Indians,” Hollywood Westerns, and twenty-first-century musicals.

Interweaving past and present, private anecdote and public record, Stainton unfolds the story of this emblematic space, where for more than 250 years Americans scripted and rescripted their history. 

Leslie Stainton is the author of Lorca: A Dream of Life, which received the Society of Midland Authors Award for Biography. Her work has appeared in The New York Times,Washington Post, Opera News, American Theatre, Michigan Quarterly Review, and River Teeth, among many other journals.