PA BOOKS on PCN

Marie Roberts Monville, the wife of the shooter, shares her previously untold story of life after the Nickel Mines Amish Schoolhouse shooting. Her journey, while marked with piercing pain, now shines with the radiant light of Christ’s redemptive love, encouraging others to believe in the capacity for beauty from their own brokenness.

Marie Monville, a life-time resident of the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area, often sat alongside her father in his milk truck as he served his Amish and non-Amish neighbors. She married her high school sweetheart, then gave birth to three children. The first 28 years of her life were quiet, predictable, and full of regular day to day country living. That all changed the day her husband barricaded the Amish schoolhouse at Nickel Mines, just one mile down the road, and murdered one Amish schoolgirl after another, before committing suicide--a horrific scene that stunned the entire world. That day was October 2, 2006. And though she knew that day that the life she'd known had just been shattered, that very same day God infused Marie with an unearthly assurance that he was with her, present and trustworthy, and that he would not fail her. Today, Marie is remarried to Dan Monville, and their blended family is a testament to the healing kindness of God. Today, Marie speaks nationwide as she and Dan continue to raise their five children in the Lancaster, PA area.

Marie Roberts Monville, the wife of the shooter, shares her previously untold story of life after the Nickel Mines Amish Schoolhouse shooting. Her journey, while marked with piercing pain, now shines with the radiant light of Christ’s redemptive love, encouraging others to believe in the capacity for beauty from their own brokenness.

Marie Monville, a life-time resident of the Lancaster, Pennsylvania area, often sat alongside her father in his milk truck as he served his Amish and non-Amish neighbors. She married her high school sweetheart, then gave birth to three children. The first 28 years of her life were quiet, predictable, and full of regular day to day country living. That all changed the day her husband barricaded the Amish schoolhouse at Nickel Mines, just one mile down the road, and murdered one Amish schoolgirl after another, before committing suicide--a horrific scene that stunned the entire world. That day was October 2, 2006. And though she knew that day that the life she'd known had just been shattered, that very same day God infused Marie with an unearthly assurance that he was with her, present and trustworthy, and that he would not fail her. Today, Marie is remarried to Dan Monville, and their blended family is a testament to the healing kindness of God. Today, Marie speaks nationwide as she and Dan continue to raise their five children in the Lancaster, PA area.

While much has changed in the decade since the original publication of The Eagles Encyclopedia, the passion of Eagles fans has only grown stronger. That's why author Ray Didinger revised, updated, and expanded his history of the team with The New Eagles Encyclopedia. Didinger presents a year-by-year history of the franchise from its inception in 1933 through the 2014 draft. Included are profiles of more than 100 players, past and present, as well as every head coach and owner, along with dozens of new photographs and stats, stats, and more stats.

Ray Didinger was the first print journalist inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame. As a columnist for the Philadelphia Bulletin and Philadelphia Daily News, he was named Pennsylvania Sportswriter of the Year five times. In 1995, he won the Dick McCann Award for long and distinguished reporting on pro football, and his name was added to the writers' honor roll at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He also won six Emmy Awards as a writer and producer for NFL Films. He has authored or co-authored ten books including One Last Read: The Collected Works of the World's Slowest Sportswriter (Temple) and The Ultimate Book of Sports Movies. He is a football analyst for Comcast SportsNet in Philadelphia.

While much has changed in the decade since the original publication of The Eagles Encyclopedia, the passion of Eagles fans has only grown stronger. That's why author Ray Didinger revised, updated, and expanded his history of the team with The New Eagles Encyclopedia. Didinger presents a year-by-year history of the franchise from its inception in 1933 through the 2014 draft. Included are profiles of more than 100 players, past and present, as well as every head coach and owner, along with dozens of new photographs and stats, stats, and more stats.

Ray Didinger was the first print journalist inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame. As a columnist for the Philadelphia Bulletin and Philadelphia Daily News, he was named Pennsylvania Sportswriter of the Year five times. In 1995, he won the Dick McCann Award for long and distinguished reporting on pro football, and his name was added to the writers' honor roll at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He also won six Emmy Awards as a writer and producer for NFL Films. He has authored or co-authored ten books including One Last Read: The Collected Works of the World's Slowest Sportswriter (Temple) and The Ultimate Book of Sports Movies. He is a football analyst for Comcast SportsNet in Philadelphia.

... Marley soon would grow into a 97-pound powerhouse of nervous, pulsating intensity and mischief.

The Maps of Gettysburg plows new ground in the study of the campaign by breaking down the entire campaign in 146 detailed full page original maps. These cartographic creations bore down to the regimental level, offering students of the campaign a unique and fascinating approach to studying what may have been the climactic battle of the war. The Maps of Gettysburg offers thirty-one “action-sections” comprising the entire campaign. These include the march to and from the battlefield and virtually every significant event in between. Gottfried’s original maps enrich each map section. Keyed to each piece of cartography is detailed text about the units, personnel, movements, and combat (including quotes from eyewitnesses) that make the Gettysburg story come alive. Serious students of the battle will appreciate the extensive endnotes and will want to take this book with them on their trips to the battlefield.

Bradley M. Gottfried holds a Ph.D. in Zoology from Miami University. He has worked in higher education for more than three decades as a faculty member and administrator. He is currently President of the College of Southern Maryland. An avid Civil War historian, Dr. Gottfried is the author of five books, and is currently working with Theodore Savas on a Gettysburg Campaign Encyclopedia.

The Maps of Gettysburg plows new ground in the study of the campaign by breaking down the entire campaign in 146 detailed full page original maps. These cartographic creations bore down to the regimental level, offering students of the campaign a unique and fascinating approach to studying what may have been the climactic battle of the war. The Maps of Gettysburg offers thirty-one “action-sections” comprising the entire campaign. These include the march to and from the battlefield and virtually every significant event in between. Gottfried’s original maps enrich each map section. Keyed to each piece of cartography is detailed text about the units, personnel, movements, and combat (including quotes from eyewitnesses) that make the Gettysburg story come alive. Serious students of the battle will appreciate the extensive endnotes and will want to take this book with them on their trips to the battlefield.

Bradley M. Gottfried holds a Ph.D. in Zoology from Miami University. He has worked in higher education for more than three decades as a faculty member and administrator. He is currently President of the College of Southern Maryland. An avid Civil War historian, Dr. Gottfried is the author of five books, and is currently working with Theodore Savas on a Gettysburg Campaign Encyclopedia.

“Lou Tullio: A Real Erie Guy” showcases the gritty underbelly of city government in a mid-sized Rust Belt manufacturing town. Vaillancourt tells the story of Tullio’s life, his six terms as mayor of Erie, and the key political players from the 1950s through the 1980s who lived and worked alongside the man who left an indelible legacy on both the city and the people of Erie.

Originally from Illinois by way of Nevada and Georgia, Cory Vaillancourt is a freelance writer; after graduating from the University of Chicago where he focused on the history of Soviet Russia, he spent more than a decade as a political campaign consultant working for Republican and Democratic candidates across the country. Upon moving to Erie, Vaillancourt joined the Erie Reader – first as a contributor, then later as a contributing editor and editor-at-large.

“Lou Tullio: A Real Erie Guy” showcases the gritty underbelly of city government in a mid-sized Rust Belt manufacturing town. Vaillancourt tells the story of Tullio’s life, his six terms as mayor of Erie, and the key political players from the 1950s through the 1980s who lived and worked alongside the man who left an indelible legacy on both the city and the people of Erie.

Originally from Illinois by way of Nevada and Georgia, Cory Vaillancourt is a freelance writer; after graduating from the University of Chicago where he focused on the history of Soviet Russia, he spent more than a decade as a political campaign consultant working for Republican and Democratic candidates across the country. Upon moving to Erie, Vaillancourt joined the Erie Reader – first as a contributor, then later as a contributing editor and editor-at-large.

No individual who fought at Gettysburg was more controversial, both personally and professionally, than Major General Daniel E. Sickles. By 1863, Sickles was notorious as a disgraced former Congressman who murdered his wife's lover on the streets of Washington and used America's first temporary insanity defense to escape justice. With his political career in ruins, Sickles used his connections with President Lincoln to obtain a prominent command in the Army of the Potomac's Third Corps-despite having no military experience. At Gettysburg, he openly disobeyed orders in one of the most controversial decisions in military history. No single action dictated the battlefield strategies of George Meade and Robert E. Lee more than Sickles' unauthorized advance to the Peach Orchard, and the mythic defense of Little Round Top might have occurred quite differently were it not for General Sickles. Fighting heroically, Sickles lost his leg on the field and thereafter worked to remove General Meade from command of the army. Sickles spent the remainder of his checkered life declaring himself the true hero of Gettysburg.

James Hessler works in the financial services industry and is a Licensed Battlefield Guide at Gettysburg National Military Park. He has taught Sickles and Gettysburg-related courses for Harrisburg Area Community College and the Gettysburg Foundation.