PA BOOKS on PCN

Lenape Country is a sweeping narrative history of the multiethnic society of the Delaware Valley in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. After Swanendael, the Natives, Swedes, and Finns avoided war by focusing on trade and forging strategic alliances in such events as the Dutch conquest, the Mercurius affair, the Long Swede conspiracy, and English attempts to seize land. Drawing on a wide range of sources, author Jean R. Soderlund demonstrates that the hallmarks of Delaware Valley society—commitment to personal freedom, religious liberty, peaceful resolution of conflict, and opposition to hierarchical government—began in the Delaware Valley not with Quaker ideals or the leadership of William Penn but with the Lenape Indians, whose culture played a key role in shaping Delaware Valley society. The first comprehensive account of the Lenape Indians and their encounters with European settlers before Pennsylvania's founding, Lenape Country places Native culture at the center of this part of North America.

Jean Soderlund is Professor of History at Lehigh University and editor of William Penn and the Founding of Pennsylvania: A Documentary History, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

Layle Lane was an educator, a social activist, and a political leader. She was a key organizer of the first march on Washington, D.C., which led to the creation of the Fair Employment Practices Act and Commission after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's executive order in 1941. Lane also played a major role in the March on Washington Movement, headed by A. Philip Randolph. In 1948, Lane encouraged President Harry Truman to desegregate the American military through her involvement in the movement. After taking on Washington, D.C., Lane ran for political office in New York City where she played a major role in the city's social changes. During the 1950s, she ran a camp for inner city boys in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, to expose them to a way of life different from the city streets. It is on this property that a street presently runs through called Layle Lane—the first street named after an African American woman in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. La Citadellechronicles the life of a real American hero who paved the way for future social activists.

Leonard Bethel is a retired Presbyterian minister and professor emeritus from Rutgers University. Bethel is the author of Advancement Through Service: A History of the Frontiers International,Plainfield's African American: From Northern Slavery to Church Freedom, Africana: An Introduction and Study, and Educating African Leaders: Missionism in America.

This study examines Ku Klux Klan activities in Pennsylvania's twenty-five western-most counties, where the state organization enjoyed greatest numerical strength. The work covers the period between the Klan's initial appearance in the state in 1921 and its virtual disappearance by 1928, particularly the heyday of the Invisible Empire, 1923–1925. This book examines a wide variety of KKK activities, but devotes special attention to the two large and deadly Klan riots in Carnegie and Lilly, as well as vigilantism associated with the intolerant order. Klansmen were drawn from a pool of ordinary Pennsylvanians who were driven, in part, by the search for fraternity, excitement, and civic betterment. However, their actions were also motivated by sinister, darker emotions and purposes. Disdainful of the rule of law, the Klan sought disorder and mayhem in pursuit of a racist, nativist, anti-Catholic, anti-Jewish agenda.

John M. Craig is a professor of history from Slippery Rock University.

Keystone Corruption: A Pennsylvania Insider s View of a State Gone Wrong traces the cyclical nature of misconduct in Pennsylvania government over the course of the last hundred years. Most of the book focuses on corruption since the 1970s, when the author had a front-row seat during the unprecedented scandals of 2007 through 2012.

Bumsted witnessed the prosecutions of current and former lawmakers for the theft of some $14 million in taxes, and he provides an insightful analysis of the rise and fall of several of Pennsylvania s most colorful political characters, including Boies Penrose, Matt Quay, R. Budd Dwyer, John Perzel, William DeWeese, Al Benedict, Ernie Preate, Jeffrey Habay, Vincent Fumo, Mike Veon, Michael Manzo and state Supreme Court Justice Joan Orie Melvin.

Long-time fans of the National Pastime have known Moyer's name for more than 25 years. That's because he's been pitching in the bigs for all those years. With his trademark three pitches - slow, slower, and slowest - the left-handed Moyer is a pinpoint specialist whose won-lost record actually got better as he got older -- from his 20s to his 30s and into 40s. He's only a few wins shy of 300 for his amazing career.

But this is where the book takes an unusual turn. Moyer was just about finished as a big leaguer in his mid-20s until he fatefully encountered a gravel-voiced, highly confrontational sports psychologist named Harvey Dorfman. Listening to the "in-your-face" insights of Dorfman, Moyer began to re-invent himself and reconstruct his approach to his game. Moyer went on to become an All-Star and also a World Series champion. Yogi Berra once observed that "Half of this game is 90% mental." And Moyer's memoir proves it.

Jamie Moyer turned 50 this past fall, and by all accounts, he has now finished his big league career. He started pitching in the majors in 1986.

"James Buchanan and the Coming of the Civil War"

Buchanan's dealings with Utah shed light on his handling of the secession crisis. His approach to Dred Scott reinforces the image of a president whose doughface views were less a matter of hypocrisy than a thorough identification with southern interests. Essays on the secession crisis provide fodder for debate about the strengths and limitations of presidential authority in an existential moment for the young nation. Although the essays in this collection offer widely differing interpretations of Buchanan's presidency, they all grapple honestly with the complexities of the issues faced by the man who sat in the White House prior to the towering figure of Lincoln, and contribute to a deeper understanding of a turbulent and formative era.

John Quist is professor of history at Shippensburg University and author of Restless Visionaries. Michael Birkner is Franklin Professor of Liberal Arts and professor of history at Gettysburg College and editor of James Buchanan and the Political Crisis of the 1850s.

Composer of more than 100 jazz pieces, three-time Grammy nominee, and performer on more than 125 albums, saxophonist Jimmy Heath has earned a place of honor in the history of jazz. Over his long career, Heath knew many jazz giants, such as Charlie Parker, and played with other innovators, including John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and especially Dizzy Gillespie. Along the way, Heath won both their respect and their friendship. In his autobiography, the legendary Heath creates a "dialogue" with musicians and family members. As in jazz, where improvisation by one performer prompts another to riff on the same theme, I Walked with Giants juxtaposes Heath's account of his life and career with recollections from jazz giants about life on the road and making music on the world's stages. His memories of playing with his equally legendary brothers, Percy and Albert (aka "Tootie"), dovetail with their recollections.

"Ike's Bluff"

On July 6, 1892, three hundred armed Pinkerton agents arrived in Homestead, Pennsylvania to retake the Carnegie Steelworks from the company's striking workers. As the agents tried to leave their boats, shots rang out and a violent skirmish began. The confrontation at Homestead was a turning point in the history of American unionism, beginning a rapid process of decline for America's steel unions that lasted until the Great Depression.

Paul Kahan teaches history at Ohlone College in Fremont, California.