Pennsylvania Books

This is an essential book for anyone planning to paddle Pennsylvania's rivers. It literally describes EVERY river, stream, or creek in Pennsylvania and gives a nice description and overview of each. In addition there are great maps and descriptions of put-in and take-out points as well as parking areas. He also describes which USGS guages to check for each stream and at what levels the guage needs to be in order to get through without dragging. It is a little money very well spent.

A good guide that covers everything you need to know to canoe or kayak in rivers and streams in Eastern PA. Hundreds of streams and rivers covered.

Kingdom of Coal is a very well done telling of the history of anthracite coal. The book tells the story from the days when stone coal was first discovered in the wilderness of Eastern PA, through its development as a major energy source, and into the labor struggle. Closely associated is the development of canals, known as the anthracite canals to bring the coal to market and later the development of railroads. Still later the railroads, known as the anthracite railroads owned most of the mines.

The book also covers the close association between coal and the iron industry. Anthracite was first used by blacksmiths. It soon replaced charcoal in blast furnaces to reduce iron ore to iron. Iron rails for the railroads, previously imported from England, were an early product.

Missing in the book is the story of the gaslight industry. Processes for the manufacture of gas from coal were invented in 1815. Nearly every city of any size had a gas plant to supply gaslights. This was an early user of coal--originally imported from Europe. The industry continued until World War II when transcontinental pipelines brought natural gas to the distribution systems originally built for manufactured gas.

This is the definitive history of the birth, rise and fall of the anthracite coal industry in three northeastern Pennsylvania fields: Schulykill, Lackawana and Wyoming. Written in narrative form with copious references, it details the everyday trials and tribulations of the immigrants who worked the fields and the coal companies who exploited them. This is must reading for anyone wanting an insight into the lives of their ancestors who immigrated and worked these fields between 1800 and 1970,

Written by one of the truest exponents of this martial philosophy, this book stands out amongst others in its clarity. Geoffroi De Charny was a veteran of the Hundred Years War, he died in battle at Poitier. Although a tragic end, De Charny most certainly perceived this the idealized conclusion to a life in arms. To his contemporaries, De Charny was the embodiment of the code of conduct upon which he expounded so thoroughly in these pages.
In this manual of Chivalry, De Charny begins by defining a "scale of valor", a standard for prowess in battle. We receive an insight into the Medieval perception of what combat experiences warranted the greatest honor, beginning with demonstation of one's skill at Tournament, in local wars, in wars abroad, and ultimately in search of the most honorable course of action.
Divided into a succession of brief articles on various subjects of morality, good and bad virtues, and responsible conduct, this text is not only an historical insight into Medieval ideals, but a worthy guideline for our own age.

A serious student of military history realizes that not all warriors adhered to the commonly held idealized higher standards of their profession, for their time and place. Real people are more complex than that. Some did indeed make such achievement. Some sincerely tried, ...but failed. Comparing the known record of deeds long ago, with more recent events, we will always find examples where our ancestors surpassed us, ...and where we have surpassed our ancestors. We need a revival of Chivalric conduct in our own time. A fighting-man without honor is often capable of any action, ...except the right action.

I am currently reading this book for a Graduate seminar in gender and sexuality in the middle ages. The topic bores me to death, yet, this source is entertaining in a variety of ways. First, its a primary source so it is not riddled with feminist/activist arguments. It is simply a handbook from a medieval knight on how a perfect knight or men-at-arms should act. Though several pieces have insight into gender issues in the middle ages, it certainly gives the modern audience of what medieval (at least 1) knights viewed as proper behavior. Charny also speaks on how a ruler (king, lord, etc) should work within society. If your interested in medieval thought this is certainly a good book to read. If your into medieval military history this source may be helpful, yet I will warn you that it is nothing like The Art of War by Machiavelli. Your not going to find pages of military thought and strategic theories. However, if you are interested in the subject I advise you to read it, if anything you will grasp a little understanding of the individual knight or warrior through De Charny's eyes.

Do not let the stale title fool you here. Foley employs some wonderful ethnographic, qualitative research methods in this piece of work. Foley disobeys the old, archaic rules of the social sciences, in that he leaves his objectivitiy behind and immerses himself into the city of North Town (a mythical name). Texas is much more than Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. The author shows us another side of the state. Foley focuses on the South Texas region and its much too often ignored Mexican American population. Many people do not realize the old, colonized treatment that Mexican Americans are still subjugated to and Foley makes a point of writing about this in his text. In addition to being an ethnographic account of the socially inequities that exist between the dominant Anglo population and the subordinate Mexican American population in North Town, this book is also an analysis and critique of an educational system. Foley demonstrates how the educational system in North Town perpetuates inequality and tracks its young people to take their assigned role in society according to their socioeconomic status and their ethnic background. Learning Capitalist Culture is a book for those not only interested in the social sciences, but those of us interested in research techniques and methodological approaches that are new, exciting, and part of a new kind of social science model.

Doug Foley wrote a very food account of a small town in this book. It is an ethnographic, and fuliflls that part. Mostyl the book discusess the race relation of the poor town, and delves into the politics that make such a racial divide possible. I highly recommend it!

This is the first Carrie Bender book that I ever read. It was a great book and I am looking forward to buying all the books in the series. I read some books written by Beverly Lewis but these are the best. I recommend these books to any body interested in the Amish.

This is the first Carrie Bender book that I have ever read. I was not disappointed! I grew up in Amish country in Ohio, and have always been interested in the Amish. I learned a few things that I never knew about the Amish. Carries books are fantastic! I read several Beverly Lewis books and they could not hold my interest. I am looking forward to buying the other books in series and the Miriams journal series.

The Lincoln Highway across Pennsylvania has something for almost every visitor. Brian Butko has seen, and describes, it all.

The Lincoln enters Pennsylvania from Trenton, NJ across a fragile 19th-century bridge, then approaches Philadelphia on historic Roosevelt Boulevard. From Philadelphia to Lancaster it follows the 18th-century Lancaster Pike, whose mileposts still sit almost unnoticed on the shoulder. Robert E. Lee's troops marched along the Lincoln en route to the Battle of Gettysburg.

From Chambersburg to Ligonier (with the glaring exception of Breezewood), the Lincoln is a driver's road: two lanes, winding up and down hills and through small towns in which time stopped a half-century ago. Many views from 75-year-old postcards still look the same today. Further west, the route traverses some of Pittsburgh's oldest suburbs, then promenades through downtown Pittsburgh en route to nicking the West Virginia panhandle at Chester.

This second, revised and updated edition of Brian Butko's guide masterfully recounts the history of the Lincoln Highway across Pennsylvania. Those driving the road will learn the history of every significant site they pass...as well as those, like Bill's Place and the Ship Hotel, which no longer remain.

I-80 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike are two of the dullest drives in the eastern United States. Take a little extra time and follow the Lincoln Highway instead -- and do it with this readable but comprehensive guide.

I greatly enjoyed the first edition of this book. The first edition seems to have piqued interest in the Lincoln in Pennsylvania. The second edition includes many more vintage pictures of scenes from the Lincoln and interviews from people connected with the highway. If you've ever driven a section of the Lincoln, Brian's writing will have you visualizing the journey in your minds eye. The new information and pictures made a second edition not only necessary but also welcome!

Though the Jewish population of Westmoreland County is spread more thinly than it would be in Brooklyn or Miami Beach, anthropologist Mark Gruber sees the same themes repeated here he would associate with large Jewish settlements in urban areas -- themes that include "skills on how to live as a minority and how to do so with a dignified and decent kind of life. How to cope with the pressures of people who are anti-Semitic or who are ignorant. I just see such a marvelous ethnic heritage being passed on," he said. "I am strangely proud to be a son of the soil from which these storytelles have come," writes Gruber, a Benedictine monk, in his introductory notes to the book. "My people also figure in this narrative: we are `bit players' in their drama."

The subjects of the book range in age from their 50s to their 90s, representing the collective experience of several generations who arrived in Westmoreland County in three distinct waves: during the Civil War, at the turn of the 20th century and as mid-century refugees. Mostly of Russian and Lithuanian descent, they built several communities clustered around synagogues in Greensburg, Jeannette, Latrobe and Mount Pleasant. Many of the original settlers were Pittsburgh based peddlers who sought customers among the county's coal miners and farmers. They went on to develop a number of well-known mercantile fortunes. They took active roles in the civic organizations of the wider community. Most individual accounts reflect a common lifestyle built around Judaic law and tradition: the temple as central institution; the family name as sacrosanct; the male as leader and provider. Education, often not far below having food on the table and clothes to wear, was a paramount goal.----Diane McMullin, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh East, Wednesday, November 12, 1997

Okay, I'll confess that I'm a biased reviewer because the author is my father. However, if you're interested in regional longrifles from northwestern Pennsylvania, this book is a critical resource first and foremost because so few others resources exist except in much abbreviated form, such as magazine articles and as smaller sections of more broad-based books. Around 40 gunsmiths are covered by the scope of this book, with the largest number located in Jefferson County. In addition to photographing all the extant guns that were available, the author also spent quite a bit of time on the personal histories and geneologies of the more prominent gunsmiths. Overall, it's an excellent resource for anyone interested in builders of Pennsylvania rifles from the late flintlock through late percussion eras.

I loved this book! I am a relative of Mr. Harriger and I was so happy to hear about his book for our family history. My husband loved this book because he is into shooting and reads everything on Guns. Thank you Russell for your book!

Roland Johnson's LOST IN A DESERT WORLD, An Autobiography (as-told-to Karl Williams) captures the reader in understanding the root of leadership...in a new kind of civil rights movement: The self-advocacy movement for people with disabilities.

Each time I read Roland's story, I have a new lesson to learn about a hard life, but about a life that surfaced it's way toward "finding a voice" for all of us. Remarkably, while Roland tells his story: how his parent's decided it was necessary to place Roland at a state institution and how he was treated there, the reader can "see" Roland's insight as if he was understanding all sides to his own story and that he did not succumb to the decisions made for him by others. Roland, instead, rose to every occasion, personal event and tragedy and taught us all that the grimmer side of a life can be turned around. Through Roland's autobiography, he showed us that self-reflection and focusing on a speck of light through seemingly whole darkness can lead us in a more positive direction. Roland talked about "a shyness within himself", and I believe we all contain that, in part, as a way to develop our inner self-esteem and self-respect. That inner shyness has its rewards - as Roland showed us - that once we develop that voice, once we find it, we can make things happen for ourselves - for people with disabilities.

LOST IN A DESERT WORLD, also available on audio, provides an opportunity for listeners and readers to learn about a significant national self-advocacy leader and to reflect on our individual lives in ways that may be ordinarily difficult. Anyone who reads Roland's story should find hope and inspiration, and perhaps, a new way to take direction for him or herself. Karl Williams masterfully puts Roland's story down in a deservingly and highly respectable manner, using Roland's authentic voice - only putting order to Roland's hard but eloquent words as he spoke.

Roland's Johnson's autobiography, LOST IN A DESERT WORLD: Reading or hearing this story provides a wonderful message for people to learn about the self-advocacy movement while also allowing the reader to absorb in a powerfully concrete method for self-reflection - for who they are, where they came from and for deciding the direction in which they should lead - or - follow.

Karl Williams brings Roland Johnson to life--exactly as I knew him more than 25 years ago, but what I learned about Roland from reading the book brought me to tears and anger about what we used to do to people who were lableled "different", and yet joy at what he was able to accomplish through a positive attitude and a willingness to put himself in a leadership role to help others. I recommend as must reading to any Human Service student or worker who wants an entertaining short history of where the mental retardation field was just 2 generations ago and where we're going thanks to self-help pioneers like Roland. For all of us who have toiled in this vineyard for more than 20 or 30 years, it will remind us why we entered this field in the first place. A great read!!!!

Luke Swank may have come to his career as a photographer rather late in life (born into to a wealthy family whose life was inexorably altered by the Great Depression) and became a popular journalistic photographer, even later acknowledged as one of the first of the Modernist School photographers. Then after his death his contribution to the visualization of America from 1920 to 1940 through the lens of his Pennsylvania based camera fell out of sight. Now due to the fine work of Howard Bossen the boxes of photographs kept by his wife have been reassembled into a major photographic exhibition of his life's work: this superb book serves not only as the catalogue for that exhibition but also fills a much missed gap in the journalistic reportage of America under duress.

While other photographers have captured the resolute spirit of Americans during times of stress (such as Disfarmer and Dorothea Lange), Swank's motivation was not to document tragedy but merely to observe, capture on film, and utilize the developing room to create art of the images he elected to immortalize. The collection of one hundred and forty photographs includes people at daily routines, deserted streets scattered with flakes of the ruins of the Depression, portraits of people, landscapes, magnificent architectural studies, and objects for still life. His eye was sensitive and his manner of developing his photographs, emphasizing light and shadow in the most dramatic fashion, was astoundingly unique.

Perusing the images in this book, all well informed by Bossen's commentary, is a subtle journey back to the times when the country ached under depression but somehow found the courage to celebrate beauty in the strangest places. Hopefully this book and this exhibition will restore Luke Swank's position as one of America's foremost artists of photography. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, December 05

Luke Swank (1890-1944) was a photographer of the 1930s. Up until 1930, he was a used-car salesman in his hometown of Johnstown, PA. Five years later, photographs of his were being shown at an exhibition at the New York Museum of Modern Art. Unlike Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange, Swank's photographs did not aim to portray the trials and anguishes, or the rural or industrial ruin of the Depression. Although the viewer cannot help but see Swank's photos in some respect through this historical and social lens. Swank's works are recognized as being of the 1930s from the clothing of the individuals, cars, buildings, incidental advertising in the scenes, and the equipment, towers, etc., of the factories. Besides mostly regional photographs of western Pennsylvania including Amish, farm buildings, plain rural people, and steel factories, the characteristic element of Swank's photographs is the varying pitches of darkness, or shadows. One hundred and forty plates of photographs of this fine photographer grouped into subjects such as Steel, Circus, Rural Architecture and Landscape, and others following the front matter of a biographical essay and one on each of the subject groups of the photographs.