PA BOOKS on PCN

Feb 26 2025 322 ep. 57 mins 1.2k
PA BOOKS on PCN Podcast artwork

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.

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"1776" with David McCullough

Feb 09 2016 50 mins  
David McCullough has twice received the Pulitzer Prize for Truman and John Adams, and twice received the National Book Award, for The Path Between the Seas and Mornings on Horseback.

"50 Children" with Steven Pressman

Feb 09 2016 58 mins  
In early 1939, few Americans were thinking about the darkening storm clouds over Europe. Nor did they have much sympathy for the growing number of Jewish families that were increasingly threatened and brutalized by Adolf Hitler's policies in Germany and Austria. But one ordinary American couple decided that something had to be done. Despite overwhelming obstacles—both in Europe

"A Field Guide to Gettysburg" with Carol Reardon & Tom Vossler

Feb 09 2016 57 mins  
In this lively guide to the Gettysburg battlefield, Carol Reardon and Tom Vossler invite readers to participate in a tour of this hallowed ground. Ideal for carrying on trips through the park as well as for the armchair historian, this book includes comprehensive maps and deft descriptions of the action that situate visitors in time and place. Crisp narratives introduce key figures

"Anthracite Labor Wars" with Robert Wolensky and William Hastie

Feb 09 2016 55 mins  
Although hard coal's labor history has received greater consideration in recent years, many untold stories remain. "Anthracite Labor Wars" tells the story of a thirty year labor war (from approximately 1905-1935) and its long-term consequences (up to 1960) for the workers and the industry. It was an evolving conflict not only between labor and management, but also between labor and

"As American as Shoofly Pie" with William Woys Weaver

Feb 09 2016 59 mins  
When visitors travel to Pennsylvania Dutch Country, they are encouraged to consume the local culture by way of "regional specialties" such as cream-filled whoopie pies and deep-fried fritters of every variety. Yet many of the dishes and confections visitors have come to expect from the region did not emerge from Pennsylvania Dutch culture but from expectations fabricated by local-c

"Buck: A Memoir" with MK Asante

Feb 09 2016 57 mins  
MK Asante was born in Zimbabwe to American parents: a mother who led the new nation's dance company and a father who would soon become a revered pioneer in black studies. But things fell apart, and a decade later MK was in America, a teenager lost in a fog of drugs, sex, and violence on the streets of North Philadelphia. Now he was alone—his mother in a mental hospital, his fathe

"Burning of Chambersburg and McCausland's Raid" with Ted Alexander

Feb 09 2016 56 mins  
From the start, Chambersburg, a quiet farming community near the Maryland border, was truly the crossroads of destiny. In 1859, John Brown set the stage for conflict when he planned his raid on Harpers Ferry while he was staying in Chambersburg. This raid was the final spark that set off the Civil War. Then, for four long years, Chambersburg residents endured an influx of both Unio

"Busted" with Wendy Ruderman & Barbara Laker

Feb 09 2016 58 mins  
In 2003, Benny Martinez became a Confidential Informant for a member of the Philadelphia Police Department's narcotics squad, helping arrest nearly 200 drug and gun dealers over seven years. But that success masked a dark and dangerous reality: the cops were as corrupt as the criminals they targeted. In addition to fabricating busts, the squad systematically looted mom-and-pop st

"Capital Murder" with Chris Papst

Feb 09 2016 58 mins  
Every city in America is unique. Each has its own instructive tale of success and failure. What makes Harrisburg, Pennsylvania's story most valuable lies not in its life but in its death - and in the actions of those who killed it. In late 2011, Harrisburg became the first - and only - capital city in American history to file for bankruptcy. For four years, investigative reporter C

"Chocolate Trust" with Bob Hernandez

Feb 09 2016 58 mins  
A hugely successful businessman and entrepreneur, American candy magnate Milton Hershey and his wife Catherine were unable to have children of their own, so the couple set up a trust in 1909 and created the Hershey Industrial School for fatherless, healthy, Caucasian boys. Ever since its creation, the huge legal trust has poured profits from the candy business into this charitable