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"The Gettysburg Cyclorama" with Chris Brenneman, Sue Boardman and Bill Dowling Feb 09, 2016

Show notes

Thousands of books and articles have been written about the Battle of Gettysburg. Almost every topic has been thoroughly scrutinized except one: Paul Philippoteaux's massive cyclorama painting The Battle of Gettysburg, which depicts Pickett's Charge, the final attack at Gettysburg. The Gettysburg Cyclorama: The Turning Point of the Civil War on Canvas is the first comprehensive study of this art masterpiece and historic artifact. This in-depth study of the history of the cyclorama discusses every aspect of this treasure, which was first displayed in 1884 and underwent a massive restoration in 2008. Coverage includes not only how it was created and what it depicts, but the changes it has undergone and where and how it was moved.
A life-long love of Civil War history brought Chris Brenneman, Sue Boardman, and Bill Dowling to Gettysburg. Today they are all Licensed Battlefield Guides at the Gettysburg National Military Park. As part of his job working for the Gettysburg Foundation, Chris has spent hundreds of hours observing the Battle of Gettysburg Cyclorama painting.
Sue Boardman was the historical consultant for the Gettysburg Foundation for the massive project to conserve and restore the Gettysburg cyclorama, and has authored several books and articles on Civil War topics. Sue currently serves as the Leadership Program Director for the Gettysburg Foundation.
Bill Dowling is an award-winning photographer, specializing in historical landscape photography, with a special interest in the Gettysburg Battlefield. Bill's photographs have been published in books and magazines as well as appearing on the "Jumbo-Tron" in New York's Times Square.

"General Ike" with John Eisenhower Feb 09, 2016

Show notes

John S.D. Eisenhower modestly explains General Ike as "a son's view of a great military leader -- highly intelligent, strong, forceful, kind, yet as human as the rest of us." It is that, and more: a portrait of the greatest Allied military leader of the Second World War, by the man who knew Ike best.
General Ike is a book that John Eisenhower always knew he had to write, a tribute from an affectionate and admiring son to a great father. John chose to write about the "military Ike," as opposed to the "political Ike," because Ike cared far more about his career in uniform than about his time in the White House. A series of portraits of Ike's relations with soldiers and statesmen, from MacArthur to Patton to Montgomery to Churchill to de Gaulle, reveals the many facets of a talented, driven, headstrong, yet diplomatic leader. Taken together, they reveal a man who was brilliant, if flawed; naïve at times in dealing with the public, yet who never lost his head when others around him were losing theirs. Above all, General Ike was a man who never let up in the relentless pursuit of the destruction of Hitler.
Here for the first time are eyewitness stories of General Patton showing off during military exercises; of Ike on the verge of departing for Europe and assuming command of the Eastern Theater; of Churchill stewing and lobbying Ike in his "off hours." Faced with giant personalities such as these men and MacArthur, not to mention difficult allies such as de Gaulle and Montgomery, Ike nevertheless managed to pull together history's greatest invasion force and to face down a determined enemy from Normandy to the Bulge and beyond. John Eisenhower masterfully uses the backdrop of Ike's key battles to paint a portrait of his father and his relationships with the great men of his time.
General Ike is a ringing and inspiring testament to a great man by an accomplished historian. It is also a personal portrait of a caring, if not always available, father by his admiring son. It is history at its best.

"Fueling The Gilded Age" with Andrew Arnold Feb 09, 2016

Show notes

If the railroads won the Gilded Age, the coal industry lost it. Railroads epitomized modern management, high technology, and vast economies of scale. By comparison, the coal industry was embarrassingly primitive. Miners and operators dug coal, bought it, and sold it in 1900 in the same ways that they had for generations. In the popular imagination, coal miners epitomized anti-modern forces as the so-called "Molly Maguire" terrorists.
Yet the sleekly modern railroads were utterly dependent upon the disorderly coal industry. Railroad managers demanded that coal operators and miners accept the purely subordinate role implied by their status. They refused. Fueling the Gilded Age shows how disorder in the coal industry disrupted the strategic plans of the railroads.

Andrew Arnold is Chair of the History Department at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.

"Founding Finance" with William Hogeland Feb 09, 2016

Show notes

William Hogeland is one of my all-time favorite guests on PA Books. In "Founding Finance" he tells how America's early economic system was established. It's a lot more interesting than it sounds.

Hogeland writes about the little-remembered election of May 1776 in which Pennsylvanians elected a General Assembly that was anti-independence and how, between then an July 4, mobs in Philadelphia overthrew the elected government and installed a pro-independence assembly. Without that coup, Pennsylvania might not have supported independence.

It's a fascinating story.

Hogeland has also appeared on PA Books for "The Whiskey Rebellion" and "Declaration," both fascinating books.

"Flight 93: The Story, the Aftermath, and the Legacy of American Courage on 9/11" with Tom McMillan Feb 09, 2016

Show notes

The passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 on September 11, 2001 have earned their rightful place among the pantheon of American heroes. Flight 93 provides a riveting narrative based on interviews, oral histories, transcripts, recordings, personal tours of the crash site, and voluminous trial evidence made public only in recent years. There also is plenty of chilling new detail for readers who think they know the story of the flight. Utilizing research tools that were not available in the years immediately after the crash, the book offers the most complete account of what actually took place aboard United 93 – from its delayed takeoff at Newark International Airport to the moment it plunged upside-down at 563 miles per hour into an open field in rural Somerset County, Pennsylvania.

Tom McMillan has spent a lifetime in media and communications: as a newspaper sports writer, radio talk-show host, and for the past 17 years as Vice President of Communications for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League. He's written on deadline, interviewed superstars, traveled the world, grilled guests on radio shows, issued official statements, developed social media strategy, counseled millionaire owners and faced withering questions from TV reporters about his organization's controversial bankruptcy case. For three years he served as the Penguins' VP of Marketing in addition to VP of Communications. He is also a volunteer at the Flight 93 National Memorial, where he helps to orient visitors to the crash site.

"First Pennsylvanians" with Kurt W. Carr & Roger Moeller Feb 09, 2016

Show notes

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission today announced the publication of "First Pennsylvanians: The Archaeology of Native Americans in Pennsylvania." The first comprehensive review of Native American archaeology in Pennsylvania for a general audience, the book is based on recent findings and previously unpublished research. With more than 240 illustrations of lifestyles, sites and artifacts, "First Pennsylvanians" discusses developments in the cultures of Native Americans who lived in the Delaware, Susquehanna and Ohio River basins from the Paleoindian period of 10,000 to 16,500 years ago to the time of first contact with Europeans.

Authors Kurt W. Carr, Ph.D., Senior Curator of Archaeology at The State Museum of Pennsylvania, and Roger W. Moeller, Ph.D., an archaeologist who has conducted significant archaeological research in Pennsylvania and other parts of the country, characterize each period by environmental conditions, tools, food, settlement patterns and social organization.

"Duty Calls at Home" Feb 09, 2016

Show notes

The outbreak of World War One transformed life for the men, women, and children living in the communities of Central Pennsylvania. "Duty Calls at Home" is a collection of essays examining how the war impacted life on the home front, and the ways the war altered daily life for the people and communities of the region.

"The Devil's To Pay: John Buford at Gettysburg" with Eric J Wittenberg Feb 09, 2016

Show notes

Although many books on Gettysburg have addressed the role played by Brig. Gen. John Buford and his First Cavalry Division troops, there is not a single book-length study devoted entirely to the critical delaying actions waged by Buford and his dismounted troopers and his horse artillerists on the morning of July 1, 1863. Award-winning Civil War historian Eric J. Wittenberg rectifies this glaring oversight with "The Devil's to Pay": John Buford at Gettysburg. A History and Walking Tour.

This comprehensive tactical study examines the role Buford and his horse soldiers played from June 29 through July 2, 1863, including the important actions that saved the shattered remnants of the First and Eleventh Corps. Wittenberg relies upon scores of rare primary sources, including many that have never before been used, to paint a detailed picture of the critical role the quiet and modest cavalryman known to his men as "Honest John" or "Old Steadfast" played at Gettysburg.
Eric J Wittenberg is an accomplished American Civil War cavalry historian and author. An attorney in Ohio, Wittenberg has authored over a dozen books on Civil War cavalry subjects, as well as two dozen articles in popular magazines such as North & South, Blue & Gray, America's Civil War, and Gettysburg Magazine. His first book,Gettysburg's Forgotten Cavalry Actions (Thomas Publications, Gettysburg PA, 1998) won the prestigious 1998 Bachelder-Coddington Literary Award. The second edition won the Army Historical Foundation's Distinguished Writing Award, for Reprint, 2011.

"The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company" with Dr. S. Robert Powell Feb 09, 2016

Show notes

An integral component of the transportation system that the D&H created to transport that coal to market was the Gravity Railroad that the company established between Carbondale and Honesdale. In order to meet market needs for anthracite coal, which increased dramatically in the course of the nineteenth century, the D&H established five different configurations of that Gravity Railroad between 1829 and 1899.

Dr. S. Robert Powell, a retired college teacher of the humanities, was born and raised in the anthracite coal region of northeastern Pennsylvania, where the fuel that made possible the industrial revolution in America was mined, beginning in the early years of the nineteenth century. Given his passion for local history he has focused, throughout his professional life, on documenting the history of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company and its rail lines and canal, which were established to market that coal. For over thirty years, he has served as president of the Carbondale Historical Society and Museum.

"The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company Gravity Railroad, Vol. 1-5" with S. Robert Powell Feb 09, 2016

Show notes

"The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company Gravity Railroad, Volumes 1-5"constitute the most detailed and comprehensive history of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company's Gravity Railroad that has ever been published.

S. Robert Powell is the President of the Carbondale Historical Society.

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