Pittsburgh: A New Portrait
Author: Franklin Toker
University of Pittsburgh Press, Eureka Bldg, 5th Floor, 3400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15260

With the forthcoming release of Pittsburgh: A New Portrait, Franklin Toker has written the quintessential book on “America’s Most Livable City.” Toker takes readers on a journey through Pittsburgh’s colorful communities, noting its extraordinary buildings, and explaining how this unique municipality continually reinvents itself. He examines Pittsburgh in its historical context (from Indian settlement to postmodern city), in its regional setting (from the playgrounds of the Laurel Highlands to the hardworking mill towns dotting the landscape), and from the street level, neighborhood by neighborhood

Franklin Toker is professor of the history of art and architecture at the University of Pittsburgh, and past president of the Society of Architectural Historians. He is the author of numerous books, including the definitive work on Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece, Fallingwater Rising, and Buildings of Pittsburgh in the prestigious Buildings of the United States series.

Pre-empted for the PA Farm Show

Following the Drum: Women at the Valley Forge Encampment
Author: Nancy Loane
Potomac Books, 22841 Quicksilver Drive, Dulles, BA 20166-2012

Following the Drum: Women at the Valley Forge Encampment tells the story of the forgotten women who spent the winter of 1777–78 with the Continental Army at Valley Forge. While the camp women of Washington’s army were poor, dirty creatures who clung to the very edge of survival, many worked as the army’s washerwomen, nurses, cooks, or seamstresses. Other women at camp were of higher status: they traveled with Washington’s entourage when the army headquarters shifted from place to place and served the general as valued cooks, laundresses, or housekeepers. There were also ladies at camp, part of the “numerous and splendid” audience who enjoyed the camp theater and had their portraits painted by Charles Willson Peale. No evidence suggests that Martha Washington visited informally among the troops at any camp, including Valley Forge. In Following the Drum, readers will learn of the 1777–78 encampment’s devastating effect on the area’s farm families, meet the women and ladies who accompanied and aided the soldiers, and discover a Valley Forge that many never knew existed.

Nancy Loane researches, writes, and speaks on the women—and the very special ladies—who came to the famous 1777–78 Valley Forge encampment. A former seasonal park ranger at Valley Forge, she currently serves as a volunteer costumed interpreter at the park. Nancy is a founding member of the American Revolution Round Table of Philadelphia, an honorary lifetime member of the society of the descendents of Washington’s Army at Valley Forge, and an officer in the Friends of Valley Forge Park.

High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly
Author: Donald Spoto
Random House, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019

In just seven years–from 1950 through 1956–Grace Kelly embarked on a whirlwind career that included roles in eleven movies. From the principled Amy Fowler Kane in High Noon to the thrill-seeking Frances Stevens of To Catch a Thief, Grace established herself as one of Hollywood’s most talented actresses and iconic beauties. Her astonishing career lasted until her retirement at age twenty-six, when she withdrew from stage and screen to marry a European monarch and became a modern, working princess and mother. Based on never-before-published or quoted interviews with Grace and those conducted over many years with her friends and colleagues–from costars James Stewart and Cary Grant to director Alfred Hitchcock–as well as many documents disclosed by her children for the first time, biographer Donald Spoto explores the transformation of a convent schoolgirl to New York model, successful television actress, Oscar-winning movie star, and beloved royal.

Donald Spoto is the author of twenty-five books, including bestselling biographies of Alfred Hitchcock, Tennessee Williams, Laurence Olivier, Marlene Dietrich, Ingrid Bergman, and Audrey Hepburn. He earned his Ph.D. degree from Fordham University. Spoto is married to the Danish school administrator Ole Flemming Larsen; they live in a quiet village, an hour's drive from Copenhagen.

"The Paris of Appalachia"
Author: Brian O’Neill
Carnegie Mellon University Press, 5032 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15289-1021

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Brian O’Neill began writing this book several years ago, before phrases like “toxic assets” and “foreclosure tsunami” were familiar to Americans. As the cataclysmic financial events of 2008 and 2009 unfolded, and the nation’s wealth vaporized, Pittsburgh found itself in the unfamiliar position of holding fairly steady. Although those in the city experienced layoffs and pension funds imploding, Pittsburgh didn’t have the real estate crash that so many other American places endured. As O’Neill jokes, “you can’t get the hangover if you were never at the party.” Pittsburgh, he notes, has come through tougher times and it’s possible the rest of the country can learn something from us.

Brian O’Neill has been a newspaper columnist in Pittsburgh for more than 20 years. He has won the Associated Press Managing Editors of Pennsylvania Award for column writing, the Pennsylvania Newspaper Publishers’ Keystone Award for column writing, and regional honors. He lives on the city’s North Side with his wife and two daughters.

"The Perfect Square"
Author: Nancy Heinzen
Temple University Press, 306 University Services Bldg, Philadelphia, PA 19122-6099

Great cities and neighborhoods rise and fall, yet for two centuries Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia has seized the imagination and envy of social climbers, urban planners, and novelists alike. In The Perfect Square, Nancy Heinzen—a resident of Rittenhouse Square for over 40 years and an activist committed to its preservation—provides the first full-length social history of this public urban space. One of the five squares that William Penn established when he founded the city, the southwest-situated Rittenhouse Square has transformed from a marshy plot surrounded by brickyards and workers' shanties into the epicenter of Philadelphia high society. A post–Civil War keystone of Center City Philadelphia, it was once home to great dynasties, elegant mansions, and grand dames of the Victorian era. Today it is lined with sleek, modern, high-rise condominiums and graceful buildings of another era, where entrepreneurs and descendants of immigrants live side by side.

Nancy Heinzen, a resident of Rittenhouse Square, taught and served as a counselor in the Philadelphia School District. She has long been involved as a volunteer and board member in organizations dedicated to the preservation of the Square, including Friends of Rittenhouse Square, Center City Residents Association, Rittenhouse Flower Market, and Friends of Curtis Institute.

"The Glass House Boys of Pittsburgh"
Author: James Flannery
University of Pittsburgh Press, Eureka Bldg, 5th Floor, 3400 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15260

“The Glass House Boys of Pittsburgh” is an original examination of legislative clashes over the singular issue of the glass house boys, who performed menial tasks, received low wages, and had little to say on their own behalf while toiling in glass bottle plants. Author James Flannery reveals the many societal, economic, and political factors at work that allowed for the perpetuation of child labor in this industry and region. James Flannery is associate professor of legal writing at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. He is an editor of Pittsburgh Tax Review.

On Any Given Sunday: Robert Lyons
Author: Robert Lyons

"Eastern State Penitentiary"
Author: Paul Kahan
The History Press, 18 Percy Street, Charleston, SC 29403

The dark towers of Eastern State Penitentiary resemble a frightening castle more than the reformation prison that it once was; home to murders, thieves, and psychopaths alike. Providing a comprehensive look at the inner workings of the prison, Eastern state Penitentiary: A History chronicles the lives of the wardens and guards that haunted the corridors and the prisoners that faced life alone in their cells. Author Paul Kahan unearths the controversy, the legacy, and the lessons learned at America’s most historical prison.

Paul Kahan is an adjunct professor of history and sociology at Philadelphia University. Kahan is completing a PhD in American history from Temple University, and has worked as an interpreter at the Eastern state Penitentiary, and a site administrator for the Fonthill Museum and the Bucks County Historical Society. He lives in Suburban Philadelphia.