Pennsylvania and the American Revolution: An Interview with Gordon S. Wood

Posted by on Jun 11, 2025 in | Comments Off on Pennsylvania and the American Revolution: An Interview with Gordon S. Wood   The American Revolution was the most significant event in our country’s history. Independence from Great Britain not only resulted in the birth of a new nation but also one dedicated to a uniquely democratic form of government unknown to the world in the 18th century. It also forged a national identity, rooted in the principles of liberty, equality and republicanism, that has endured for...
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Late Bloomer to Soaring Eagle: An Interview with Football Hall of Famer Harold Carmichael

Posted by on Sep 18, 2023 in | Comments Off on Late Bloomer to Soaring Eagle: An Interview with Football Hall of Famer Harold Carmichael On November 4, 1979, the Philadelphia Eagles faced the Cleveland Browns before a packed house of 69,000 die-hard fans at Veterans Stadium. Although both teams boasted 6–3 win–loss records and were vying for their seventh victory of the season, everyone’s mind was on Harold Carmichael’s streak of consecutive games with at least one pass reception. Carmichael, the Birds’ gangly wide receiver, did...
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Wampum Walloper: The Last Interview with Baseball Legend Dick Allen

Posted by on Jul 25, 2023 in | Comments Off on Wampum Walloper: The Last Interview with Baseball Legend Dick Allen On July 8, 1965, the Philadelphia Phillies were playing the San Francisco Giants at Connie Mack Stadium, their ramshackle ballpark at 21st and Lehigh in North Philadelphia. With no score, the bases loaded, and no outs in the bottom of the first inning, Richie Allen, the Phillies’ young clean-up hitter, walked to the plate. The club’s first African American star, Allen was hitting .328 and had...
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Into the Dark World of Catching Crooks, Culprits and Convicts: An Interview with Robert K. Wittman

Posted by on Mar 13, 2017 in | Comments Off on Into the Dark World of Catching Crooks, Culprits and Convicts: An Interview with Robert K. Wittman by Michael J. O’Malley III Robert King “Bob” Wittman in no way resembles the highly romanticized portrayals of FBI agents made famous over the decades by movie studios and television series. He is not the heavy-hitting, gang-busting, chain-smoking G-man, replete with fedora rakishly angled atop his head. Instead, he embodies the old-school preppy style – looking as though...
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Good Road Followed … From Metro Philly to Rock Hall: An Interview with John Oates

Posted by on Jun 6, 2016 in | Comments Off on Good Road Followed … From Metro Philly to Rock Hall: An Interview with John Oates John Oates is one half of the best-selling rock duo Hall & Oates, as well as an accomplished solo artist. Singing from the time he could talk and playing the guitar since the age of 5, John Oates was destined to be a musician. He was born in 1948 in New York City, but his family relocated to North Wales, Montgomery County, in the early 1950s, a move that would change the course of his life....
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Two Decades of PA Books: An Interview with Brian Lockman

Posted by on Apr 19, 2016 in | Comments Off on Two Decades of PA Books: An Interview with Brian Lockman PA Books is a weekly television series that has been running on the Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCN) for 20 years. Brian Lockman, president and CEO of the Harrisburg-based network, has hosted the program from the beginning, interviewing authors of books related to Pennsylvania. He does 35 to 40 new interviews a year, and PCN reruns past programs frequently. A recent survey indicated that PA...
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The Eagle Has Landed… Back in Pennsylvania: An Interview with Dick Vermeil

Posted by on Apr 12, 2016 in | Comments Off on The Eagle Has Landed… Back in Pennsylvania: An Interview with Dick Vermeil When Dick Vermeil signed a five-year contract to coach the Philadelphia Eagles on February 8, 1976, he became at age 39 the youngest head coach in the National Football League. He also inherited a football team that had not posted a winning season in nine years. Just three seasons later, Vermeil led the Eagles to their first playoff appearance in 18 years. He drove his players harder than any...
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Pithole City: Boom Town Turned Ghost Town, An Interview with James B. Stevenson

Posted by on Nov 30, 2013 in | Comments Off on Pithole City: Boom Town Turned Ghost Town, An Interview with James B. Stevenson One hundred and twenty-five years ago this summer, the placid calm of northwestern Pennsylvania’s sparsely populated but panoramic vista was ruptured when “Colonel” Edwin L. Drake’s well coughed up rich, black crude oil on August 28, 1859. The following boom years of the oil industry gave rise to numerous towns and cities, some of which were short-lived ghost towns. The...
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The Magic of Mount Gretna: An Interview with Jack Bitner

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on The Magic of Mount Gretna: An Interview with Jack Bitner Set in the picturesque Conewago Hills of central Pennsyl­vania, the village of Mount Gretna is a treasure of natu­ral beauty and quaint architecture. In 1882-1883, millionaire Robert H. Coleman built the Cornwall and Lebanon Railroad through these rolling hills to connect his vast ironmaking enterprises in Colebrook and Corn­wall to the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad in Lebanon. At the...
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You Can Go Home Again: An Interview with James A. Michener

Posted by on Nov 26, 2013 in | Comments Off on You Can Go Home Again: An Interview with James A. Michener James A Michener is a man of diverse talents, boundless energy, and seemingly countless interests. He is naturally inquisitive, passionately curious. He is fascinated by the world around him and the people who inhabit it. He collects stories about far-away places as effortlessly as one gathers seashells on the shoreline in summer. He is the Ultimate Con­noisseur. Of people. Of places. Of things....
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