Penn's Woods Passages celebrates both hunting and nature through essays, art and fiction and is unique among sporting books in that both words and art are the expressions of a single vision. Comprised of selections from more that 200 articles and scores of art, Penn's Woods Passages has been woven into a creative and compelling whole, a retrospect of a lifetime outdoors that originates from the inner regions of the heart with an appeal that extends far beyond the borders of Penn's Woods.
Two powerfully contradictory images dominate historical memory when we think of Native Americans and colonists in early Pennsylvania. To one side is William Penn&’s legendary treaty with the Lenape at Shackamaxon in 1682, enshrined in Edward Hicks&’s allegories of the &"Peaceable Kingdom.&" To the other is the Paxton Boys&’ cold-blooded slaughter of twenty Conestoga men, women, and children in 1763. How relations between Pennsylvanians and their Native neighbors deteriorated, in only 80 years, from the idealism of Shackamaxon to the bloodthirstiness of Conestoga is the central theme of Friends and Enemies in Penn&’s Woods. William Pencak and Daniel Richter have assembled some of the most talented young historians working in the field today. Their approaches and subject matter vary greatly, but all concentrate less on the mundane details of how Euro- and Indian Pennsylvanians negotiated and fought than on how people constructed and reconstructed their cultures in dialogue with others. Taken together, the essays trace the collapse of whatever potential may have existed for a Pennsylvania shared by Indians and Europeans. What remained was a racialized definition that left no room for Native people, except in reassuring memories of the justice of the Founder. Pennsylvania came to be a landscape utterly dominated by Euro-Americans, who managed to turn the region&’s history not only into a story solely about themselves but a morality tale about their best (William Penn) and worst (Paxton Boys) sides. The construction of Pennsylvania on Native ground was also the construction of a racial order for the new nation. Friends and Enemies in Penn&’s Woods will find a broad audience among scholars of early American history, Native American history, and race relations.
Inspired by Walden and by the nature writings of Henry David Thoreau, John Burroughs, and John Muir, and influenced by the poetry of William Wordsworth, William Cullen Bryant, and other Romantic poets, Bernard Charles Barnick sought to write about nature with feeling and with imagination. In a book designed to make one feel at home in nature, Mr. Barnick shares many of his own observations of birds and other wildlife dating back to his childhood, proceeding through his numerous outdoor excursions in the Wyoming Valley of Northeastern Pennsylvania, and including many of his travels throughout the state. He has combined his love of birds with a love of nature, astronomy, literature, and history to form a uniquely poetic or Romantic view of "Penn's Woods"—a state that is rich both in natural history and in human history.
This series ensures that students learn necessary reading skills by offering a variety of texts combined with targeted lessons to practice and reinforce comprehension and fluency. The fiction and nonfiction passages prepare students for the type of reading found on most standardized tests.
A study of the Civilian Conservation Corps, one of the most popular programs created by FDR as part of the New Deal, examines Pennsylvania's CCC program, discussing their successful work in the reforestation of the state, upgrading state park recreational facilities, historic preservation, soil conservation, and relief assistance to Pennsylvania families in need.
“Dark History of Penn’s Woods is the perfect book to keep you up all night... It’s ghostly, it’s ghastly, and we guarantee some of the included photos will stay with you!” — Philly Mag When ships under the command of white Europeans first sailed into the Delaware Bay in 1609, southeastern Pennsylvania's documented history of the strange and unusual began. This book tackles seven true "dark histories" from Chester and Delaware counties, which include tales of murder, witchcraft, cannibalism, tragic accidents and macabre events that actually happened in the Greater Philadelphia region. All stories are meticulously researched and placed within the greater context of Pennsylvania and world history. For example, the murder of three children by an indentured servant is placed within the context the kidnapping of children into servitude in England for sale to the Americas. The trial and execution of a woman for killing her infants is placed within the context of the rights of women in early America and how the court system failed them. The treatment of witchcraft is placed within the larger relationship of Quakers with the supernatural in Pennsylvania. This is not a book of ghost stories; this is an exploration of the real events that led people to believe in ghosts. It aims to strike a balance between a colloquial work that is accessible by a variety of readers, and an solid academic work.
Eight chilling stories of crime, disaster and unusual deaths from southeastern Pennsylvania. A sequel to the first Dark History book, Murder, Madness, and Misadventure in Southeastern Pennsylvania, this book features more true tales of the region's disasters, deaths and tragedies – offering readers a window into a macabre slice of history. From the “coffin ships” that brought desperate European immigrants to American shores, to an explosion that took the lives of nineteen people, the Greater Philadelphia area has experienced its fair share of tragedy. Learn about the catastrophic fire that took the lives of nine ballerinas, investigate gruesome cases of murder for life insurance, and ponder the possibility that a Pennsylvania businessman appeared in ghostly form on a busy street the day before he died. Finally, one of the most puzzling cold cases in Pennsylvania history is finally solved after more than sixty years using forensic genealogy, while another unidentified little girl still waits for her own justice. Praise for Darkest History Vol. I “..the perfect book to keep you up all night." Philadelphia Magazine "Throughout the book, [Green] iterates that she is writing about history that has been largely forgotten and ignored due to its dark nature. By bringing these stories to the light again, she has given her readers a great gift...” Broad Street Review “….a tribute to suburban Philadelphia weirdness, evildoing, and death.” Montco Today
The bloodshed and hatred of frontier conflict at once made go-betweens obsolete and taught the harsh lesson of the woods: the final incompatibility of colonial and native dreams about the continent they shared. Long erased from history, the go-betweens of early America are recovered here in vivid detail.
