Pennsylvania Ghost Towns

Cemeteries, abandoned buildings, and roads to nowhere are all that remain of several once-thriving towns in Pennsylvania. This guidebook profiles 46 locations that have been abandoned or left to ruin, and some that have seen new life as historic sites, with discussions on their history, daily life, fall, and current condition.

The Old Fashioned

American tavern owners caused a sensation in the late eighteenth century when they mixed sugar, water, bitters, and whiskey and served the drink with rooster feather stirrers. The modern version of this "original cocktail," widely known as the Old Fashioned, is a standard in any bartender's repertoire and holds the distinction of being the only mixed drink ever to rival the Martini in popularity.

In The Old Fashioned, Gourmand Award--winning author Albert W. A. Schmid profiles the many people and places that have contributed to the drink's legend since its origin. This satisfying book explores the history of the Old Fashioned through its ingredients and accessories -- a rocks glass, rye whiskey or bourbon, sugar, bitters, and orange zest to garnish -- and details the cocktail's surprising influence on the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and the Broadway musical scene, as well as its curious connection to the SAT college entrance examination. Schmid also considers the impact of various bourbons on the taste of the drink and reviews the timeless debate about whether to muddle.

This spirited guide is an entertaining and refreshing read, featuring a handpicked selection of recipes along with delicious details about the particularities that arose with each new variation. Perfect for anyone with a passion for mixology or bourbon, The Old Fashioned is a cocktail book for all seasons.

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls

It is 1930, the midst of the Great Depression. After her mysterious role in a family tragedy, passionate, strong-willed Thea Atwell, age fifteen, has been cast out of her Florida home, exiled to an equestrienne boarding school for Southern debutantes. High in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with its complex social strata ordered by money, beauty, and girls’ friendships, the Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls is a far remove from the free-roaming, dreamlike childhood Thea shared with her twin brother on their family’s citrus farm—a world now partially shattered. As Thea grapples with her responsibility for the events of the past year that led her here, she finds herself enmeshed in a new order, one that will change her sense of what is possible for herself, her family, her country.

Weaving provocatively between home and school, the narrative powerfully unfurls the true story behind Thea’s expulsion from her family, but it isn’t long before the mystery of her past is rivaled by the question of how it will shape her future. Part scandalous love story, part heartbreaking family drama, The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls is an immersive, transporting page-turner—a vivid, propulsive novel about sex, love, family, money, class, home, and horses, all set against the ominous threat of the Depression—and the major debut of an important new writer.

The Orenda by Joseph Boyden

In this hugely acclaimed author’s new novel, history comes alive before us when, in the seventeenth century, a Jesuit missionary ventures into the wilderness in search of converts—the defining moment of first contact between radically different worlds, each at once old and new in its own ways. What unfolds over the next few years is truly epic, constantly illuminating and surprising, sometimes comic, always entrancing, and ultimately all-too-human in its tragic grandeur.

Christophe, as educated as any Frenchman could be about the “sauvages” of the New World whose souls he has sworn to save, begins his true enlightenment shortly after he sets out when his native guides—terrified by even a scent of the Iroquois—abandon him to save themselves. But a Huron warrior and elder named Bird soon takes him prisoner, along with a young Iroquois girl, Snow Falls, whose family he has just killed. The Huron-Iroquois rivalry, now growing vicious, courses through this novel, and these three are its principal characters.

Christophe and Snow Falls are held captive in Bird’s massive village. Champlain’s Iron People have only lately begun trading with the Huron, who mistrust them as well as this Jesuit Crow who has now trespassed onto their land; and Snow Falls’s people, of course, have become the Hurons’ greatest enemy. Bird knows that to get rid of them both would resolve the issue, but he sees Christophe, however puzzling, as a potential envoy to those in New France, and Snow Falls as a replacement for the two daughters he’d lost to the Iroquois.

These relationships wax and wane as life comes at them relentlessly: a lacrosse match with an allied tribe, a dangerous mission to trade furs with the French for the deadly shining wood that could save the Huron nation, shocking victories in combat and devastating defeats, then a sickness the likes of which none of them has ever seen. The world of The Orenda blossoms to include such unforgettable characters as Bird’s oldest friend, Fox; his lover, Gosling, who some believe possesses magical powers; two more Jesuit Crows who arrive to help form a mission; and boys from both tribes whose hearts veer wildly from one side to the other, for one reason or another. Watching over all of them are the spirits that guide their every move.

The Orenda traces a story of blood and hope, suspicion and trust, hatred and love, that comes to a head when Jesuit and Huron join together against the stupendous wrath of the Iroquois, when everything that any of them has ever known or believed in faces nothing less than annihilation. A saga nearly four hundred years old, it is also timeless and eternal.

Norse Warfare

In this thorough and evocative analysis, Martina Sprague tackles the myth of the Vikings, their unconventional battle tactics, cunning strategies, and bold use of any means at their disposal. From the innovative shipbuilding methods that produced flexible hulls and the ability to glide silently into shallow water, to Asatro, the polytheistic religion that honored the god of war, Sprague casts a fresh light and a scholarly eye on these fiercely independent people.

From the late 700s to the early 1000s, waves of strange and ferocious warriors from the barren lands of the North routinely swept into Britain and the Western Roman Empire. Plundering and pillaging, they left ruins in their wake; their trembling victims never knew when or where they would strike next.

Hailing from Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, yet beholden to no single king, government, or god, the Vikings fought for personal glory, material wealth, and a longing for adventure. They roamed as far as the Arab world, always following the code, "live hard, die with honor."

A Nation Forsaken

Kevin Coolidge

It’s hot. I miss air conditioning. I’m tired. I remember being able to just jump in my car and get an ice cream cone. I could spend Sunday afternoon watching the big game, surfing the internet, or talking to friends on my cell phone. I could even do it all at the same time. Things used to be good. Life used to be easy.

Suddenly, everything just stopped. My beer got warm. The lights went out. Life got hard. Scientists have been warning us for years that something like this could happen. A high-altitude nuclear explosion, a crippling solar storm, I’m not sure what happened. It’s not like I could turn on the news. I’m pretty sure it was an EMP.

An electromagnetic pulse is a high-intensity burst of electromagnetic energy caused by rapid acceleration of particles. It can be generated by a nuclear explosion miles above the Earth. It could come in the form of solar flares that fry satellites and shut down GPS systems. An e bomb could even be made by someone with the right knowledge—and for pretty cheap, too.

The Stone Age could be closer than you think. America’s power grid is vulnerable to an electronic pulse event, from either a natural or man-made cause. We’d quickly devolve to Third World drudgery, but what’s worse is that we are so dependent on electricity. Few have the needed skills to survive in a world of strictly manual labor.

Few if any gasoline-powered vehicles would run. Those with electronic ignitions or computer-directed systems will be rendered useless. You might get lucky and have a car garaged below ground. I hope you know how to siphon, because the gas pumps won’t be working.

Thankfully, an EMP shouldn’t kill humans outright. A pulse burns out circuits due to resistive heating. Anything containing a connected loop of wire could be vulnerable. You should be safe, unless you have a pace maker. Oh, and a hearing aid could end up giving you brain damage, but that’s strictly conjecture.

It’s not science fiction, but science fact that electronic components are highly vulnerable to such an event. Scientists, policy makers, and military leaders are familiar with the potential for destruction and disruption that an EMP could cause.

The power of an EMP is also known by our allies and enemies. Is there evidence that these EMP scenarios could happen? Is there evidence that an EMP attack is being planned? Is there still time to take action?

According to F. Michael Maloof, author of A Nation Forsaken, the answers to these questions are yes. So, is anyone doing anything about it? Maloof warns that U.S government officials have known about this threat to the electrical grid, but have done little about it.

He’s a former senior security policy analyst in the Office of the Security of Defense, with almost thirty years of federal service in the Defense Department. He gives his assessment of the current threat, and it doesn’t look good. It’s time to start taking this threat seriously before the lights go out forever.

It’s growing dark, and hard to see, and I’m hungry, but at least I still have my Kindle*. I’m getting pretty good with it. Now, if that rat would just stick his head out one more time, I can finally have supper…

*I would never actually own a Kindle. This is inserted for comedy relief. Everyone knows you use a rock for rats.

Easy peasy? Or Harden your heart? Email me @ From_my_shelf@yahoo.com and let me know. Miss a past column? Just visit http://frommyshelf.blogspot.com before it’s too late. Lots of extras await. Do the write thing and prevent a dark future. Read a book. It just might save your life…

World War II in Their Own Words

Gripping firsthand accounts Then-and-now photos of veterans Maps and sidebars highlight battles, generals, units, and equipment
In this companion volume to the popular PCN series, thirty-three of Pennsylvania's World War II veterans recount their wartime experiences.

Although these soldiers hail only from Pennsylvania, they represent a cross-section of the war and Americans who served in it. From the attack at Pearl Harbor to the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima, D-Day, and the Battle of the Bulge, these accounts span all the war's theaters, including far-flung China, Burma, and India.

Among these veterans are sailors, marines, medics, nurses, paratroopers, machine gunners, radiomen, and prisoners of war. One served as an aide to George S. Patton, and another would become an NFL Hall of Famer. This is a glimpse of World War II as it happened-in their own words.

Ticket Stub Diary

This handy journal is just the ticket for preserving and showing off tickets saved from sporting events, museum openings, rock concerts, and more. The roomy sleeves store tickets of all shapes and sizes, and lined margins provide space to (new art enclosed) jot down notes about the events. The acid-free pages will keep memorabilia in tip-top shape for years to come.

As American as Shoofly Pie

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-color novels or the tourist industry. At the same time, other less celebrated (and rather more delicious) dishes, such as sauerkraut and stuffed pork stomach, have been enjoyed in Pennsylvania Dutch homes across various localities and economic strata for decades.

Celebrated food historian and cookbook writer William Woys Weaver delves deeply into the history of Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine to sort fact from fiction in the foodlore of this culture. Through interviews with contemporary Pennsylvania Dutch cooks and extensive research into cookbooks and archives, As American as Shoofly Pie offers a comprehensive and counterintuitive cultural history of Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine, its roots and regional characteristics, its communities and class divisions, and, above all, its evolution into a uniquely American style of cookery.

Weaver traces the origins of Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine as far back as the first German settlements in America and follows them forward as New Dutch Cuisine continues to evolve and respond to contemporary food concerns. His detailed and affectionate chapters present a rich and diverse portrait of a living culinary practice—widely varied among different religious sects and localized communities, rich and poor, rural and urban—that complicates common notions of authenticity.

Because there's no better way to understand food culture than to practice it, As American as Shoofly Pie's cultural history is accompanied by dozens of recipes, drawn from exacting research, kitchen-tested, and adapted to modern cooking conventions. From soup to Schnitz, these dishes lay the table with a multitude of regional tastes and stories.

Hockt eich hie mit uns, un esst eich satt—Sit down with us and eat yourselves full!

Life with Flavor: A Personal History of Herr's

Life With Flavor is the real-life Horatio Alger story of James S. Herr. Jim and his wife, Mim, built Herr Foods from a small, one-kettle potato chip concern in Lancaster, Pa., to one of the major snack food companies in the nation.

While Jim Herr didn't start out to become an entrepreneur, his exemplary success earned him the title. A devout Mennonite, this book contains tips for business owners and the spiritual values that have guided his personal and business life. Now in Paperback...