In this episode of Public History with Justin, Jake, and Molly, Jake talks with author David Fleming about the Pottsville Maroons - coal miners turned football stars whose 1925 NFL championship was stripped away. It’s a story of early professional football that still resonates a century later. Listen to the episode.
This episode of the Public History podcast looks beyond the Irish Brigade to the everyday lives of Irish-born Union soldiers. We dig into letters, pension files, class, money, and memory with historian Damien Shiels and why Irish Civil War service has long been misunderstood on both sides of the Atlantic. Listen to the episode.
A century ago, a professional football team from Pottsville, PA bulldozed its way to an NFL title - only to have the championship yanked away in one of the NFL's first great scandals. In this piece, I look back at the 1925 Pottsville Maroons and share a new 100th-anniversary excerpt from David Fleming’s Breaker Boys, the book that brought their story roaring back to life. Read the full story.
Netflix’s upcoming miniseries Death by Lightning takes on one of America’s most tragic presidential stories—the 1881 assassination of James A. Garfield and the medical blunders that doomed him. Starring Michael Shannon, Nick Offerman, and Matthew Macfadyen and based on Candace Millard’s Destiny of the Republic, this one hits close to home for me. Read the full story.
Discover how Rick Steves’ new memoir On the Hippie Trail reignited my passion and need for travel - tracing his 1978 trek from Istanbul to Kathmandu and exploring how adventure breaks down fear and builds bridges. My latest Monday Dispatch reflection on wanderlust and cultural connection, with some love for the late Anthony Bourdain. Read the full story.
Join me for the first Monday Dispatch as I explore Daniel Mason’s novel North Woods - a vivid tale tracing centuries of life, nature, and change in the mountains of western Massachusetts. Discover how great fiction reshapes historical perspective and reminds us that the story is one of transformation. Read the full story.
Warrant Officer Anthony Joseph Vroblesky of Hazleton, Pennsylvania fell in the first wave during the 1944 invasion of Saipan.
We chat with our friend and author Ryan Quint about his new book on the Battle of Dranesville.
In 1834 and 1835, a scientist named Constantine Samuel Rafinesque traveled widely through Pennsylvania in order to document the geology and biology of the Keystone State. In the spring of 1835, the Turkish-born polymath traveled north from Harrisburg aboard canal boats alongside the Susquehanna River to Millersburg. In his book, A Life of Travels, Rafinesque details … Continue reading An 1835 visit to the mines at Wiconisco Township
A travel writer vividly described Pottsville and the surrounding region of Schuylkill County in 1852.