PENNSYLVANIA: Seed Of A Nation

Paul Wallace's panegyric to the Keystone State concludes 25 years of research and a lifetime love affair, but no one's going to get passionate about Pennsylvania from it, pleasant and pretty though the book is. History-wise, the land's notable indeed: it was, more or less, the birthplace of the Continental Congresses, the Industrial Revolution, the Underground Railroad, liberal legislation, trade unionism and, above all, the Quaker spirit. It housed William Penn and his Holy Experiment in freedom and democracy, Benjamin Franklin and his common sense compendium, the valiant Washington at Valley Forge, and the Gettysburg engagement during the Civil War. Germans and Swedes, Irish and Italians made the laud a variable melting pot, the Susquchanna Valley settlements and the opening of the mines brought in the dollars; plutocrats Carnegie and Hershey, painters Eakins and Wyeth were part of its socio-cultural set-up. Adequate documentation and careful description. An agreeable addition to the ""Regions of America"" series.