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Insight Philadelphia
Historical Essays Illustrated
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2018
About this book
Each of the nearly 100 essays in Insight Philadelphia tells a succinct, compelling, and little-known tale of the city’s past. Some stories are quirky, like how early gas stations were designed to resemble classical temples, or the saga of how a museum acquired a 2000-year-old Greek statue, then had it demolished with a sledgehammer. Other stories turn serious, exploring the tragic deaths of child laborers in the city’s textile mills and a century-old case of racial profiling that led to a stationhouse murder. Historian Kenneth Finkel introduces readers to the many brave souls and colorful characters who left their mark on the city, from the Irish immigrant “coal heavers”—who initiated the nation’s first general strike—to the teenage Josephine Baker making a flashy debut on the Philadelphia stage.
Illustrated with scores of rare archival images, Insight Philadelphia will give readers a new appreciation for the people and places that make the City of Brotherly Love so unique.
Illustrated with scores of rare archival images, Insight Philadelphia will give readers a new appreciation for the people and places that make the City of Brotherly Love so unique.
Author / Editor information
KENNETH FINKEL is a professor of history at Temple University in Philadelphia, and the author of nine books on Philadelphia. He was a former curator of prints and photographs at the Library Company of Philadelphia, program officer at the William Penn Foundation, and executive director of arts and culture service at WHYY.
Reviews
"No one knows the iconic as well as the forgotten nooks and crannies of Philadelphia and its history better than Kenneth Finkel. Inspired by evocative archival photographs, these lively, thought-provoking essays connect the past to the present of a great city."
— Kathleen A. Foster, The Robert L. McNeil, Jr., senior curator of American Art, and director, Center for American Art
— CNN.com
"This book is alive and well; a cornucopia of the arcane and the obvious tightly constructed and tailor-made for the stop-and-go reader....The book is much more than this isolated specimen of sprightly sentence construction. There is a broad spectrum of social and historical issues confronted and succinctly analyzed."
— Speckled Paw Coffee
— Philadelphia Inquirer
— KCTV-5 (Kansas City)
"Kenneth Finkel is Philadelphia’s best historian and a virtuoso story teller. With graceful words and memorable old photographs, his essays transport us to forgotten moments when, we learn with surprise and delight, big things happened."
— David B. Brownlee, Frances Shapiro-Weitzenhoffer Professor of the History of Art, University of Pennsylvania"In this wide-ranging and informative tour of Philadelphia past and present, drawn from his popular blog posts, Kenneth Finkel offers witty and often gently irreverent glimpses of the city's colorful people and places."
— Philadelphia Inquirer
"Recommended."
— Choice
— Philadelphia Inquirer
— PA Books
— Hidden City Philadelphia
"From a city long overshadowed by the Liberty Bell, Kenneth Finkel pries tantalizing pieces of a past little known or even remembered that shape Philadelphia today. 'Place matters,' he argues. And then proves it—again and again—with his trademark wit and insight."
— Rick Nichols, journalist and lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania"Finkel offers a well-written and refreshing work bringing Philadelphia’s past and present to life. His meticulous attention to detail, storytelling, and photographic images situates the reader in an imaginary ambience of traveling the city’s streets and old neighborhoods. Its contribution to historical scholarship lies in uncovering some of the lost stories and rediscoveries of the past contained in hundreds of thousands of historical photographs."
Topics
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Frontmatter
i -
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Contents
vii -
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Preface
ix -
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1. Defining the City
1 -
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2. The Neighborhoods
53 -
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3. Architecture and Urban Design
87 -
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4. Preservation and Stewardship
129 -
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5. Improvements
149 -
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6. Innovation and Industry
173 -
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7. Food
197 -
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8. Fires and Disasters
219 -
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9. Riots, Upheaval, and Protest
235 -
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10. Performance and Entertainment
271 -
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11. Art, Public Art, and Landmarks
299 -
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Acknowledgments
325 -
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Index
327 -
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About the Author
339
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
September 2, 2019
eBook ISBN:
9780813597478
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9780813597478
Keywords for this book
Kenneth Finkel; Philadelphia; sociology; Middle Atlantic; PA; Pennsylvania; Philly; travel; American Studies; Urban Studies; History; US; Regional; museum; essay; past; city; city’s past; statue; death; child laborers; textile mills; racial profiling; murder; stationhouse murder; immigrant; Irish; coal heavers; strike; Josephine Baker; City of Brotherly Love; neighborhoods; architecture; urban design; preservation; stewardship; improvements; innovation; industry; food; disaster; riots; protests; performance; entertainment; art; landmarks; labor; demolition; appreciation
Audience(s) for this book
For a non-specialist adult audience
