Philadelphia: A 300-Year History

Rating:
Summary: Hard to Imagine this Book Being Better
Review: As a recent transplant to Philadelphia, I wanted to become more familiar with the history of my new home. Philadelphia: A 300-Year History, edited by Russell F. Weigley, is an exhaustive but readable (and extremely enjoyable) chronology of the events that shaped the City of Brotherly Love.

One beneficial characteristic of this book is that it is an edited volume. Various authors contributed pieces on the reasonably short time period of their specialty. These chapters form a temporal progression, from the founding of Pennsylvania by William Penn in the early 1680s to the beginning of the Reagan Era. Within the chapters, though, the organization is generally non-linear, moving through various topics ranging from politics to the arts to the problems of running a large city controlled by various political machines. No single author could have produced as comprehensive and balanced of a history of Philadelphia.

One of the other neat things about this history is that every few chapters there is a picture of the city skyline.

People who aren't from (or don't currenty live in) Philly might find the details of this book hard to follow. The locations of important events and structures are given by street addresses-- often with street names no longer in use.

Rating:
Summary: Buy extra copies for others
Review: This is the fourth time I am buying this book. Being a non-native Philadelphian, I wanted to know more about why the City developed the way it has. I was amazed at the information contained in the book. As an example it explains why the City neighborhoods have such narrow but deep lots. Since first reading the book ten years ago I have given copies to several co-workers. If you want to understand current Philadelphia and its culture this is a must read. The book was written by several Philadelphia professors, each examining a period of History.