As Pittsburgh and its surrounding area grew into an important commercial and industrial center, a group of families emerged who were distinguished by their wealth and social position. Joseph Rishel studies twenty of these families to determine the degree to which they formed a coherent upper class and the extent to which they were able to maintain their status over time. His analysis shows that Pittsburgh's elite upper class succeeded in creating the institutions needed to sustain a local aristocracy and possessed the ability to adapt its accumulated advantages to social and economic changes.

Ed Simon tells the story of Pittsburgh through this exploration of its hidden histories--the LA Review of Books calls it an "epic, atomic history of the Steel City." The land surrounding the confluence of the

New in Paper Allegheny City, known today as Pittsburgh's North Side, was the third-largest city in Pennsylvania when it was controversially annexed by the City of Pittsburgh in 1907. Dan Rooney, a longtime North Side resident, joins local historian Carol Peterson in creating this highly engaging history of the cultural, industrial, and architectural achievements of Allegheny City from its humble beginnings until the present day. The authors cover the history of the city from its origins as a colonial outpost to its emergence alongside Pittsburgh as one of the most important industrial cities in the world. Supplemented by historic and contemporary photos, the authors take the reader on a fascinating and often surprising street-level tour of this colorful, vibrant, and proud place.

Every city has an environmental story, perhaps none so dramatic as Pittsburgh's. Founded in a river valley blessed with enormous resources-three strong waterways, abundant forests, rich seams of coal-the city experienced a century of exploitation and industrialization that degraded and obscured the natural environment to a horrific degree. Pittsburgh came to be known as "the Smoky City," or, as James Parton famously declared in 1866, "hell with the lid taken off."Then came the storied Renaissance in the years following World War II, when the city's public and private elites, abetted by technological advances, came together to improve the air and renew the built environment. Equally dramatic was the sweeping deindustrialization of Pittsburgh in the 1980s, when the collapse of the steel industry brought down the smokestacks, leaving vast tracks of brownfields and riverfront. Today Pittsburgh faces unprecedented opportunities to reverse the environmental degradation of its history. In Devastation and Renewal, scholars of the urban environment post questions that both complicate and enrich this story. Working from deep archival research, they ask not only what happened to Pittsburgh's environment, but why. What forces-economic, political, and cultural-were at work? In exploring the disturbing history of pollution in Pittsburgh, they consider not only the sooty skies, but also the poisoned rivers and creeks, the mined hills, and scarred land. Who profited and who paid for such "progress"? How did the environment Pittsburghers live in come to be, and how it can be managed for the future?In a provocative concluding essay, Samuel P. Hays explores Pittsburgh's "environmental culture," the attitudes and institutions that interpret a city's story and work to create change. Comparing Pittsburgh to other cities and regions, he exposes exaggerations of Pittsburgh's environmental achievement and challenges the community to make real progress for the future. A landmark contribution to the emerging field of urban environmental history, Devastation and Renewal will be important to all students of cities, of cultures, and of the natural world.

Miss Killikelly’s book is more than a history of Pittsburgh, and all but serves as a history of Allegheny County, of which Pittsburgh has long been the metropolis, and which since the creation of the Greater Pittsburgh — brought about since this book was published — stands more than ever as the expression of the civic activities of its adjacent territory. With the chief facts of the early history of Pittsburgh, especially with those that center around Fort Duquesne, most readers of Pennsylvania history are fairly familiar. The story of these early days lose nothing in Miss Killikelly's retelling. Very marvelous, indeed, has been the growth of this great Pennsylvania city. A record of its population in 1761 gives the number of men as 324, the women 92 and children 47, living outside the garrison; the number of houses with owners' names was 220. At this period the town was divided into a Lower and Upper Town; the "King's Gardens" stretching along the Allegheny, with a background of wheatfields. The residence of the commandant, a substantial brick building within the fort, was the most pretentious house. In 1815 the population had increased to nearly 10,000. The subsequent history of this city is too detailed to be summarized. Miss Killikelly tells the story in ample manner, yet without any overloading of unessential facts. Her pages throb with the active, busy life that has made Pittsburgh so pre-eminently a manufacturing center, and she tells the story of its commercial, industrial and cultural progress with the skill of a practiced writer. Pittsburgh is probably the most misunderstood city in the United States, and Miss Killikelly is entitled to cordial thanks for her entirely readable account.