Keeping Tabs on Pittsburgh's History

If you're looking for a holiday gift that says "Pittsburgh," you can't do better than Frank Toker's new book: Pittsburgh: A New Portrait, recently published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. (Pop City ran a profile of the author, who teaches at Pitt, last week.) Weeks ago, one of my "Pittsburgh Renaissance" posts briefly noted that the apparent thesis of the book - that the city's neighborhoods have kept it going over the decades - isn't credible. But that argument isn't the strength of the book (thus the phrase "apparent thesis"); the book includes virtually no evidence to support the claim. But that debate is irrelevant to the real merits of the work. Frank Toker has produced a brilliant and meticulous cataloging of the city's 20th century architectural and planning history. No matter how long you have lived in the region, this book will teach you a lot about its past. The future, of course, is another story.

Meanwhile, if you are a Pittsburgh history junkie, then don't stop with Frank Toker. The Pitt Press has just published a neat book by another Pitt faculty author, my law school colleague Jim Flannery. Titled "The Glass House Boys of Pittsburgh Law, Technology, and Child Labor," the book details the history of child labor in Pittsburgh's glass bottle factories. Jim reminds a region obsessed with its glorious history that not all of Pittsburgh's history is so glorious after all.

Put both books on your holiday list.