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As a young man living in the Anthracite coal region of Pennsylvania, it seemed Ed Walsh’s course in life was set. But he emerged from the hardscrabble life of the mines to become one of the Deadball Era’s greatest pitchers, winning fame, world championships, and eventually induction to the Hall of Fame. This biography closely describes Walsh’s life and 14-year playing career, with special discussion of the spitball, a pitch that profoundly affected his fortunes–and ultimately his arm. The years 1905-1911 are explored in depth, especially his contributions to the 1906 world champion White Sox and his prominent role in the now-famous 1908 pennant race. Chapters are also devoted to his holdout in 1909, the athletic careers of his sons Bob and Ed, and his repeated attempts at comebacks after his arm injury.

by Alice Patterson Patience, 71 pages, Paperback  Alice Patterson Patience, wife of famous coal sculptor C. Edgar Patience writes of her experiences living in the Wyoming Valley from 1916-1998. Alice discusses the evolution of the Valley, the fall of the coal industry, and what it meant to be a black woman growing up in NEPA. The book also features a detailed genealogy of the Patterson and Patience families. 

Coal County Connections: How finding an 1800s autograph album led to a quest to find its signers in coal patch towns of northeastern Pennsylvania By Melanie Akren-Dickson   “Coal miners, Midwestern schoolteachers, Civil War veterans, and the daughters of a Philadelphia industrial magnate – what could they possibly have in common? In the 1880s-19s they all signed Mary Boyd’s autograph album.  Mary lived in a coal patch town in the anthracite coal fields of northeastern Pennsylvania and over the course of 14 years she had those around her fill her album. Using online records, historical documents, newspaper articles, and family records, an amazing amount of information was found about the neighbors, friends, and family who signed Mary’s Album. Those Who lived in the region of the coal breakers were hardy, resilient people.  Discovering the life stories of those who signed Mary’s album gives us a fascinating glimpse into the world in which they lived. Previously titled “This, Their Friendship’s Monument”, this revised edition has over 60 additional images and is now in color.”

With Coal Region Hoodoo, Maxim W. Furek continues his exploration of high strangeness inside the Pennsylvania wormhole that gave birth to The Night of the Living Dead, The Blob, and The Philadelphia Experiment. His journey takes us beyond the netherworlds of Centralia, Sheppton, Chestnut Ridge, and The Pennhurst Asylum. It looks into the eyes of demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren and the twisted souls of serial killer Gary Heidnik and con artist Richard Sharpe Shaver while exploring the preternatural secrets of Bigfoot, cryptids, Kecksburg, The Smurl Haunting, Pennsylvania Dutch Powwowing, and Roman Catholic Mysticism.