BOOK EVENT: Tracing the History of Pittsburgh

Tracing the history of the dynamic period in which Pittsburgh rose from a remote outpost to an industrial powerhouse, the authors examine the many factors—both natural and human—that contributed to the success of multiple industries and generated enormous wealth. They expand this deceptively familiar history by tracking the lives of immigrants and African American migrants, who did not share in the rewards of growth, and describing efforts by labor unions, charitable groups, and reform organizations to mitigate the dreadful conditions in which poor laborers lived

They bring their analysis to bear on the contemporary situation by concluding that the class, religious, ethnic, and racial divides that thwarted resolution of inequalities in early-twentieth-century Pittsburgh continue to do so today.