Publisher: HPN Books

An illustrated history of the State of Pennsylvania, paired with histories of the local companies.

About William A. Pencak

William Pencak is Professor of History at the PennsylvaniaStateUniversity, where he teaches Pennsylvania and early American history.  He  edited the journal Pennsylvania History from 1994 to 2002.  His other works  include five co- edited volumes, all published by  and currently available from Penn State Press;   Pennsylvania: A History of the Commonwealth, a multi-authored volume of 650 pages with nearly 500 illustrations sponsored by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission; Friends and Enemies in Penn's Woods; Making and Remaking Pennsylvania's Civil War; Beyond Philadelphia: The American Revolution in the Pennsylvania Hinterland; and Riot and Revelry in Early America.   His most recent book, Jews and Gentiles in Early America: 1654-1800 will be published by the University of Michigan Press in 2005.  He has also written articles on Benjamin Franklin, the Pennsylvania Episcopal Church during the American Revolution, and French Travellers in Eighteenth-Century Pennsylvania.  His current major project is a history of the family of John Jay,  the first chief justice of the United States Supreme Court.  Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1951, he received his B.A. and Ph.D. in history from ColumbiaUniversity, and has held research fellowships at Duke and PrincetonUniversities and the Huntington Library in San Marino, California. Previously he taught at TuftsUniversity, the University of California at San Diego, and the University of Monterrey in Mexico as a Fulbright Professor.