Philadelphia

Paul Kahan is an expert on U.S. political, economic, and diplomatic history. He earned his Ph.D. in U.S. history from Temple University and lives outside of Philadelphia with his family. This is his seventh book. You can learn more about Dr. Kahan and his work at www.paulkahan.com.

"Philadelphia: A Narrative History delivers a deft and accessible narrative of one of America's oldest cities . . . . offers a clear-sighted, critical and sharp introduction to "The City of Brotherly Love."" - Isabel Steven (Pennsylvania Heritage) ""[A]mbitious [and] impressively researched."" (Los Angeles Review of Books) "Philadelphia has been waiting a long time to have its story told in a single compact volume. In this sharp and accessible history, Paul Kahan succeeds in identifying the grand forces that shaped the city's character and demonstrates how they still animate its behavior today-for both good and ill. This is the perfect introduction to understanding how Philadelphia became the city it is today." (Inga Saffron, Architecture Critic, Philadelphia Inquirer) "In this remarkably honest, astute, and forthright telling of Philadelphia's three-hundred-year history, Paul Kahan points to the interplay of promise and practice over time as the defining dynamic of Philadelphia, especially by tracking the constant push and pull between designs for public good and the interests of private gain, from William Penn's planned city to today. From the grand view of the city one sees from the City Hall watch tower to the nitty-gritty ground-level perspectives of the many and diverse peoples making its neighborhoods, Kahan's Philadelphia is, like America, organic and dynamic, never finished and always in the process of becoming, and very much worth knowing. A book of historical insight and contemporary currency, Philadelphia: A Narrative History will repay many readings." (Randall M. Miller, Co-Editor, The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia)