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Pittsburgh: The Story of an American City

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As a lifelong resident of Pittsburgh and author of an upcoming guidebook to the area, I believe Pittsburgh: Story of An American City is a wonderful book for more than Pittsburghers.

This book lifts the lid on all our progressive city has to offer, it educates those who have outdated knowledge of Pittsburgh, and it makes a great gift book.

If that's not enough, it provides an ideal history lesson for all as Western Pennsylvania has many historic sights to see as well as splendid architecture!

After reading, you'll want to extend your next business trip to Pittsburgh, shop in more than our airport, and visit our family-friendly parks. Don't forget: Mister Rogers lives here! Your kids will love Idlewild Park, with the only life-size Neighborhood of Make-Believe.

If you can't be our neighbor, come see us. You won't be disappointed!

We landed at Pittsburgh International Airport a little after dusk, impressed with how the runways appeared to grow out of the natural contours of the land. We joined the flowing rush hour traffic as the comfortable limousine sped in towards the city. Joe, our driver, talked enthusiastically about the change from steel city to high tech city, the history of an era that changed from black to white, but nothing was to prepare us for what was to follow. As we escaped through the Fort Pitt tunnel the night light panorama left us breathless-this surely is one of the new post-modern views of a post-industrial age.

The purpose of our visit had everything to do with `The Book'; the style in which Pittsburgh's citizens would affectionately refer to Stefan Lorant's monumental opus Pittsburgh: the story of an American city. With an initial ten years in the making, first published in 1964 and revised in 1974, 1980 and 1988, Lorant was completing a fifth edition when he died in November 1997 just 100 days short of his 97th birthday. Twenty-five thousand copies of this new version, the `Millennium Edition' are now on the bookstalls due to the tenacity, talent and sheer hard work of Bruce and Gail Campbell who inherited the copyright. Lorant himself was tenacious, immensely talented, capable of recognising talent in others and certainly subscribed to the work ethic. It is intriguing to speculate why a Hungarian, a foreigner and stranger to the city could write such a volume, on the surface a notion to be easily dismissed but a reality that became spectacularly successful.

Stefan Lorant was born in Budapest on February 22nd, 1901 and died in Rochester, Minnesota on November 14th, 1997 at 96-years-of-age. He was a witness to the century with his life spanning a period of political turmoil, war and social change. Lorant became a legend within his lifetime. His work as a visual and literary editor allowed him to pioneer and develop the genré of picture based journalism at a period in time which saw the emergence of modern mass communications. Internationally he became a guiding force, disseminating his ideas and political knowledge throughout Europe in the late-twenties and thirties by working in Germany, Hungary and England, eventually spreading his sphere of influence to America where he introduced the concept of the pictorial biography. His innovative layouts, his `exclusive' interviews and thirst for knowledge became a familiar part of millions of everyday lives, largely through the pages of his own creations, and in particular the legendary media icon Picture Post. His vision of photography as a documentary medium inspired Life and Look magazines in America, and paved the way for the eventual emergence of the television documentary. For this he became recognised as `the father of picture journalism'.

Originally published in 1964, the first edition of Pittsburgh: the story of an American city is the mature Lorant at his most brilliant. `The Book' had a specific local audience as well as a wider interested public throughout America and that is reflected by the reviews of the first edition. Harrison E. Salisbury in The New York Times sees `The whole tumultuous story of Pittsburgh, magnificently illustrated... is presented in this volume... the study of the metamorphosis is all here-the bloody struggles of the nineteenth century, the grit and smoke, the politics, the toil, the sweat-the imagination.' Publishers' Weekly was equally congratulatory but in a different way. `It is certainly one of the most fascinating detailed picture histories yet attempted of any city anywhere. For readability, thoroughness (ten years of research went into it), graphic quality, and broad scope (it covers political and social history, daily life, labor problems, architecture and what have you), this is a model history of an American city.'

Lorant's Pittsburgh: the story of an American city is not just a biography of a city but a microcosm of the American peoples. Just ten or so days before he died in November 1997, Lorant complained that he only needed a good day to complete `The Book'. To be accurate Lorant's `good day' did not mean a working period of time between dawn and dusk, or any other measure within that 24-hour cycle. It was an infinitely variable amount of time necessary to complete the story to Lorant's satisfaction. He was not to have that `good day'. He had completed the layout for the new pages and commissioned the new photographs, most of which were in place. Picking up the editorial reigns, Gail and Bruce Campbell have produced this new edition with Bruce weaving the strands of the new final chapter from 1988 to the millennium which he entitles, `The best is yet to come'.

There are parallels with which Lorant would have been acquainted. Mozart's pupil Süssmayr, well appraised of his master's procedure and intentions completed the final masterpiece-Requiem in D minor. By comparison, the Campbell's share an affinity with Lorant's intentions and have produced a contemporary and forward looking vision which retains Lorant's classic composition.

Those of us who knew Lorant well, can still visualise him sat at his kitchen table in his farmhouse in Lenox with a copy of the new Millennium Edition open in front of him. For a while nothing would be said, though nothing would be missed. Eventually there would be a slight shrug of his shoulders, a nonchalant wave of his hands. `It is good, very good-but with my help, perhaps we could have made it ten percent better.' That would be praise indeed from this great Hungarian editor, for without question Lorant would have approved.

This is a `must-have' for any millennium book list!

If you were to write a love letter to a city, what would it look like? Pretty much like this book, a history in prose and photographs that is a true delight.

Lorant knows that most people from Pittsburgh love it. Most people who are born in Pittsburgh never leave it. Most people who live there for a time and then have to move on, come back to live there again. Why? The people.

Attitudinally speaking, it is the last of the Eastern Cities meeting the first of the Midwestern Cities, so Pittsburghers combine the tradition, culture and energy of the former with the welcoming warmth and openness of the latter. Lorant captures it all, and more. If you haven't read this book, open it and you will find yourself reminded of people and places--and smile.

The latest edition of Pittsburgh is an expertly crafted and beautifully photographed continuation of the Lorant chronicle. Although Mr. Campbell finished the work after Mr. Lorant's death, the new chapter flows with the Lorant style. The edition uses an impressive array of photos to help tell the story and give a sense of the kind of people who have remained at the hard work of rebuilding an industrial city. Like the editions before, the work emphasizes the positive about the city and concentrates on physical renewal. Yet you come away thinking that whatever its problems, people working together can come up with a solution. People from the area will like this book but others who believe in the importance of cities will find it interesting and instructive.

I'm not from Pittsburgh, but after reading this book I wish I was.

This book is Lorant's gift to the American city he loved, and the book reads and browses like a long love letter. The illustration is simply astonishing. Not only are the photographs drawn from distinguished and interesting primary archives, the original drawings and paintings, commissioned specifically for this volume, are superb.

Let's not forget the text. Henry Steele Commager wrote the introductory chapter about Pittsburgh's turbulent founding. Lorant wrote (most of) the rest. The best way to describe this book is as a chronological, narrative history with many well-placed illustrations. It is not a "coffee-table" picture book, nor is it a deeply-penetrating scholarly history of the city. It's written to be fun to read and popular, and it succeeds on both counts.

Lorant reveals an obvious interest in the development of local elites and their philanthropic activities, and dedicates many a page to a Carnegie, Mellon, or Heinz. This book, like Pittsburgh itself, will pleasantly surprise you.

This book is used in our 8th grade social studies classes, and although it has a 1999 date, it is quite comprehensive of Pittsburgh's history. It is, however, repetetive of previous editions, so if you own those,
this is a duplication with updates to 1999.

I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, graduated from Mt Lebanon H.S., and for two summers worked in US Steel's Homestead District Works. The last time I spent over a week in the city was 1966-- a few changes have occurred since then, and I was able to observe them on a return visit this week, the first time back since 1989.

To appreciate the changes, I re-read this wonderful book. It was a "de rigueur" purchase for many Pittsburghers, in 1964, the year it was published, for the rather high price of $12.50. It is a comprehensive work, containing numerous unique, quality pictures. The first chapter is by the eminent historian, Henry Steele Commager, who also starts at the beginning, when Pittsburgh was not much more than forts in the wilderness. There are subsequent chapters by others, including the book's editor, Stefan Lorant, on the city's growth from frontier status, and "gateway to the West," through the American Civil War. The heart of the book concerns what made Pittsburgh famous for so many years, and is now echoed only in the name of its professional football team - the steel industry. There are different chapters on its growth and consolidation after the Civil War, and the formation of the United States Steel Corporation by Andrew Carnegie. Labor strife, including that with immigrants from Eastern Europe, and the Homestead battle with the Pinkertons is recounted. The era of reform is also covered, inspired in part by the "muckraking era," and the conditions of labor improved, with rights and safety gaining increasing importance. But the central thrust behind the books publication was one of "boosterism," if I may dare use that word discredited by Sinclair Lewis. For me it was a good form of boosterism, when a mayor, David Lawrence, was able to lead the community's business leaders in an effort to "clean the city up." It is in the chapter on "rebirth." Pittsburgh had been notorious for "darkness at noon," the pollution from the steel mills literally turning day into night. With the energy and dedication of the "decision makers," all that changed, as pollution controls were put on the mills, and blue skies were again observed in the city.

The true strength of the book however are the pictures. The city attracted some of the greatest photographers of the age, including Margaret Bourke-White and W. Eugene Smith. The later captured the spirit of the poverty in the Hill district, as well as the magnificent images involved in the making of steel. On pages 365-66 are portraits of "the men who made Pittsburgh", and they are the workers, photographed by members of the Farm Security Administration (OK, perhaps working outside their original charge.) The FSA photos are an important legacy, and now that we teeter on the age of another Great Depression, one that could be reconsidered. On pages 434-35, for contrast, are the "Leaders in Industry and Business," every single one an old white man, a clear reflection of the standards of the era. On pages 440-41 there are pictures of the company plants of the era, the majority of which no longer exist. The greatest strength of the photographic sections are the ones of daily life in Pittsburgh, including a courtship scene in Schenley Park, and concluding with an alter boy, in full regalia, running down the steps after church to his family.

As appendixes, the book has an excellent chronology of the city's history, and a solid bibliography.

So I've just concluded a return visit to the city of my birth, after a 20 year absence. I stayed at a hotel in Homestead, on the site of the steel mill where I once worked. The entire area has changed beyond recognition, only the smokestacks of the old 45" slab mill remain as a reminder of that era gone by.

For any Pittsburgher concerned with the city's history, or for anyone interested in the transformations of an American city, including the decline of America's industrial base, this is an essential book for one's library.