America which, through twohundred years of letters to one town's newspapers, evokes the most memorable moments in our history and thepassions they engendered.Pennsylvania, have recorded their impressions of suchdramatic events of national significance as the ratification of the Bill of Rights, the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation,the rise of Andrew Carnegie.

The voices of America's past and present live on in this timeless portrayal of small-town America, which, through twohundred years of letters to one town's newspapers, evokes the most memorable moments in our history and thepassions they engendered.

Since the days of the Founding Fathers, the citizens of Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, have recorded their impressions of suchdramatic events of national significance as the ratification of the Bill of Rights, the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation,the rise of Andrew Carnegie, the assassinations of President John F and Senator Robert Kennedy, and the Clarence Thomas hearings--as well as their opinions on genuinely local concerns like building good schools and roads, seeing the sights atthe Bloomsburg Fair, romantic intrigue in a trailer park, and finding a home for a lonely puppy.

By turns hilarious and contemplative, here is a book so genuinely representative of the American experience that each page will bring memories of home and family, friends and neighbors, and our own hom etowns sharply--and honestly--into focus. Beneath it all, letters to the Editor is about how a community negotiates with itself, how it talks and how it listens.

Foreword by Gerard Stropnieky

Prologue

1. This Gentle Hint

2. New Nation New Ideas:1790-1810

3. Kids and Dogs

4. Setting the Record Straight

5. Flights and Fancy: The 1840s

6. "30 Seconds"

7. Women and Men: Courtship

8. Thanks to the Fair

9. Crime Log

10. Women and Men: Marriage

11. "30 Seconds": Trailer Court

12. The Breaking of the Bounds: 1861-1865

13. Thy Sons and Thy Daughters

11. "30 Seconds": Karaoke

15. Last Act/Last Hope

16. John Q. Timbrell

17. Boss K

18. Happy Holidays

19. Gumption

20. The Constant Tramp of Progress: 1890-1900

21. Citizen Abroad

22. God's Housecleaning

23. The President Is

24. A Silent Message

25. Standards of Behavior:The 1920s

26. A Town Tour: The 1930s

27. The Out-of-Towner vs. the Farmer

28. The Old Job

as. Women and Men: Sex in Society

3o. The Game

31. Happy Days: The 1950s

32. Lost and Found

33. The Fatal Death

34. "30 Seconds": Utterly Fed Up

35. 1970

36. One Million Years Behind

37. Catawissa Galileo

38. Earth Day

39. Mother Nature

no. Faith

41. Human Nature

42. No Harm Is Meant

43. Your Next-Door Neighbor

44. "30 More Seconds"

45. The ABCs

46. Parting Thoughts

Epilogue

Afterword: Letters to the Editor as Theatre of Place by Todd London

Bibliocraphy