Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia

We've developed an expansive list of recommended reading on topics related to local history, architecture, social and cultural history, and preservation theory. Additionally, we've solicited book suggestions from our Preservation Alliance Tour Guides, and have some fun ideas for the architect or preservationist in your life.

2021 Lecture Series VIEW LIST (12 BOOKS)

Architectural History of Philadelphia and Local Authors VIEW LIST (45 BOOKS)

Real Philly History, Real Fast: Fascinating Facts and Interesting Oddities about the City's Heroes and Historic Sites

Jim Murphy

$18.95

$17.43

Philadelphia Builds: Essays on Architecture

Michael J. Lewis

$24.95

$22.95

The Battles of Germantown: Effective Public History in America

David W. Young

$29.95

At Home in the American Barn

James B. Garrison

$50.00

Digging in the City of Brotherly Love: Stories from Philadelphia Archaeology

Rebecca Yamin

$48.00

First City: Philadelphia and the Forging of Historical Memory

Gary B. Nash

$27.50

Architectural History of Philadelphia and Local Authors

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Local Architects VIEW LIST (18 BOOKS)

The Houses of Louis Kahn

William Whitaker and George H. Marcus

$70.00

Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture

$100.00

$92.00

Louis Kahn: Conversations with Students

Louis I. Kahn

$22.00

Louis Kahn: Essential Texts

Louis I Kahn

$24.95

$22.95

You Say to Brick: The Life of Louis Kahn

Wendy Lesser

$17.00

$15.64

The Philadelphia Area Architecture of Horace Trumbauer

Old York Road Historical Society and Rachel Hildebrandt

$31.99

$29.43

Local Architects

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Preservation History and Theory VIEW LIST (16 BOOKS)

Preservation and Social Inclusion

$33.60

A Richer Heritage: Historic Preservation in the Twenty-First Century

$45.00

$41.40

Historic Preservation, Third Edition: An Introduction to Its History, Principles, and Practice

Norman Tyler, Ilene R. Tyler, et al.

$39.95

The Past and Future City: How Historic Preservation Is Reviving America's Communities

Kevin C. Murphy and Stephanie Meeks

$32.00

Why Old Places Matter: How Historic Places Affect Our Identity and Well-Being

Thompson M. Mayes

$45.00

Why Preservation Matters

Max Page

$25.00

Preservation History and Theory

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Social and Cultural History VIEW LIST (21 BOOKS)

Black Charlestonians: A Social History 1822-1885

Bernard E. Powers

$29.95

Salut!: France Meets Philadelphia

Therese Dolan and Lynn Miller

$40.00

$36.80

The Nicest Kids in Town, 32: American Bandstand, Rock 'n' Roll, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in 1950s Philadelphia

Matthew F. Delmont

$35.94

At Home: A Short History of Private Life

Bill Bryson

$17.00

$15.64

Negro Building: Black Americans in the World of Fairs and Museums

Mabel O Wilson

$41.94

Building Character: The Racial Politics of Modern Architectural Style

Charles L. Davis

$55.00

Social and Cultural History

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Tour Guides Suggestions VIEW LIST (18 BOOKS)

The Middle-Class City: Transforming Space and Time in Philadelphia, 1876-1926

John Henry Hepp IV

$59.95

Robert Morris: Financier of the American Revolution

Charles Rappleye

$21.00

Rush: Revolution, Madness, and Benjamin Rush, the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father

Stephen Fried

$20.00

$18.40

The Heart of the City: Creating Vibrant Downtowns for a New Century

Alexander Garvin

$30.00

Ed Bacon: Planning, Politics, and the Building of Modern Philadelphia

Gregory L. Heller

$26.50

The Private City: Philadelphia in Three Periods of Its Growth

Sam Bass Warner Jr

$26.50

Tour Guides Suggestions

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General Architectural History VIEW LIST (20 BOOKS)

Barn: Preservation and Adaptation, the Evolution of a Vernacular Icon (Revised)

David Larkin, Alexander Greenwood, et al.

$45.00

Another City: Urban Life and Urban Spaces in the New American Republic

Dell Upton

$55.00

Architecture in the United States

Dell Upton

$27.95

American Architecture: A Thematic History

Dell Upton

$77.94

Historical Building Construction: Design, Materials, & Technology

Donald Friedman

$59.95

Illustrated Dictionary of Historic Architecture

$34.95

$32.15

General Architectural History

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Historical Fiction Set in Philadelphia VIEW LIST (11 BOOKS)

Crossing the Line

Lynn Miller

$17.99

Fever 1793

Laurie Halse Anderson

$8.99

$8.27

Philadelphia Fire

John Edgar Wideman

$17.00

$15.64

2 A.M. at the Cat's Pajamas

Marie-Helene Bertino

$15.00

Skippack School

Marguerite De Angeli

$16.98

$15.62

Kitty Foyle

Christopher Morley

$31.14

Historical Fiction Set in Philadelphia

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Urban Development VIEW LIST (10 BOOKS)

Segregation by Design

Jessica Trounstine

$24.99

$22.99

Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time

Jeff Speck

$17.00

$15.64

Design After Decline: How America Rebuilds Shrinking Cities

Brent D. Ryan

$32.50

The University & Urban Revival: Out of the Ivory Tower and Into the Streets

Judith Rodin

$42.50

Not in My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped a Great American City

Antero Pietila

$28.95

$26.63

Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America's Black Cities

Andre M. Perry

$24.99

$22.99

Urban Development

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Books for Kids and the Young At Heart VIEW LIST (17 BOOKS)

Brick: Who Found Herself in Architecture

Joshua David Stein

$16.95

$15.59

Home

Carson Ellis and Carson Ellis

$17.99

$16.55

Prairie Boy: Frank Lloyd Wright Turns the Heartland Into a Home

Barb Rosenstock and Christopher Silas Neal

$17.99

$16.55

The World Is Not a Rectangle: A Portrait of Architect Zaha Hadid

Jeanette Winter

$18.99

$17.47

Iggy Peck's Big Project Book for Amazing Architects

Andrea Beaty and David Roberts

$14.99

$13.79

The Story of Buildings: From the Pyramids to the Sydney Opera House and Beyond

Patrick Dillon and Stephen Biesty

$19.99

$18.39

Books for Kids and the Young At Heart

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2020 Lecture Series VIEW LIST (6 BOOKS)

William Penn: A Life

Andrew R. Murphy

$34.95

$32.15

The Grid and the River: Philadelphia's Green Places, 1682-1876

Elizabeth Milroy

$64.95

Boathouse Row: Waves of Change in the Birthplace of American Rowing

Dotty Brown

$35.00

Vintage Neon

Len Davidson

$59.95

Becoming Philadelphia: How an Old American City Made Itself New Again

Inga Saffron

$29.95

$27.55

Preservation of Modern Architecture

Theodore H. M. Prudon

$130.00

2020 Lecture Series

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