Founded in 1956, Penn State University Press publishes rigorously reviewed, high-quality works of scholarship and books of regional and contemporary interest, with a focus on the humanities and social sciences. The publishing arm of the Pennsylvania State University and a division of the Penn State University Libraries, the Press promotes the advance of scholarship by disseminating knowledge—new information, interpretations, methods of analysis—widely in books, journals, and digital publications.
Scholarly publishing has faced monumental challenges over the past few decades. The Press takes its place among those institutions moving the enterprise forward. Its innovative projects continue to identify and embrace the technological advances and business models that ensure scholarly publishing will remain feasible, and widely accessible, well into the future.
From 1951 until 1974, Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia was the site of thousands of experiments on prisoners conducted by researchers under the direction of University of Pennsylvania dermatologist Albert M. Kligman. While most of the experiments were testing cosmetics, detergents, and deodorants, the trials also included scores of Phase I ......
Images of waterways figure prominently in the art of Thomas Hart Benton (1889–1975). His depictions of rivers, streams, gullies, and creeks form a subgenre of American landscape painting, inviting us to rethink the artistic meaning and historical legacy of even the narrowest of inlets. Among Benton’s most significant representations ......
Late in his life T. S. Eliot, when asked if his poetry belonged in the tradition of American literature, replied: “I’d say that my poetry has obviously more in common with my distinguished contemporaries in America than with anything written in my generation in England. That I’m sure of. . . . In its sources, in its emotional ......
Published posthumously on the occasion of America's centennial celebration, George Lippard's Washington and His Generals, “1776” compiles into a single volume his five popular books of Revolutionary-era historical fiction. The first book, “The Battle-Day of Germantown,” features Lippard's hometown and George ......
Depicting his life from his childhood in Pennsylvania to his time as a public official, including his experiences recruiting and training his own troops for the Revolutionary War, Graydon's memoirs provide a unique and personal view of the American Colonial period. First published in 1811, his memoirs were not initially popular, probably ......
Reprinted from its 1918 edition, The Tale of a Plain Man by Alexis Stone details the memories of Pennsylvania's turn-of-the-century state governor. During the Civil War, the adolescent Stone ran off to enlist in the volunteer army beginning a military career, which he then followed into private education, law practice, and public ......
In Beyond the Pleasure Principle, Freud observed that the life-enhancing pleasure principle seems disrupted by something internal to the psyche. He took into account the possibility of a “death instinct” bent on returning the living organism to its origin of undifferentiated matter. In Beyond Pleasure: Freud, Lacan, ......
Since 9/11, America has presented itself to the world as a Christianist culture, no less antimodern and nostalgic for an idealized past than its Islamist foes. The master-narrative both sides share might sound like this: Once upon a time, the values of the righteous community coincided with those of the state. Home and land were harmoniously ......
How Penn State Came to Stop a Hurricane and Win a National Football Championship
The 1987 NCAA championship game between the Penn State Nittany Lions and the University of Miami Hurricanes is often considered the most memorable championship game in all of college football history. Both teams were undefeated going into the game, but the Hurricanes were heavily favored, as they had demolished each of their opponents during ......
