books and culture
Hillbilly Elegy is far better than the politicized reviews suggest.
Arts and Culture
Politics and law
One Saturday afternoon this summer, following a hike in northeastern Pennsylvania’s Schuylkill County, my father and I stopped in Heckscherville, known locally as the Irish Valley, where my family had once made an annual pilgrimage. For many years, the remote village hosted a widely attended Irish festival, where descendants of the region’s immigrant coal miners celebrated their heritage, raised money for the local fire company, ate ethnic food, drank Yuengling beer, and sat in lawn chairs as “The Irish Lads” played ballads.