COUNTY CHRONICLES: A VIVID COLLECTION OF PENNSYLVANIA HISTORIES, VOLUME IV. 2008 by Ceane O'Hanlon-Lincoln.

If you haven't yet read a chapter of the award-winning County Chronicles series, you haven't discovered how much fun reading history can be. Each volume of County Chronicles embraces a collection of short stories--true stories from Pennsylvania's thrilling past! The Keystone of the birth of our nation, Pennsylvania has much to relate to each and every American. Each Chronicle/chapter is meticulously researched, each self-contained and short enough to read in one sitting. The author uses no chronological order so that each volume's stories are varied.

Drawn from a spectrum of counties all across Pennsylvania, this fourth volume of the award-winning County Chronicles history series continues to be a vivid - readable - collection of Pennsylvania's true stories. Each chapter, written in conversational style and backed by meticulous research, is pure pleasure to read. The author not only reveals the true history, but takes you there. She has visited each site in Pennsylvania about which she has written, and has added information crucial to today's traveler--a perfect tour guide book.

Author O'Hanlon-Lincoln always believed that history books and historical novels would make a fine marriage, and this is, in essence, how she wrote County Chronicles. Everyone loves a good story well-told, and these Chronicles will not disappoint. As a true master storyteller, the author captures the reader's interest from the first page and holds it till the final page-turn. Ceane O'Hanlon-Lincoln breathes life into historical figures and events with language that captivates all the senses. Her readers don't just read about the history within County Chronicles' turning pages--they experience them!

Ceane (pronounced "Shawn") explains, "History is a collection of true stories, the most significant stories that ever unfolded. I tell history in a story-telling way because that is what history is-- a story; and If an author relates history the way it really unfolded, it is compelling, thrilling-- and unforgettable!"

THE READING LEVEL FOR COUNTY CHRONICLES IS 5TH GRADE THROUGH ADULT.

SEE "CONTENTS" SECTION FOR MORE INFORMATION.

• Ceane O’Hanlon-Lincoln is a native of Connellsville, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, though she resided in neighboring Westmoreland County’s Ligonier Valley for 18 years, where she taught high school French. Already engaged in commercial writing, she immediately began pursuing a career in writing history, as well as historical fiction. In 1987, O’Hanlon-Lincoln won honors at Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute, when two of her screenplays made the “top 25,” chosen from thousands of nationwide entries. In 1994, she optioned one of those scripts to Kevin Costner; the other screenplay, A Toast to Destiny, she adapted, with a fellow teacher, to a compelling mystery novel of the same title.

  Ceane has also had a poem published in Great Poems of Our Time. Winner of the Editor’s Choice Award, “The Man Who Holds the Reins” appears in County Chronicles II and in the fore of her anthology, Autumn Song.

  From 2000 to 2002, Ceane authored in her hometown newspaper, The Daily Courier, her own bimonthly column, “County Chronicles,” in which she focused on local history. County Chronicles– the series– is the result of the numerous requests for a compilation and continuation of her exciting Chronicles.

  In 2004, O’Hanlon-Lincoln won the prestigious Athena, an award presented to professional “women of spirit” on local, national and international levels. The talented author also won for her County Chronicles series two Citation/Special Recognition Awards from both the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and the Senate of Pennsylvania.

  Ceane shares “Tara,” her restored, century-old Victorian home, with her husband Phillip and their champion Bombay cats, Black Jade and Black Jack O’Lantern. Her hobbies include travel, nature walks, theater, film, antiques, and reading. Her latest book writing venture is a fictional series, The Sleuth Sisters.

Drawn from a spectrum of counties all across Pennsylvania, each volume of the award-winning COUNTY CHRONICLES history series continues to be a vivid - readable - collection of Pennsylvania's true stories. With Volume IV, amazingly, the award winning author has managed to outdo herself - her talent for writing has been honed to perfection. Each chapter, written in conversational style and backed by meticulous research, is pure pleasure to read. The author not only reveals the true history, but takes you there. She has visited each site in Pennsylvania about which she has written, and has added information crucial to today's traveler. In this book, as with all chapters in each of the five volumes, each Chronicle unfolds like a story, opening windows to the evermore fascinating past. Readers taking Ceane O'Hanlon-Lincoln's magic-carpet ride into COUNTY CHRONICLES Volume IV will be whisked to the old (and new) "Philadelphia, Birthplace of America," the place where Liberty was born. Next, they will come to know the very human side of Her Serene Highness, the Princess of Monaco, née Grace Patricia Kelly of Philadelphia, who is remembered not only for her great beauty but for her great and noble heart. In "The Old Hero of Gettysburg," readers will thrill to the story of John L. Burns, the only civilian who fought in the bloody battle that turned the tide of the Civil War. John was past seventy when, with his old flintlock rifle, bell-crown hat, and swallow-tailed coat, he faced the grey-clad enemy who invaded his peaceful valley. In "The Tragic Tale of Jennie Wade," readers will learn the poignant story of the only civilian to be killed during the terrible clash of Blue and Grey at Gettysburg. Jennie's is a heartrending tale of friendship and love. In "The White Buffalo," O'Hanlon-Lincoln discusses the phenomena of four rare white (non-albino) buffalo born within a short time span of each other, at each compass point within our nation, the last in the East, in the author's home county of Fayette. A sacred symbol to Native Americans everywhere, the White Buffalo carries an all-important message for America at large. Readers will enjoy in "The Stuff of Memories," a nostalgic trip down memory lane to the fabulous fifties, the last age of innocence in America. The exciting Chronicle entitled "Sometimes Even a Religion" will awaken for readers the thrills of the 1960 World Series, when the underdog Pittsburgh Pirates knocked the "invincible" New York Yankees from their lofty pedestal. Who could ever forget Bill Mazeroski's walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth? How about a little "Pennsylvania Potpourri" to flavor your read? Or perhaps a trip to the famed Black Forest of Pennsylvania in "The Forest Primeval"? In CC IV, there are heroes aplenty, such as "Barbaro, a Hero's Tale," the horse who captured America's heart; Margaret Mead, America's greatest anthropologist; "Harriet Lane, the Democratic Queen"; World War II heroes, as well as champions from the Civil War, and that is only scratching the surface. As with all previous and subsequent volumes, the chronicles of Volume IV open under beautiful cover art by Helen Alt. 245 pages, 7.5 x 10.5 Hardbound ISBN-13: 978-0-97605632-4; LCCN 2004107519. Be sure to check out the other four volumes!