Founding Families of Pittsburgh - (Regional) by Joseph F Rishel (Paperback)

About the Book

A study of twenty wealthy upper-class families during Pittsburgh's growth into an important commerical and industrial center. It shows how they succeeded in creating the institutions needed to sustain a local aristocracy and possessed the ability to adapt its accumulated advantages to social and economic changes.

Book Synopsis

As Pittsburgh and its surrounding area grew into an important commercial and industrial center, a group of families emerged who were distinguished by their wealth and social position. Joseph Rishel studies twenty of these families to determine the degree to which they formed a coherent upper class and the extent to which they were able to maintain their status over time. His analysis shows that Pittsburgh's elite upper class succeeded in creating the institutions needed to sustain a local aristocracy and possessed the ability to adapt its accumulated advantages to social and economic changes.

Review Quotes

Rishel's book is an excellent, highly readable contribution to the literature on Pittsburgh and on the question of elites and social mobility.-- "Journal of American History"

Rishel's study is thought provoking, well researched, and well written. . . . Likely to become a classic in the study of American class and social mobility.-- "American Historical Review"

Traces the evolution of twenty of Pittsburgh's earliest families into an 'identifiable and homogeneous upper class.' Such a study adds to our understanding of the persistence of regional elites of the late revolutionary period through the nineteenth century. . . . Rishel has written a laudably readable book using quantitative analysis and, more importantly, has given us a very interesting look at the elite of a non-seaboard city.-- "Journal of the Early Republic"

About the Author

Joseph F. Rishel is professor of history at Duquesne University.