The Battle of Homestead Foundation presented a book talk event "Beyond Steel" by local author Christopher Briem. He spoke about Pittsburgh and the Economics of Transformation. This event was held at the Pump House, Homestead, Pennsylvania on June 8, 2026.
PRODUCED BY documentary filmmaker Pauline Greenlick, “A Hobo in the Great Depression” looks at the 1932 travel diary by East Vandergrift, PA steelworker Joseph Szalanski (1910-1940) published by his son in 2010 as “Boarding The Westbound” – https://www.wordassociation.com/produ…
Original music by Mike Stout; narration by Mike Firek
“This unique book is both a history and a testament. As a history it covers the era of the Depression and the unfolding effect of the early twentieth century immigrations on American society, the labor movement and the generation that followed. Joseph Szalanski is a spokesman for that generation. The testament is a hobo-diary painstakingly written day by day by his father—a man who lived the Depression and lived through it. Together the history and the testament (plus a select gathering of photographs) give us a portrait of an era that is as central to American life as it is incomparable and unforgettable.” — Samuel Hazo, Director of the International Poetry Forum.