Award-Winning Historian Nathaniel Philbrick, Author of THE RUSH, with Scott LaMar

Description

To kick off our Fall Authors’ Week, we are honored to host National Book Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist, historian NATHANIEL PHILBRICK, celebrating the release of his important new book, THE RUSH: California Gold, the Civil War, and the Making of the Modern World. It’s sweeping, brilliantly researched, and offers a new way to look at how the Gold Rush lit the long fuse to the Civil War. 

Join us on Monday, October 12th, 2026, at 7 PM. Nathaniel Philbrick will be in conversation with esteemed journalist and commentator, SCOTT LAMAR.

Advance purchase tickets recommended. General Admission. Doors will open at 6 PM for the 7 PM program. An audience Q&A will follow the speakers’ presentation.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In January 1848, a carpenter spotted flecks of gold in a shallow stream at Sutter’s Mill in California—triggering the greatest voluntary migration in U.S. history and jolting a fragile republic already sliding toward crisis. In The Rush, Nathaniel Philbrick transforms the Gold Rush from a tale of sudden riches into the origin story of America’s modern contradictions: capital consolidated at dizzying speed, democracy in thrall to private power, xenophobia weaponized in the name of liberty—and a stubborn belief in the American experiment that refuses to die. This is the story of a nation tearing at the seams—a republic tested by its own ideals.

From the feverish gold-mining camps of the Sierra Nevada mountains to the wharves and vigilance committees of San Francisco, Philbrick renders a combustible, all-world society: Chilean brothers reinventing themselves to outrun prejudice; Native communities navigating dispossession and violence; the merchant-showman Samuel Brannan, drawn into the center of early vigilantism; and the politicians vying for control of California’s future—the ambitious free-soil political boss David Broderick, who squared off against William Gwin, the Southern power broker intent on tilting the state toward slavery and the Confederacy. Not until a year after the outbreak of the Civil War, when President Lincoln signed legislation that would unite the nation east to west by building a transcontinental railroad, was California’s loyalty secured.

Philbrick follows the gold as it moves from riverbed to countinghouse to the halls of power, revealing how vigilantism hardened into law and how debates over slavery in the West tipped the balance in Washington. The result is a clear, human story of how a scramble for wealth reshaped ideas of freedom, labor, and belonging—and how California's rise helped push a fractured nation toward war. The Rush is alive with characters whose choices still reverberate: a searing, panoramic epic that captures both the fury and the promise of America.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nathaniel Philbrick is the author of In the Heart of the Sea, winner of the National Book Award; Mayflower, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; Valiant Ambition, winner of the George Washington Prize; Bunker Hill, winner of the New England Book Award; Travels with George; Away Off Shore; Second Wind; Sea of Glory; and The Last Stand.

ABOUT THE INTERVIEWER

Scott LaMar retired in 2025 after working in radio and television broadcasting for 45 plus years, as a talk show host, on-air anchor/report, and producer. He was the first Host and Executive Producer of The Spark program on WITF-FM, 89.5 & 93.3 in Harrisburg, PA. Previously, he was WITF TV’s Sr. Public Affairs producer and produced the station’s award-winning weekly public affairs TV program, Smart Talk.

In addition to on-air duties, LaMar has moderated political candidate debates, including those for candidates running for Pennsylvania governor and the U.S. Senate, and he was a regular contributor to BBC World News TV before and after the 2020 U.S. Presidential election. The American Society of Civil Engineers honored LaMar with their national Excellence in Journalism award in 2020. He has been nominated for five Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards. LaMar and The Spark have been lauded throughout the Central Pennsylvania community, receiving ADVOZ Lancaster’s “Dignity in Dialogue Award” and the South-Central Assembly’s “Regional Citizen Award,” and LaMar has been named a “Humanitarian Hero” by The Humane Society of the United States/Pennsylvania.

 

Part of our America’s 250th Literary Celebrations Series, and our Fall 2026 Authors’ Week.

Date & Time

Mon, Oct 12, 2026 7:00 PM

Venue Details

Midtown Scholar Bookstore-Cafe

1302 North 3rd Street
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17102

Midtown Scholar Bookstore-Cafe