Everything you need to know about Ambridge, Pennsylvania is in the name. Once home to the American Bridge Company, Ambridge sits about 15 miles north of Pittsburgh, across the Ohio river from Aliquippa. To an outsider, it looks like any former steel town. But for Paul Hertneky, it's something else entirely.
"Sons and daughters lucky enough to feel attached to a distinct hometown know it works its way under our skin and into our being," writes Hertneky in his new book, "Rust Belt Boy: Stories of an American Childhood."
It's a memoir about growing up in a steel town as the U.S. lost its grip on the industry. The story is about Ambridge and Hertneky, but it will sound familiar to anyone who grew up during the industrial boom in Pennsylvania, and beyond. And for those who came of age or arrived after the bust, it provides context for those 'good old days' everyone's always talking about.
Keystone Crossroads is a new statewide public media initiative reporting on the challenges facing Pennsylvania's cities. WPSU is a participating station.
