From the late 1980s to the mid-1990s Philadelphia saw a long succession of sensational murder cases and trials. Gary Heidnik’s […]
About: Thom Nickels
From Peking to Philadelphia — The East, the West, and Pearl S. Buck
In 1938, the Swedish Academy shocked the American literary establishment by awarding the Nobel Prize for Literature to Pearl S. […]
Where formalwear meets flip-flops
Philadelphia is basically a “dress down” kind of town, where it’s not unusual to see theater and concert-going patrons in […]
Grace Kelly and the Irish connection
Several years ago I attended a Villanova University Irish Studies celebration at the Kelly House in East Falls. It was […]
Thom Nickels: Two Philadelphia mansions
Recently I received an invitation to give a lecture in November 2025 at Dunwoody Village in Newtown Square on my […]
Thom Nickels: Don’t ban books — or flags
As a kid I was a Civil War buff and loved visiting an old burned out Civil War era chapel […]
Thom Nickels: Travels in the Steel City
What about Pennsylvania’s other great city, the city of Pittsburgh? Is life in Pittsburgh better than life in Philadelphia? Is […]
Thom Nickels: The trash police
The current sanitation strike in the city got me thinking about the trash police that used to patrol the streets. […]
