Historical Nonfiction Author
Historical Nonfiction Author
Behind the scenes of historical research, archival finds, and commentary from Andy McPhee on air pollution, anatomy, medical history, and the writing life.
Latest
July 1, 2025
We know a lot about the effects of industrial smoke on health, but not much on wildfire smoke. Here's why wildfires can be so fatal, even years later.
July 1, 2025
We know a lot about the effects of industrial smoke on health, but not much on wildfire smoke. Here's why wildfires can be so fatal, even years later.
June 2, 2025
What effects will Trump's continued rollbacks of air pollution control regulations have on our health?
October 22, 2024
Apparently I’m most interested in writing true stories about events that, in essence, center on moral contradictions. My first trade book, Donora Death Fog: Clean Air and the Tragedy of
May 12, 2024
No, not the TV show, the anatomy textbook. Known far and wide as Gray’s Anatomy, and still published today by Elsevier, Henry Gray could not have found success without his
October 23, 2023
"Our scientists tell us that the Donora episode was a rare phenomenon. We hope and pray it will never recur. This study by the Public Health Service into the Donora
October 14, 2023
Cuddled along a bend in the Monongahela River in southwestern Pennsylvania, across from the industrial town of Donora, Webster once boasted a population of about two thousand. Anyone traveling up
September 30, 2023
Just south of Careopolis, Pennsylvania, the Ohio River splits at the northernmost tip of a long skinny island and joins together again about five miles later. The island, Neville Island,
April 4, 2023
When you write a true story of an event, you always gather information you’d like to include in the final version but just can’t. Such was the case with one
March 11, 2023
Seeing and feeling your newly printed book isn't the same as saving someone's life, but it's close.
