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 tickets include a SIGNED 1st Edition Hardcover copy of THE RUSH. Doors open at 6 PM for the 7 PM program, on the Midtown Scholar Bookstore’s MainStage. 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.

We are delighted to welcome RICHARD CHIZMAR back to the Midtown Scholar, to celebrate the October release of KILLING THE BOOGEYMAN, the thrilling conclusion to his horror trilogy. Chizmar will be in conversation with author ALAINA URQUHART, who recently published THE BUTCHER LEGACY, a Dr. Wren Muller Novel.

Join us during Fall Authors’ Week for this thrilling evening, Tuesday, October 13th, 2026. Doors will open at 6 PM for the 7 PM program on the Midtown Scholar Bookstore’s MainStage. Advance purchase tickets encouraged. General Admission. Entry for 1-2 people is included with your PRE-SIGNED Book/Ticket purchase.

About the BooK, Killing the Boogeyman

The terrifying horror trilogy finale to the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling series that includes Chasing the Boogeyman and Becoming the Boogeyman from “one of horror’s indispensable writers” (Paste).

Notorious serial killer Joshua Gallagher—dubbed “the Boogeyman” by the media—has vanished from prison. One moment, he was locked inside a maximum-security cell; the next, he was gone, leaving behind on the wall a crude hangman puzzle and two chilling words: IT’S TIME.

Now, days later, the world is coming apart again. Bodies are turning up near writer and Gallagher confidante Richard Chizmar’s home, echoing the Boogeyman’s signature horrors. The news frenzy reignites while the police chase shadows...even as Gallagher’s twisted true crime fanbase celebrates online, acknowledging that he’s something more than human now.

To everyone else, it’s a desperate hunt for answers. To Chizmar, it’s more like destiny closing in. The evidence, the sightings, the voices in the dark all point to one unthinkable conclusion: the Boogeyman never left. And very soon, Chizmar must come face-to-face with the thing wearing Gallagher’s skin, and learns all too quickly that some nightmares don’t return—they evolve.

“Richard Chizmar delves deep into our worst fears and touches the darkness that lives there.” —S. A. Cosby

About the Author, Richard Chizmar

Richard Chizmar is the author of New York Times bestselling novels Chasing the Boogeyman, Becoming the Boogeyman, Memorials, and Widow’s Point: The Complete Haunting (cowritten with son, W.H. Chizmar), and coauthor (with Stephen King) of the New York Times bestselling novella Gwendy’s Button Box, the novel Gwendy’s Final Task, and the solo novella Gwendy’s Magic Feather. His short fiction has appeared in dozens of publications, most recently, the bestselling anthology, The End of The World as We Know It: New Stories of Stephen King’s The Stand. He is the founder and publisher of the specialty press publisher of horror and dark suspense, Cemetery Dance. He has won two World Fantasy awards, four International Horror Guild awards, and the HWA’s Board of Trustees award. Chizmar’s work has been translated into more than fifteen languages throughout the world, and he has appeared at numerous conferences as a writing instructor, speaker, panelist, and guest of honor. Follow him on X, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky: @RichardChizmar, or visit his website at RichardChizmar.com.

About the InterviEwer, Alaina Urquhart

Alaina Urquhart is the instant #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Dr. Wren Muller series which has been published internationally in over twenty languages. When she isn’t writing, she is also the cohost of the chart-topping podcast Morbid, and an autopsy technician by trade. Alaina hails from Boston, where she lives with her husband and their three daughters.

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

EvEnt Tickets have SOld out. We Will make available a link for pre-ordering SIGNED copies of FIGHT OR FLIGHT, for in-store pickup or mail order. Check back here for The link.

Join DIARY OF A WIMPY KID author (and host), Jeff Kinney, as he celebrates the release of his latest book with a knock-out, interactive stage show, set to EGGSPLODE with fun for the whole family!

For audience members who aren’t too chicken, they may be a contender in the ring on stage for a series of hilarious, head-to-head challenges. Expect feathers to fly, funny jabs to be thrown and maybe a fowl or two!

What are you waiting for? Scramble to get your tickets before the final bell!

* ADVANCE-PURCHASE TICKETS REQUIRED FOR ENTRY *

Ticketing options include 1 or 2 signed books with admission for 1 or 2 people.

Each child requires an admission ticket and must be accompanied by a paying adult.

SHOW LOCATION: Harrisburg’s Scottish Rite Cathedral

2701 North 3rd Street, Harrisburg, PA 17110

Doors will open at 5pm for the 6pm show.

FREE PARKING included with your ticket.