Where We Keep the Light is Josh Shapiro's memoir that recalls the April 2025 arson attack on the Governor's Residence and the outpouring of community support that followed. In this excerpt, a consoling encounter at Salem Baptist Church prompts reflections on William Penn's 1682 vision for Pennsylvania and the enduring role of ordinary Americans in sustaining democracy. Shapiro ties personal faith, civic duty, and everyday acts of courage to the larger American story and argues that shared decency is how "we keep the light."
Where We Keep the Light — An Excerpt From Josh Shapiro’s New Memoir
/ Credit: Harper(Harper)
Where We Keep the Light by Josh Shapiro (Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers) is a reflective memoir that blends personal moments with civic themes of faith, community, and public service. Below is an edited excerpt from the book, reprinted with permission.
Excerpt
Five months after the April 2025 arson attack on the Governor's Residence, I was sitting in a pew at Salem Baptist Church when someone gently tapped my arm. She had been in the row opposite me—wearing a baby-pink T-shirt, sweatpants, and a matching baseball cap, ready to join the other church ladies on a fitness walk after the service. She was in her seventies and greeted me with a warm smile.
"Governor, I've been praying for you," she said. Her words moved me. "We will take care of you like you took care of me all those years ago and lifted me up." Tears gathered in her eyes as she told me that seventeen years earlier, when I represented this district in the state House, she and her husband had been struggling with medical benefits. She said I listened. She said my office found a way to help. Now, at a difficult moment for my family and me, she had come to church to pray and lift us up. I felt the powerful, renewing force of her prayers and the simple human connection to someone I had not seen in many years.
Those weeks after the attack often felt heavy and relentless—like walking through a long night. Yet amid the strain, what lingered most were small moments like the morning at Salem. The light was all around us: support poured in from across the country, strangers and neighbors alike affirming our shared decency and a common sense of right and wrong. Their compassion cut through the ugliness of the attack and reminded me who we are at our best.
On mornings like that, or when I visit a synagogue or any place of worship as part of my work, my thoughts return to William Penn. He arrived in 1682 aboard a ship named Welcome and envisioned a Pennsylvania open to all, grounded in free expression, religious freedom, fair elections, and mutual respect. I feel a responsibility to carry that vision forward—to travel a few more miles along the path Penn began and to keep this place warm and welcoming for everyone, regardless of how they look, where they come from, who they love, or who they pray to.
It is hard to imagine Penn predicting a governor who prays like I do, or a lieutenant governor who looks like Austin Davis, or that a Jewish governor would host a large iftar during Ramadan, fuss over having more and bigger Christmas trees at the Residence in December, or hold his son's bar mitzvah in that same space. Still, I suspect he would be proud of how far we have come.
Penn's commitment to faith and acceptance set something in motion that we must recover today. This is foundational to our nation. A band of patriots at Independence Hall in 1776 declared independence and set a course toward self-determination. Over two and a half centuries, our American story has been built by ordinary people—teachers, workers, activists, neighbors—who have demanded more, sought justice, and worked to build a better life for their children.
The story of our country has never been written solely by those with titles. It has been shaped by everyday people who believed in each other, raised their voices, and used their power for the common good. I have been privileged to know many of those people—those who appear in history books and the countless others whose quiet sacrifices and courage taught me how to serve, how to listen, and how to leave things better than we found them.
That is the American way: the bonds that lead us toward a more perfect union. Those connections—and the deeper relationship to faith they reflect—are where we keep the light when darkness threatens.
I have seen this in monumental moments and in small acts: the Founders gathering at Independence Hall, service members who risked everything to protect freedom, neighbors sitting at lunch counters to advance civil rights, parents and advocates transforming grief into action, workers standing up to corporate power, law enforcement risking their lives for their communities, and neighbors rebuilding after violence with love instead of hate. Those beliefs in a common good have propelled us forward and sustained hope for a brighter day.
Reprinted with permission from Where We Keep the Light. Copyright © 2026 by Josh Shapiro. Published by Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
About the Book
A full-length memoir, Where We Keep the Light: Stories from a Life of Service is available in hardcover, eBook, and audio formats. The book is noted as available January 27; Shapiro appears on CBS Sunday Morning with Norah O'Donnell on January 25. Audible is also offering a 30-day free trial for listeners.
Where To Buy
Buy locally from Bookshop.org or through major booksellers. For more information, see HarperCollins and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania: Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Help us improve.
