News

Book Presentation The Caravaggio Syndrome (2024, Rutgers University Press) A novel by Alessandro Giardino, St. Lawrence University Translated into English by Joyce Myerson and Alessandro Giardino with a foreword by Ara Merjian, NYU. The author was in conversation with Annalisa Merelli, journalist, with an introduction by Elena Favilli, Founder and CEO of Rebel Girls. Watch the entire...

Leonard Lopate at Large spoke to Creating the Hudson River Park author Tom Fox. Take a listen to the full interview here: https://www.wbai.org/archive/program/episode/?id=49615

Jordan P. Howell of Rowan University, author of 2023's Garbage in the Garden State, joins the NJ Room to discuss the history of waste management in New Jersey. Acknowledging Earth Day 2024's them of "Planet vs. Plastics" special attention will be paid to New Jersey's history of recycling, and plastic recycling in particular. Howell's scholarship draws on the huge body of state and m...

For the 2024 Publishing Triangle Awards, nine books were recognized for their excellence. Follow the link here to see the rest of the books that were selected by the judges as the best of the best in LGBTQ+ literature published in 2023. The Judy Grahn Award honors the American writer, cultural theorist, and activist (b. 1940) best known for The Common Woman (1969), Another Mother Tongue (19...

How embedded are the dignity and personhood of the elderly in the collective memory of their nation? In Aging Nationally in Contemporary Poland: Memory, Kinship, and Personhood (Rutgers University Press, 2021) anthropologist Jessica C. Robbins-Panko dissects the Polish version of this story, in which the meanings and ideals both of “active aging” programs and of institutions devoted to med...

"Closter, NJ-Raised Muppeteer’s short but remarkable life chronicled in [Funny Boy]...The book explores the many facets of Hunt’s life and work as a member of the original team of Muppet performers, as a gay man, and as a Jersey boy who always looked out for his friends...Hunt might not be as well known to the public as Henson or Oz, but he was a key member of the Muppets ensemble." --NJ Month...

On January 24, 2024, the world lost an amazing human with the passing of Teresa Ann Politano. who served as the editor of Edible Jersey from 2017 to 2020. In addition to Teresa’s many professional accolades—author, editor, college professor—she was a beloved wife, mother, daughter, and sister, as well as an incredible mentor and friend to many, including myself. I first met Teresa in the fall ...

While there is a certain workmanlike swagger to Bruce Springsteen that clearly makes males of a certain age identify with him, The Boss certainly appeals to women just as much – but maybe for different reasons. A recent book, “Mary Climbs In: The Journeys of Bruce Springsteen’s Women Fans,” explored these reasons via talking to female Springsteen fans about their experiences. The book w...

New Brunswick, NJ (April 2, 2024) – STREET FIGHT: Sesame Workshop’s Audacious, Persistent, Subversive Counter-assault on Mean America is not a sequel. It is not a history. It is the story of Sesame Street, a company that is fighting for America’s children.  Michael Davis, author of the 2008 New York Times bestseller Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street has signed with...

"In this dreamy meditation, Giardino explores artistic dissatisfaction, personal resilience, and the intricacies of intimate relationships, all connected by the enigmatic allure of Caravaggio’s art...Giardino’s narrative prowess, coupled with Myerson’s fluid translation, makes for a subtle speculative work that lingers in the mind." --Publishers Weekly Read the full review here: https:/...

"[A] superb historical and sociological discussion of how and why Garbo did not fit Hollywood standards of beauty and then became the Hollywood standard of beauty." --The New York Sun Read the full review here: https://www.nysun.com/article/greta-garbo-and-beauty-by-the-book Ideal Beauty: The Life and Times of Greta Garbo is on sale now!

Congratulations to the Jordan SchnitzerFirst Book Publication Award Winners! These awards are given to Association for Jewish Studies member authors who have secured publishing contracts but require subventions to ensure publication of their first books. We are so pleased to announce this year's winners and their books: Samantha M. Cooper, American Jews and the Making of ...