front cover of Artists of Wyeth Country
Artists of Wyeth Country
Howard Pyle, N. C. Wyeth, and Andrew Wyeth
W. Barksdale Maynard
Temple University Press, 2021

Few artists have ever been so beloved—or so controversial among art critics—as Andrew Wyeth. The groundbreaking book Artists of Wyeth Country presents an unauthorized and unbiased biographical portrait of Wyeth, based on interviews with family, friends, neighbors—even actress Eva Marie Saint.  Journalist W. Barksdale Maynard shines new light on the reclusive artist, emphasizing Wyeth’s artistic debt to Howard Pyle as well as his surprising interest in surrealism. The book is filled with brand-new information and fresh interpretations.
 
Artists of Wyeth Country also comprises the first-ever guidebook to the artistic world of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, center of the Brandywine Tradition begun by Howard Pyle. Six in-depth tours for walking or driving allow the reader to stand exactly where N. C. and Andrew Wyeth stood, as has never been fully possible before.
 
As Maynard explains, Andrew Wyeth’s artistic process was influenced by Henry David Thoreau’s nature-worship and by his habit of walking daily. Newly commissioned maps, rare aerial photographs, as well as glorious full-color images and artworks of the landscape (many never reproduced before) illustrate the text.
 
A fascinating exploration of the world of Andrew Wyeth, Artists of Wyeth Country is sure to become an essential new source for those who love American art as well as for admirers of the scenic landscapes of the Mid-Atlantic, of which the Brandywine Valley is an exceptional example. As a rare, unauthorized biography of Andrew Wyeth, it opens the door for an entirely new understanding of the American master.
 

 

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Asbury Park's Glory Days
The Story of an American Resort
Pike, Helen-Chantal
Rutgers University Press, 2007
Winner of the 2005 New Jersey Author Award for Scholarly Non-Fiction from the New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance

Long before Bruce Springsteen picked up a guitar; before Danny DeVito drove a taxi; before Jack Nicholson flew over the cuckoo's nest, Asbury Park was a seashore Shangri-La filled with shimmering odes to civic greatness, world-renowned baby parades, temples of retail, and atmospheric movie palaces. It was a magnet for tourists, a summer vacation mecca-to some degree New Jersey's own Coney Island.

In Asbury Park's Glory Days, award-winning author Helen-Chantal Pike chronicles the city's heyday-the ninety-year period between 1890 and 1980. Pike illuminates the historical conditions contributing to the town's cycle of booms and recessions. She investigates the factors that influenced these peaks, such as location, lodging, dining, nightlife, merchandising, and immigration, and how and why millions of people spent their leisure time within this one-square-mile boundary on the northern coast of the state. Pike also includes an epilogue describing recent attempts to resurrect this once-vibrant city.
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At the Glacier’s Edge
A Natural History of Long Island from the Narrows to Montauk Point
Betsy McCully
Rutgers University Press, 2024
Vast salt marshes, ancient grasslands, lush forests, pristine beaches and dunes, and copious inland waters, all surrounded by a teeming sea. These are probably not the first things you imagine when you think of Long Island, but just beyond its highways and housing developments lies a stunning landscape full of diverse plant and animal life. 
 
Combining science writing, environmental history, and first-hand accounts from a longtime resident, At the Glacier’s Edge offers a unique narrative natural history of Long Island. Betsy McCully tells the story of how the island was formed at the end of the last ice age, how its habitats evolved, and how humans in the last few hundred years have radically altered and degraded its landscape. Yet as she personally recounts the habitat losses and species declines she has witnessed over the past few decades, she describes the vital efforts that environmental activists are making to restore and reclaim this land—from replanting salt marshes, to preserving remaining grasslands and forests, to cleaning up the waters. At the Glacier’s Edge provides an in-depth look at the flora, fauna and geology that make Long Island so special.
 
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Battlefield Pennsylvania
A Guide to the Keystone State's Most Sacred Ground
Brady J. Crytzer
Westholme Publishing, 2018
A History of Pennsylvania through Places of Conflict, from George Washington’s Fort Necessity to the Flight 93 Memorial
Pennsylvania is a battlefield. Fort Necessity. Brandywine. Gettysburg. The Homestead Strike. Flight 93. In many ways battlefields are like scars on the landscape. They remind us that history is real, and their effects stay with us forever. In Battlefield Pennsylvania: A Guide to the Keystone State’s Most Sacred Ground, award-winning historian Brady J. Crytzer takes the reader on a fascinating tour of over three hundred years of Pennsylvania history through twenty-nine of the state’s most significant battlegrounds, based on his popular Pennsylvania Cable Network television program. The author shows that debates and neighborly disputes have been present throughout the history of William Penn’s “Peaceable Kingdom,” but that battles are not the natural resolution of these conflicts; they are a failure of the system. Understanding how these systems break down and descend into violence and chaos is one of the most important purposes of this book. When the forces of Britain and France met on the battleground of North America, they each waged war in the name of a vision—a defense of the future, not merely the present. The same can be said for the Indian warriors and settlers of the backcountry, and the striking workers of the industrial age. When the young men of the American Civil War era donned the Butternut and Blue, they were not just fighting over a hill or a railroad junction, but for an American future. Illustrated with maps and period and contemporary images, Battlefield Pennsylvania presents each event through background information, a description of the battle itself, the legacy of the battle, and what a visitor can see today. Rather than viewing preserved battlefields as a hollow tribute to days gone by, the author demonstrates that these sites are a great inheritance provided by past generations, and just as they entrusted them to us, we will entrust them to future generations as well. 
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Beaches, Bays, and Barrens
A Natural History of the Jersey Shore
Eric G. Bolen
Rutgers University Press, 2024
The Jersey Shore attracts millions of visitors each year, drawn to its sandy beaches. Yet New Jersey’s coastline contains a richer array of biodiverse habitats than most tourists realize, from seagrass meadows to salt marshes to cranberry bogs. 
 
Beaches, Bays, and Barrens introduces readers to the natural wonders of the Jersey Shore, revealing its unique ecology and fascinating history. The journey begins with the contributions and discoveries of early naturalists who visited the region and an overview of endangered species and natural history, followed by chapters that explore different facets of the shore’s environments. These start with sandy beaches and dunes and culminate in the engaging Pine Barrens, the vital watershed for much of the state’s varied coastline. Along the way, readers will also learn about whaling, decoy carvers, an extinct duck, and the cultivation of wild blueberries.
Including over seventy color photographs, the book also features twenty-three infoboxes that go deep into areas of ecological or historical interest, such as the Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge or the Jaws-like shark attacks of 1916. From Cape May to Sandy Hook, biologist Eric G. Bolen takes you on a guided tour of the Jersey Shore’s rich ecological heritage.  
 
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Borscht Belt Bungalows
Memoirs Of Catskill Summers
Irwin Richman
Temple University Press, 2003
Every year between 1920 and 1970, almost one million of New York City's Jewish population summered in the Catskills. Hundreds of thousands still do. While much has been written about grand hotels like Grossinger's and the Concord, little has appeared about the more modest bungalow colonies and kuchaleins ("cook for yourself" places) where more than 80 percent of Catskill visitors stayed.These were not glamorous places, and middle-class Jews today remember the colonies with either aversion or fondness. Irwin Richman's narrative, anecdotes, and photos recapture everything from the traffic jams leaving the city to the strategies for sneaking into the casinos of the big hotels. He brings to life the attitudes of the renters and the owners, the differences between the social activities and swimming pools advertised and what people actually received. He reminisces about the changing fashion of the guests and owners—everything that made summers memorable.The author remembers his boyhood: what it was like to spend summers outside the city, swimming in the Neversink, "noodling around," and helping with the bungalow operation, while Grandpa charged the tenants and acted as president of Congregation B'nai.
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The Bronx
The Ultimate Guide to New York City's Beautiful Borough
Ultan, Lloyd
Rutgers University Press, 2015
Often overlooked by most tourists and locals alike, the Bronx—one of five boroughs that comprise the city of New York—is rich in cultural and historical attractions. From the Bronx Zoo (the largest urban zoo in the United States) to the New York Botanical Garden (one of the most visited botanical gardens in the world), this borough has something for everyone. Visitors can explore historical locations (including where George Washington slept and where Edgar Allan Poe lived and worked), watch a game in one of the most famous baseball stadiums in the United States—Yankee Stadium—and sample delicious Italian food in New York’s real “Little Italy” on Arthur Avenue and New England style seafood at City Island along the edge of Long Island Sound. Author and foremost historian of the Bronx Lloyd Ultan and educator Shelley Olson have teamed up to create a handy guidebook with detailed maps that will provide all the information prospective visitors need for planning their adventures to famous and little-known sites, including the hours, admission fees, and directions to featured attractions.
 
The Bronx—which includes thirty-six color photographs—provides visitors with informative chapters on more than twelve of the borough’s extraordinary destinations as well as self-guided walking tours of some of the most ethnically, architecturally, and historically diverse neighborhoods. History buffs will find beautifully preserved eighteenth- and nineteenth-century homes, the Hall of Fame for Great Americans (which pays homage to many familiar faces in American history), and Woodlawn Cemetery (the final resting place for prominent Americans including Duke Ellington, Joseph Pulitzer, Gloria Vanderbilt Whitney, and Thomas Nast). In addition to the botanical garden, nature lovers can enjoy the beautiful Pelham Bay Park and Van Cortlandt Park. The Bronx also highlights the surprising number of art galleries, museums, and performance venues that visitors are sure to enjoy, further demonstrating the borough’s cultural prominence. .
 
 
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The Brooklyn Experience
The Ultimate Guide to Neighborhoods & Noshes, Culture & the Cutting Edge
Freudenheim, Ellen
Rutgers University Press, 2016
From Paris to Rio, everyone’s curious about hot, new Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Experience, Ellen Freudenheim’s fourth comprehensive Brooklyn guidebook, offers a true insider’s guide, complete with photographs, itineraries, and insights  into one of the most creative, dynamic cities in the modern world. 
 
Walk over the Brooklyn Bridge at dawn or sunset, discover thirty-eight unique Brooklyn neighborhoods, and experience the borough like a native. Find out where to go to the beach and to eat great pizza, what to do with the kids, how to enjoy free and cheap activities, and where to savor Brooklyn’s famous cuisines. Visit cool independent shops, greenmarkets, festivals, and delve into the vibrant new cultural scene at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Barclays Center, and the lively exploding neighborhoods of DUMBO, Williamsburg, and Bushwick.
 
Included in the book are essays and the pithy, sometimes funny comments of sixty cultural, literary, and culinary movers and shakers, culled from exclusive interviews with experts from the James Beard Foundation to the cofounder of the famous Brooklyn Book Festival, as well as MacArthur “genius” award winners, to young entrepreneurs, hipsters, and activists, all of whom have something to say about Brooklyn’s stunning renaissance.  Neighborhood profiles are rich in user-friendly information and details, including movies, celebrities, and novels associated with each neighborhood. There are also 800 listings of great restaurants, bars, shops, parks, cultural institutions, and historical sites, complete with contact information.  

Targeting the independent, curious traveler, The Brooklyn Experience includes a dozen “do-it-yourself” tours, including a visit to Woody Allen’s childhood neighborhood, and amazing Revolutionary and Civil War sites. 
 
Freudenheim draws clear—and sometimes surprising—connections between old and new Brooklyn. Written by an author with an astounding knowledge of all Brooklyn has to offer, The Brooklyn Experience will guide both first-time and repeat visitors, and will be a fun resource for Brooklynites who enjoy exploring their own hometown. 
 

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Catskill Culture
A Mountain Rat'S Memories Of
Phil Brown
Temple University Press, 2003
A century ago, New Yorkers, hungry for mountain air, good food, and a Jewish environment combined with an American way of leisure, began to develop a resort area unique in the world. By the 1950s, this summer Eden of bungalow colonies, summer camps, and over 900 hotels had attracted over a million people a year. This was the Jewish Catskills of Sullivan and Ulster Counties. Born to a small hotel-owning family who worked for decades in hotels after losing their own, Phil Brown tells a story of the many elements of this magical environment. His own waiter's tales, his mother's culinary exploits as a chef, and his father's jobs as maitre'd and coffee shop operator offer a backdrop to the vital life of Catskills summers. Catskill Culture recounts the life of guests, staff, resort owners,entertainers, and local residents through the author's memories and archival research and the memories of 120 others. The Catskills resorts shaped American Jewish culture, enabling Jews to become more American while at the same time introducing the American public to immigrant Jewish culture. Catskills entertainment provided the nation with a rich supply of comedians, musicians, and singers. Legions of young men and women used the Catskills as a springboard to successful careers and marriages. A decline for the resort area beginning in the 1970s has led to many changes. Today most of the hotels and bungalow colonies are gone or in ruins, while other communities, notably those of the Hasidim, have appeared. The author includes an appendix listing over 900 hotels he has been able to document and invites readers to contact him with additional entries.
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Coastal Landscapes
South Jersey from the Air
Kenneth W. Able
Rutgers University Press, 2023
New Jersey has roughly one hundred and thirty miles of coastline, including a wide array of habitats from marshes to ocean beaches, each hosting a unique ecosystem. Yet these coastal landscapes are quite dynamic, changing rapidly as a result of commercial development, environmental protection movements, and of course climate change. Now more than ever, it is vital to document these landscapes before they disappear. 
 
Based on numerous aerial images from helicopter and drone flights between 2015 and 2021, this book provides extensive photographs and maps of the New Jersey coast, from the Pine Barrens to the ocean beaches. The text associated with each exceptional image describes it in detail, including its location, ecological setting, and relative position within the larger landscape. Author Kenneth Able, director of the Rutgers University Marine Field Station for over thirty years, has thoroughly ground-truthed each image by observations made through kayaks, boats, and wading through marshes. Calling upon his decades of expertise, Able paints a compelling portrait of coastal New Jersey’s stunning natural features, resources, history, and possible futures in an era of rising sea levels. 
 
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Discover the Hidden New Jersey
Roberts, Russell
Rutgers University Press, 1995

Did you know—

—that a New Jerseyan was the first president of the United States?
—that New Jersey was the site of the first organized college football game?
—that New Jersey was the location of one of the most devastating espionage attacks of World War I?
—that the heroics of a New Jersey woman saved thousands of people from dying of yellow fever?

These and other fascinating stores can be found in Discover the Hidden New Jersey, a treasury of New Jersey stories that celebrate the unique heritage and importance of the Garden State. Russell Roberts has scoured New Jersey, from High Point to Cape May, to bring readers a delightful potpourri of facts, essays, lists, photos, stories, and legends about New Jersey. Readers will learn how New Jersey used to be the center of the motion picture universe, the origin of the Jersey Devil and other popular tall tales, where Norman Mailer and Abbot & Costello were born, where Aaron Burr and Leo, the M-G-M lion, lie buried, and much more. Learn about the geology of New Jersey, find out about the state’s ever-changing weather, and hear about some of the best places to go for the day. All this and more is in Discover the Hidden New Jersey, the ultimate New Jersey book.

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Envisioning New Jersey
An Illustrated History of the Garden State
Lurie, Maxine N
Rutgers University Press, 2016
Winner of the 2018 Award of Merit and the 2018 Leadership in History Award from the American Association for State and Local History
Winner of the 2017 New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance Author Award


See New Jersey history as you read about it! Envisioning New Jersey brings together 650 spectacular images that illuminate the course of the state’s history, from prehistoric times to the present. Readers may think they know New Jersey’s history—the state’s increasing diversity, industrialization, and suburbanization—but the visual record presented here dramatically deepens and enriches that knowledge.
 
Maxine N. Lurie and Richard F. Veit, two leading authorities on New Jersey history, present a smorgasbord of informative pictures, ranging from paintings and photographs to documents and maps. Portraits of George Washington and Molly Pitcher from the Revolution, battle flags from the War of 1812 and the Civil War, women air raid wardens patrolling the streets of Newark during World War II, the Vietnam War Memorial—all show New Jerseyans fighting for liberty. There are also pictures of Thomas Mundy Peterson, the first African American to vote after passage of the Fifteenth Amendment; Paul Robeson marching for civil rights; university students protesting in the 1960s; and Martin Luther King speaking at Monmouth University. The authors highlight the ethnic and religious variety of New Jersey inhabitants with images that range from Native American arrowheads and fishing implements, to Dutch and German buildings, early African American churches and leaders, and modern Catholic and Hindu houses of worship. Here, too, are the great New Jersey innovators from Thomas Edison to the Bell Labs scientists who worked on transistors. 
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Exploring Nature's Bounty
One Hundred Outings Near New York City
Rosenfeld, Lucy D
Rutgers University Press, 2012

When lifelong friends Lucy D. Rosenfeld and Marina Harrison set off on their outings in the region, they are always on the lookout for the gifts that nature offers. Exploring Nature’s Bounty, their ninth collaboration, invites us to share the rich array of agricultural delights they’ve discovered within a two-hour radius of New York City—from beautiful vineyards to the latest in hydroponic greenhouses to peach-filled orchards to community farms and historic sites. 

The places chosen all welcome visitors who will see first hand the art of agriculture, pick their own produce, help out on the farm, or simply enjoy being outdoors so close to the city. Many of them are off-the-beaten-track locations where readers and their families can walk among rows of grapes, cornstalks, apple trees, and so much more. The sites range from traditional fruit orchards to greenhouses filled with water-grown tomatoes and basil to neatly ordered herb gardens in historic settings. Local vineyards make wineries fun and glamorous places to visit, whether on the North Fork of Long Island or in the Hudson Valley. Some venues focus on crop preservation—the American chestnut, for example—while others introduce readers to honey making and maple sugaring. Those interested in taking classes or seeing demonstrations will find places to do just that, and many activities are geared toward children, from corn mazes to hayrides to pumpkin picking.  

Rosenfeld and Harrison provide a list of festivals featuring local produce and, at the end of the book, a guide to choosing an outing that will best fit readers, their families, and their taste buds. Directions are provided in each write-up as well as information on schedules, guided tours, and walks within many of the sites.

Exploring Nature’s Bounty focuses on the natural, the organic, the sustainable, and the close-at-hand. By avoiding places overrun with commercialism, it helps readers create their own adventures, enjoy time with family and friends, and connect to the farms that nourish us all.  

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Exploring Philly Nature
A Guide for All Four Seasons
Bernard S. Brown
Temple University Press, 2022

Do snakes and salamanders fascinate you or make you squeamish? Have you ever listened closely to the birds chirping in your neighborhood? Can you identify the flowers growing in Philadelphia’s urban parks? (Moreover, are the mushrooms safe to eat?) Exploring Philly Nature is amateur naturalist, urban herper,* and Grid contributor Bernard Brown’s handy guide to experiencing the flora and fauna in Philly. 

This compact illustrated volume contains 52 activities from birding, (squirrel) fishing, and basement bug-hunting to joining a frog call survey and visiting a mussel hatchery. Brown encourages kids (as well as their parents) to connect with the natural world close to home. Each entry contains information on where and when to participate, what you will need (even if it is only patience), and tips on clubs and organizations to contact for access.

The city and its environs contain a multitude of species from the lichen that grows on gravestones or trees to nocturnal animals like opossums, bats, and raccoons. Exploring Philly Nature is designed to get readers eager to discover, observe, and learn more about the concrete jungle that is Philadelphia.

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Exploring the Little Rivers of New Jersey
James and Margaret Cawley
Rutgers University Press, 1993
A completely revised edition of this classic guide! Exploring the Little Rivers of New Jersey—first published in 1942—has become a classic, every canoeist's traveling companion and a delight to countless other people who enjoy in imagination or memory the outdoor world of New Jersey. By the way of the little rivers, James and Margaret Cawley introduced generations of canoeists and armchair explorers to a quiet, beautiful world of forests and fields, songbirds and wildflowers, towpaths and villages rich in history. Today, you can still explore this "other New Jersey" via the state's little rivers and many miles of canal—through the Pine Barrens, state and county parks, farmlands, suburbs, and crowded cities.

In this fourth edition, the Little Rivers Club has brought the Cawleys' work up to date. This group of experienced canoeists dedicated themselves to re-exploring familiar waterways and adding new ones. Faithful to the Cawley spirit, this edition includes new maps, many new photographs, a directory of canoe liveries, tips of planning a trip, a loving portrait of the Cawleys, and, best of all, twenty-four beautiful waterways to discover.

Featuring 166 photos, 22 maps, and these rivers:
  • Batsto
  • Cedar Creek
  • Delaware and Raritan Canal
  • Great Egg Harbor River
  • Hackensack
  • Manasquan River and Inlet
  • Maurice
  • Millstone
  • Mullica
  • Musconetcong
  • Oswego River and Lake
  • Passaic
  • Paulins Kill
  • Pequest
  • Ramapo-Pompton
  • Rancocas
  • South and North Branches of the Raritan
  • Toms
  • Wading
  • Black-Lamington
  • Cohansey River, Raceway, and Sunset Lake
  • Crosswicks Creek
  • Metedeconk
  • Stony Brook
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Forgotten Towns of Southern New Jersey
Beck, Henry
Rutgers University Press, 1983
Composed, for the most part, from sketches that were published in the Courier-Post newspapers of Camden, New Jersey, Beck provides us with a series of stories of towns too tiny or uncertain for today's maps.  Together, these sketches help to create a more complete picture of the history of New Jersey.  A connecting skein of untold or little known wartime history--the Revolution, the War of 1812, and the conflict of North against South--runs through most of the sketches.  Many of the sketches concern the pine towns and their people, "the pineys" who lived in the Jersey pine barrens.
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The George Washington Bridge
Poetry in Steel
Michael Aaron Rockland
Rutgers University Press, 2008
Since opening in 1931, the George Washington Bridge, linking New York and New Jersey, has become the busiest bridge in the world, with 108 million vehicles crossing it in 2007. Many people also consider it the most beautiful bridge in the world, yet remarkably little has been written about this majestic structure.

Intimate and engaging, Michael Rockland's rich narrative presents perspectives on the GWB, as it is often called, that span history, architecture, engineering, transportation, design, the arts, politics, and even post-9/11 mentality. Stunning archival photos, from the late 1920s when the bridge was built through the present, are a powerful complement to the bridge's history. Rockland covers the competition between the GWB and the Brooklyn Bridge that parallels the rivalry between New Jersey and New York City. Readers will learn about the Swiss immigrant Othmar Ammann, an unsung hero who designed and built the GWB, and how a lack of funding during the Depression dictated the iconic, uncovered steel beams of its towers, which we admire today. There are chapters discussing accidents on the bridge, such as an airplane crash landing in the westbound lanes and the sad story of suicides off its span; the appearance of the bridge in media and the arts; and Rockland's personal adventures on the bridge, including scaling its massive towers on a cable.

Movies, television shows, songs, novels, countless images, and even PlayStation 2 games have aided the GWB in becoming a part of the global popular culture. This tribute will captivate residents living in the shadow of the GWB, the millions who walk, jog, bike, skate, or drive across it, as well as tourists and those who will visit it some day.
  • First major book on the George Washington Bridge
  • Full of amazing facts about the GWB that will surprise even bridge historians
  • Includes over 30 spectacular illustrations, ranging from archival photographs of the building of the bridge to those that show it draped in an enormous flag after 9/11
  • Includes personal accounts of the author's adventures on the bridge
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Great Dishes from New Jersey's Favorite Restaurants
Caparulo, Vicki J.
Rutgers University Press, 2003
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A Guide to the Great Gardens of the Philadelphia Region
Adam Levine
Temple University Press, 2007
Finally, for every resident and visitor to the region, a comprehensive guide to the gardens of eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and northern Delaware.  Magnificently illustrated with nearly 200 full color photographs, A GUIDE TO THE GREAT GARDENS OF THE PHILADELPHIA REGION provides essential information on how to locate and enjoy the finest gardens the area has to offer.

As the horticultural epicenter of the United States, Philadelphia and the surrounding towns, suburbs, and countryside are blessed with more public gardens in a concentrated area than almost any other region in the world.  Stretching from Trenton, New Jersey  through Philadelphia and down to Newark, Delaware, this area (often called the Delaware Valley) offers more horticultural riches than a visitor can possibly see even in a coupl of weeks of hectic garden-hopping.

In A GUIDE TO THE GREAT GARDENS OF THE PHILADELPHIA REGION  you will find:

Detailed coverage of almost 100 gardens

Maps to indicate where area gardens are in relation to each other to plan day trip itineraries

Key information about each major garden, including hours, fees, time needed for a tour, history, acreage, and special features

Over a dozen gardens that have never before been featured in any garden guidebook

Arranged by interest, to help guide readers to gardens that will most meet their needs

Notations about historical houses, cafes/restaurants, gift shops, and chidren's features at each major garden
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Hiking the Road to Ruins
Daytrips and Camping Adventures to Iron Mines, Old Military Sites, and Things Abandoned in the New York City Area...and Beyond
Steinberg, David A
Rutgers University Press, 2015
In this easy to use, informative, and occasionally eccentric guidebook, David A. Steinberg blazes the trail to more than twenty-five unusual landmarks and hard-to-find destinations that are mostly within a two-hour drive of New York City. Suitable for the experienced hiker or camping adventurer—as well as anyone who has the desire to explore—Hiking the Road to Ruins includes many new ruins and historic sites to see: remnants of the two World’s Fairs in Queens, mysterious stone chambers scattered about northern Westchester County, winter adventuring in Harriman, and quarries that contain amazing artifacts. 

In this new edition, Steinberg adds four additional chapters and has revised throughout the book to include detailed directions, GPS coordinates to specific sites, a hand-drawn map, and suggestions for the optimal time and season to visit. Having led many types of hikes and trips over the past fifteen years, Steinberg leaves no part of the trip unplanned. He even suggests ideal conditions for outings. An overcast day, for instance, sets up the haunted atmosphere appropriate for visiting a water tower in Mountainside, New Jersey, that has links to a murder-suicide in the 1970s. 

Newcomers will gain experience as they make their way through the book, which includes a chapter on equipment and safety, detailed instructions on how to program a hand-held Global Positioning System receiver, and a glossary of terms. 

Both a practical guide and a creative chronicle, Hiking the Road to Ruins will inspire everyone to hit the trail in search of adventure.
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The Hudson
An Illustrated Guide to the Living River
Stephen P. Stanne
Rutgers University Press, 2021
Since 1996, The Hudson: An Illustrated Guide to the Living River has been an essential resource for understanding the full sweep of the great river's natural history and human heritage. This updated third edition includes the latest information about the ongoing fight against pollution and environmental damage to the river, plus vibrant new full-color illustrations showing the plants and wildlife that make this ecosystem so special.
 
This volume gives a detailed account of the Hudson River’s history, including the geological forces that created it, the various peoples who have lived on its banks, and the great works of art it has inspired. It also showcases the many species making a home on this waterway, including the Atlantic sturgeon, the bald eagle, the invasive zebra mussel, and the herons of New York Harbor. Combining both scientific and historical perspectives, this book demonstrates why the Hudson and its valley have been so central to the environmental movement. 
 
As it charts the progress made towards restoring the river ecosystem and the effects of emerging threats like climate change, The Hudson identifies concrete ways that readers can help. To that end, royalties from the sale of this book will go to the non-profit environmental advocacy group Hudson River Sloop Clearwater, Inc.
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Insight Philadelphia
Historical Essays Illustrated
Finkel, Kenneth
Rutgers University Press, 2018
Each of the nearly 100 essays in Insight Philadelphia tells a succinct, compelling, and little-known tale of the city’s past. Some stories are quirky, like how early gas stations were designed to resemble classical temples, or the saga of how a museum acquired a 2000-year-old Greek statue, then had it demolished with a sledgehammer. Other stories turn serious, exploring the tragic deaths of child laborers in the city’s textile mills and a century-old case of racial profiling that led to a stationhouse murder. Historian Kenneth Finkel introduces readers to the many brave souls and colorful characters who left their mark on the city, from the Irish immigrant “coal heavers”—who initiated the nation’s first general strike—to the teenage Josephine Baker making a flashy debut on the Philadelphia stage.
 
Illustrated with scores of rare archival images, Insight Philadelphia will give readers a new appreciation for the people and places that make the City of Brotherly Love so unique. 
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Jersey Genesis
The Story of the Mullica River
Beck, Henry
Rutgers University Press, 1983
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The Jersey Shore
The Past, Present & Future of a National Treasure
Mazzagetti, Dominick
Rutgers University Press, 2018
In The Jersey Shore, Dominick Mazzagetti provides a modern re-telling of the history, culture, and landscapes of this famous region, from the 1600s to the present. The Shore, from Sandy Hook to Cape May, became a national resort in the late 1800s and contributes enormously to New Jersey’s economy today. The devastation of Hurricane Sandy in 2012 underscored the area’s central place in the state’s identity and the rebuilding efforts after the storm restored its economic health. 

Divided into chronological and thematic sections, this book will attract general readers interested in the history of the Shore: how it appeared to early European explorers; how the earliest settlers came to the beaches for the whaling trade; the first attractions for tourists in the nineteenth century; and how the coming of railroads, and ultimately automobiles, transformed the Shore into a major vacation destination over a century later. Mazzagetti also explores how the impact of changing national mores on development, race relations, and the environment, impacted the Shore in recent decades and will into the future. Ultimately, this book is an enthusiastic and comprehensive portrait by a native son, whose passion for the region is shared by millions of beachgoers throughout the Northeast.   
 
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Looking for America on the New Jersey Turnpike
Gillespie, Angus K
Rutgers University Press, 1992
Two American Studies professors from Rutgers University here show how the New Jersey Turnpike--that "ugly icon,'' America's "widest and most traveled'' road--has found its way into the minds, if not the hearts, of artists and drivers alike. In poet Allen Ginsberg, singer Bruce Springsteen, commuters and roadside home owners lulled to sleep by its drone of traffic, this 12-lane asphalt monster has inspired powerful reactions, from admiration to anger. The authors consider the first asparagus patch plowed up to lay the road; the $70,000 salary a contemporary toll-taker can earn with hefty overtime; and the not infrequent lawlessness of the highway patrol. From the gray-flannel-suit diligence that built it, to the mixture of necessity, practicality and venality that maintains it, the New Jersey Turnpike proves to be an enthralling though unlikely subject.
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Looking for America on the New Jersey Turnpike, Second Edition
Angus Kress Gillespie
Rutgers University Press, 2024
A twelve-lane behemoth cutting through the least scenic parts of the Garden State, the New Jersey Turnpike may lack the romantic allure of highways like Route 66, but it might just be a more accurate symbol of American life, representing the nation at both its best and its worst.
 
When Angus Gillespie and Michael Rockland wrote Looking for America on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1989, they simply wanted to express their fascination with a road that many commuters regarded with annoyance or indifference. Little did they expect that it would be hailed as a classic, listed by the state library alongside works by Whitman and Fitzgerald as one of the ten best books ever written about New Jersey.
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The Making of American Resorts
Saratoga Springs, Ballston Spa, and Lake George
Corbett, Theodore
Rutgers University Press, 2001
What factors create a successful resort? How did the rise of lavish hotels and spas reflect the changing values of American society as the nineteenth century progressed? Historians have argued that resorts were created to meet the demands of a leisured social elite. Theodore Corbett offers a fresh, compelling argument, demonstrating that resorts created and re-created themselves to keep pace with changing times. Success came with anticipating demands, not just reacting to them.
 
Using an impressive variety of historical documents, Corbett focuses on the conditions underlying the rise—and the demise—of the resorts at Ballston Spa and Caldwell on Lake George. Both towns’ major landlord–developers saw tourism as only one vehicle that could lead to success. As a result of their divided policies, neither town invested in the proper infrastructure to make tourism an immediate succes. Both places were soon overshadowed by Saratoga Springs, which became the premier resort of the upper and middle class.
 
Due to complex interwoven influences, Saratoga Springs was able to supply the amenities needed to attract and retain the patronage of the well heeled. The town provided visitors with lavish hotels, parks, public squares, pleasure gardens, and convenient service alleys. Saratoga Springs also had a work force that was available for the five-month period per year that the spas were active. Corbett examines the history and participation of various ethnic groups in the resort’s service sector: African Americans, Irish, and Native Americans.
 
Corbett also stresses middle-class America’s emulation of the leisure habits of the English aristocracy. Even though these pursuits (hunting, fishing, horse racrting) were dominaterd by men, social rituals were dominated by women, and resorts that accommodated “public domesticity” thrived as the century progressed. The Making of American Resorts offers a window into shifting public values and the structure of commercial tourism.

 

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The Mouse Who Played Football
Written by Brian Westbrook Sr. and Lesley Van Arsdall
Temple University Press, 2022

Some folks think Brian the mouse is too small. He may be a tough little fella, but they are not sure Brian has what it takes. The Mouse Who Played Football, by former Philadelphia Eagles running back Brian Westbrook Sr. and sports reporter Lesley Van Arsdall, shows how Brian the mouse proves everyone wrong with unyielding confidence that his small size can be his strength.

This charming children’s book, featuring appealing and dynamic illustrations by Mr. Tom, demonstrates how Brian the mouse overcomes what others see as a “big problem.” His determination—as well as speed and toughness on the gridiron—helps him become a star player in high school, college, and eventually, the MFL, the Mouse Football League.

The Mouse Who Played Football, based on Westbrook’s own experiences,is an inspiring story that encourages young readers to believe in themselves and make their unique differences their strengths.

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New Brunswick, New Jersey
The Decline and Revitalization of Urban America
Listokin, David
Rutgers University Press, 2016
While many older American cities struggle to remain vibrant, New Brunswick has transformed itself, adapting to new forms of commerce and a changing population, and enjoying a renaissance that has led many experts to cite this New Jersey city as a model for urban redevelopment. Featuring more than 100 remarkable photographs and many maps, New Brunswick, New Jersey explores the history of the city since the seventeenth century, with an emphasis on the dramatic changes of the past few decades.
 
Using oral histories, archival materials, census data, and surveys, authors David Listokin, Dorothea Berkhout, and James W. Hughes illuminate the decision-making and planning process that led to New Brunswick’s dramatic revitalization, describing the major redevelopment projects that demonstrate the city’s success in capitalizing on funding opportunities. These projects include the momentous decision of Johnson & Johnson to build its world headquarters in the city, the growth of a theater district, the expansion of Rutgers University into the downtown area, and the destruction and rebuilding of public housing. But while the authors highlight the positive effects of the transformation, they also explore the often heated controversies about demolishing older neighborhoods and ask whether new building benefits residents. Shining a light on both the successes and failures in downtown revitalization, they underscore the lessons to be learned for national urban policy, highlighting the value of partnerships, unwavering commitment, and local leadership. 
 
Today, New Brunswick’s skyline has been dramatically altered by new office buildings, residential towers, medical complexes, and popular cultural centers. This engaging volume explores the challenges facing urban America, while also providing a specific case study of a city’s quest to raise its economic fortunes and retool its economy to changing needs.
 
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New Jersey Day Trips
A Guide to Outings in New Jersey and Nearby Areas of New York, Pennsylvania, and Delaware
Sarver, Patrick
Rutgers University Press

Shades of F. Scott Fitzgerald roam Princeton as lads and lasses walk the well-clipped paths between venerable university halls, while russet leaves flutter overhead from rows of sturdy trees. Visions of knights and their fair maidens come to mind as explorers wander around Lambert Castle, an 1892 sandstone and granite mansion that looms like a medieval fortress with rounded towers and turrets on a hillside below the cliffs of the Garret Mountain Reservation. For art lovers who like to stroll on lush lawns and enjoy the beauty around them, Grounds for Sculpture is the place to be seen in New Jersey. And, then there's always the 127 miles of beach along the state's east coast that make perfect day trips for swimming, boating, fishing, and other fun activities.

Now in a revised and expanded 12th edition, New Jersey Day Trips offers everyone a fascinating journey through hundreds of tourist attractions in all corners of the Garden State. Plus, this comprehensive resource explores the most popular points just beyond the state's borders. Patrick Sarver has updated most entries and added more than twenty new points of interest to an already extensive list of destinations, making this the most sought-after guidebook about New Jersey. Attractions can be located easily by subject category, letting travelers zero in on places that appeal to them. Entries include descriptions, hours of operation, location, price range, telephone numbers, and Web sites, making this best seller a one-stop source of discovery for day trippers of all ages--an ideal travel guide for adults or families who live in or plan to visit New Jersey..

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New Jersey Fan Club
Artists and Writers Celebrate the Garden State
Kerri Sullivan
Rutgers University Press, 2022
Despite the many jokes and stereotypes about New Jersey and its residents, in reality the state is a wildly diverse place, home to a vast variety of landscapes, cultures, and people. There is no singular New Jersey experience, and the stories that its residents have to share about the state will surprise you.
 
New Jersey Fan Club: Artists and Writers Celebrate the Garden State is an eclectic anthology featuring personal essays, interviews, and comics from a broad group of established and emerging writers and artists who have something to say about New Jersey. It offers a multifaceted look at the state’s history and significance, told through narrative nonfiction, photographs, and illustrations.
 
New Jersey Fan Club is edited by Kerri Sullivan, founder of the popular Instagram account Jersey Collective (@jerseycollective), which features weekly takeovers by different New Jerseyans. This book functions the same way: it gives dozens of different contributors the chance to share what New Jersey looks like to them. The book is an exploration of how the same locale can shape people in different ways, and it will inspire readers to look at the Garden State with fresh eyes and appreciate its bounty of beautiful places and vibrant spaces.
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New Jersey for Kids
Sarver, Patrick
Rutgers University Press, 2012

Many parents in the Garden State are familiar with Great Adventure in Jackson, the boardwalk at Point Pleasant, and the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, but do they know about Kindermusik in Teaneck, the Young Chef’s Academy in Hillsborough, or the Buehler Challenger and Science Center in Paramus?

In New Jersey for Kids, Patrick Sarver provides parents with a handy reference guide offering hundreds of educational and entertaining ideas for children and their parents to explore and enjoy. Activities are designed specifically for kids ages 12 and under and cover a wide array of fun ways to enrich their intellectual lives, build their athletic skills, express themselves creatively, or just have room to play. The activities covered include:

  • Robotics workshops
  • Themed tea parties
  • Plays and performances for children
  • Museum tours, special exhibits, and programs for kids
  • Pony rides and horseback riding lessons
  • Specialized summer camps
  • Arts and crafts classes
  • Gymnastics classes
  • Zoos and nature activities
  • Hockey, soccer, and baseball clinics
  • Acting and dancing lessons
  • Play centers with slides, ball pits, and bounce castles

Busy parents no longer need to spend hours surfing the Web and scouting out resources to find nearby activities their kids might enjoy. New Jersey for Kids puts this information right in the palms of their hands. Chapters are organized by category so it is easy to locate just the right activities to suit an individual child’s interests, whether it’s a fun way to spend an afternoon or a class that might inspire a lifelong passion. Along with descriptions and commentary, listings include recommended age ranges, handicap accessibility, and estimated durations of activities as well as practical information on hours, price ranges, Web sites, and phone numbers.

 

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New Jersey State of Mind
Peter Genovese
Rutgers University Press, 2020
No state has been so frequently mocked, maligned, or misunderstood as New Jersey. Yet the state is filled with amazing places and people who rarely receive the media attention they deserve. For the past twenty years Star-Ledger columnist Peter Genovese has been one of the rare voices singing the praises of his state’s hidden wonders and gritty charms.

For this new book, Genovese spent months scouring the state for rich stories and fascinating locations. New Jersey State of Mind takes us on a journey to over twenty-five of these places and introduces us to the colorful characters who live and work there, from a demolition derby driver to a female craft brewer, and from a Cuban celebrity chef to a Portuguese pig breeder. He also reveals the many natural wonders that have earned New Jersey its “Garden State” nickname, from cranberry bogs to river tours to wild bird sanctuaries.

Collectively, these pieces paint a picture of a diverse state full of hard-working individuals who care for their communities. This book cuts through the myths and stereotypes surrounding the state and reveals the proud beating heart of the real New Jersey.
 
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New Jersey's Coastal Heritage
A Guide
Di Ionno, Mark
Rutgers University Press, 1997

Most people see the Jersey Shore as sun, sand, and surf . . . and hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the Garden State Parkway. But theres much more to the Shore!Long before the first hotel, miniature golf range, and amusement pier were built, explorers, sailors, and settlers were drawn to New Jerseys coast and left their mark upon it.

In this book, Mark Di Ionno invites you to join him in discovering New Jerseys rich and varied coastal heritage. Hell take you on a personal tour to explore the Sandy Hook Lighthouse and Spermaceti Cove Station, admire offbeat collections of saltwater taffy boxes and sand art in Atlantic City, spend an afternoon at Brigantine and unravel the legend of Captain Kidd, marvel at the skills of Tuckertons boatbuilders, discover New Jerseys own version of the Boston Tea Party in Greenwich, and find inspiration at Ocean Grove, a Methodist meeting place.

Organized by county and amply illustrated with photographs and maps, the guides entries give directions and information about hours, programs, and accessibility, and, above all, lively descriptions of the local history and cultural traditions that make each place special. Di Ionno includes many sites on the National Park Services Coastal Heritage Trail, but roves beyond the Trail to highlight a host of other wonderful museums, buildings, byways, and landmarks that could not be incorporated into the official trail.

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New York
Elizabeth L. Bradley
Reaktion Books, 2015
From the Big Apple to the City that Never Sleeps, New York has many identities. It is a melting pot of peoples and cultures, a capital of finance and commerce, and a mecca of fashion, art, and entertainment. It is home to the United Nations Headquarters and Wall Street, and it is the destination for millions of tourists each year. But outside of the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty, where does one even start? In this concise and witty guide from a native New Yorker, Elizabeth L. Bradley mixes history with high and low culture to make sense of this city for visitors and armchair travelers alike.
           
Tracing the development of New York City from a Dutch trading post to the cultural capital of the world, Bradley provides brief histories of each of the five boroughs and introduces the city’s most important—and colorful—personalities. In addition to a rich account of the city’s past, she offers a series of ruminations on themes germane to New York today, describing its natural landmarks, unnatural gin joints, immigrant enclaves, and even its many noises. All along she includes thoughtful, eclectic lists of where to eat, drink, and shop, as well as what to see and do.
           
Exploring the features that make New York both inimitable and extraordinary, this generously illustrated guide is a lively and engaging look at this ever-shifting archipelago.
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The Other Jersey Shore
Life on the Delaware River
Michael Aaron Rockland
Rutgers University Press, 2024
River otters, black bears, and red foxes drink from its clear waters. Prickly pear cacti grow from the red shale cliffs that overlook it, while on the river near Bordentown lies the archeological remnants of a sprawling estate built by the former King of Spain, Napoleon’s brother, who lived there for almost twenty years. You might imagine this magical and majestic waterway is located in some faraway land. But in fact, it’s the backbone and lifeblood of the Garden State: the Delaware River.
 
The Other Jersey Shore takes readers on a personal tour of the New Jersey portion of the Delaware River and its surroundings. You will learn about the role that the river played in human history, including Washington’s four crossings of the Delaware during the Revolutionary War. And you will also learn about the ecological history of the river itself, once one of the most polluted waterways in the country and now one of the cleanest, providing drinking water for 17 million people. Michael Aaron Rockland, a long-time New Jersey resident, shows readers his very favorite spots along the Delaware, including the pristine waterfalls and wilderness in the Delaware Water Gap recreation area. Along the way, he shares engrossing stories and surprising facts about the river that literally defines western New Jersey. 

 
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A Paddler's Guide to the Delaware River
Kayaking, Canoeing, Rafting, Tubing
Letcher, Gary
Rutgers University Press, 2012

When Henry Hudson explored the Delaware River in 1609, he dubbed it “one of the finest, best, and pleasantest rivers in the world.” Today, those same qualities make the Delaware one of the most popular rivers for recreational use in the United States. Although in places a near-wilderness, the Delaware is easily accessible to millions of residents. On any summer day there may be thousands of people rushing down its exciting rapids or lazing through its serene eddies.

A Paddler’s Guide to the Delaware River is an indispensable resource for anyone who wants to experience the Delaware River in a kayak, canoe, raft, or tube—or, for that matter, an automobile or an armchair. Reading the book is like travelling down the river with an experienced guide. It charts the non-tidal Delaware 200 miles from Hancock, New York, to Trenton, New Jersey, describing access points, rapids, natural features, villages, historical sites, campgrounds, outfitters, and restaurants. The Delaware comes alive as the author introduces some of the people, places, events, and  controversies that have marked the river from earliest times to the present day.
Completely revised, the third edition offers:

  • An overview of the river including watershed, history, place names, paddlecraft, safety, and fishing.
  • The River Guide: ten sections that can each be paddled in one day (about 20 miles), with a mile-by-mile account of rapids, access, natural features, historic sites, and other features.
  • All new maps, with names for virtually every rapid, eddy, and other river feature, plus detailed diagrams for routes through even the most severe rapids.
  • Features in the River Guide highlight the people, events, natural history, and communities that define the river experience, such as Tom Quick, the infamous “avenger of the Delaware”; the mysterious migration of eels, the battle over Tocks Island Dam; and many others.
  • Appendices of Important Contacts, Outfitters and Campgrounds, River Trip Checklists, and more.

Whether you are a novice out for an afternoon float, a seasoned adventurer on an overnight expedition, or a resident fascinated by the lore of the Delaware Valley, this book is an invaluable guide.

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Pizza City
The Ultimate Guide to New York's Favorite Food
Genovese, Peter
Rutgers University Press, 2013
Pizza is a $35 billion a year business, and nowhere is it taken more seriously than New York City. Journalist Peter Genovese surveys the city’s pizza scene—the food, the business, the culture—by profiling pizza landmarks and personalities and rating pizzerias in all five boroughs.

In this funny, fascinating book, Genovese explores the bloggers who write about New York pizza, the obsessive city dwellers who collect and analyze the delivery boxes, Mark Bello’s school where students spend a day making pies from scratch, and Scott Wiener’s pizza bus tours.

Along the way, readers learn the history of legendary Totonno’s on Coney Island (Zagat’s number-one pizzeria for 2012), along with behind-the-scenes stories about John’s on Bleecker Street, Joe’s on Carmine, Lombardi’s, Paulie Gee’s, Motorino, and more than a dozen other favorite spots and their owners. Throughout these profiles, Genovese presents a brief history of how pizza came to the city in 1905 and developed into a major attraction in Little Italy, a neighborhood that became a training ground for many of the city’s best-loved pizzerias. Enjoyable facts and figures abound. Did you know that Americans put 250 million pounds of pepperoni on their pies every year? Or that Domino’s has more outlets per capita in Iceland than in any other country?

Beyond the stories and tidbits, Genovese provides detailed, borough-by-borough reviews of 250 pizzerias, from simple “slice shops” with scant atmosphere to gourmet pizzerias, including shops that use organic ingredients and experiment with new variations of crusts and toppings. Complemented by hundreds of current and never-before-seen archival photos, the book gives the humble slice its proper due and will leave readers overwhelmed by a sudden desire for New York pizza.
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The Poconos
An Illustrated Natural History Guide
Carl S. Oplinger and Robert Halma
Rutgers University Press, 2006

The Poconos, a rich plateau nestled in northeastern Pennsylvania between the Delaware River and the Moosic Mountains, encompass a variety of alluring features. The perfect reference for amateur naturalists, outdoor enthusiasts, tourists, and others who wish to explore the area, this classic guide clearly explains the unique geographic characteristics, animal habits and habitats, climate, geology, and vegetation of the area.

The authors trace the region from its beginnings millions of years ago as part of a shallow sea, through the reshaping forces of great glaciers, to today’s roadways and turnpikes. This revised and expanded edition also includes brief profiles of individuals who played significant roles in the preservation or understanding of the area’s ecology. Chapters provide a general survey of the area, including its history and places to be explored and observed, information on forest types, wildlife, and aquatic habitats, updated facts and figures on animal populations, as well as new details on invasive species.

Throughout the book, numerous boxes direct readers to observatory points for specific birds, ecosystems, vegetation types, and geological features, while maps, tables, original pen-and-ink illustrations, and a select list of field guides and other references enhance the book’s appeal. An indispensable companion for visitors as well as residents, The Poconos is a must-read for everyone who wants to discover or better understand the beauty and natural history of this unique region.

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Real Philly History, Real Fast
Fascinating Facts and Interesting Oddities about the City's Heroes and Historic Sites
Jim Murphy
Temple University Press, 2021

Philadelphia is known as the home of vibrant colonial history: the Liberty Bell, the Betsy Ross House, and Independence Hall. But the City of Brotherly Love is also home to—and less well known for—its quirky history. The country’s first quarantine station was located here. One of Philly’s clocks has a face larger than Big Ben’s in London. And a unique skill of Black abolitionist James Forten saved him from a life of West Indian servitude (and “Forten” was not even his real name).  

In Real Philly History, Real Fast, Jim Murphy provides an original tour of the city. He highlights artistic gems including the Dream Garden Tiffany mosaic and Isaiah Zagar’s glittering Magic Gardens. He profiles intriguing historical figures from military leader Commodore Barry to civil rights heroes like Lucretia Mott. Murphy also explores neighborhoods from Chinatown to the Italian Market and the unique architectural details of Carpenters’ Hall and the PSFS building.  

Each chapter provides a pithy story about a historical person or site, along with bullet points featuring interesting oddities, and nearby attractions along with fun facts such as: Why there are so many churches? What is the Philadelphia Eagles’ connection to the U.S. Custom House? Which famous artist may have been Philadelphia’s first nude model? And where was the Liberty Bell secretly damaged? (We didn’t do it!)   

This is Philly history in bites that are as digestible as a soft pretzel with mustard.

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Rediscover the Hidden New Jersey
Roberts, Russell
Rutgers University Press, 2015
Did you know—
—that a New Jerseyan was the first president of the United States?
—that New Jersey was the site of the first organized college football game?
—that New Jersey was the location of one of the most devastating espionage attacks of World War I?
—that the heroics of a New Jersey woman saved thousands of people from dying of yellow fever?
—that one of the first American folk heroes lived in New Jersey—and jumped off waterfalls?

These and other fascinating stories can be found in the newly updated Rediscover the Hidden New Jersey, a treasury of New Jersey stories that celebrate the unique heritage and importance of the Garden State. Russell Roberts has scoured New Jersey, from High Point to Cape May, to bring readers a delightful potpourri of facts, essays, lists, photos, stories, and legends about New Jersey. Readers will learn how New Jersey used to be the center of the motion picture universe, the origin of the Jersey Devil and other popular tall tales, where Norman Mailer and Abbot & Costello were born, where Aaron Burr and Leo, the M-G-M lion, lie buried, and much more. Learn about the geology of New Jersey, find out about the state’s ever-changing weather, and how New Jersey was chosen for the famous (or infamous) War of the Worlds radio broadcast that panicked the nation. All this and more is in Rediscover the Hidden New Jersey, the ultimate New Jersey book.

This revised edition contains new sections on Lawnside, the Morris Canal, Albert Einstein in Princeton, The Bordentown Manual Training School, Rockefeller/Ocean County Park, the bicycle railroad, Morro Castle, Alice Paul, and more.
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Spy Sites of New York City
A Guide to the Region's Secret History
H. Keith Melton and Robert Wallace
Georgetown University Press, 2020

Through every era of American history, New York City has been a battleground for international espionage, where secrets are created, stolen, and passed through clandestine meetings and covert communications. Some spies do their work and escape, while others are compromised, imprisoned, and—a few—executed. Spy Sites of New York City takes you inside this shadowy world and reveals the places where it all happened.

In 233 main entries as well as listings for scores more spy sites, H. Keith Melton and Robert Wallace weave incredible true stories of derring-do and double-crosses that put even the best spy fiction to shame. The cases and sites follow espionage history from the Revolutionary War and Civil War, to the rise of communism and fascism in the twentieth century, to Russian sleeper agents in the twenty-first century. The spy sites are not only in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx but also on Long Island and in New Jersey. Maps and 380 photographs allow readers to follow in the footsteps of spies and spy-hunters to explore the city, tradecraft, and operations that influenced wars hot and cold. Informing and entertaining, Spy Sites of New York City is a must-have guidebook to the espionage history of the Big Apple.

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Spy Sites of Philadelphia
A Guide to the Region's Secret History
H. Keith Melton
Georgetown University Press

An illustrated guide to the history of espionage in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley.

Philadelphia became a battleground for spies as George Washington’s Patriot army in nearby Valley Forge struggled to survive the winter of 1776-77. In the centuries that followed—through the Civil War, the rise of fascism and communism in the twentieth century, and today’s fight against terrorism—the city has been home to international intrigue and some of America’s most celebrated spies.

Spy Sites of Philadelphia takes readers inside this shadowy world to reveal the places and people of Philadelphia’s hidden history. These fascinating entries portray details of stolen secrets, clandestine meetings, and covert communications through every era of American history. Along the way, readers will meet both heroes and villains whose daring deceptions helped shape the nation.

Authors H. Keith Melton and Robert Wallace weave incredible true stories of courage and deceit that rival even the best spy fiction. Featuring over 150 spy sites in Philadelphia and its neighboring towns and counties, this illustrated guide invites readers to follow in the footsteps of moles and sleuths.

Authoritative, entertaining, and informative, Spy Sites of Philadelphia is a must-have guidebook to the espionage history of the region.

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Tales of South Jersey
Profiles and Personalities
Waltzer, Jim
Rutgers University Press, 2001

There's much more to southern New Jersey than the Pine Barrens and the Jersey Devil, and this collection by journalists Jim Waltzer and Tom Wilk tells readers all about it. Oceanside and bayside towns offer a box seat from which to observe the regions rich history and the summery lore of the wonders of nature. Landlocked towns boast their own homespun and hell-raising traditions and idiosyncrasies.

Waltzer and Wilk have compiled almost fifty stories about the state's southernmost counties. Although the focus is on Atlantic City and its remarkable people, outsize structures, and quirky events, the storytelling ranges across the wider region to provide an insiders look at history as it was being made. You'll encounter gangsters and gamblers, baseball hitters and hurricanes, famous piers and hotels, landmark theaters and eateries, splashy events and unheralded oddities ¾ in sum, a cross-section of the regions character and characters.

The authors divide their book into six sections: entertainment, famous and infamous events, innovations and innovators, leisure and recreation, room and board, and sports legends. Within each section are the rich and varied stories Waltzer and Wilk have collected for New Jerseyans reading pleasure.

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Transit Talk
New York's Bus and Subway Workers Tell Their Stories
Robert W. Snyder
Rutgers University Press, 1998
New York City may seem to be a place where everyone is a stranger, yet transit workers provide a human presence on a late-night bus or an empty subway platform. Few of us give any thought to these invisible workers-until something goes wrong. Transit Talk takes readers into the world of MTA New York City transit employees, as they describe their lives and work, from the most visible subway conductor to the seemingly invisible mechanic.

There are nearly 44,000 transit workers like those you will meet in Transit Talk , and every day they help five million of us travel to work, to school, to weddings, to funerals, to hospitals, to vacations. These workers labor daily on subway tracks inches from high-voltage powerlines, risking their lives for passengers they'U never know. The city can feel large and fragmented, but the transportation system and its workers create common threads in the lives of all New Yorkers, threads we take for granted.

Together, their stories create a human tableau of life and labor in the city within a city that is the MTA New York City Transit. Transit workers find satisfaction in fixing a damaged subway car, gain wisdom from mastering a dangerous workplace, nurse emotional wounds from tending to someone injured in an accident, battle frustration from difficulties with management, and express satisfaction when reflecting on a productive career. They tell of how years spent in the same shop create bonds between workers. They talk of the burden of laboring in a twenty-four-hour system with night shifts and weekend workdays that take them away from families. You'U hear painful tales of informing next-of-kin of a death on the tracks as well as joyous anecdotes of workers delivering a baby in a subway car.
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A Traveler's Guide to Historic Western Pennsylvania
Lois Mulkearn
University of Pittsburgh Press, 1953
This book presents a county-by-county guide to historic landmarks in western Pennsylvania, and how to reach them. Twenty-seven counties are included, along with maps of each. Along the way, travelers will find historic forts, residences of leading citizens, old iron furnaces, grist mills, churches, inns, taverns, tanneries, and many other intriguing places. Historians Lois Mulkearn and Edwin V. Pugh personally visited each site, and provide background vignettes on them, offering interesting facts and highlights gathered from archival documents.
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The Ultimate Guide to the Jersey Shore
Where to Eat, What to Do, and so Much More
Peter Genovese
Rutgers University Press, 2023
The Jersey Shore, our most treasured asset, the envy of forty-nine other states, comes alive in this new book by the reporter and writer who knows New Jersey—and the Jersey Shore—best. Every conceivable topic—where to eat, where to stay, landmarks and attractions, what to do with the kids—is covered with the kind of inside information you just won’t find on tourism web sites or Facebook. All one hundred-plus Shore towns are included, from Sandy Hook to Cape May. There are hundreds of restaurant listings and recommendations. The book also contains engaging profiles and vignettes of the people and places that give the Shore its special character and charm. A throwback five-and-dime store on Long Beach Island. Banner pilots. Birders. Baby parades. And more. You want lists and rankings? The book is full of them—twenty best Shore towns, twenty-one secret spots down the Shore, twenty essential Jersey Shore experiences, fifty things we bet you didn’t know about the Shore, and so on. The book is the next best thing to being at the Shore; actually, it may be better than being there (think of those epic traffic jams on the Parkway, and all the money you’ll save on tolls, beach fees, and bad boardwalk pizza).
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front cover of Walking East Harlem
Walking East Harlem
A Neighborhood Experience
Christopher Bell
Rutgers University Press, 2025
This book comprises three walking tours that inform the visitor about East Harlem's cultural centers, institutions, and landmark buildings. Walking East Harlem also pays homage to the Latino residents who called Spanish Harlem/El Barrio home and acknowledges the contribution of blacks, Italians, Jews, and other ethnic groups who have lived in the neighborhood. Many tourists are unaware that many tenements and buildings were demolished both before and after World War II. Such destruction resulted in the loss of businesses, led to the residential relocation of thousands of people, and more importantly, eradicated part of East Harlem's history. But all was not lost. This book details the many buildings remaining intact despite the urban renewal that transpired in East Harlem in the 20th century. Ultimately, Bell argues, East Harlem remains a vibrant enclave, despite the threat of gentrification, and he underscores the ways in which the neighborhood's population continues to grow and thrive.
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Walking Harlem
The Ultimate Guide to the Cultural Capital of Black America
Taborn, Karen
Rutgers University Press, 2018
With its rich cultural history and many landmark buildings, Harlem is not just one of New York’s most distinctive neighborhoods; it’s also one of the most walkable. 

This illustrated guide takes readers on five separate walking tours of Harlem, covering ninety-one different historical sites. Alongside major tourist destinations like the Apollo Theater and the Abyssinian Baptist Church, longtime Harlem resident Karen Taborn includes little-known local secrets like Jazz Age speakeasies, literati, political and arts community locales. Drawing from rare historical archives, she also provides plenty of interesting background information on each location. 

This guide was designed with the needs of walkers in mind. Each tour consists of eight to twenty-nine nearby sites, and at the start of each section, readers will find detailed maps of the tour sites, as well as an estimated time for each walk. In case individuals would like to take a more leisurely tour, it provides recommendations for restaurants and cafes where they can stop along the way. 

Walking Harlem gives readers all the tools they need to thoroughly explore over a century’s worth of this vital neighborhood’s cultural, political, religious, and artistic heritage. With its informative text and nearly seventy stunning photographs, this is the most comprehensive, engaging, and educational walking tour guidebook on one of New York’s historic neighborhoods.
 
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Watching the River Run
A Photographic Journey Down the Youghiogheny
Tim Palmer
University of Pittsburgh Press, 2025

front cover of Wild New Jersey
Wild New Jersey
Nature Adventures in the Garden State
David Wheeler
Rutgers University Press, 2011
The fastest animal on earth dive-bombs him from the skies. A young black bear bounds up a mountain trail a few yards away. Poisonous snakes swirl at his feet. A thousand bats careen past his head in a pitch-black roost. Pods of dolphins swim right past him by the scores. Who? Experienced naturalist David Wheeler. Where? In Wild New Jersey, of course. 

Wild New Jersey invites readers along Wheeler’s whirlwind year-long tour of the most ecologically diverse state for its size in America. Along with the expert guidance of charismatic wildlife biologists and local conservationists, he explores mountains, valleys, beaches, pine barrens, caves, rivers, marshlands, and more—breathtaking landscapes and the state’s Noah’s Ark of fascinating creatures.

This isn’t your ordinary ride on the Jersey Turnpike. Fasten your seatbelts and join Wheeler as he . . .

  • Kayaks through the Meadowlands under the watchful eye of the Empire State Building,
  • Pans for cretaceous fossils in a hidden brook once home to mastodons and giant sloths,
  • Rides a fishing boat in the frigid snows of winter on a high-seas quest for Atlantic puffins,
  • Trudges through the eerie darkness of a bog on a mysterious night hike,
  • Dogsleds across the windswept alpine slopes in the haunts of the porcupine and bobcat. 

With Wheeler’s compelling narrative, in-depth background details, and eye for revealing the offbeat, you can count this as the first nature book to paint the extraordinary picture of New Jersey’s unlikely wilderness in all its glory. Come along for all the adventure and insight in Wild New Jersey!

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