Now available: Arsenic and Clam Chowder

The latest from our Excelsior Editions imprint recounts the sensational story of the 1896 murder trial of Mary Alice Livingston, who was accused of murdering her mother with an arsenic-laced pail of clam chowder and faced the possibility of becoming the first woman to be executed in New York’s new-fangled electric chair. Arsenic and Clam Chowder, written by James D. Livingston, is set against the electric backdrop of Gilded Age Manhattan. The arrival of skyscrapers, automobiles, motion pictures, and other modern marvels in the 1890s was transforming urban life with breathtaking speed, just as the battles of reformers against vice, police corruption, and Tammany Hall were transforming the city’s political life. In addition to telling a ripping good story, the book addresses a number of social and legal issues, among them capital punishment, equal rights for women, societal sexual standards, inheritance laws in regard to murder, gender bias of juries, and the meaning of “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Tales of New York Government

A couple of new Excelsior titles received a good deal of attention in recent days. The New York Times featured both books—Tales from the Sausage Factory and The Man Who Saved New York—in Sunday's edition. The Albany Times Union ran an extensive interview with the authors of The Man Who Saved New York, Seymour Lachman and Robert Polner, and the Staten Island Advance also featured an article on the book and interview with Seymour Lachman.

At a time when New York State's government seems more dysfuntional than ever, these books provide prime examples of how governments—local, state, and federal—can work to avoid the renewed threat of bankruptcy that now confronts not only New York, but most states.

Visit us at Book Expo America

Next week, we'll make our annual trek down to BookExpo America (BEA), the largest publishing event in North America. Publishers, booksellers, authors, librarians, and more will gather in New York City to celebrate publishing, books, and all things related.

We'll be featuring our newest books in the exhibit hall and many of our noted authors will be on hand for autographing sessions, including Binnie Klein, Barbara Chepaitis, Anthony V. Riccio and Silvio Suppa, and Dan Rattiner. BEA will take place from May 25-27 at the Javits Center in New York City. Passes are available to the public, so be sure to stop by and check us out!

New York's Indie and Small Press Book Fair

Check out this LA Times article about last weekend's New York Indie and Small Press Book Fair. Author Binnie Klein (Blows to the Head) is featured prominently in the piece. Here's another picture of Binnie, relaxing at the Excelsior Editions table with our very own James Peltz.

Who Controls New York City Mayors?

With election day fast approaching, Lynn A. Weikert's new book, Follow the Money, is especially timely. Especially if you reside in New York City.

This book explores the leadership of government on the local level. What goes on between the financial elites who control the nation’s purse strings and the political leaders elected by us, the citizens of New York City? What deals are made that affect the lives of ordinary New Yorkers? What compromises do New York City politicians make when dealing with the most powerful people in the financial world?

That's from Lynn's recent feature article over at Rorotoko. In the piece, Lynn explores the major themes of her book and takes hard look at the powerful influences of financial elites over New York City’s mayors. Her book presents some staggering evidence regarding the extent to which these elites have exploited financial crises and crippled the power of mayors over the years.

Read the rest of the article here and order a copy of the book here.

Visit us at the Brooklyn Book Festival

We're really excited to be participating in the annual Brooklyn Book Festival this coming Sunday, September 13th at the Brooklyn Borough Hall. As their website says, the festival is a "huge, free public event presenting an array of literary stars and emerging authors who represent the exciting world of literature today."

This year's festival promises to be fantastic. Check out the Village Voice's preview:

Already a geek’s delight, the Brooklyn Book Festival will be even more so this year with the brand-new addition of the New York Comic Con Pavilion. With guest presentations and autograph sessions, the comic-book marketplace has panels including “Sci Fi and Fantasy in NYC” at noon and a conversation with the writers of Marvel at 1 p.m. The most exciting (and free!) literary event in the city, this year’s Brooklyn Book Festival also features events with Colson Whitehead, Mary Gaitskill, Heidi Julavits, Edwidge Danticat, David Cross, Thurston Moore, and Tom Tomorrow—to name just a few. Other panels to look for include one with Pete Hamill and Norris Church Mailer on the legacy of Norman Mailer at 1 p.m., and “Writers on Unforgettable Friendships” with New York Review of Books contributors Oliver Sacks (discussing Francis Crick), Darryl Pinckney (discussing Djuna Barnes), and Anita Desai (discussing Ruth Jhabvala) at 4 p.m.

We'll be at table # 87, so stop by and check out a variety of SUNY and Excelsior Editions titles that celebrate New York. For location and direction information, as well as a full list of authors and moderators who'll be in attendance, visit the festival's website.

Hope to see you there!

Memories of a golden era in the Bronx

We Used to Own the Bronx is still going strong: check out this recent piece by Michael Thomas of New York Social Diary. Turns out Michael escorted author Eve "Topsy" Pell to the Spring Dance at Exeter in 1953! He even says, of Eve, that "No young woman of that time was prettier or brighter or carried off long white gloves with greater aplomb."

Michael goes on to list a few other high society connections between them, and then discusses what makes Eve's memoir such a success, writing "how totally right it gets its subject matter, both as to fact and as to tone." Michael's rave review is also full of great photos from the book, so check it out today!

Book Expo news and notes

Book Expo America in NYC is fast approaching—it starts next Thursday, May 28. We'll have some fun stuff for you to take away from our booth (#4840), plus book signings on Sunday, May 31 for Go, Tell Michelle from 9:30–10:30 and for A Family Place from 11:00-noon. Word is we might also have some hot-off-the-press galleys for Woodstock, so look for those as well.

Also, be sure to sign up for the BEA Book Raffle to win $500 worth of books! We've seen the list and it's a nice collection of books in film & television, American history, comic books, spirituality, and more...including three SUNY Press books: the aforementioned Go, Tell Michelle, A Family Place, and Black Elk Speaks. For a chance to win the complete set of books, all you need to do is drop off your business card or fill out a raffle ticket at the AAUP booth (#4846). Best of luck!

Twenty West: Riding US Route 20 to an IPPY award nomination

Twenty West: The Great Road Across America, by Mac Nelson, has been named a semifinalist in the Travel Essay category in the IPPY awards, or Independent Publisher Book Awards.

Winners will be announced on Friday, May 29, from 6–9 pm, at Book Expo America in New York City. They will receive a medal and a certificate—congrats and best of luck, Mac!

Click here for a full list of IPPY award semifinalists. We're also including Mac's two-part video series on Twenty West below. Enjoy.

From Coney Island to the Catskills

We have a tandem of books to share with you today, each providing definitive oral histories of their respective regions of New York State: It Happened in Brooklyn and It Happened in the Catskills.

It Happened in Brooklyn tells the story of the Brooklyn of legend in mid-century America. From stickball in the streets to the Dodgers playing in Ebbets Field, from eating Coney Island franks to commuting across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan, this book is an ode to the era of working- and middle-class Brooklynites forging their paths in the postwar years.

It Happened in the Catskills reminisces about the famed “Borscht Belt,” that fabled summer resort area “just ninety minutes from Broadway.” More than a hundred Catskill veterans—from the famed entertainers to the cooks, waiters, busboys, mamboniks, and boys in the band—share their memories of this golden era.

Both books are loaded with beautiful period pictures.