Excelsior Editions
The Crucible of Public Policy
Relates the dramatic role of New York courts in shaping public policy on key reform legislation in the progressive era.
Confessions of a Hayseed DA
An idealistic, occasionally naïve and somewhat irreverent young attorney becomes the District Attorney of Rockland County, New York, in the 1960s and faces the challenges of fighting crime in a rapidly changing world.
Sharkey
The incredible, true story of the twentieth century's greatest performing sea lion and the man who trained him.
The Jews of Long Island
The first comprehensive history of the development of early Jewish life on Long Island.
The Spirit of New York, Second Edition
A celebration of New York State's history through 19 key events from the state's founding to today.
Inside the Green Lobby
A veteran environmental lobbyist reveals the behind-the-scenes struggles to address threats to the future of New York's Adirondack Park.
The Haunted History of Pelham, New York
A fascinating fusion of New York history and local folklore sure to send shivers up your spine!
Unruly Catholic Feminists
Third- and fourth-wave feminists write about their experiences with Catholicism and their visions for the future of women in the Church.
Meander
Draws on the author's own experiences as a watershed planner, teacher, and activist to tell the story of the Great Lakes region's experiment in restoring a complicated natural system of flowing water.
The Impeachment of Governor Sulzer
Brings to life the dramatic and colorful career of William Sulzer (1863–1941), former governor of New York State.
An Unfinished Revolution
The story of the suffrage movement and the ongoing struggle for women’s rights through the lens of one family’s history.
Hundred-Mile Home
A creative travelogue of landscape and memory.
In Security
Part airport thriller, part family drama, part love story, In Security explores how those who strive to protect us are often unable to protect themselves.
Niagaras of Ink
Makes literature of Niagara Falls available to readers with a variety of interests in literature, culture, and place.
City on the Edge
Explores why people stay in vulnerable cities by looking at Syracuse, New York, through the contemporary experiences of five citizens.
Blows to the Head
A provocative tale of an unlikely contender and her midlife transformation through boxing.
A Most Glorious Ride
Encompasses key years and important events in Theodore Roosevelt’s early life and career.
The Art of the Watchdog
Expert advice on how any citizen can fight government fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption.
Beyond the Xs and Os
Inside account of the negotiations between the football Bills, New York State, and Erie County to sign a long-term stadium lease and thereby keep the team in Buffalo.
What Remains
Combining photography and essay, presents a speculative portrait of a Jewish immigrant living out the end of his days in New York's midcentury mental health system.
Fearless
Biography of the early years of A. Bartlett Giamatti, who would become Yale University’s first non-Anglo-Saxon Protestant president and commissioner of Major League Baseball.
Restless Spirits
A collection of plays by American Indian playwright William S. Yellow Robe Jr.
Birth Chart
A collection of poems weaving together astrology, motherhood, music, and literary history.
Doghiker
A comprehensive guidebook for dog owners that includes seventy-seven great hikes from the Adirondacks through the Catskills.
Enterprising Waters
Chronicles the story of the Erie Canal from its inception to today.
When I Am Italian
Can a person born outside of Italy be considered Italian?
Ghost Fleet Awakened
Chronicles the history and archaeological study of Lake George, New York’s sunken bateaux of 1758.
Colonizing Southampton
A study of the times and life in Southampton, New York between 1870 and 1900.
Everything Worthy of Observation
Offers a firsthand account into early-nineteenth-century New York State and Lower Canada during a time of enormous growth and change.
Judith S. Kaye in Her Own Words
A memoir and selected writings by the former Chief Judge of New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals.
I'll Be Home
Editorials, op-eds, and other writings by a memorable newspaperman.
Something's Happening Here
The decade comes alive in this whirlwind ride through the Sixties that begins in Brooklyn and ends at Woodstock.
Forest and Crag
A compelling story of our ever-evolving relationship with mountains and wilderness.
Battling Editor
Recounts the transformation of two daily newspapers in the face of economic downturns and sweeping technological change.
The Full Pomegranate
Translations of selected poems by the Yiddish writer, covering the entire breadth of his career.
Popovers and Candlelight
Recounts the true story of an entrepreneurial woman who succeeded in a male-dominated industry in the twentieth century.
Angry Rain
Reveals the development of Maurice Kenny’s growing artistic consciousness, while attesting to both the beauty and brutality of the world in which he lived.
Bootlegger of the Soul
A celebration of the Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist who put Albany on the world’s literary map.
Years I Walked at Your Side
The first book-length collection in English of this major Israeli poet.
Hell Gate
Depicts a man's exploration of the landscape, history, and toponymy of Hell Gate, a notorious stretch of water in New York City's East River.
The Moving of the Water
Stories anchored in the Welsh American immigrant experience.
We Are Going to Be Lucky
Tells the story of a young couple in love during World War II, and the difficulties they faced both at war and on the home front.
Finding True North
An evocative and personal history of a unique historic place in the Adirondacks.
The Mystery of the Albany Mummies
From the Nile to the Hudson, the story of how two Egyptian mummies joined an American museum collection.
Adriaen van der Donck
The first comprehensive biography of an important yet understudied figure in the Dutch colony of New Netherland.
Dancing with Ophelia
Uses real-life episodes of psychosis and recovery to show how poetic paradigms for thinking about psychiatric symptoms can enlarge contemporary understandings of mental illness and improve long-term treatment outcome.
The History of Here
How the Pine Hills neighborhood in Albany, New York, changed and grew, as reflected in the history of one house and the lives of its residents.
Over a Barrel
How a small family company in the Finger Lakes became one of the most important wine producers in the United States, only to be taken down by corporate greed and mismanagement.
A Spirit of Sacrifice
Focuses on the posters of World War I as a medium to interpret the tremendous role played by New York State and its citizens in the war effort.
Tales of an Ecotourist
Combining humor and memorable anecdotes, five famous ecotourist destinations offer a breathtaking backdrop to better understanding climate change.
Rebels on the Niagara
Offers a detailed account of the political and military history of the Irish American Fenian Brotherhood in the nineteenth century.
Reluctant Reformer
Tells the untold story of the life and career of Nathan Sanford, a New York State lawyer-politician who capitalized on opportunities created by the new politics of the early Republic to achieve social mobility.
Votes for Women
Chronicles the history of the women’s rights and suffrage movements in New York State and examines the important role the state played in the national suffrage movement.
Unruly Catholic Nuns
Explores the voices of current and former Catholic nuns as they share their lived experiences with Catholicism, both in accordance and in conflict with the institutional Church.
The Suffragents
The story of how and why a group of prominent and influential men in New York City and beyond came together to help women gain the right to vote.
Beauty in the City
Presents a major new interpretation of the Ashcan School of Art, arguing that these artists made the working class city at the turn of the century a subject for beautiful art.
National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame
Explores the rich history, collections, and significance of the only museum in the United States dedicated solely to the art form of dance.
From Italy to the North End
Documents the arc of the Italian American immigrant experience on both sides of the Atlantic.
Still Speaking of Nature
An engaging and accessible introduction to the natural world in New England and upstate New York.
The Adirondack Architecture Guide, Southern-Central Region
Explores the architectural treasures of the Southern-Central region of New York's Adirondack Park and places them in the context of Adirondack history and culture.
Flash Points
A compelling, intimate account of how US foreign assistance in war zones and developing countries does not achieve its intended goals.
New York Art Deco
The first guidebook devoted exclusively to New York City’s Art Deco treasures.
An Extraordinary Ordinary Woman
A rare nineteenth-century journal of an everyday woman richly infused with the minutiae of antebellum daily life and work.
Upstate Uncovered
An exciting travel guide for Upstate New York road warriors, history lovers, and tourists.
Failed State
Shines a light on the dark corners of New York’s legislature and points the way to much-needed reform.
The Best of New York Archives
Tales of New York State history from the pages of the award-winning publication New York Archives.
Somewhere in France
Previously unpublished letters and private journal provide an intimate view of World War I through the eyes of an ordinary soldier from western New York.
Elder Care Journey
Combining expert knowledge and first-hand experience, a noted elder care researcher confronts the long-distance care of her own mother.
Between Stony Brook Harbor Tides
Examines the ecological and historical significance of the harbor and what it can bring to future residents.
Running the Long Path
An ultrarunner’s fast-paced narrative into the wilds of New York’s Hudson Valley, as he attempts to set a new record for completing the Long Path, a 350-mile hiking trail that links New York City and Albany.
The Smalbanac 2.0
A quirky survival guide to New York's Capital District.
FDR on His Houseboat
Presents and expands upon Roosevelt’s daily nautical log as he was trying to regain the use of his polio-damaged legs.
American Chartres
Documents the city’s surviving grain elevators and their profound influence on twentieth-century architecture.
Knickerbocker Commodore
Explores the life and times of John Drake Sloat, the US Navy Pacific Squadron commander who occupied Monterey and declared the annexation of California at the beginning of the war with Mexico.
Beer of Broadway Fame
Explores the hundred-year history of Piel Bros. , one of the prominent German American brands that once made New York City the brewing capital of America.
Our Time at Foxhollow Farm
Chronicles the life of an upper-class, mid–Hudson Valley family during the first three decades of the twentieth century.
Seeking Alice
A haunting story of the disintegration of an American and Italian family caught in Europe during World War II.
Dead Reckoning
A poet and essayist attempt to find their bearings in a civilization lost at sea.
The Death of Fred Astaire
When, in the late eighties, the author chooses to raise a child with her lesbian partner, she embraces a life outside the lines—one full of curious adventures as well as the usual catastrophes and everyday pleasures.
Creating Nonfiction
A diverse collection of essays and companion interviews that offer insight into the inspiration, drafting, and revision process.
The Heroic Age of Diving
A comprehensive history of the first three decades of underwater exploration in antebellum America.
Preaching in My Yes Dress
The frank and funny story of a church-geek girl who spent twenty years in the ecclesiastical trenches as a Lutheran pastor, preaching weekly words of hope she wasn’t sure she even believed.
Flight Paths
How a small group of New York biologists brought the peregrine falcon and bald eagle back from the brink of extinction.
Shipwrecked on a Traffic Island
A collection of Colette's best writings that have never before appeared in English.
Yonkers in the Twentieth Century
Traces the economic, political, and social evolution of New York State’s fourth largest city during the twentieth century.
Forgetting Fathers
An eloquent personal reflection on the fascination of family history and the desire to both discover and escape origins.
From Loyalists to Loyal Citizens
Challenges the traditional perception that Loyalists were ostracized as traitors to the United States, after the American Revolution.
Nearer to Never
A poetic examination of what’s waiting just beneath everyday experience.
Reality Crumbs
First book-length collection of the work of the celebrated Israeli poet.
Swimming
Compelling stories of intercultural contact and emotional survival in a complex world.
In the Hamptons 4Ever
More stories of the outsized and the ordinary from the editor and publisher of Dan’s Papers.
Grain Dust Dreams
Explores the history and present-day reality of grain elevators on the Great Lakes.
The Senator from New England
Chronicles JFK’s growing confidence and ambition while a member of the US Senate.
Letters to a Best Friend
A lively and intimate selection of letters on life, literature, and art from one of America’s finest prose stylists.
Frank
The first full-length biography of America’s youngest, and perhaps most underrated, First Lady.
Southern Life, Northern City
The inspirational story of an African American community that migrated from the Deep South to Albany, New York, in the 1930s.
Stairway to Empire
The story of the Erie Canal’s completion and its place in the larger narrative of American modernity and progress.
The Affair of the Veiled Murderess
An account of a mysterious murder committed in nineteenth-century Troy, New York, and the sensational trial that ensued.
Breaching Jericho's Walls
An award-winning African-American historian and novelist takes the reader on an exciting journey from a segregated Philadephia childhood in the 1930's to mid-century Paris, Moscow, Cambridge, and Manhattan.
Truckin' with Sam
A father and son travel across North America in a pick-up truck--talking, laughing, fighting, and bonding.