Excelsior Editions

Our Excelsior Editions imprint highlights the rich cultural and historical heritage of New York. We publish books that focus on New York history, art, culture, society, and environmental issues written to entertain and educate the general reader.  We publish original and reprinted works of nonfiction (including memoir), New York-related fiction, and poetry.  Currently, we are welcoming submissions in the following subject areas:

  • Architecture
  • Arts and culture
  • Biographies of Notable New Yorkers 
  • City and county histories
  • Diverse communities, including Italian, Jewish, African-American, Hispanic, and Native/indigenous cultures
  • Guide books
  • LGBTQ+ NY
  • Memoirs and Oral histories
  • Myths, folklife, and folklore
  • Political, cultural, and environmental movements
  • Regional food and dining
  • Sports and sports history
  • Transportation History
  • Women's History
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Buffalo's Waterfront Renaissance

Recounts how preservationists and environmentalists ultimately succeeded in persuading a powerful state agency to abandon its plans for privately developing Buffalo’s waterfront and instead revitalize the city by enhancing opportunities for members of the public to use and enjoy that same space.

The Historic Woodstock Art Colony

Explores the remarkable range of artists who have worked in Woodstock, New York for over a century.

The Algonquin Round Table

The facts and legends of New York's famed artistic hub told by one of its key participants.

The Life and Death of Buffalo's Great Northern Grain Elevator

A stunning visual memorial to Buffalo's architectural and industrial history.

Calling Wild Places Home

Poignant and vulnerable essays that weave together seemingly disparate themes of wild places and mountain stewardship, books and reading, and building a new life after loss.

Get Your Ass in the Water and Swim Like Me, Second Edition

The classic work on African American toasts, the predecessor of rap.

Jazz with a Beat

The neglected small group swing sound of the 1940s–60s takes its place in the pantheon of jazz literature.

Sun, Sea, Soil, Wine

Long Island's longest-tenured winemaker weighs in on what makes the North Fork so unique for fine wine production.

Curses of the Kingdom of Xixia

By Xue Mo
Translated by Fan Pen Li Chen
Subjects: General Interest
Series: Excelsior Editions

Reality merges with illusion in this novel of northwestern China.

Downstate New York Rock Walks

An explorer’s walking guide to downstate New York’s awesome boulders and rock formations.

Escape from the Pit

Originally published in Hebrew in 1944, this fascinating and moving account may well be the first memoir of the Holocaust.

Growing Up Roosevelt

A granddaughter's intimate portrait of Eleanor Roosevelt at her longtime home of Val-Kill as well as on a diplomatic trip to Europe and the Middle East.

Nooks and Corners of Old New York

A detailed, historic guide to the rich physical history of New York City, from its founding by Dutch settlers to the turn of the twentieth century.

Pepper Adams

A compelling biography of virtuoso, baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams and how his life intersected with some of the greatest poets, writers, painters, and musicians of his time.

Made in New York

How New Yorkers transformed the world!

The Livingstons of Livingston Manor

The complete history of one of New York State's—and the nation's—founding families.

Haight-Ashbury, Psychedelics, and the Birth of Acid Rock

Illuminates the beginnings, downfall, and legacy of the acid-inspired, spontaneous, and playful approach to life and music in Haight-Ashbury from 1964–1967.

Ducktails, Drive-ins, and Broken Hearts

An unflinching look at the triumphs and tragedies of '50s rock and roll, from the biggest stars, like Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins, to those who barely grabbed the spotlight.

The Motorcycle Industry in New York State, Second Edition

The compelling chronicle of 120 years of motorcycle making in the Empire State.

The Eight

The personal and legal struggle of eight enslaved people for freedom in New York in the period just before the Civil War.

Bush League, Big City

The saga of New York’s push to build two minor-league baseball stadiums, colored by dollars, politics, and dreams.

Perfect Pitch, Third Revised Edition

The autobiography of one of the 20th century’s most innovative and wittiest composers/performers/authors who witnessed the birth of modern music.

New York

A classic work on the history of New York City written by one of America's greatest politicians.

Louise Blanchard Bethune

The trailblazing story of the life and career of Louise Blanchard Bethune, America’s first professional woman architect.

The Manors and Historic Homes of the Hudson Valley

A classic guide to the history and architecture of the historic manors and homes of the Hudson River Valley