Looking for gift inspiration this year? Find the perfect read for everyone on your list in our holiday gift guide. Browse just a few of the fantastic books we’ve published this year, and find more at nyupress.org. Place your order on Bookshop.org and directly support a few of our favorite NYC bookstores, or your local shop!
For the history buff
The Untold Story of Shields Green
The Life and Death of a Harper’s Ferry Raider
“DeCaro seeks to rescue the story of one Black raider, ‘Emperor’ Shields Green from history’s shadows.… DeCaro does an excellent job interrogating the sources, and attempting to find the real Green among the racist stereotypes and language found in both Southern and Northern newspapers. What emerges is a portrait of a man willing to die if it meant an end to slavery.”—Library Journal
Order from Books Are Magic in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn
For the feminist reader
Shortlisted
Women in the Shadows of the Supreme Court
“Piecing together their personal papers and archives, as well as relevant news coverage, Johnson and Jefferson introduce readers to the ambitious women who built influential legal careers and advanced a female presence in the federal courts, especially the Supreme Court…. The authors compellingly argue that representation of diverse women in leadership positions is in everybody’s best interest. An excellent contribution…and essential for anyone who values diversity.”—Library Journal
Order from McNally Jackson Books in SoHo
For the magic enthusiast
Enchanted New York
A Journey along Broadway through Manhattan’s Magical Past
“Packed with fascinating details and arresting insights, Enchanted New York is a page-turner that illuminates forgotten corners of our cultural past.”—Jackson Lears, author of Rebirth of a Nation: The Making of Modern America, 1877-1920
“There are no ancient monuments to mark New York City’s magical history; in their place, Dann’s historical guide chronicles the city’s lesser-known magical past.”—Foreword Reviews
Order from Book Culture on the Upper West Side
For the fantasy fan
The Dark Fantastic
Race and the Imagination from Harry Potter to the Hunger Games
Now available in paperback!
“The Dark Fantastic is a wakeup call to all who research, teach, or create young adult speculative fiction … Thomas issues a call to decolonize the speculative fiction genre and to ensure more texts, films, and television shows that include a Black female protagonist become the norm to influence a new generation of readers and writers. The Dark Fantastic is a must-read.”—Booklist
Order from Shakespeare & Co. on the Upper East Side
For the foodie
The Truth about Baked Beans
An Edible History of New England
“Like a carving knife cutting up a Thanksgiving turkey, Muckenhoupt deftly takes apart legends about New England cuisine. Showing us the recent and invented ‘traditions’ about all sorts of ye olde foods, from Boston Baked Beans to Cranberry Sauce, Muckenhoupt reveals the multi-ethnic New England behind the Yankee image; the real-world fish-sticks as well as the pseudo-traditional clambake. Thanksgiving will never seem the same.”—Paul Freedman, Yale University
Order from WORD in Greenpoint, Brooklyn
For the home-schooling parent
Hyper Education
Why Good Schools, Good Grades, and Good Behavior Are Not Enough
“Why do so many Asian American parents seek hyper education for their children? Through his fascinating exploration of spelling bees, math competitions, and enrichment centers, Pawan Dhingra gets to the root of education obsessions to expose our global anxieties, national biases, and parental hopes for our sons and daughters.”—Min Jin Lee, author of Free Food for Millionaires and National Book Award Finalist, Pachinko
Order from Books Are Magic in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn
For kids of all ages
Honey on the Page
A Treasury of Yiddish Children’s Literature
“Miriam Udel’s essential, rich collection of Yiddish tales revives the appealing stories that early twentieth century Jewish children were told as introductions to their history and tradition.”—Foreword Magazine
“An extensive collection of Yiddish literary texts for children translated into English, this anthology contains works from familiar as well as not so widely known Yiddish language writers… [A] comprehensive and valuable set of stories and poetry.”—Kirkus Reviews
Order from McNally Jackson Books in SoHo
For the photography lover
Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives
A Pictorial History of Working People in New York City
“This superb study glimpses the diverse traditions that immigrants brought with them from abroad, and the solidarity, diversity, struggles, and relief they found in their new homes and neighborhoods of New York.”—DoubleTake
Order from Book Culture on the Upper West Side
For the social media user
Twitter
A Biography
“Burgess and Baym have accomplished a rare feat: They have revealed the history of Twitter to be dynamic and fascinating, have put the users of Twitter in the forefront of the story, and have embedded the story with so many gems of brilliant insight that students, scholars, and retweeters alike will all learn much and enjoy this book.”—Siva Vaidhyanathan, author of Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy
Order from Shakespeare & Co. on the Upper East Side
For anyone curious about vaccine trials
Adverse Events
Race, Inequality, and the Testing of New Pharmaceuticals
“Adverse Events damns the industry with simple description, but Fisher’s analysis has a bigger concern. The industry is a symptom of the American problem of racist capitalism, and in the book, Fisher documents how a racist, wildly unequal economy leads people who are already in precarious positions to take part in first-in-human trials. Ten years ago, when she started her research, she could hardly have predicted its immediacy.”—The New Republic
Order from WORD in Greenpoint, Brooklyn
