New Jersey Books

Jon Blackwell has summed up New Jersey's notorious past in one neatly bundled 400+ page volume.

Notorious New Jersey: 100 True Tales of Murderers and Mobsters, Scandals and Scoundrels provides a perfect read for anyone who wants to understand why New Jersey deserves its laughingstock slogan from former Gov. Richard Codey: "Welcome to New Jersey: Come See For Yourself."

After reading Notorious New Jersey you won't need to go "see for yourself" -- you'll have read the book (good enuf!!) -- and can stay alive in the relative safety of your own home.

Everybody knows at least a dozen New Jersey jokes, but Blackwell has pulled together most of the reasons for all the cringes that are synonymous with almost anything completely Jersey -- murders (too numerous to name so check the FBI files), mobsters -- The Sopranos (need I say more), scandals -- (a gay-American governor and the long line of his cronies are just the newest additions) and scoundrels (if you eliminate this category Jersey would go from the most densely populated state to a vast wasteland of emptiness, well maybe).

In "Notorious New Jersey", Blackwell cordons off the scoundrels, creeps and human debris that have made the Garden State a place to avoid in the minds of many. The chapters in the book are delineated into areas titled Old Rascals, Dead Wrong, Mob Paradise, Power Corrupts, Enemy Action and Cause Celebres, and is filled with the stories that have made headlines in New Jersey, and around the world, for more than three centuries.

In Blackwell's Notorious New Jersey you'll learn why the state could well be best described as the "Serial Murderer State" or the "Murder Capital of the World". In New Jersey they just do it right -- killing is the name of the game it seems.

But murder isn't New Jersey's only commodity. Blackwell reaches into the archives to refresh our memories about why the state was the perfect place to film the TV show "The Sopranos" with page after page of stories about New Jersey's notorious mobsters.

People in New Jersey have always known that there is always a "New Jersey connection" to any national newspaper headline or TV breaking news story -- just think the Unibomber, 1993s World Trade Center bombing, anthrax, and on and on and on...

Blackwell has done a superb job in pulling together all the great stories about Notorious New Jersey.

Buy this book!!! You'll be reading it for years to come, and shaking your head in disbelief every time you hear about a news story with a New Jersey connection. And you'll have Jon Blackwell to thank for that bit of reality.

If you grew up in New Jersey, you know you're tougher than anyone else. This book just confirms it.

Blackwell takes the reader on a thrilling ride through the Garden State's most infamous and darkest moments. Any true Jerseyan would be proud of Blackwell's hard-hitting tales of native rogues and rapscallions.

Author Jon Blackwell treats us to a variety of categories in his 100 true tales from my favorite section on mob bosses to corrupt politicians, terrorists, spies, and other infamous characters that make up the shady history in New Jersey. The reader is taken back to relive "old rascals" such as Aaron Burr's duel with Alexander Hamilton in Weehawken, a fight to the death between Ambrose Harris and Robert "Mudman" Simon, "The Mad Hatter" dies in the chair (barber), "Richie the Boot" Boiardo and his mysterious house, and so many others are gruesomely fascinating. I also learned that Richard "The Iceman" Kuklinski's exploits may not be all that they are cracked up to be in the recent book entitled "The Iceman." The book covers a lot about crooked politicians and other shady characters I've never heard of while I would have liked to have more of the book devoted to the mobsters. Nevertheless the book is one to add to your true crime collection.

If you're a fan of true crime, mysteries, trivia, politics, New Jersey, weird tales, and everything in between, you'll enjoy these 100 well-told stories of the Garden State's crimes and mysteries, past and present. The author is clearly passionate about his subject, and had some fun telling these tales. Even the captions are entertaining and sometimes tongue-in-cheek.

The stories range from a former Jersey City assemblyman who faked his own drowning to a possible "Jack the Ripper" suspect who moved to NJ following the London crimes (betcha didn't know that!!) In fact, there is a lot you probably didn't know about New Jersey in this comprehensive book.

Of course, there are the cases that were so famous that they spawned TV movies and national attention: the Lindbergh kidnapping, the murderous Cherry Hill rabbi, the Glen Ridge rapists, the "Baby M" saga (one of the rare entries that isn't about crime, but is still a notorious case) and others.

What's creepy is that in some of the cases, the perpetrator is still at large.

There are more than 400 pages in this paperback, but the writing style is so breezy and fun, and the passages are separated into categories, that it's an easy and delightful read. It might even make a good gift.

And there are also the requisite mob stories in here, if you're a "Sopranos" fan. A very well-done read.

ROSE TAINTED JUSTICE by Kenneth Freeman opens the door to the seedy side of justice. The statue portraying blind justice is definitely true to form in this tell-all book. Freeman started out as a correctional officer, and over a period of time landed in the Internal Affairs Division of the New Jersey Department of Corrections. The code of silence was not his thing, and as he began to observe certain things that were happening within the system, he became the infamous "whistleblower". He became "David" and the department became "Goliath". Only this time, he was unable to slay "Goliath" and they began to methodically seek revenge on him.

Freeman stood firm, but it wasn't enough to save his job or his marriage. What is interesting is how he explains the controversy surrounding his firing. And he was able to salvage some serious documentation on the various incidents that led up to his complaints and notification of wrongdoings. The problem was no one wanted to hear them and he was basically ordered to keep quiet.

ROSE TAINTED JUSTICE was interesting, yet the dialogue was extreme to the point that you questioned its validity. I'm not judging, just trying to figure out what can be done to clean up corruptions, and is it really this bad? Freeman tried and failed, but he shared his story, which may be just the thing to remove the blindfold from lady justice.

Reviewed by Kalaani
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Ken Freeman I applaud you for your guts & constitution! I cannot not express how much this book twisted my stomach & my mind. As an Officer in The NJDOC( & a victim of it's infernal affairs & administration) I can tell you that this story is as "real" as it gets! All the stories you've heard about IAD(or SID)are true. Who watches those who are watching? The criminal acts perpetrated by SID(covered up by The higher ups) are sickening to say the least. I recommend this book to every recruit coming into the system....never trust SID, they will use you & burn you as soon as the opportunity arises. Scumbags is a polite way to describe the majority of IA (there are a handful of honest, stand up folks...)buts thats it! Oh & Ken for an update "His Royal Flyness" is no longer the guy you remember. He has sold his soul for aspirations of grandeur....he is one of the most despicable lowlifes in the Dept. Never embarrass the Department...something I wish I had learned 10yrs ago!

This book was great! I didn't want to put it down until I was finished. I would recommend this book to everyone, not just individuals of corrections. I'm so glad that Freeman had a chance to tell his story in a book. Believe every word you read, it's sad, but true.

I read this book and couldn't put it down.This is a true story. I laughed and cried.I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what was going to happen next. Unbelievable!!

To set the record straight, the shooting was a tragic accident, no racism, no supercharged incident, just wrong place, wrong time, wrong man on the trigger.
We had some great times together, the book a good tale of what could have been.
I'm glad he is still remembered, as is John Peterson (KIA, Viet Nam 1968).

Thanks Bill, Go NADS!

my husband knew rabbit. the book covered as much as william loizeaux could tell. there was a great part missing from the book. we are hoping that the author contact several other friends of rabbit's and do a sequil. There is just so much more to tell of this young lad whose life was ended so young and yet so drastically.

I just finished reading The Shooting of Rabbit Wells by William Loizeaux. I finished it in a few hours !! It was of particular interest to me because I grew up in Bernardsville and I knew just about everyone mentioned in the book, especially , the victim, Rabbit..... the book traces his pitiful life from the day he was born and I learned alot about him I never knew from our fleeting friendship. I met Rabbit when he was a Bonnie Brae boy through my boyfriend at the time, who was also on Bonnie Brae. Thirty years later that old boyfriend and I are still friends.....Bernardsville was truly a small quaint town at that time. This incident brought us all to the realization that things were not all flower power and love like we thought. The book really drives that point home in telling about the youth refuge "The Oaken Bucket" in Basking Ridge and how everyone used to cruise and hang out at Woolworth's and the Shop-Rite area. We were a bunch of suburbian hippies just hanging out !! Then the town started to change with outsiders coming in and causing trouble. The incident described in the book changed our innocent lives forever. Many people moved away shortly after that and tried to forget what happened but William Loizeaux didn't and I thank him for that. I would like to be able to talk to William myself and see if he'd like to work on a sequel about the Bernardsville "kids". Many of us are still in touch with each other and have alot to say !!!! Thanks William for a fabulous look into Rabbit's private life and a transport back to the Three Lights Tavern where I spent many a weekend !!!

In his ravishing new book, "The Shooting of RabbitWells", author William Loizeaux stuns the reader with hismasterful, risky, and innovative blend of forms that create a stirring recount of a very real tragedy. Any reader who has lived in the last thirty years, will recognize the turning points of our lives, that contributed to the 1973 killing in Bernardsville, New Jersey, of a mixed-race man named Rabbit Wells.

"The Shooting of Rabbit Wells" is a lovingly dedicated, nakedly honest and wondrous, inventive landmark in the art of writing. The author's probing instinct, which includes a notable talent in exploring our innermost, infuses the book with a magic that holds us captive. We reconsider our pasts, futures, wonder at our fortitude, and more, at our determined, unreleasing grip on that which we will not, or cannot, forget.

A reading of this book has the radiance and light of a magnificent, beloved dream. Sometimes one awakens from a vivid dream, astonished, confused, relieved or perhaps disappointed-- that it "was all just a dream". But when real tragedy befalls, we humans share an obverse experience, where oddly, reality seems plainly dream-like. Every moment, detail, association, memory and truth are so unanticipated, so brutally changing, that we never forget, forever reliving and resorting a mull of slow-motion fragments. We stumble and wander as troubled, nomadic philosophers. We sporadically blurt out to anyone who might listen; or perhaps delude ourselves that we've forgotten, that the pain has passed. We wander ever doomed, attempting to piece together what we know is unpieceable, these dear and treasured fragments that we, in one moment, both accept as truth and fail to comprehend.

"The Shooting of Rabbit Wells" deftly leads us backward and forward through time, space, water, earth, and society, driving us down the roads that, to this day, lead us to Rabbit Wells. Loizeaux makes the drive a stimulating, compass-twisting journey.

We come to recognize the deep pride and dedication we feel in the haunting, and daunting, task of simply remembering. It was a joy, honor and privilege to have read this book. And to the author, I am most assuredly, deeply grateful. Bravo.

While Mr. Cropsey's book is full of factual information and trivia of the beloved air cooled VW car, it is essentially a rehash of previous publications. I might recommend Ray Miller's 'Volkswagen Bug: The People's Car,' or Terry Shuler's 'Volkswagen, Then, Now, and Forever.' Mr Miller's book is full of photos depicting model year changes and factual information. Terry Shuler's book is written similarly, and is an invaluable asset to the VW hobbyist. Mr. Shuler was instrumental in the founding of the Vintage Volkswagen Club of America and has many vintage restorations to his credit. Having driven air cooled Volkswagen cars for over 42 years, and having owned 7 vintage Volkswagens during this time, I'd suggest you save your money and invest in the latter mentioned publications. I do not claim to be an expert or scholar on Volkswagen restoration, though I do have many years and time invested in 'wrenching' on these cars and participation in the hobby.

I have probably over 40 VW books in my library and I got to say that Mr Cropsey's take was a refreshing one. Although I can say that over my 30+ years in the hobby I've come across much of this in others books, this was put together as a kinda "Farmers Almanac" of VW trivia and knowledge. Is this the end all of all VW books? No, but I feel it was a worthwhile addition to my library. I give it a big thumbs up.

this book is so much fun! It has everything you could possibly want for a classic VW book. It's truly a history to hobby recount. One for the collection!

Volkswagen: History To Hobby: All The Facts--All The Fun by Volkswagen enthusiast Bob Cropsey is an in-depth study of the greatly renowned German car company, Volkswagen. Inclusive of 550 historical VW dates, 65 fun VW hobby facts, 100 Herbie The Love Bug facts, 50 VW television commercials, 460 personalized license plates, 402 VW magazine and 15 billboard ads, 40 Movies with VWs, year to year changes of the beetle since 1945, as well as for the buses since 1949, and much more, Volkswagen: History To Hobby is an all-inclusive detailed collection of the "everything you've ever wanted to know" variety about the VW company, and is very strongly recommended to all fans of the great company, VW collectors, and students of automotive history.

Meg has become one of my favorite heroines over the course of the three books in this series. She is flawed without being too hapless. She relates the stories in an amusing patter of what she thinks, says and does, and what the would like to say and do.

Jane Kelly is skillfully threading a fine line, from my point of view. I generally don't like farce mixed with serious material - I want my farce off the wall or not at all. Kelly, on the other hand, succeeds in portraying that farce of a life with a light hand that that is ruefully reminiscent of follies we all engage in without going overboard into seeming simply stupid.

I am glad to see a brief return of Claud and George, owners of the bed and breakfast that were the scene of Meg's last misadventures. I love those two characters, I think they'd make a great spinoff.

I'm eagerly looking forward to further adventures.

I'm glad Jane Kelly gave me a chance to welcome back Meg and Andy, personalized with their witty dialog and wry humor, while they are involved in a murder investigation with many more twists and turns than LBIs main drag. My trips to the Jersey shore are usually a bit south of LBI, but I want to take the time to make a visit this summer and see some of the places Jane took Meg and Andy. I think I'll stop at every diner I see on the way just for good measure.

Good suspense and plenty of nostalgia in reading the descriptions of places familiar to me.

Highly entertaining. I read it because I am an annual visitor to Long Beach Island and was pleasantly surprised to find it engrosssing and very humorous. I hadn't really been expecting much. Liked it enough to want to read the author's other offerings.

A book mixing a variety of topics on the hot subject of child labor, it combines all the right elements to attract the reader. Though the lengh of the book is a little long its great ideas and intriguing subject keep you reading. This is an enjoyable book to read on a lazy day.

This book contains information about numerous human rights concerns from all around the world. In addition, it contains numerous articles and many documents. It is a wonderful research took that can be used by persons first learning about human rights, as well as by those persons who are working on post-undergraduate degrees

This is a really good human rights textbook. It covers a wide range of human rights issues, and has a lot of interesting articles. However I found some of the chapters rather difficult because of the legal jargon. Some of the things you have to read over more than once. The questions in the text focus on your personal opinions, so doing homework from this book is not so bad once you understand the questions (which for my slow brain was a challenge.) It is also very useful as a doorstop. :)

Old York Road is one of the first roads connecting New York and Philadelphia. It was begun in 1725, completed in 1764, and it still exists. The route goes north from Philadelphia through Jenkintown, Willow Grove, and Buckingham crossing the Delaware River at Wells Ferry (New Hope). There it meets the NJ section through Lambertville, Ringoes, Raritan, Bound Brook, Scotch Plaines, and Elizabeth to Elizabethtown Point.

Cawley and Cawley provide a crisp history of the subject including old photos of inns, churches, and other preserved artifacts along the entire length of the road. A second chapter covers the Old York Road during the Revolutionary War. It was an important route across New Jersey even then. A final chapter describes what remains of the various artifacts today.

Included are other details of transportation history. As settlers cleared their lands they gradually moved beyond subsistence farming to surpluses. These products usually went to market by water. Inland areas found water routes inaccessible. There was a clamor for internal improvements, such as roads to the interior. Roads also brought stage coaches, travelers, communications, and commerce. Later stage coaches were replaced by railroads, and still later by electric interurbans. Cawley gives us a view of various aspects including the use of Conestoga wagons to carry freight, the realities of stage coaches (early ones were little more than a bumpy ride on a plain wooden bench mounted on a farm wagon), the inns (they were known as taverns in NJ), rafting lumber down the Delaware, and other roads in the area.

The book is nicely done. Those interested in Pennsylvania or New Jersey history will find it fascinating. References. No Index.

Old York Road is one of the first roads connecting New York and Philadelphia. It was begun in 1725, completed in 1764, and it still exists. The route goes north from Philadelphia through Jenkintown, Willow Grove, and Buckingham crossing the Delaware River at Wells Ferry (New Hope). There it meets the NJ section through Lambertville, Ringoes, Raritan, Bound Brook, Scotch Plaines, and Elizabeth to Elizabethtown Point.

Cawley and Cawley provide a crisp history of the subject including old photos of inns, churches, and other preserved artifacts along the entire length of the road. A second chapter covers the Old York Road during the Revolutionary War. It was an important route across New Jersey even then. A final chapter describes what remains of the various artifacts today.

Included are other details of transportation history. As settlers cleared their lands they gradually moved beyond subsistence farming to surpluses. These products usually went to market by water. Inland areas found water routes inaccessible. There was a clamor for internal improvements, such as roads to the interior. Roads also brought stage coaches, travelers, communications, and commerce. Later stage coaches were replaced by railroads, and still later by electric interurbans. Cawley gives us a view of various aspects including the use of Conestoga wagons to carry freight, the realities of stage coaches (early ones were little more than a bumpy ride on a plain wooden bench mounted on a farm wagon), the inns (they were known as taverns in NJ), rafting lumber down the Delaware, and other roads in the area.

The book is nicely done. Those interested in Pennsylvania or New Jersey history will find it fascinating. References. No Index.

During the second half of the eighteenth century, the fastest and most traveled route from Philadelphia to New York was the Old York Road. (In 1795, a bridge was completed across the Raritan River at New Brunswick that shifted traffic southeastward off the York Road to the King's Highway, traversing Rahway, New Brunswick, Princeton, and Trenton in New Jersey.) The road is still with us and can be traced easily on modern maps (many of the more detailed topo maps plot the Old York Road quite carefully and with clear identification). Following Rt. 263 from where it begins as a fork off of Rt. 611 within the northern limits of Philadelphia, it goes through Warminster and Furlong to Lahaska, where is turns east onto 202 to New Hope. Crossing the river (by ferry back then), it continues along Rt. 179 through Mt. Airy to Ringoes and Larison's Corner, where the old road becomes Rt. 514. After Reaville the road juts left to Three Bridges, Centerville (not on maps any more, but located at the intersection of Old York Road and Pleasant Run Road on the Hunterdon/Somerset County line), and Raritan (via Rt. 567), where it becomes Rt. 28. It follows this road through Bound Brook, Plainfield, and Westfield all the way to Elizabeth(town).

The book is in three sections: a general history of the road during colonial times, the road during the Revolutionary War (the Battles of Trenton and Princeton, numerous other skirmishes, and the evacuation of Valley Forge by Washington's army all have connections to Old York Road), and the road "today" (1965). Many photographs of sites along the road are included, and anyone traveling the road now (2006) should recognize many of the photos. The book is informative and interesting, and traces the history of an important transportation route of long ago.

This book points out all the good and bad that goes along with numerous campsites in NJ. I highly recommend it to anyone looking to get away from it all whether it means parking your car right next to your campsite, or hiking about if you are in need of more seclusion.

The Best in Tent Camping: New Jersey is a really well-written and well-laid-out guide for lovers of the outdoors. It not only lists and describes the various campgrounds around the state (including maps of the campsites themselves), but it also includes checklists and tips that are very useful for the camping neophyte.

The only criticisms I have of the book is that it lacks photographs of the sites discussed (maps only), and, perhaps more importantly, has a rather cumbersome to use state campsites map. The map shows all the sites discussed in the book and has them indicated by number. To find out what the sites are, you have to flip back a page to find out the name. Unfortunately, page numbers are not provided on that page; instead, you have to then go to the index and look up the site by name and then flip to the section of the book where the site is discussed. It would be much more useful to provide page numbers on the map key and to provide the map number on the title page for each site discussed.

Minor points, I suppose, but no reason for things to be laid out that way. Still, I give it a strong recommendation.

The Best in Tent Camping New Jersey is a thorough guide to non-RV camping in the Garden State. Like the other guides in the publishers Tent Camping series, it describes and rates 50 campgrounds, giving you both a handy summary of key information for each and an interesting narrative of background information.

Those of us who don't think of New Jersey as a nature-lovers destination will be pleasantly surprised to learn that the state has mountain wilderness, piney recreation areas, and even some quiet beaches. I was surprised to read that there is a bear overpopulation in New Jersey, and the book contains warnings for the campgrounds where this might be a problem.

Author Marie Javins writes with an appreciation of the environment and the state's history while at the same time recognizing that families might sometimes want urban touring or resort-style recreation. She explains which campgrounds offer a wilderness experience and which offer more hectic activities (or are convenient to theme parks). She also tells you where your dog is accepted - they are not allowed in state parks.

The book is easy to read and even has some enjoyable humor.
Although billed as a guide for "car campers" this book is also for people camping by canoe or bicycle. Hikers and RV campers might also find it helpful since few outdoor guidebooks for New Jersey are as comprehensive as this one.

My husband loves to kyack through the Pine Barrens. This book gave him more information about where to go and what to look for. He loved it.

Although the fast paced development of this area makes a guide such as this very difficult to keep updated and current, this was a much needed revision to the original guides. The history, obstacles, maps & charts, launch & rental sites, approximate paddling times, and grades for each river make this guide ideal for both canoeists and kayakers. Listings for Pinelands preservation and conservation organizations are also included so those who treasure these rivers can support the cause. If you are paddling in NJ, you won't want to miss at least one of the Pine Barren Rivers and this is the guide you will need.

Brief history of the area precedes descriptive listing of the river as you proceed downstream, listing water character, potential obstructions, scenery, and distances between points, as well as put in and take out choices. Maps, and distance charts are excellant. Canoe rentals, town facilities are listed. Must keep in mind that descriptions depend on time of year visited. I've had my copy, well annotated by me, for more than 10 years and review it before every day trip.Its pocket size makes it handy to bring along.

While the subject matter of this book is quite intriguing, the writing style of Ms. D'Amato leaves a great deal to be desired. Quite frequently the text goes off on a tangent, then quickly returns to the subject at hand, and the reader is left scratching their head, wondering why the author even brought up the "sidebar".

As it is probably the only book available (to my knowledge) on Mr. Johnson and Mr. D'Amato, I can recommend it from a subject perspective. Just be prepared to have to go back and re-read sections trying to make some sense of them.

Chance Of A Lifetime is the inside history of how Atlantic City earned its reputation for being the Queen of Resorts, especially focusing upon the lives and labors of political boss Enoch "Nucky" Johnson and 500 Club owner Paul "Skinny" Johnson who founded an economy on vice as a matter of civic pride. An engaging, uproarious true tale of sin, scrambling, and glittering legacy, Chance Of A Lifetime is a unique and welcome addition to 20th Century American History in general, and New Jersey State History in particular.

Being a native New Jerseyan, I really appreciated this book. the author makes you feel as if you have a front row seat at the "Queen of Resorts" a.k.a. Atlantic City, New Jersey! The reader will get a close up view of the "Rat Pack" boys,Frank Sinatra and Dean Martine..and the close relationship they had to "Skinny" D'Amato. This wonderful book is packed with photos of life Atlantic City back in the 40's and 50's...how different life was then in the "nightclub" era..when people dressed up and went out in search of entertainment..how different we live now with cable TV, computers, etc. This book can almost be an historical document..into the past..and what a contrast between the Atlantic City of today with her towering casinos, and the Atlantic City of yesterday!