New Jersey Books

Bo Sullivan and the Turnpike are bundles of unrestricted energy. The New Jersey Turnpike shapes the state. The road is a triumph of function over form. It is the busiest toll road in the nation.

New Jersey is a machine in the garden. The nickname, the Garden State, is, in some respects, bizarre.

On the New Jersey Turnpike the patrons are treated like vagrants. The message is keep moving. The Turnpike was profitable from the beginning. It sold time and convenience.

The Pulaski Skyway has been dubbed America's first cosmic road.

To any student of culture, this book is a marvel.

As a lifelong New Jerseyan who endured the "what exit" jokes by out-of-staters (Exit 12, now that you've asked), Rockland and Gillespie try to tackle the cultural significance of the loved and loathed New Jersey Turnpike. They cite the popular reference in the Simon & Garfunkel tune, "America," and stress that the Turnpike is one of the most heavily-traveled highways in the world.

What they do well is describe in entertaining detail the story on how and why the Turnpike was built (note: the secretive NJ Turnpike Authority did not cooperate with the authors when they were researching this book) and the many anecdotes about the road that bring new insights into New Jersey (and American) politics and history.

The authors make two main cultural arguments throughout the book:

The first one is how the negative opinion of New Jersey has been shaped over the years by travel on the Turnpike. Let's face it -- the Turnpike travels through the least attractive areas of the state. From the decayed industrial north to the straight, flat and boring stretches in South Jersey, the Turnpike is not a great public relations tool for the state of New Jersey. New Jersey is not all oil refineries (exit 12 & 13), huge megawarehouses (exit 8A) or bland suburban sprawl (exit 9 & 10), but since millions of people from around the globe have traveled on this road to or from Newark Airport or along the Northeast, they think that what they see along the Turnpike is typical to the Garden State (yes, we still have gardens).

Second, the authors' argue that the Turnpike was the ultimate expression of form over function -- an idea that reached its zenith in the mid-20th century. The road was built with efficiency and safety being its highest (and perhaps only) priorities and the roadbuilders did not consider aesthetics or the concerns of neighbors or private landowners when building or maintaining the road.

This book is a great and worthy complement to works like Robert Caro's The Power Broker or other works on famous roads like Rt. 66, Highway 1, the National Road (US Rt. 40), etc. You don't have to be a New Jersey-phile to enjoy this book!

Leave it to Charlie to find even more Pennsylvania streams! He even includes notable waters in NJ and Ny. This book gives you the opportunity to fish streams that don't get the pressure of some of the more famous waters. The author's cover waters large and small. The book is a bargain, and at retail price equates to 39 cents per stream! Try to find a guide for that.

One of the most interesting books I've read. It has been great for someone that has "cabin fever" this winter. I read about a different stream every night before bedtime. Great reviews on Pocono, Manada, and McMichael Creeks! J. Edwards

I was born and raised in Middlesex N.J.in a house built by my grandfather many years ago, so I was thrilled to read this book. Whenever I travel back to Middlesex I visit my old house and neighborhood, as a matter of fact, the Lincoln statue on Mountain Avenue was just two blocks from home. Each page is like a memory revisited, as I viewed the photos I was surprised and excited to see a photo of my Dad who was a member of the Middlesex Special Police Force. Many of the places and faces are a part of my past. I understand that a second edition is in the works and I have many photos to share.
I have purchased copies for my children and grandchildren.......as a part of my past, it is also theirs to enjoy, and I highly recommend anyone who has ever lived in Middlesex Borough to put this book on their "wish list".

Viewing this book was a heart-warming experience, liked being curled up around the warmth of a fireplace with favorite friends and family looking through old photo albums! An honest, reflective, dignified, historial walk down Middlesex's memory lane from its early days with its spacious farmland to the bustling town it is today. "Middlesex Borough-Images of America" makes you smile with every page you turn. Through the strength and support of small business, strong religious and educational values, growing families, and civic mindedness, Middlesex established itself as a stable borough with a solid future. It's a perfect gift to give or to treasure yourself.

This handbook is excellent if you require detailed and accurate information about this specific region. Terrific value!

this was my first time using a Moon Guide and i was very pleased. i was impressed with the number of small towns that were included. i found the author's recommendations, from restaurants to sightseeing, to be just as she described them. she was also honest about the "not so great" places. it's a great guide for exploring New Jersey!

This book is the companion volume to the original "Forgotten Towns of Southern New Jersey". If you own one of them, you must own the other. Excellent for discovering how things used to be (and still are, in some cases). If you live in NJ, and love local history, you need to buy this book.

This is Henry Charlton Beck's second book in a series all dealing with local history and lore of various sections of the state. Two of the volumes deal with locations found in southern NJ, and this was published a year (1937) after the first book. It has always remained in print.

As in the first volume Beck visits and relates the history of roughly 45 forgotten (there once, now gone) towns (though many of these "towns" were more often just placenames on a map). Where the first volume concentrated primarily on the Pine Barrens region, here Beck spreads out a little more, reaching as far north as Upper Freehold Township and south as Cape May County. Many of the places he writes about are quickly falling prey to developers today: the photo of the sleepy Cassville intersection, which is only a short distance from Great Adventure, is a huge, busy intersection today. Another photo is mis-captioned: on p. 147, what's identified as an old tavern at Washington (a much-visited ruin not far off Rt. 563 just south of Jenkins in the Pines) is actually the walls of a stable.

Beck's books are not only informative, but a lot of fun. He gets the juices flowing for wanting to go exploring, and once you start seeking out some of the places he describes, he fills in the sometimes empty, sometimes vastly changed locations with provocative historical information. Unfortunately, as in the first volume, there are still no maps, but there is an index this time.

This fine collection of New Jersey biographries reminds me once again of what women can do--and have done. From a young striker who is repeatedly jailed for her insistence on workers' rights, to a freed former slave who's burned out of her business but keeps returning, to a talented writer with a disappearing husband and a bunch of kids--these women all have one characteristic in common: persistence. They just keep at it. And eventually, they succeed. Or at least, endure.

The writing is beautiful throughout. I've been a fan of Lynn Wenzel's since she was editor of the now-defunct newspaper that came out of New Jersey: New Directions for Women. She always wrote marvelously. In this collection her writing is, if anything, even sharper. Each story is vividly told, and accompanied by an unusual photograph. I found myself returning to the photo over and over again while I read each story. The incredible, determined gaze of Sylvia Dubois, the former slave (and the haunted look on the face of her daughter) especially captured me. I was also surprised by the beauty of Alice Paul, one of the few women in the book I was already familiar with. She was the originator of the Equal Rights Amendment, and a leading suffragist in the early 20th century. Noticing my own surprise at how she looked, I realized how, unconsciously, I'd bought into the stereotype of the "battle-axe suffragette," the image I first encountered in childhood. Even though I've been a feminist for decades since then, obviously I retained that image of our foremothers--for I was shocked by the face of this youngish, lovely woman. THAT'S Alice Paul? I thought.

Her story is one of the most important here, simply because the impact of her work was so far-reaching. (Her pressure in 1964, for instance, was part of the reason we have gender added to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act--and this is the significant clause which has mandated equality for girls in public school sports, etc.) I am grateful that these exceptional photographs accompanied each story.

A big Thank You to Lynn Wenzel and Carol Binkowski for rescuing these twelve women from the obscurity in which most of them have rested, and for shedding more light on those whom we already knew of. We could use Volume 2 and 3 of Remarkable New Jersey Women. The authors do say in their introduction that it was hard to make the selection, since they found so many qualified candidates for inclusion. So let's hear it for an expansion of the series.

The remarkable women in this book came to life and reminded this reader of how much they sacrificed for the sake of women then, now, and of the future. To have researched all the details of these women's lives was a monumental task in itself. To have taken this research and written about each woman as if we were there witnessing the events, is an art.

Bravo to Lynn Wenzel and Carol J. Binkowski for writing a book that is not only a history lesson, but makes readers care about all these women who overcame adversity and prejudice. Their stories are all inspiring, and I recommend this book to women (AND MEN!) of all ages.

When our clients call, looking for a qualified professional to help them with specific needs, I can look up several numbers for them in one of the two editions. I have gotten numberous calls from satisfied customers thanking me for the recommendation and letting me know how great their experience was! These books have been on my desk since 1999 and are still used several times a work week. A great tool...these books give you alot of information to make narrow down your search for a professional. Much more info than just the yellow pages!

This book is long overdue. Anyone who owns or rents a home/apartment will benefit from this book. All businesses in the book are recommended by satisfied customers - which makes it different from the Yellow pages. Each business has an informational write-up which is helpful for the consumer. In addition, each consumer was asked to quote on what that business did for them. The quotes are a good read. We have used several businesses from the book and were very pleased. This eliminates the hit and miss technique we were using before.

A wonderful, and wonderfully written, history of the Park, including a series of great photos. Fascinating to learn about the many and varied activities that have taken place on these banks of the Hudson for the last 300 years. I highly recommend this book, which is not just for history buffs!

I have lived near the Palisades nearly all my life and thought I knew quite a bit of the history of the area. This book is filled with historical information that I was completely unaware of. A real gem.

I thought I knew alot about by home state until I read the book. What a surprise to learn that I did not know as much as I thought I knew. It is informative without being a drag. Every native of New Jersey and/or resident of the State needs to have a copy of "New Jersey Firsts" in their personal library.

This is a great little book packed with information that anyone with ties to New Jersey would find interesting. I bought it as a father's day gift. It has a nice blend of information, some of it light and some serious. The photos are fantastic. Some of the entries I was well aware of, but most were news to me. All in all, it is an entertaining book that I think appeals to a very wide audience.

This book is sooooo detailed that it makes day tripping a true pleasure! It even tells you where to park. I've tried the rest but this one is the best.

If you live in New Jersey or are going to visit, make sure you have a copy of this book!

I have beeen waiting for a book like this for a long time. I have read all the rest and they all seem flat compared to this one. It is alive and fresh. A delicious tour of the great state of New Jersey!

Well worth it. The newest, most complete and most up to date book on the subject of NEw Jersey Day trips.