Introduction
1 How We Got to Where We Are
2 When Prehistoric Elephants Roamed New Jersey
3 New Jersey Was Paradise
4 Move Over Betsy Ross
5 Good Golly, Miss Molly
6 The Caldwell Murder Case
7 "The Cow Chace"
8 Classical Gas
9 The Congressman's Cold
10 The First Flight
11 John Adams's Ass
12 Man Eats Tomato and Lives!
13 Explosion on the USS Princeton
14 Two New Jersey Soldiers in Confederate Prisons
15 General Grant Skips the Theater
16 The Jersey General and the Secret of Custer's Last Stand
17 Poor Mary Smith
18 Mrs. Stanton Steps Out in Tenafly
19 It's About Time
20 Leprosy in the Laundry
21 Stephen Crane Gets into Trouble
22 The Ghostly Sphynx of Metedeconk
23 Annie Oakley Lived in Nutley, New Jersey
24 Scandal at the Girls' Reform School
25 Alice Goes for a Drive
26 Billy Sunday Came to Trenton on Monday
27 Ezra Pound Insults Newark
28 Cher Ami
29 The Poet, the Athlete, and the War to End All Wars
30 The Applejack Campaign
31 Swan Song for Shoeless Joe
32 The Tragic Fall of the Mexican Lindbergh
33 On the Boardwalk with Al Capone
34 The Morro Castle Mystery
35 The Rise and Fall of a Great Detective
36 Mommy Was a Commie
37 The Martian Invasion
38 When New Jersey Was a Nazi Target
39 Teleporting Penguin Lands in New Jersey
40 The Serpent in the Garden State: A Brief History of Corruption
41 Postscript: How to Write an Encyclopedia of New Jersey in Nine
Easy Years
Jan 13: Westfield Public Library, evening
Jan 20: East Brunswick Public Library, 7:00 PM
Jan 21: Pennsville Public Library, 7:00 PM
Watch
Praise for There's More to New Jersey than the Sopranos
"This is a delightful and
informative book--where scholarship meets Weird New Jersey. Mappen is
truly New Jersey's master historical storyteller. "—Mark
Lender, Kean University
"So, you think you know
New Jersey history? Well, think again. In There’s More to New
Jersey than the Sopranos, Marc Mappen provides readers with dozens of
fascinating Jersey stories. From long-buried mastodons to
menacing Martians, it is all here. This book is a must-read."—Dr.
Richard Veit, Department of History and
Anthropology, Monmouth University
"There's More to New Jersey
than the Sopranos lives up to its title, and then some. The book
is a
delightful read, full of wit and information on every page. "—Thomas
Fleming, Winner of the Richard J.
Hughes Award for Lifetime Achievement in New Jersey History
"Mappen pulls out little-known tidbits in our state’s history to
illustrate a long-standing assertion by many historians that it is
difficult to find national and international events without some link
to New Jersey. Mappen makes a sound argument to lift our state from a
punchline to a more suitable noble station in our hearts and minds."—Asbury Park Press/Home News
Tribune/Courier News/Daily Record 2/28/10
"Mappen’s little book,
brimming with page-turning tales of our funny, ironic, serious, tragic,
heroic, shameful, endlessly fascinating history is proof enough that
it’s title is indeed true. Five stars: Excellent in scholarship,
writing style, and graphic/typography."
—Garden State Legacy, March
2010
Description:
An American tourist in Europe stopped at a restaurant in
Gdansk, Poland, and struck up a conversation with a local. “Where do you come from?” he asked.
“New Jersey,”
she said. He smiled and replied, “Ah,
Sopranos!”
Even fans of that popular show, one that held viewers
captive, may be a bit disheartened to discover that the first thing
that pops into minds around the world about New Jersey is a
dysfunctional crime family, just an exit or two off the infamous N.J.
Turnpike. But there’s no need to live in fear that the only culture and
history that the state is known for is, well, let’s say, a bit of bada
bing. Actually, the echo of the Big Bang—the cosmic event that marked
the birth of our universe some 13.7 billion years
ago—was first identified by scientists from Bell Labs in Murray Hill,
New Jersey.
In this lively romp through history from the primitive past
to the present day, Marc
Mappen’s message resonates—There’s
More to New Jersey than the Sopranos. Real tales, wise tales,
tall tales abound throughout the pages of Mappen’s collection, filled
with zest, humor, scandal, and occasionally tragedy. Annie Oakley. Ulysses S. Grant. Benedict
Arnold. Ezra Pound. Shoeless Joe Jackson. These luminaries and
many others share a common bond with the state that witnessed
prehistoric elephants roaming its pastures, the explosion on the USS Princeton, a Martian invasion,
famous firsts like the phonograph, electric light, and movies, and,
well, step aside Tony Soprano: mobster Al Capone strolling along the
Atlantic City boardwalk.
Providing a lens into American history through lively prose
and more
than twenty-five
illustrations, There’s More to New
Jersey than the Sopranos is as much fun as a trip to the Jersey
Shore and definitely more rewarding than a night home watching
television— simply stated, this book is one you can’t refuse to read.
About the Author:
MARC MAPPEN is the coeditor of the award-winning Encyclopedia of New Jersey and
author of Jerseyana: The Underside
of New Jersey History (both Rutgers University Press). He has
written articles for the New York
Times, the Los Angeles Times,
Rutgers
Magazine, New Jersey Heritage,
and other publications and has appeared on the History Channel and
National
Public Radio.
