New Book Releases

The Jersey Shore lighthouse that stands in Sea Girt has been a guiding beacon for seafarers since the end of the nineteenth century. A revolutionary lens, designed by Frenchman Augustin-Jean Fresnel, captured the flickering flame of a burning wick and projected a unique flash that could be seen for fifteen miles. The genius of Fresnel's design, on full display at the lighthouse, impresses as much now as it did in the days of sail. Many colorful characters were put in command here, including a Civil War soldier, a pioneering woman, an inventor and, for one day, the twenty-year-old daughter of a keeper. Sea Girt Lighthouse played an important role in defending the coast during World War II, when U.S. Coast Guard troops stood watch in the tower and patrolled the beaches. After its decommissioning, the lighthouse served for over two decades as the town library and recreation center, but by 1981, it was at risk of being closed and sold. That's when a group of community members--the Sea Girt Lighthouse Citizens Committee--successfully fought to save and preserve the shore landmark. Today, the lighthouse is the community beacon, alive with activity and attracting visitors who flock from around the country and the world to experience its history.

Unbeknownst to most of the city’s inhabitants, a rural community of garbage workers once existed on a now-vanished island in New York City.

Barren Island was a swampy speck in Jamaica Bay where a motley group of new immigrants and African Americans quietly processed mountains of garbage and dead animals starting in the 1850s. They turned the waste into useful industrial products until their eviction by Robert Moses in 1936, all in the name of progress. Barren Islanders built businesses, fought fires, demanded a public school and worshipped at churches as they created a quintessentially American community from scratch. Author Miriam Sicherman tells the story of a Brooklyn neighborhood lost in the annals of New York City history.

Just off the coast of the Bronx in Long Island Sound sits Hart Island, where more than one million bodies are buried in unmarked graves.

Beginning as a Civil War prison and training site and later a psychiatric hospital, the location became the repository for New York City's unclaimed dead. The island's mass graves are a microcosm of New York history, from the 1822 burial crisis to casualties of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire and victims of the AIDS epidemic. Important artists who died in poverty have been discovered, including Disney star Bobby Driscoll and playwright Leo Birinski. Author Michael T. Keene reveals the history of New York's potter's field and the stories of some of its lost souls.

Light boats, light vessels, lightships--before radar, depth-finders and satellite-guided navigation, mariners relied on floating lighthouses that lingered offshore as warning beacons in perilous waters.

Moored near shifting shoals and treacherous reefs, lightships remained on station during all weather conditions and played a vital role in keeping America's waterways safe for navigation. From 1820 to 1985, light vessels warned of treacherous seas and pointed the way to safe harbors. In Lightships, author Wayne Kirklin chronicles the eighty-five ships that protected the mid-Atlantic coast and the heyday of these special craft. From New York Harbor to the southernmost edge of North Carolina's notorious Cape Fear, Kirklin details the unsung role this fleet played in keeping America's merchant marines safe. Read Lightships to discover a forgotten but vital element of American maritime history.