I have written 13 books (summarized below) on a broad variety of subjects. What’s the common thread? Each represents the definitive word on a subject rarely explored by other authors. I like to think of my books as halfway houses between journalism and scholarship: more rigorously researched than most journalism, and more accessible to readers than most academic writing. (Of course, a detractor could argue that they’re less rigorously researched than academic writing and less accessible than journalism!) You be the judge.

The Price We Paid: An Oral History of Penn’s Struggle to Join the Ivy League, 1950-55 (Shorehouse Books, 2024). Midway through the 20^th Century, the University of Pennsylvania stunned the sports world by scrapping its famous big-time football program in exchange for the academic prestige of membership in the newly created Ivy League. This astonishing choice ultimately helped catapult Penn into the ranks of the world’s great universities. But in the short run, it brought pain and confusion to countless Penn players, coaches, administrators, and fans who were caught in the gears of this transition. Their personal stories of that tumultuous period are told here for the first time.
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The Education of A Journalist: My Seventy Years on the Frontiers of Free Speech (Redmount Press, 2022). In this memoir, Dan Rottenberg recounts his career as editor of seven groundbreaking publications, author of 12 books, press critic, business writer, film critic, arts critic, and dining critic. As a champion of free speech, he successfully defended seven libel suits, protest demonstrations, and death threats. Along the way, he helped launch the alternative media movement, the modern Jewish genealogy movement, and the “Forbes 400” list of wealthiest Americans.
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The Outsider: Albert M. Greenfield and the Fall of the Protestant Establishment (Temple University Press, 2014; paperback edition, 2018). Biography of a Russian Jewish immigrant (1887-1967) who built an awesome East Coast business empire and confronted Philadelphia’s entrenched business leadership. 380 pages, with pictures, endnotes and index.
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Death of a Gunfighter: The Quest For Jack Slade, the West’s Most Elusive Legend (Westholme, October 2008; paperback edition, 2010). The true story of the “notorious” Pony Express superintendent Joseph Alfred Slade (1831-1864), one of the great tragic heroes of the opening of the American West. 535 pages, with pictures, endnotes and index. $29.95; paperback edition, $19.95. Winner of the Wild West History Association’s award for “Best Western History Book of 2008.”
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To visit my Jack Slade website, click here.

In the Kingdom of Coal: An American Family and the Rock That Changed the World (Routledge, 2003). Narrative history of the U.S. coal industry, seen through the eyes of five generations of a family of coal operators, and four generations of a family of miners who worked for them. 343 pages with pictures, endnotes and index.
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The Man Who Made Wall Street: Anthony Drexel and the Rise of Modern Finance (U. of Pennsylvania Press, 2001; paperback edition, 2006). Biography of the 19th-Century financier who founded J.P. Morgan & Co. and Drexel University and mentored St. Katharine Drexel. 280 pages with pictures, endnotes and index. Chinese language edition published in 2012 by China Machine Press, Shanghai.
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The Inheritor’s Handbook: A Definitive Guide for Beneficiaries (Bloomberg Press, 1998. Paperback edition: Fireside Division of Simon & Schuster, 2000). The first book on estate planning for those on the receiving end. 237 pages, with index..
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Middletown Jews: The Tenuous Survival of An American Jewish Community (Indiana University Press, 1997).The Jews of Muncie, Indiana, who survived bigotry and the Ku Klux Klan during the first half of the 20th Century. 180 pages with pictures and index.
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Revolution On Wall Street: The Rise and Decline of the New York Stock Exchange (W.W. Norton, 1993, with Marshall E. Blume and Jeremy J. Siegel). A critical narrative history of the investment industry since World War II. 320 pages with endnotes and index.
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Main Line WASP: One Man’s Journey Through the 20th Century (W.W. Norton, 1990, with W. Thacher Longstreth). Memoirs of a Philadelphia civic leader who survived the Great Depression and World War II, sold ads for Life Magazine and twice ran for mayor. 310 pages with pictures and index.
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Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen: An Informal History, 1903-1988 (Privately printed, 1988). History of a Philadelphia law firm that evolved from a firm of Jewish outsiders to the ultimate political insiders. 110 pages, with pictures.
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Fight On, Pennsylvania: A Century of Red and Blue Football (U. of Pennsylvania, 1985). Illustrated history of football at the University of Pennsylvania since 1876. 144 pages, with pictures.
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Finding Our Fathers: A Guidebook to Jewish Genealogy (Random House, 1977). Paperback: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1985 and 1995). The groundbreaking guide to tracing Jewish ancestors that launched the modern Jewish genealogy movement. 415 pages, with pictures and index.
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Books I’ve edited for other authors

The Education of a University President, by Marvin Wachman (Temple University Press, 2005). Memoirs of a president of Lincoln University, Temple University and Albright College.

The Perfect Square: A History of Rittenhouse Square, by Nancy M. Heinzen (Temple University Press, 2009).

The Garbage Man: Memoirs of Jack Farber (Philadelphia, 2012). Memoirs of a corporate salvage artist.