World War I Book Now in Production

World War I New York: A Guide to the City’s Enduring Ties to the Great War

World War I New York: A Guide to the City’s Enduring Ties to the Great War

It was a huge relief to submit to my editor Amy Lyons the last photos and the map information for my upcoming book, World War I New York: A Guide to the City’s Enduring Ties to the Great War. It is due out March 1, 2017, from Globe Pequot Press. They published my last two guidebooks, The Governors Island Explorer’s Guide and The Algonquin Round Table New York: A Historical Guide. The new book is now in production and being edited.

For World War I New York, which you can read about here, I took most of the photos in the book, just as I did the last two. I was racing around the five boroughs. I also went to parts of Long Island and New Jersey. On my last shooting day early last month, I put 70 miles on the car in one day, and I was just in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. I made special research trips to Staten Island and New Jersey, sometimes just to see two locations. But I felt it was important to the book. I probably took about 1,500 photos and turned in more than 200. Many are archival ones, such as vintage images from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs collection.

Bronx County War Memorial

Detail, Bronx County War Memorial


I submitted 12 maps, but I don’t know yet if the editor will use all of them. Some of them, such as Brooklyn and the Bronx, are so spread out that a map would really help.

I am really looking forward to this book coming out. Part of the reason is that I can’t wait to get all of this research out there. Some of it I have been collecting for ten years! The book is coming out the same time as the centennial of America’s entry into World War I, so I hope that a lot of people find out about how important New York was during the war, and how the city remembered the heroes after it was concluded.

Next spring I’ll be offering a new walking tour of World War I locations.

If you have any questions, comments, or want and advance copy, just drop me a line.