NYU Press Celebrates 100 Years

NYU PRESS CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION

Highlights from 100 Years of Great Ideas

Friends, It is such an honor to be the Director of NYU Press in its 100th year, and I am so happy that you are here with us as we celebrate where we’ve come from, and where we have yet to go.

I am pleased to be the latest in a long line of Directors who have taken their responsibility seriously as the stewards of academic and publishing excellence, and I look forward to shepherding the Press into its next century.

University presses occupy a unique position in the publishing world. We are tasked with making high quality scholarship available to the public, bringing to the forefront ideas from the leading edge of academia. At the same time, we feel that it is our responsibility to publish voices and ideas that might not otherwise find an outlet. That NYU Press has been fulfilling this mission for one hundred years fills us and the University with a great sense of pride. We believe that ideas matter.

We also know that we can’t fulfill this mission in a vacuum. We are indebted to so many people that it is impossible to recognize them all. We are lucky to work with such passionate professionals, in a community committed to academic freedom, openness, inclusiveness, and diversity. These are not easy ideals to achieve, and it takes constant vigilance to make sure we hold ourselves to our own high standards. In this commemorative booklet, you will find some of the notable highlights from our long history, as well as an honor roll of many of the people who have contributed to our success over the years.

Institutions more august than our own have sometimes failed to weather the test of time.

We at NYU Press know that longevity does not happen by accident. We are committed to the future of scholarly communication, and our role in, and responsibility to, bringing new ideas to light. We are incredibly grateful to be part of a University that believes we have a unique ability to do just that. And we are indebted to you, the members of our community, who remind us that the ideas published by university presses matter now, more than ever.

Thanks for being a part of our celebration,

Ellen Chodosh Director, NYU Press

The Early Years: Humble Beginnings and Great Aspirations

1916 1921 1932 NYU Press is founded

by Elmer Ellsworth Brown, Chancellor of New York University: Arthur H. Nason, a Professor of English, is named the first director.

NYU Press publishes its first two books, Principles of Cost Accounting and Handbook of Business English.

NYU Press publishes Representative Government in the United States, by former president William Howard Taft, based on the opening lecture of the James Stokes Lectureship on Politics.

Arthur H. Nason retires and there is no director and little publishing activity during the Depression.

"In Service to Scholarship”

—Arthur H. Nason, PhD., Director of NYU Press, 1916-1932

Gaining Momentum and Pushing Ahead

1941 Edward Corwin’s The President: Office and Powers is reviewed by The New York Times.

1952 Filmore Hyde, the New Yorker’s first literary editor, is named director of NYU Press.

1955 The Press begins its long association with Gay Wilson Allen, a preeminent Whitman scholar, publishing Walt Whitman’s Poems, the first volume in The Collected Writings of Walt Whitman.

1956 NYU Press is sold to a group of private investors and spun off as a separately incorporated company.

1958 This strategy ends catastrophically and NYU Press is reorganized as a department of New York University.

1958 Ernest Nagel’s Gödel’s Proof is published and goes on to be the Press’s best-selling book, continuously in print for over 60 years.

1966 1961

The Wrightsman Lectures series is launched with the NYU Institute of Fine Arts.

The first book is Rembrandt and the Italian Renaissance

by Kenneth Clark.

The complete Collected Writings of Walt Whitman is published.

1974 The Nova Scotia series is launched with avantgarde titles by Yvonne Rainer, Steve Reich, and Donald Judd.

1975 The Press publishes Leaders and Followers in an Age of Ambiguity by former Secretary of the Treasury George P. Schultz (later Secretary of State), part of the Charles C. Moskowitz Memorial Lecture series.

Malcolm C. Jones, Jr. is named Director.

1976 NYU Press and the Council on Foreign Relations launch a series on international relations.

1981

1987

Colin Jones is named the new Director of the Press. The Press enters into a partnership with Columbia University Press to assist with sales and distribution.

Work begins on The Works of Charles Darwin, a massive project that will eventually include 29 illustrated volumes of Darwin’s writings.

World-renowned economist Ludwig von Mises publishes Epistemological Problems of Economics.

1986 1989 The Essential Papers on Psychoanalysis series is launched with Michael Stone’s volume on Borderline Disorders.

The first volume of The Works of Charles Babbage is published, part of a major project that will include 11 volumes when complete.

A New Chapter of Dynamic Quality and Diversity

1992 1993 1991 The prestigious Essential Papers on Jewish Studies series begins. The series now includes 10 titles.

Karla Jay’s series, The Cutting Edge: Lesbian Life and Literature is launched with the publication of Elizabeth Meese’s (Sem)erotics and Djuna Barnes’s Ladies Almanack.

The Press launches the Literature and Psychoanalysis series with David Kleinbard’s The Beginning of Terror: A Psychological Study of Rainier Maria Rilke’s Life and Work, ultimately including 10 books.

1996 1994 The Press launches the Bobst Fiction and Poetry Prizes. More than a dozen works are published from 1994-2001, when the program ended.

1995 Ruth Westheimer (“Dr. Ruth”), world-famous sex therapist, publishes Heavenly Sex: Sex in the Jewish Tradition.

Niko Pfund is named Director and forges alliances with scholars who were producing dynamic and thoughtprovoking work in areas under-served by mainstream publishers.

The “Fast Track Books,” program—timely books dealing with current affairs—is launched with Stephen Renshon’s High Hopes: The Clinton Presidency and the Politics of Ambition.

1998 Contributing to the key debates in academe, the Press launches the Cultural Front series with Michael Bérubé’s The Employment of English, and Cary Nelson’s Manifesto of a Tenured Radical.

1999 Samuel Delany’s Times Square Red, Times Square Blue is named Publishers Weekly’s “Best Book of the Year”.

The Press relocates to its current offices, a 19th century building on Broadway and 13th Street.

At the Turn of the Century

2000 Steve Maikowski becomes the new director in early 2001.

NYU Press becomes one of 10 founding members of the History E-Book Project, sponsored by the American Council of Learned Societies.

2005 In collaboration with the JJC Foundation, the Press launches the Clay Sanskrit Library which features translations of the great classics of Sanskrit literature with the Sanskrit text on facing pages.

2001 Eleanor Alexander’s Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow is reviewed on the front cover of The New York Times Book Review.

Encyclopedia of Jewish Life wins the National Jewish Book Award.

2007 The Press publishes Convergence Culture

by Henry Jenkins, a path-breaking book on the collision between old and new media.

2002 NYU Press commemorates 9/11 with the publication of 110 Stories, edited by Ulrich Baer, which USA Today called “one of the most promising books on September 11th”.

2009 The “Early American Places” series is launched, a collaborative project among three university presses, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The Society for Military History Distinguished Book Award for Biography was awarded to Andrew Wiest’s Vietnam’s Forgotten Army (2009).

Looking Ahead, Seeking New Voices and New Viewpoints

2010 Huffington Post describes NYU Press as “ahead of the cultural curve—pushing literary trends—rather than behind it.”

2013 In an important partnership with the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute, the Press launches the Library of Arabic Literature—new translations of classic Arabic texts with the original Arabic on facing pages.

2011 The Press publishes City of Promises, a threevolume history of Jews in New York, which goes on to win the National Jewish Book Award.

2014 NYU Libraries and NYU Press receive a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to create “Enhanced Networked Monographs” designed to make scholarly work discoverable on the open web.

Steve Maikowski retires in June, 2014, and Ellen Chodosh is named Director in September— the first woman to direct NYU Press.

2016

2012 NYU Press becomes a founding member of the University Press Content Consortium, a non-profit collaboration designed to make peer-reviewed material available on a user-friendly platform.

2015 The Press revives Washington Mews Books, its regional books imprint, with Cecil Dreeme, a 19th century novel set at Chrysalis College (aka NYU).

In the 100 years since its founding, the Press has sought to reflect the intellectual vitality of New York University by publishing a wide array of provocative and compelling titles, as well as works of lasting scholarly value. Underpinning the Press’s growth is its unwavering commitment to publishing books on the cutting edge of social issues, NYU Press will continue to seek out distinguished ideas and academic integrity embracing the role as Champion of Great Ideas for the next 100 years!

NEW YORK UNIVERSITY DIRECTOR Ellen Chodosh

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Associate Director and Editor-in-Chief: Eric Zinner Executive Editor: Ilene Kalish Senior Editor: Jennifer Hammer Editor: Clara Platter Assistant Editors: Caelyn Cobb, Alicia Nadkarni Editorial Assistant: Amy Klopfenstein

LIBRARY OF ARABIC LITERATURE

Editorial Director: John Rossetti Associate Managing Editor: Gemma Juan-Simó

SALES AND MARKETING DEPARTMENT Sales and Marketing Director: Mary Beth Jarrad Publicity Manager: Betsy Steve Marketing Associates: Sara Johnson, Ciara O’Connor Subsidiary Rights Administrator: Margie Guerra Exhibits Coordinator: Sydney Garcia Sales Assistant: Matthew Blon

PRESS STAFF 2016 PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Production Manager: Charles Hames Managing Editor: Dorothea Halliday Design and Production Specialist: Adam Bohannon Production Editor: Alexia Traganas Editing and Production Specialist: Edith Alston

BUSINESS DEPARTMENT Business Manager: Laura Bisberg Senior Operations Supervisor: Kevin Cooper Accounts Payable Specialist: Susan Hamilton Accounts Receivable Specialist: Katherine Garafalo

DIGITAL PUBLISHING Program Officer for Digital Publishing: Monica McCormick

PRESS DIRECTORS Ellen Chodosh (2014-present) Steve Maikowski (2001-2014) Niko Pfund (1996-2000) Colin Jones (1981-1996) Malcolm Johnson, Jr. (1974-1981) Christopher Kentera (1967-1974) William B. Harvey (1958-1966) Wilbur McKee (1957—Acting Director) Filmore Hyde (1952-1957) Arthur Nason (1916-1932)* *No director between 1932-1952.

The Press was managed by Jean Barr, a university administrator, between 1946-1952.

DEAN OF LIBRARIES Carol Mandel (2000-present) Carleton Rochell (1978-2000)

NYU PRESS FACULTY ADVISORY BOARD (2016) Chair: Jeff Manza, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Thomas Augst, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Cynthia Estlund, NYU Law School Anna Harvey, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Martha Hodes, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Daniel Hulsebosch, NYU Law School Colin Jerolmack, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Aisha Khan, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Emily Martin, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Michele Mitchell, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Pamela Newkirk, Faculty of Arts and Sciences Marita Sturken, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development

EX-OFFICIO Ulrich Baer, Vice-Provost Carol Mandel, Dean of Libraries

EMERITUS MEMBERS OF THE BOARD J. Lawrence Aber (2009-2014) Derrick A. Bell, Jr. (2000-2009) Thomas Bender (2005-2010) Craig Calhoun (2008-2012) Robert Chazan (2008-2009) Patricia A. Crain (2010-2013) Arlene Dรกvila (2009-2012) Katherine Fleming (2011-2014) David Garland (2008-2014) Richard Foley (2008-2013) Faye Ginsburg (2000-2006) Russell Hardin (2008-2010) Phillip Brian Harper (2004-2010) James B. Jacobs (2000-2011) Dale Jamieson (2011-2015) Eric M. Klinenberg (2010-2014) Karen O. Kupperman (2008-2011) Mitchell Moss (2011-2005) Helen Nissenbaum (2011-2013) Nikhil Singh (2012-2015) Marcelo Suarez-Orozco (2008-2012) Ann Pellegrini (2008-2012) Mary Louise Pratt (2006-2009) David M. Reimers (2001-2007) Robert Stam (2008-2011) David Stasavage (2010-2014) Catharine R. Stimpson (2000-2011) Anthony C. Thompson (2009-2013) Jane Tylus (2008-2013) Niobe Way (2006-2009) Jonathan Zimmerman (2012-2016)

PROVOSTS Katherine Fleming (2016-present) David McLaughlin (2002-2016)

UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS Andrew D. Hamilton (2016-present) John Sexton (2003-2015) L. Jay Oliva (1991-2002) John Brademas (1981-1991) Ian Bennett (1980-1981—Acting) John Sawhill (1975-1980) James McNaughton Hester (1962-1970) Carroll Vincent Newsom (1956-1962) Henry Heald (1952-1956) James Loomis Madden (1951-1952—Acting) Harry Chase (1933-1951) Elmer Ellsworth Brown (1911-1933)

a NYU PRESS champion of great • 2016 1916 • ideas for 100 years

2016 marks the centennial of NYU Press, which was founded in 1916 by Chancellor Elmer Ellsworth Brown with a mission to “publish contributions to higher learning by eminent scholars.”

Over the course of 100 years, the Press has added to that mission the aspiration to transform the intellectual and cultural landscape by publishing works of outstanding scholarship that resonate within and beyond the walls of the academy.

a NYU PRESS Looking ahead, we will continue to seek out new voices, new fields of inquiry, and new viewpoints, and to embrace our role as Champion of Great Ideas for another 100 years.

champion of great • 2016 1916 • ideas forPRESS 100 years NYU WWW.NYUPRESS.ORG