David Pietrusza
David Pietrusza | |
---|---|
University at Albany | |
Occupation(s) | author, editor, lecturer, political commentator |
Website | davidpietrusza.com |
David Pietrusza (born November 22, 1949, in
Career
David Pietrusza has produced a number of critically acclaimed works concerning 20th-century American history, including five volumes ("1920," "1960," "1948," "1932," and "1936: Roosevelt Sweeps Nation") on presidential electoral history. He is also an expert on the 1920s and on the presidency of Calvin Coolidge and the career of Charles Evans Hughes. He has also served as a ghostwriter or "book doctor" for several successful books, including various New York Times and Amazon bestsellers.
As a noted presidential scholar, Pietrusza has been selected to serve on C-SPAN's "Historians Survey on Presidential Leadership" and the Siena College Research Institute (SRI) Survey of United States Presidents and on the C-SPAN/Siena College Study of The First Ladies of The United States. He serves on the National Advisory Board of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation and previously on the Foundation's Board of Trustees.
Pietrusza holds both bachelor's and master's degrees in history from the
He has spoken at the John F. Kennedy, Harry S. Truman, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Calvin Coolidge presidential libraries and museums, as well as at various universities, libraries, museums (including the
Pietrusza's book "Rothstein" has been optioned on several occasions for film, television, or stage adaptation. In July 2018, Charles Matthau of the Matthau Organization optioned Pietrusza's "1920: The Year of the Six Presidents" for adaptation into a six-part television series. The project remains in development.
He has served on the City Council in
Pietrusza chronicled his early life in the memoir, Too Long Ago: A Childhood Memory. A Vanished World.
Sports publishing
Prior to publishing the wide range of historical and political studies he is best noted for, Pietrusza (a varsity letterman [non-playing] in baseball at Amsterdam. NY's Wilbur H. Lynch High School) distinguished himself in the field of sports (primarily baseball) publishing. He collaborated with baseball legend Ted Williams on an autobiography called Ted Williams: My Life in Pictures. This book contained pictures of Williams throughout his life (many from his personal collection) and commentary on what each one depicted. Williams died shortly after the book was published. His Judge and Jury: The Life and Times of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis won the CASEY Award as best baseball book of the year.
Pietrusza served as editor-in-chief of the publishing company Total Sports. He was co-editor of Total Baseball: The Official Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball and managing editor of Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League.
Pietrusza's original research has redefined standard opinion on both the role of Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis regarding the game's integration and the role of gambler Arnold Rothstein in the 1919 Black Sox Scandal ("On examination, much of Eight Men Out's scenario doesn't make sense. But it is such a well-written book you gloss over the inconsistencies. On even closer examination, many dates, many sequences of events, make even less sense. In fact, they're impossible.")
His research and his lobbying with Veterans Committee member Ted Williams has been credited for the 1998 induction of nineteenth century infielder and manager George Davis into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
In 1993 he served as a research assistant for Mickey Mantle's memoir All My Octobers: My Memories of Twelve World Series When the Yankees Ruled Baseball, interviewing former Mantle World Series opponents Johnny Podres, Carl Erskine, Ralph Branca, Johnny Rutherford, Bobby Thomson, Monte Irvin, Alvin Dark, Lew Burdette, Dick Groat, Andy Pafko, Orlando Cepeda, and Tim McCarver.
He is an Elector of the
Early baseball re-creations
In the 1990s, Pietrusza participated in recreations of nineteenth-century early baseball contests, including umpiring a game at Ithaca College, commemorating that institution's centennial. On June 6, 1992, along with future Official Major League Baseball Historian John Thorn, he participated in a contest in Troy, New York recreating a contest between the old Troy and Worcester National League teams. Thorn and Pietrusza also participated, along with National Baseball Hall of Fame Librarian Tom Heitz and for former Dodgers and Mets first baseman Tim Harkness in a game in Lake Placid, New York recreating the mid-nineteen century phenomenon of "baseball on ice," in which players bat and field on ice. That game was later featured on ESPN.
Society for American Baseball Research
From 1993 to 1997, Pietrusza served as president of the
Broadcast media
Pietrusza has been interviewed on
He has been interviewed by a range of hosts that includes Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Ann Compton, Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck, Neal Conan, Neil Cavuto, Tim McCarver, Pat Buchanan, Ray Suarez, Susan Swain, Joe Piscopo, Barry Farber, Joe Franklin, Donna Hanover, Bill Littlefield, and Michael Malice.
He has appeared in the feature film documentary "American Rackets" and will appear in all eight episodes of Ashton Gleckman's upcoming History Channel documentary series "Kennedy".
Pietrusza has served as a regular panelist of FoxNews.com Live, appearing with such hosts as Kimberly Guilfoyle, Jonathan Hunt, Harris Faulkner, Julie Banderas, Jamie Colby, and Patti Ann Browne. He has been a frequent guest on C-SPAN and on ESPN documentary series such as SportsCentury, You Can't Blame, and Who's Number 1?.
He has appeared on over a hundred local radio stations including such markets as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington DC, San Francisco, Detroit, San Diego, St. Louis, Seattle, Dallas, Orlando, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, Las Vegas, and Toronto.
Podcasts
Pietrusza has appeared on numerous
Awards
Pietrusza's Gangsterland: A Tour Through the Dark Heart of Jazz-Age New York City was recognized as the Independent Press Award's Distinguished Favorite in the True Crime Category.
Pietrusza's Roosevelt Sweeps Nation: FDR's 1936 Landslide and the Triumph of the Liberal Ideal won the 2023 Independent Publisher Book Awards Gold Medal for US History, received a Kirkus starred review and was nominated for the 2022 Kirkus Prize and the 2022 New Deal Book Award.
Pietrusza's TR's Last War: Theodore Roosevelt, the Great War, and a Journey of Triumph and Tragedy won the 2019 Independent Publisher Book Awards Silver Medal for US History, was Amazon's #1 New Release in World War I Biographies, and was rated the "#1 Top Read of 2018" by the POTUS History Geeks Blog. TR's Last War achieved Finalist status for the Theodore Roosevelt Association Book Prize.
Pietrusza's 1932: The Rise of
Pietrusza's 1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America was named by the
The website www.whatwereading.com named both 1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America and 1960: LBJ vs
His book 1960: LBJ vs
Pietrusza's 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents received a Kirkus starred review, was honored as a Kirkus Reviews "Best Books of 2007" title, and was named an alternate selection of the History Book Club. Historian Richard Norton Smith has listed it as being among the best studies of presidential campaigns. The Wall Street Journal ("broad, fluid brush strokes . . . a brisk narrative") rated 1920 as among the Five Best Books on Political Campaigns. Cheatsheet.com ranks 1920 as among the top five "Best Books about Elections."
Pietrusza's biography of
Pietrusza's Judge and Jury, his biography of
His Lights On!: The Wild Century-Long Saga of Night Baseball was a 1997 CASEY Award finalist.
His Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia (co-edited with John Thorn and Michael Gershman) received a Booklist Starred Review.
Honored among "100 Notable alumni of SUNY at Albany" by EduRank.org.
Pietrusza is the Recipient of the 2011 Excellence in Arts & Letters Award of the Alumni Association of the University at Albany and a member of the initial induction class (2015) of the Greater Amsterdam (NY) School District Hall of Fame. At the NYS Governor's Office of Regulatory Reform, he won the "Director's Award for Exceptional Achievement."
Author Michael Cinquanti's book Fifty Amsterdam NY's Top Ten Lists (2017) lists Pietrusza as among "Amsterdam's All-Time Top Ten Most Famous Residents."
Books
Written or edited by Pietrusza
- Gangsterland: A Tour Through the Dark Heart of Jazz-Age New York City (Diversion Books, 2023)
- Roosevelt Sweeps Nation: FDR's 1936 Landslide and the Triumph of the Liberal Ideal (Diversion Books, 2022)
- Too Long Ago: A Childhood Memory. A Vanished World. (Church & Reid Books, 2020)
- TR's Last War: Theodore Roosevelt, The Great War, and a Journey of Triumph and Tragedy (Lyons Press, 2018)
- 1932: The Rise of Hitler and FDR: Two Tales of Politics, Betrayal and Unlikely Destiny (Lyons Press, 2015)
- Calvin Coolidge: A Documentary Biography (CreateSpace, 2013)
- Calvin Coolidge on The Founders: Reflections on the American Revolution & the Founding Fathers (CreateSpace, 2012)
- 1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America (Union Square Press, 2011)
- Sursum Corda: Documents and Readings on the Traditional Latin Mass (CreateSpace, 2008)
- 1960: LBJ vs JFK vs Nixon: The Epic Campaign that Forged Three Presidencies (Union Square Press, 2008)
- Silent Cal's Almanack: The Homespun Wit and Wisdom of Vermont's Calvin Coolidge
- 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents (Carroll & Graf, 2006)
- Rothstein: The Life, Times and Murder of the Criminal Genius who Fixed the 1919 World Series (Carroll & Graf, 2003)
- Judge and Jury: The Life and Times of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis (Foreword by Richard Thornburgh)
- Ted Williams: My Life in Pictures (with Ted Williams) (aka Teddy Ballgame)
- Minor Miracles: The Legend and Lure of Minor League Baseball
- Lights On!: The Wild, Century-Long Saga of Night Baseball (Foreword by Enos Slaughter)
- Major Leagues: The Formation, Sometimes Absorption and Mostly Inevitable Demise of 18 Professional Baseball Organizations, 1871 to Present (Foreword by Lee MacPhail)
- Baseball's Canadian American League: A History of Its Inception, Franchises, Participants, Locales, Statistics, Demise & Legacy, 1936-1951 (Foreword by John Thorn)
Co-edited by Pietrusza
- Baseball: The Biographical Encyclopedia
- Total Baseball: The Official Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball
- The Total Baseball Catalog: Great Baseball Stuff and How to Buy It
- The Hidden Game of Football
- Total Super Bowl
- Total Quarterbacks
- Total Steelers
- Total 49ers
- Total Packers
- Total Cowboys
- Total Mets
- Total Braves
- Total Indians
Books for younger readers
- The End of the Cold War (Lucent, 1994)
- The Invasion of Normandy (Lucent, 1995)
- The Battle of Waterloo (Lucent, 1996)
- John F. Kennedy (Lucent, 1996)
- The Cultural Revolution (Lucent, 1996)
- Smoking (Lucent, 1996)
- The Roaring Twenties (Lucent, 1997)
- The New York Yankees (Enslow, 1997)
- The Phoenix Suns (Enslow, 1997)
- The Boston Celtics (Enslow, 1997)
- The Los Angeles Dodgers (Enslow, 1998)
- Baseball's Top 10 Managers (Enslow, 1998)
- Michael Jordan (Lucent, 1999)
- The Baltimore Orioles (Lucent, 2000)
- The San Francisco Giants (Enslow, 2000)
- The St. Louis Cardinals (Enslow, 2001)
- The Cleveland Indians (Enslow, 2001)