David Pietrusza
| David Pietrusza | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
November 22, 1949 Amsterdam, New York, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | B. A., M. A. History |
| Alma mater | University at Albany |
| Occupation | author, editor, lecturer, political commentator |
| Website | davidpietrusza.com |
David Pietrusza (born November 22, 1949 in Amsterdam, New York) is a noted historian and author.
Career
David Pietrusza has produced a number of critically acclaimed works concerning 20th century American history, including four works ("1920," "1960," "1948'" and "1932") 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.
As a noted presidential scholar, Pietrusza has been selected to serve on 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.
Pietrusza 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.
From 1993 to 1997, Pietrusza served as president of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), and was later the editor-in-chief of the publishing company Total Sports. He is an Elector of the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.
Pietrusza holds both bachelor's and master's degrees in history from the University at Albany. He has served on the City Council in Amsterdam, New York and as Public Information Officer for the New York State Governor's Office of Regulatory Reform and the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General.
Broadcast Media
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?.
Pietrusza been interviewed on NPR, MSNBC's "Morning Joe," SIRIUS-XM, The History Channel ("The Ultimate Guide to the Presidents"), the Voice of America, Newsmax TV, Bloomberg Radio, the Fox News Channel, the John Batchelor Show, the Hugh Hewitt Show, AMC (The Making of the Mob: New York), GBTV, ESPN, the Fox Sports Channel, and the MLB Network. He wrote and produced the PBS-affiliate documentary, "Local Heroes."
Podcasts
Pietrusza has appeared on numerous podcasts, including the "Matt Lewis Show Podcast," "Coffee & Markets," Roifield Brown's London-based "10 American Presidents" (the Franklin Roosevelt episode) and "10 American Elections" series (the 1964 and 1948 episodes), Salena Zito's presidential series discussing Calvin Coolidge, Harry S Truman, and Lyndon B. Johnson. and on Erik Rivenes' "More Notorious: A True Crime History Podcast" discussing Arnold Rothstein.
Awards
Pietrusza's 1932: The Rise of Hitler and FDR: Two Tales of Politics, Betrayal, and Unlikely Destiny was nominated for the Kirkus Book Award and the American Library Association (ALA)'s "Notable Books List" and received a Kirkus starred review.
His book 1960: LBJ vs JFK vs Nixon: The Epic Campaign that Forged Three Presidencies was named by ForeWord Magazine as among the best political biographies and received a Library Journal starred review.
Pietrusza's 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents received a Kirkus starred review, was honored as a Kirkus "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 Arnold Rothstein entitled Rothstein: The Life, Times & Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series was a finalist for the 2003 Edgar Award. Rothstein's audio version won an AUDIOFILE Earphones Award.
Pietrusza's Judge and Jury, his biography of baseball's first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, received the 1998 CASEY Award and was also a Finalist for the 1998 Seymour Medal and nominated for the NASSH Book Award.
His Lights On!: The Wild Century-Long Saga of Night Baseball was a 1997 CASEY Award finalist.
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.
Books
Written or edited by Pietrusza
- TR's Last War: The Triumph & Tragedy of Theodore Roosevelt 1914-1919 (Working Title) (Lyons Press; Scheduled Publication Date: September 2018)
- 1932: The Rise of Hitler and FDR: Two Tales of Politics, Betrayal and Unlikely Destiny
- Calvin Coolidge on The Founders: Reflections on the American Revolution & the Founding Fathers
- Calvin Coolidge: A Documentary Biography
- 1948: Harry Truman's Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America
- Sursum Corda: Documents and Readings on the Traditional Latin Mass
- 1960: LBJ vs JFK vs Nixon: The Epic Campaign that Forged Three Presidencies
- Silent Cal's Almanack: The Homespun Wit and Wisdom of Vermont's Calvin Coolidge
- 1920: The Year of the Six Presidents
- Rothstein: The Life, Times and Murder of the Criminal Genius who Fixed the 1919 World Series
- 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)