There's More to New Jersey than the Sopranos

Introduction

ix introduction An American tourist on vacation in Europe stopped at a restaurant in Gdansk, Poland, where she struck up a conversation with a local at the next table. “Where do you come from?” he asked. When she said she was from New Jersey, he replied with a smile of recognition, “Ah, Sopranos!” Even for fans of that show (myself included), it is a bit disheartening that the first thing that pops into the mind of people around the world when they hear the name of our state is that television series about a dysfunctional crime family, set against a bleak and violent landscape. New Jersey is actually an interesting little state, with quite a rich history of contributions to the modern world. Consider some of New Jersey ’s famous firsts. The phonograph, electric light, and movies were invented here, thanks to Thomas Edison. Also invented or improved in the Garden State were transistors, drive-in movies, Teflon, and decaffeinated coffee. Two New Jersey engineers, John Roebling and his son Washington Roebling, designed and oversaw the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, a marvel when it opened in 1883. The first successful submarine, the first intercollegiate football game, the first baseball game played with modern rules all happened here. Atlantic City contributed saltwater taffy and the boardwalk to the world. The first almost-complete dinosaur fossil was unearthed in New Jersey , and named the Hadrosaurus, in honor of the town of Haddonfield, where it was found. The echo of the Big Bang—the cosmic event that marked the birth of our universe some 13.7 billion years ago—was first identified by scientists from Bell Labs in Murray Hill. The state has been home to world-famous celebrities. My list of the top ten, in no particular order are: x There’s More to New Jersey . . . Woodrow Wilson, twenty-eighth president of the United States Albert Einstein, regarded as the world’s most famous scientist Thomas Edison, the world’s most famous inventor William Livingston, the first governor of the state of New Jersey and signer of the U.S. Constitution Alice Paul, a Quaker girl from South Jersey who became a leading figure in the women’s rights movement Paul Robeson, athlete, scholar, entertainer, civil rights crusader Frank Sinatra, a man who transformed American popular music Count Basie, the brilliant jazz composer and performer Selman Waksman, the scientist who invented one of the first modern wonder drugs, streptomycin Molly Pitcher, the inspiring Revolutionary War heroine New Jersey also has a rich cultural life, with twenty-nine professional theater companies, twenty-two professional orchestras, eight dance companies , and one of the biggest poetry festivals in the nation. There are more historic sites per square mile in New Jersey than in many other states noted for their history, like Pennsylvania, New York, and Virginia. My purpose in this book is to explore some of the aspects of New Jersey that are largely unknown to those outside the state as well as to Jerseyans themselves. That’s not to say that the book is meant as a celebratory bit of boosterism; on the contrary, I want to show the dark as well as the light, the good as well as the bad, the uplifting as well as the grotesque about our state. The take-home message is simply this: there’s more to New Jersey than the Sopranos! Many of the chapters in this book originally appeared in the New Jersey section of the New York Times, in the magazine New Jersey Heritage, or as commentary on the radio program NewJerseytimes. My thanks to the staff of those venues for their assistance. Other chapters were originally Introduction xi speeches, for which my thanks to members of the audience whose reactions helped me revise the text. Chapter 40 is adapted from an invited lecture I gave as part of the Rutgers Ethics Initiative series, cosponsored by the Eagleton Institute of Politics and the Prudential Business Ethics Center at Rutgers. Professor Michael Rockland offered valuable advice. The staff of Rutgers University Press provided their customary high level of editorial oversight. The following institutions were extremely helpful in my quest for illustrations: the New Jersey State Archives, Rutgers University Special Collections, the Newark Public Library, and the library of the New Jersey Office of Legislative Services. Finally, I want to acknowledge the love and support of my wife, Ellen; son...