Tales of South Jersey - by Jim Waltzer & Tom Wilk (Paperback)

About the Book

Waltzer and Wilk have compiled almost fifty stories about the state's southernmost counties. Although the focus is on Atlantic City and its remarkable people, outsize structures, and quirky events, the storytelling ranges across the wider region to provide an insiders look at history as it was being made. You'll encounter gangsters and gamblers, baseball hitters and hurricanes, famous piers and hotels, landmark theaters and eateries, splashy events and unheralded oddities 3/4 in sum, a cross-section of the regions character and characters.

Book Synopsis

There's much more to southern New Jersey than the Pine Barrens and the Jersey Devil, and this collection by journalists Jim Waltzer and Tom Wilk tells readers all about it. Oceanside and bayside towns offer a box seat from which to observe the regions rich history and the summery lore of the wonders of nature. Landlocked towns boast their own homespun and hell-raising traditions and idiosyncrasies.

Waltzer and Wilk have compiled almost fifty stories about the state's southernmost counties. Although the focus is on Atlantic City and its remarkable people, outsize structures, and quirky events, the storytelling ranges across the wider region to provide an insiders look at history as it was being made. You'll encounter gangsters and gamblers, baseball hitters and hurricanes, famous piers and hotels, landmark theaters and eateries, splashy events and unheralded oddities 3/4 in sum, a cross-section of the regions character and characters.

The authors divide their book into six sections: entertainment, famous and infamous events, innovations and innovators, leisure and recreation, room and board, and sports legends. Within each section are the rich and varied stories Waltzer and Wilk have collected for New Jerseyans reading pleasure.

Review Quotes

In a New Jersey that seems to believe that south of New Brunswick only dragons and bumpkins roam, Tom Wilk and Jim Waltzer's tales are refreshing, delightful, and corrective. --Richard Aregood "Newark Star-Ledger, winner of the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing"

About the Author

Jim Waltzer is a journalist who has written for Atlantic City magazine, Delaware Today, the SandPaper, and New Jersey Monthly.

Tom Wilk is a copy editor for the Courier-Post in Cherry Hill and coauthor, with Harry Armstrong, of New Jersey Firsts: The Famous, Infamous, and Quirky of the Garden State. He has also written for Atlantic City magazine and New Jersey Monthly, and is a contributing writer for No Depression magazine.