Mark Cohen, writer

"Who remembers Broadway Billy: shorthand wizard, impresario, songwriter, columnist, promoter? Mark Cohen’s Billy proves more audacious, kinkier, more full of mystery than the Billy you read about in novels. In this meticulously researched, probing and affectionate biography, Cohen grants Billy Rose the revival he deserves." Janis Freedman Bellow, Tufts University

"A remarkably well-researched, passionately written story of quite nearly tragic proportions. Allan Sherman's story will remain a crucial episode in the annals of satire, of assimilation, of celebrity seduction and American Jewish culture and history. We are in Cohen's debt to have it in such telling detail." Eric Alterman, author of The Cause: The Fight for American Liberalism from Franklin Roosevelt to Barack Obama

"This collection not only restores to print the heart of Krim’s achievement, but balances it out with lesser-known pieces that show his judicious lucidity, side-by-side with his manic melancholy exuberance. And Mark Cohen has done an excellent job of placing Krim in an historical and literary context."—Phillip Lopate, editor of The Art of the Personal Essay

"Through the use of unpublished archival documentation, rare illustrations and photographs, and original translations of Monastirli folklore, Cohen presents a fascinating story of the Monastir Jews' traditional culture, their Westernization, and destruction in the Holocaust. Last Century offers a portrait of a hitherto neglected Jewish culture that is a pleasure to read." Prof. Sarah Abrevaya Stein, UCLA