Michael Aaron Rockland is
professor of American Studies Emeritus at
Rutgers University.
His
early
career
was
in
the
U.S.
diplomatic
service, during which he was a cultural attaché in both Argentina
and Spain
.
He
is
the
author
of
sixteen
books,
five
of
which have received special
recognition and prizes.
His first book, Sarmiento's Travels in
the
United States
in 1847 (Princeton), was chosen by
The Washington Post's Book World as
one
of the "Fifty Best Books of the Year." His novel, A Bliss
Case (Coffee House) was a New York Times "Notable
Book
of
the
Year."
A
book
he
co-wrote,
Looking for America
on the New Jersey
Turnpike (Rutgers) was chosen by
the New
Jersey State Library as one of the "Ten Best Books Ever Written on New Jersey
or
by a New
Jerseyan." His latest books are a new edition of The George Washington Bridge: Poetry in Steel (Rutgers University Press) and the novel Married to Hitler (Hansen Publishing Group), as well as two memoirs, An American Diplomat in Franco Spain and Navy Crazy (also Hansen)
. Rockland
has
won seven major teaching/lecturing awards, including the National
Teaching Award
in American Studies. He has lectured in some twenty-three countries
around the
world. A regular contributor to New
Jersey Monthly magazine, he has also worked in television and film
production, mostly for P.B.S., including scripting and acting in one movie, Three Days on Big City Waters. He is regularly interviewed on N.P.R.