Edward J. Renehan Jr.

Edward John Renehan Jr. (born c 1956)[1] is an American publisher, consultant, writer, and former professional musician.

Early life and music

Renehan grew up in the Long Island village of Valley Stream, New York, where he attended school with future actor/director Steve Buscemi, and at age 13 began learning the guitar. He studied blues guitar with the Reverend Gary Davis in New York as a teenager. By 20, he was playing and recording with folksingers Pete Seeger and Don McLean, among others. In 1976, he and Seeger recorded "Fifty Sail on Newburgh Bay: Hudson Valley Songs Old & New Sung by Pete Seeger and Ed Renehan." [2]

Friends Edward Renehan and Steve Buscemi photographed in the Spring of 2015.

In his early twenties he performed with Happy Traum, Artie Traum and others at various venues and folk festivals in the North East.

From left: Happy Traum, Artie Traum, and Ed Renehan performing at a reunion concert, Albany, 2008

Publishing

Renehan graduated from State University of New York at New Paltz.[1] He thereafter worked for several New York publishing companies, focusing on the developing domain of digital publishing, including e-publishing and print-on-demand (POD) technologies. His tenure included 7 years as Director of Computer Publishing Programs for MBCI/Macmillan, now a part of Bookspan.[3]

From 1994, he worked as an independent consultant and author, including writing books on the Kennedys, Jay Gould, Cornelius Vanderbilt and John Burroughs,[4] as well as best-selling books about computers and computing.[1] During this period he wrote books published by Doubleday, Crown, Oxford University Press, Basic Books, McGraw Hill, Simon & Schuster, Chelsea House, and other firms.

In 2010 Renehan founded New Street Communications, an enterprise focused on audio, digital, and POD editions of books in a range of fields. The firm includes two subsidiaries: Dark Hall Press (which publishes original horror and science fiction titles),[5] and New Street Nautical Audio, which publishes sailing related audiobooks.[6] According to a July 2013 report in the Providence Business News, the combined New Street firms had revenues of more than $200,000 in the 2012 fiscal year, which was the enterprise's second full year of operation.[7] As of June 2015, the firm had 85 titles in print.[8]

Film

The 2018 film The Mercy, starring Colin Firth and Rachel Weisz, is based on the tale Renehan tells in his 2016 book Desperate Voyage: Donald Crowhurst, The London Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, and the Tragedy of Teignmouth Electron. The film is directed by James Marsh.

Bipolar disorder

In 2006, during an extreme manic period symptomatic of advanced Bipolar Disorder, Renehan sold at auction a letter written by President Lincoln to which he had no right.[4] After receiving treatment for his previously-undiagnosed Manic Depression (subsequently verified by a court-appointed forensic psychiatrist), Renehan brought his action (heretofore unnoticed) to the attention of those concerned and facilitated the return of the document. Biographer T.J. Stiles cast doubts on the accuracy of certain claims in Renehan's book about Cornelius Vanderbilt, which was written during Renehan's manic period.[9] Renehan has written about his manic depression.[10]

Family and affiliations

Renehan is married and lives in the village of Wickford, Rhode Island.[1][11] He is the father of two grown children, and a grandfather. He has served on several nonprofit boards, including the Hudson River Sloop Clearwater.[1] He is active in the Electronic Frontier Foundation - the co-founder of which, John Perry Barlow, sat on the New Street Editorial Board until his death in 2018[12] - and with Stewart Brand and others is a charter/founding member of The Long Now Foundation.[13] He is an avid sailor.[1]

Works (partial list)

  • The Enkert Dossiers ( ISBN 978-0692469019)
  • Desperate Voyage: Donald Crowhurst, The London Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, and the Tragedy of Teignmouth Electron ( ISBN 978-0692757611)
  • Dylan at Newport, 1965: Music, Myth, and Un-Meaning ( ISBN 978-0692464601)
  • Pete Seeger vs. The Un-Americans: A Tale of the Blacklist ( ISBN 978-0615998138)
  • Understanding Kerouac's ON THE ROAD ( ISBN 978-0615714677)
  • Dark Genius of Wall Street: The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould, King of the Robber Barons ( ISBN 978-0465068869)
  • The Kennedys at War ( ISBN 978-0385501651)
  • The Secret Six: The True Tale of the Men Who Conspired with John Brown ( ISBN 978-1570031816)
  • John Burroughs: An American Naturalist ( ISBN 978-1883789169)
  • Commodore: The Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt ( ISBN 978-0465002559)
  • The Lion's Pride: Theodore Roosevelt and his Family in Peace and War ( ISBN 978-0195127195)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Fleming, Arline A. (14 November 1997). "Past, present and future, Ed Renehan has it covered: Where once he toiled in the world of Manhattan publishing, he's now the author of histories and best-selling computer books". Providence Journal-Bulletin.
  2. ↑ "Fifty Sail on Newburgh Bay".
  3. ↑ Street Communications, New (2015). "New Street Communications - Who Are We". newstreetcommunications.com. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Author Pleads in Federal Case". Reuters. September 20, 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2011.
  5. ↑ "Dark Hall Press".
  6. ↑ "New Street Nautical Audio".
  7. ↑ "Small Press Finds Help in the Cloud".
  8. ↑ "New Street Communications Marks 5 Year Anniversary".
  9. ↑ T.J. Stiles (21 April 2009). The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt. Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 582–584. ISBN 978-0-375-41542-5. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  10. ↑ Renehan, Edward (2016). "My Personal Demon: Manic Depression". medium.com. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  11. ↑ Charlotte Zoë Walker (2000). Sharp eyes: John Burroughs and American nature writing. Syracuse University Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-8156-0637-6. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  12. ↑ "New Street Editorial Advisory Board".
  13. ↑ "Long Now Foundation Charter Member Roster".
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