WELCOME
to the (mostly) professional website of Jonathan Ezra Goldman, literature/cultural history professor by day, sometime musician by night. I created this site as a one-stop portal for the various projects I've had going on over the past few years, some completed, some in progress.
New book coming in 2026: Hidden Histories of Jazz Age New York from the Suppressed to the Strange.
I am currently writing a book, Hidden Histories of Jazz Age New York from the Suppressed to the Strange, due out from SUNY Press in May 2026. This is the culmination of the research I have been conducting on NYC, some of which you can find on my website New York 1920s: One Hundred Years Ago Today, When We Became Modern. More about the book soon!
Professor at NYIT
As full professor at New York Institute of Technology, I teach writing and courses about literature and culture (US, Latinx, British and Irish). While my new book looks closely at 1920s New York City, my scholarship in general has mostly addressed literature and its relationship to mass, technological society during what is sometimes called "the long 20th Century" (roughly 1850 to the present)—in transatlantic and diasporic contexts. My sub-specialties include modernism, literature/law studies, New York City cultural history, James Joyce, the history of the novel, visual culture, celebrity, popular music, and comics.
Looking for Jonathan Goldman-sound healer, or Jonathan Goldman-scholar of modernist music, or Jonathan Goldman, corporate capital investor/manager/consultant?
You’ve come to the wrong place–though I feel some refracted, doppleganger-ish identification with the first two of those, not the third..
UPDATE, Fall 2025
I published an article, “Zohran Mamdani, and a 100-year-old history of anti-Zionism in New York City” in Mondoweiss. Though the journal labels it an opinion piece, it is mostly a look at 1920s anti-Zionism in NYC’s Arabic-speaking and Jewish communities. Click here.
For the Village Voice, I wrote a review-essay on two recent stage adaptations of
"The Great Gatsby" that turned into a bit of a rumination on the 100th anniversary of the novel.
I am currently writing a book,
Hidden Histories of Jazz Age New York from the Suppressed to the Strange
due out from SUNY Press in May 2026.
This project is the culmination of my ongoing research on New York City — some of which is featured on my website.
In September 2021, I was honored to become President of the James Joyce Society.
(founded in New York City in 1947).That’s all my day job, so to speak. In addition, I’m a musician: trumpet player, songwriter, and bandleader, and radio DJ as well. My main current band is a Latin soul/boogaloo outfit called Spanglish Fly.
I’ve also spent many hours of my life playing music in the service of social justice and progressive causes as member of the RMO (which see, if you know what I'm talking about).