Edward Renehan
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Edward Renehan (aka, Edward J. Renehan Jr., born 1956 in New York City) is the author of books that include Dark Genius of Wall Street: The Misunderstood Life of Jay Gould, King of the Robber Barons (Basic Books/Perseus, 2005; paperback Basic/Perseus, 2006), The Kennedys at War (Doubleday, 2002), The Lion's Pride (Oxford University Press, 1998; paperback, OUP, 1999), The Secret Six (Crown, 1995; paperback, University of South Carolina Press, 1997) and John Burroughs: An American Naturalist (Chelsea Green, 1992; paperback, Black Dome Press, 1998).
Renehan has also written for The Wall Street Journal, American Heritage, Veranda and numerous other national publications. His 2002 book The Kennedys at War has been optioned for film by producers Robert Greenwald and Liz Lang.
An occasional lecturer, Renehan has spoken to the members of the Boston Athenaeum, the Philadelphia Athenaeum, the Union League Club of New York, the Union Club of Boston, the Harvard Club of NYC, the Harvard Club of Boston, the Prologue Society of Miami, Scenic Hudson and the Thoreau Society. Additionally, he's delivered talks at such establishments as Sagamore Hill, the Concord (MA) Museum, Theodore Roosevelt's "Pine Knot" near Charlottesville, VA, and the Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History. He's also appeared on C-SPAN, The History Channel, NBC and PBS.
Renehan is a grandson of the prominent New York banker Edward Jefferson Renehan (1889-1953) and a grand-nephew of Tammany leader and congressman James H. Torrens (1874-1952), who represented New York's 21st District (today's 15th District, incorporating Washington Heights and parts of Harlem and the Bronx) 1944-47.
During the period when he wrote his first three books, Renehan was represented by the venerable New York literary agent Julian Bach. Since Bach's retirement in 1999, Renehan has been represented by Chris Calhoun, VP of the firm Sterling Lord Literistic.
Between 1980 and 1994, Renehan worked as a publishing executive in Manhattan. There he helped pioneer early Electronic Publishing/New Media for Macmillan and other concerns. From '89 onward, Renehan (along with other exiles from what had suddenly, after an unfriendly takeover, become Maxwell-Macmillan) served as a founding executive with Newbridge, at that time a division of the newly-formed K-III, now PriMedia. Subsequent to his retirement from NY in '94, Renehan has pursued his interest in writing histories and biographies while also remaining active as a consultant and packager of both traditional and e-content for a host of organizations including Haights Cross Communications, iBooks, Osborne/McGraw-Hill, Springer-Verlag, Facts-On-File, and the publishing division of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Raised on Long Island, Renehan resides in the coastal village of Wickford, Rhode Island, with his wife and two children.
During the 1970s, Renehan briefly flirted with a musical career, performing and recording with Pete Seeger for Moe Asch's Folkways Records.
Listed in Who's Who in America, Contemporary Authors, and other such references, Renehan is a member of PEN American Center and the National Arts Club. He also serves on the National Advisory Board of The Roosevelt Institution.
