62 danrottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Contributor

BSR Contributor Since January 24, 2006

Dan Rottenberg (he/him pronouns) founded Broad Street Review in 2005 and served as editor in chief through 2013 and chairman through 2019. He continues to contribute essays and reviews. For more information, visit his personal website at www.danrottenberg.com.

Dan Rottenberg has been the chief editor of seven publications, most recently Broad Street Review, a cultural arts website he launched in December 2005. He is also the author of 12 books, most recently The Education of a Journalist: My 70 Years On the Frontiers of Free Speech, published by Redmount Press in 2022.

His previous books include Finding Our Fathers, a guide to tracing Jewish ancestors (1977); Fight On, Pennsylvania, a college football history (1985); Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen, the history of a Philadelphia law firm (1988); Main Line Wasp, the memoirs of Philadelphia civic leader W. Thacher Longstreth (1990); Revolution on Wall Street, a chronicle of the securities industry (1993); Middletown Jews, an oral history of the Jews of Muncie, Indiana (1997); The Inheritor's Handbook (1998); The Man Who Made Wall Street, a biography of Anthony Drexel (2001), In the Kingdom of Coal, a narrative history of the U.S. coal industry as seen through the eyes of two families (Routledge, 2003); Death of a Gunfighter, a biography of the Pony Express superintendent Jack Slade (2008), and The Outsider, a biography of Albert M. Greenfield (2014).

From 2000 to 2004 he was editor of Family Business, an international quarterly magazine dealing with family-owned companies. From 1996 to 1998 he was editor of the Philadelphia Forum, a weekly Philadelphia opinion paper which he founded in 1996. In 1993 he created Seven Arts, a monthly magazine based in Philadelphia. From 1981 to 1993 he edited the Welcomat, a unique Philadelphia-based weekly opinion forum, now known as Philadelphia Weekly.

He wrote an editorial-page column for the Philadelphia Inquirer from 1978 to 1997. He has written more than 300 articles for such magazines as Town & Country, Reader's Digest, The New York Times Magazine, Forbes, Civilization, American Benefactor, TV Guide, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Chicago and many others. He served as a consultant in 1981 when Forbes launched its annual "Forbes 400" list of wealthiest Americans. His syndicated film commentaries appeared in monthly city magazines around the U.S. from 1971 to 1983.
Earlier in his career he was executive editor of Philadelphia Magazine, managing editor of Chicago Journalism Review, a Wall Street Journal reporter, and editor of the Commercial-Review, a daily newspaper in Portland, Indiana.

Dan Rottenberg is a native of New York City and a 1964 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife, a piano teacher. Their two grown daughters live and work in New York City.
For more information, visit Dan Rottenberg's personal website at www.danrottenberg.com.

By this Author

569 results
Page 1
A blight on the landscape, or one artist's vision of Time and Nature? (Image courtesy of the Library Company.)

The Library Company presents 'Seeing Coal'

Beauty in blights?

Is coal an ugly pollutant to which we will soon say good riddance? Or is it a thing of lasting beauty that connects us to time and nature? 'Seeing Coal' at the Library Company inspires thoughts deeper than a coal mine. Dan Rottenberg reviews.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Reviews 3 minute read
A hippie before the term was invented. (Photo: Daisy Fried.)

Remembering writer Jim Quinn, Philadelphia’s apostle of change

He did it his way

In a bleak conformist city where nothing seemed to change, lately everything has changed. The fiercely brilliant critic Jim Quinn deserves some of the credit. Dan Rottenberg remembers his colleague Jim Quinn.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Essays 6 minute read
What happens when wealth tumbles in for generations? (Image via Penguin Random House.)

'The Beneficiary' by Janny Scott

Bobby, we hardly knew ye

Robert Montgomery Scott, the late president of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, inherited a legacy that many of us might envy. But 'The Beneficiary,' his daughter’s unblinking post mortem, raises the old question: Is great wealth a blessing or a curse? Dan Rottenberg reviews.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Articles 6 minute read
Maybe Deborah Birx could try giving the president a different line of advice. (Photo via Wikimedia Commons.)

Understanding Donald Trump (continued)

So you want Trump to wear a mask?

When germophobes were perceived as neurotic, Trump celebrated his own germophobia. What has changed?
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Essays 3 minute read
Frank: Fully recovered. (Photo: Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.)

The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society presents Pamela Frank

What the PCMS audience knows

On Super Tuesday night, violinist Pamela Frank and pianist Stephen Prutsman reminded their Perelman audience what’s really important. Dan Rottenberg reviews.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Articles 2 minute read
Conductor Bramwell Tovey offered a hilarious take on Tchaikovsky. (Photo by David Cooper.)

The Philadelphia Orchestra presents its 2019 New Year’s Eve concert

Bramwell Tovey, back where he belongs

Bramwell Tovey—part conductor, part stand-up comedian—was at it again on New Year’s Eve, to the delight of a sold-out Philadelphia Orchestra audience at Verizon Hall. Dan Rottenberg reviews.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Articles 2 minute read
Roscoe (left) and Thelma with friend. (Photo: Dan Rottenberg.)

How children see ‘The Nutcracker’ (ninth helping)

Growing up at the ballet

After nine years, Dan Rottenberg's grandchildren are beginning to approach The Nutcracker more like adults than children.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Articles 5 minute read
What did Karen see in Donald? (Photo by Glenn Francis, via Wikimedia Commons.)

Ten questions journalists should ask

Inquiring minds want to know…..

Ten questions I wish journalists would ask Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Bob Barr, Karen McDougal, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Michael Smerconish, and Mayor Kenney.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Editorials 3 minute read
John Wilkes Booth would be remembered as a great actor, if only... (Image via Wikimedia Commons.)

The world according to Marc Thiessen

Good news from a Trump defender

With friends like the conservative columnist Marc Thiessen, does Donald Trump need enemies?
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Editorials 3 minute read
Thelma, Roscoe, and friend: Been there, done that. (Photo by Dan Rottenberg.)

How kids see ‘The Nutcracker’ (eighth helping)

Balanchine confronts the future

Over the past eight years, my grandchildren’s growing appreciation for Tchaikovsky’s 'The Nutcracker' has been a wonder to behold. But this year, thanks to an alternative production in Brooklyn, they’re drawing some comparisons. Dan Rottenberg considers.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Articles 5 minute read
Meet Alaina Johns, BSR's new editor-in-chief, as of December 1, 2018.

BSR founder Dan Rottenberg’s farewell

Changing of the guard at BSR

Several management changes are underway here at Broad Street Review — and while it's hard to say goodbye, our future looks pretty promising. Dan Rottenberg considers.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Editorials 6 minute read
Long before Trump or Freud, Emerson analyzed the president in two simple sentences. (Photo via Creative Commons/Wikipedia.)

Understanding Trump (yet again)

What Trump could learn from Emerson

President Trump says the Mueller investigation has gone “absolutely nuts.” To Ralph Waldo Emerson (not to mention most psychiatrists), such an attack is actually a confession of Trump's own character.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Editorials 5 minute read
'Where would I be without that arsenal in my basement?' (Photo via Creative Commons/Wikimedia.)

Stu Bykofsky, gunfighter

An 'Inquirer' columnist looks out for No. 1

Columnist Stu Bykofsky advises Jews to carry guns (as he does) for protection against anti-Semites. Welcome to the 'Inquirer' newsroom, where the sword is apparently mightier than the pen. Dan Rottenberg considers.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Editorials 3 minute read

Ivanka and Jared: A follow-up

One more reason to read 'BSR'

When you read 'Broad Street Review,' who needs the New York 'Times'? Dan Rottenberg considers.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Editorials 1 minute read
Putin and Trump: Brothers beneath the skin. (Photo via Creative Commons/Wikimedia.)

Understanding Trump (yet again)

When a narcissist needs a friend

Why, in defiance of all logic, has President Trump invited Vladimir Putin to Washington for a second summit? That question has mystified pundits but not faithful readers of 'Broad Street Review.' Dan Rottenberg considers.
Dan Rottenberg

Dan Rottenberg

Editorials 4 minute read