With another holiday season upon us, it is time for this column’s annual reminder that books about Sullivan County’s rich and colorful history always make great gifts, but especially this time of year. There aren’t as many new releases about the area as there were last year, but the Borscht Belt in particular remains a hot topic and there are a few newly released titles that should be on every shopping list, along with a number of older standards that belong on every history buff’s bookshelf.

As was the case last year, this year’s top choice is not, strictly speaking, a book about local history, but it provides such an authentic glimpse into the era of the great hotels of the Borscht Belt that it will please even the most discerning history buff. It is the second installment in Lily Barrish Levner’s Catskills Capers series, “Mountain Maître D' Mystery.” Like book one in the series last year, “Banquets & Bootleg Bounty” the new release is set at the Concord Hotel, and is loosely based on the lives of Ms. Barrish Levner’s grandparents, Abe and Dotty, which just happen to be the names of the two main characters in the story. Throw in some more references to Murder, Inc. and you have a story about the Mountains—this time set in 1954 - that is sure to please.

Ms. Barrish Levner’s first book was a sensation, and the sequel, picking up ten years after the first one begins, is certain to be no less so. A blurb for the book promises that “when a decades-old skeleton is unearthed in a secret room at the courthouse, the past collides with the present.” The ‘bootleg bounty’ fortune also makes headlines again. While Abe focuses on advancing his career, Dotty worries that the defunct criminal organization, Murder, Inc. has returned. “Abe's impossible-to-please ma reappears, posing a major hurdle in his quest to become a maître d'. Will the big investment he joins come through, or will it go bust? And as a new racetrack opens, an opportunity to co-own a racehorse with friends puts his career at risk as well. Jealousy, rivalries, and the looming presence of gangsters threaten to spoil the summer's carefree spirit. ‘Mountain Maître D' Mystery’ is a gripping tale perfect for fans of cozy historical mysteries, set in the heyday of the Catskills.”

In short, the book leaves the reader anxiously awaiting the next installment as hungrily as a guest at a Borscht Belt hotel, no matter how well sated, craved dessert. In addition to “Banquets & Bootleg Bounty,” some titles from past years still remain popular - Patti Posner’s “My View From the Mountains: A Catskill Memoir,” based on the author’s years growing up at the Brickman Hotel in Fallsburg— Bart A. Charlow’s “A Catskill Carnival: My Borscht Belt Life Lived, Lost and Loved”- the story of his family’s Irvington Hotel in South Fallsburg—and “Borscht Belt Boy: Recollections of a Hotel Brat” by Mark Kramer—about his life at his family’s Hurleyville hotel—among them. 

But Sullivan County history is much more than just the Borscht Belt, and there are plenty of other local history books to look for. One of the best of those is a posthumously published memoir by a Catskills legend, fly fisherman extraordinaire, Ed Van Put. The aptly titled, “A Flyfisher’s Revelations” was released by Skyhorse Publishing in July, just months after the death of the author in December 2024. It is Van Put’s fifth book. “A Flyfisher’s Revelations” is more than a memoir, it is provocative and captivating, and in reading it one gets a true sense of the man and the area he loved. Former network television anchorman Dan Rather called it “a gem.” “Ed Van Put is a legend in the Catskills and beyond for being a master fly fisherman, a great storyteller, and superb writer,” Rather noted in a blurb for the book’s jacket. “’A Flyfisher’s Revelations’ will last long as a master fly fisher’s guide and delight.”

Many of these titles can be obtained at local stores, such as the Kristt Company in Monticello, Canal Towne Emporium in Wurtsboro, Time & the Valleys Museum in Grahamsville, and the Sullivan County Historical Society Gift Shop in Hurleyville. They are also available online through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

And don’t forget there are a number of photographic histories published by Arcadia Press about local communities that are still available, such as Monika A. Roosa’s “Mamakating” (2007), Rita J. Sheehan’s “Bethel” (2009), Tom Rue’s “Monticello” (2010), and Carol Gridley Smythe’s “Around Neversink” (2014). Each provides a unique historical insight into their particular locale through hundreds of photos. Also look for titles such as Ross Padluck’s “Catskill Resorts: Lost Architecture of Paradise,” Lynda Lee Macken’s “Catskill Ghosts: History & Hauntings in the Catskill Mountain Region,” David M. Gold’s “Judge Cooke: Sullivan County's Most Eminent Jurist,” Allen J. Frishman’s “Tales of a Catskill Mountain Plumber,” and this columnist’s “In Further Retrospect.” You’ll be glad you did, and those on the receiving end of your gift-giving will be even more so.

Happy Holidays!