Longtime Newark resident Helen Lippman has followed up her terrific ‘To Newark With Love’ with ‘Hidden History Of Newark.’ While the former keys in on her personal history, the latter is filled with priceless pieces of information about this city, founded in 1666.

With a lump in my throat reading about the town I too grew up in and loved, Lippman is the first author since the revered Philip Roth to make that town truly come alive again. There’s even a compendium of modern-day attractions that the newly gentrified Newark has to offer.