Ira Wolfman

Born a New Yorker, I've always been fascinated with city life, and I''ve written books about New York City, Jewish life, genealogy, and geography. I have also written many articles for magazines and newspapers about education, architecture, city planning, and other social issues.

My book "Jewish New York: Notable Neighborhoods, Memorable Moments," which was published by Rizzoli/Universe, is full of wonderful photos and memorabilia of the world that the Jewish community created in New York City since the first Jewish immigrants arrived in New Amsterdam in 1654.

I published the first edition of my guide to tracing your family history, "Climbing Your Family Tree," in 1991. My interest in genealogy, however, started in the early 1980s. When I first learned about family history research, I was amazed. Was it really possible that people had found documents and photographs and artifacts of their long-dead ancestors? Was it possible that I could find my own ancestors? I doubted it. My family members were all relative newcomers to the U.S. -- all four of my grandparents had arrived after 1900 from Eastern Europe. Weren't all the records destroyed during World War II? How could I possibly find anything older than my parents' birth certificates?

But I did. Over the next few years, I found that many records did indeed exist -- and I found lots of them! I was thrilled to go back over 200 years and uncover the names of my great-great-great-great grandparents! I learned an enormous amount about my grandparents' lives, for example. Even though I had known all four of them, I didn't know anything about when they married, where they had come from, when they arrived in this country. But tracing my family's history, I was able to learn and better understand them, even though they were no longer alive.

I found the process and the experience very rewarding. So I was thrilled when Workman gave me the opportunity to take all my knowledge and experiences and put them into a how-to books for kids -- and anyone else looking for a friendly introduction to the fun of finding out about your family history.

Genealogy grew out of my interest in learning about the world. Happily, I've been able to make that my career. I have been a journalist for over 20 years, writing and editing material for children and adults. I have worked primarily in educational publishing, for wonderful companies such as Weekly Reader and Sesame Street. I have also written for many notable publications, including Reader's Digest, Travel and Leisure, Ms., Spy, and Metropolis..

I welcome contact with any of my readers. You can reach me at irawolfman@gmail.com

Happy Reading!