Last Monday of the Month | 207 Water Street | Free
Join the South Street Seaport Museum for a recurring maritime-themed book club! You can find information on upcoming book selections below.
In partnership with McNally Jackson Books, Seaport Museum staff and special guests will stir up lively discussions informed by our shared love of literature, history, and preservation. Our literary selections will be announced at least one month in advance.
The event is free, and advance registration is encouraged. You don’t have to read the full selection to enjoy the event; everyone is welcome!
June 30, 6:30pm: The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum: The Rise and Fall of an American Organized-Crime Boss by Margalit Fox
The June book club selection shares the story of Fredericka “Marm” Mandelbaum—who rose from an impoverished peddler on the streets of Lower Manhattan to become one of Gilded Age New York’s most powerful and unlikely criminal masterminds. From running a Lower East Side shop fronting for as much as $10 million worth of purloined luxury goods (nearly $300 million today!), to hand picking a cadre of the finest bank robbers, house burglars, and shoplifters, Mandelbaum turned theft into a viable, scalable business.
At the end of the month we will come together to discuss this fascinating portrait of a woman who rewrote the rules of crime and commerce in 19th century New York to ascend from tenement poverty to vast wealth. You don’t have to read the full book to enjoy the book club, all are welcome!
The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum: The Rise and Fall of an American Organized-Crime Boss is available for purchase at most bookstores. Register for this meeting of the Seaport Museum Book Club today to receive a 10% off discount code for online orders of the book at McNally Jackson Books.
August 25, 6:30pm: The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine by Janice P. Nimura
The August book club selection highlights two trailblazing women featured in the Seaport Museum’s Women Who Wowed walking tour—Elizabeth and Emily Blackwell.
In 1849, Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman in America to earn an M.D., breaking barriers in a profession that had long excluded women. Her younger sister, Emily, equally determined and perhaps the more skilled physician, soon followed in her footsteps. Together, they founded the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children—the first hospital in the country staffed entirely by women. Throughout the month, we’ll read about the Blackwells’ remarkable partnership, their supporters and challengers, and their lasting impact on medicine and women’s rights.
Join us at the end of the month to discuss their legacy. You don’t need to finish the book to participate—everyone is welcome!
The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine is available for purchase at most bookstores. Register for this meeting of the Seaport Museum Book Club today to receive a 10% off discount code for online orders of the book at McNally Jackson Books.
October 27, 6:30pm: Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica’s Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night by Julian Sancton
For the height of spooky season, the October book club selection is an epic story of adventure and horror for the ages.
In 1897, Belgian commandant Adrien de Gerlache set sail for Antarctica, unaware that the journey would become a tale of survival, madness, and icebound peril. When his ship, Belgica, became trapped in the frozen Bellingshausen Sea, the crew was plunged into months of darkness—plagued by a mysterious illness, besieged by monotony, and driven to madness.
We will read how two young officers on board—Dr. Frederick Cook, half genius and half con man, and a young Roald Amundsen, who would go on to become one of history’s most legendary explorers—devised a daring escape.
We will come together at the end of the month to discuss this unforgettable book that blends maritime thriller with gothic horror. You don’t have to finish the book to participate—all are welcome!
Madhouse at the End of the Earth: The Belgica’s Journey into the Dark Antarctic Night is available for purchase at most bookstores. Register for this meeting of the Seaport Museum Book Club today to receive a 10% off discount code for online orders of the book at McNally Jackson Books.
Enjoy More That the Museum Offers
Access to the historic ships and exhibition galleries at the Seaport Museum is not included with this event. If you would like to explore more that the Museum has to offer, book in advance or ask Museum staff about admission tickets, available Wednesday through Sunday from 11am to 5pm when you check in.
Museum admission tickets grant access to the 1885 tall ship Wavertree and 1908 lightship Ambrose at Pier 16 as well as all current exhibitions on view in the introduction galleries inside Schermerhorn Row located at 12 Fulton Street.
Admission tickets also include entry to the new Maritime City exhibition in A.A. Thomson & Co. located at 213 Water Street.
Previous Book Club Picks
April 2025: When the Astors Owned New York: Blue Bloods and Grand Hotels in a Gilded Age by Justin Kaplan
March 2025: Nineteen Reservoirs: On Their Creation and the Promise of Water for New York City by Lucy Sante
February 2025: Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
January 2025: The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
November 2024: Native New Yorkers: The Legacy of the Algonquin People of New York by Evan T. Pritchard
October 2024: The Witch of New York: The Trials of Polly Bodine and the Cursed Birth of Tabloid Justice by Alex Hortis
August 2024: The Waterworks by E. L. Doctorow
July 2024: Remarkable Creatures: A Novel by Tracy Chevalier
April 2024: Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America by Leila Philip
March 2024: The Mad Girls of New York: A Nellie Bly Novel by Maya Rodale
February 2024: Here is New York by E. B. White
January 2024: Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel
November 2023: Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann
October 2023: Nothing Else But Miracles by Kate Albus
September 2023: Manhattan Beach: A Novel by Jennifer Egan
June 2023: The Engineer’s Wife: A Novel of the Brooklyn Bridge by Tracey Enerson Wood
March 2023: The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell by Mark Kurlansky
February 2023: Soldier, Sailor, Spy: The Story of a Black American Loyalist by Charles Hoffmire
January 2023: Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants by Robert Sullivan
October 2022: Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell
September 2022: Saved at the Seawall: Stories from the September 11 Boat Lift by Jessica DuLong
August 2022: Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel José Older
July 2022: The Lost Endeavour by John Masefield
Ready for more?
Head over to our Programs and Events page to see what else is happening at the Museum. Sign up for an upcoming talk, learn more about visiting Wavertree, or explore our virtual offerings.