Author

Cover of Cinematic Immunity

Cinematic Immunity

An Oral History of New York Filmmaking As Told by the Crews That Got the Shot

Feral House2026

The history of New York filmmaking told by the artists and craftspeople who built it, rather than the directors and stars. Drawn from more than 200 hours of original interviews with production designers, art directors, scenic artists, set decorators, prop masters, cinematographers, costume designers, assistant directors and crews, it covers the golden age of New York film from On the Waterfront to The Sopranos.

Praise

“…the book is unputdownably engaging; it’s futile to resist the temptation to quote it at length”
— Richard BrodyThe New Yorker
“Do not pick up this book if you have to be someplace in an hour…”
— Jim KellyAir Mail
“Michael Nirenberg’s writing about film is as funny, incisive, gritty and thrilling as the films whose lore he is diving into.”
— Lena DunhamWriter and director
“This book is a dream! … Fantastic.”
— Naomi FryStaff writer, The New Yorker
“… superb, often eye-popping accounts of the Golden Age of New York film.”
— Oliver MilmanStaff writer, The Guardian
“…told from an entirely new perspective…the below-the-line crews who know where all the bodies are buried! Fascinating, funny, and impossible to put down”
— Larry KaraszewskiEmmy-winning screenwriter
“… he’s assembled the definitive history of New York films and those who make them, which are—of course—one and the same.”
— Nick NewmanManaging editor, The Film Stage
“…Nirenberg presents a book that is riotously fun, full of gossip, and worthy of any world-class cinema studies program.”
— Alissa BennettWriter and host of The C-Word podcast
Cover of Earth A.D.

Earth A.D.

The Poisoning of the American Landscape and the Communities That Fought Back

Process Media / Feral House2020

An account of industrial pollution across the United States and the residents who organized to fight it.