Suzanne Wasserman is an historian and award-winning filmmaker. She has a Ph.D. in American History from New York University. She is the Director of the Gotham Center for New York City History at the City University of New York, Graduate Center (www.gothamcenter.org). Wasserman lectures, writes and consults about New York City history, especially the history of the Lower East Side. She has published widely on topics such as the Depression, Jewish nostalgia, housing, restaurant culture, tourism, pushcart peddling, the Jewish silent screen actress Theda Bara, 19th century saloons and 21st century street fairs. She was an historical consultant on Ron Howard’s, Cinderella Man, starring Russell Crowe. She is the co-author of Life on the Lower East Side, 1937-1950: The Photographs of Rebecca Lepkoff (Princeton Architectural Press.)

Her award-winning film, Thunder in Guyana, is about her cousin, Janet Rosenberg Jagan, who was elected President of Guyana in South America in 1997. The film aired nationally on PBS as part of the Independent Lens series on February, 22, 2005. She received grants for the film from the director John Sayles, New York State Council on the Arts, NY Women in Film and Television, the Samuel Rubin Foundation and others. The film is distributed by Women Make Movies.