bio

Danny Fingeroth is an accomplished biographer and cultural historian/commentator, specializing in history at the intersection of Jewish and American cultures. His books include Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society and Disguised as Clark Kent: Jews, Comics, and the Creation of the Superhero. His acclaimed 2019 biography of Stan Lee, A Marvelous Life, looks at this innovative Jewish-American figure—the co-creator of Marvel Comics—in the context of the overall culture. 

Now, with Jack Ruby: The Many Faces of Oswald’s Assassin (the paperback edition was released in October by Chicago Review Press) Fingeroth, his expert ear to the ground for deeper meanings, takes us through Jack Ruby’s bizarre life of extreme behavior leading up to and beyond that fateful weekend in Dallas in November 1963 when Ruby emerged from a crowd and killed accused JFK-assassin Lee Harvey Oswald on live TV. The book makes extensive use of the notes taken by Rabbi Hillel Silverman (father of Weekend at Bernie’s Jonathan Silverma) during his many visits to the imprisoned Ruby.

Previously, Fingeroth has served as an executive editor and writer at Marvel Comics (best known for his work on Spider-Man) and other media companies and has spoken and taught about the intersection of popular culture and history at venues including the Smithsonian Institution, Columbia University, the New York Historical Society, and the Bob Dylan/Switchyard Conference, as well as on NBC’s Today Show and NPR’s All Things Considered. He has written for publications including The Los Angeles Times, the Baltimore Sun, and The Wall Street Journal and has been interviewed as an historical expert in numerous documentaries. He has also curated numerous popular culture history exhibitions including the popular Marvel: Universe of Superheroes exhibition which has appeared at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, as well as museums in Seattle, Charlotte, and Edmonton, Canada. He was the curator and moderator of YIVO’s “Comics and the Jewish-American Dream” series, for which he interviewed Jules Feiffer, Al Jaffee, and Harvey Pekar. 

Fingeroth serves as a consultant to Will Eisner Studios and the Will and Ann Eisner Family Foundation, for whom he runs the annual Will Eisner Week worldwide celebrations, helping keep the legacy of the pioneering graphic novelist alive. Danny has been involved with JewCE from its beginnings, and co-curated the JewCE traveling comics exhibition.

Website: www.dannyfingeroth.com