“Iconoclastic Independent Publishing House” (NY Times) ZE Books Celebrates Milestone 2026

ZE Books congratulates its authors on a landmark 2026, earning praise from outlets spanning Vanity Fair to How Long Gone and Rolling Stone to Dream Baby Press. In ZE's most ambitious year to date, the publishing house launched their paperback series with Brian Cullman 's How to Prepare for the Past: Travels in Music and Time and Joe McEwen 's Tastykakes, Soul Songs & Shining Stars: Affections and Reflections 1973-2025 ; celebrating those releases with events at landmark New York institutions like the New York Public Library and Housing Works. In the fall, ZE released Nik Cohn 's Corner Boy: Loiterings New and Old (edited by Ben Ratliff ) and Jerry Stahl 's Gonzo Neurotic: The Best (and Not So Best) of Jerry Stahl . Those collections were met with a dual rave review from Dwight Garner in the New York Times - who praised them both for their ability to "revel in life's margins and recapture auras past."

Brian Cullman - How to Prepare for the Past: Travels in Music and Time

An acclaimed musician, journalist and quintessential (tenth-generation) New Yorker, Brian Cullman's How to Prepare for the Past captures an era when music was pervasive and insistently urgent, tracing his life through friendships and first-hand encounters with luminaries like Nick Drake, Lester Bangs, Miles Davis, Tim Hardin, Chuck Berry, George Martin, Bo Diddley and more. These include his years as Crawdaddy's London correspondent with Drake, John Martyn and the members of Fairport Convention, his time as a fly on the wall watching Doc Pomus and Dr. John write songs together in Pomus' NYC apartment, late nights in English hotels with Van Morrison picking up his tab (unbeknownst to Mr. Morrison), eating hot dogs with Big Joe Turner on Third Ave, and the centuries-old sounds from the mountains of Jajouka, Morocco.

American Songwriter praised this collection for capturing "the details that stay with you" and Aquarium Drunkard described it as feeling "like something out of a hipster Walk Hard remake." Highlights included an in-depth conversation for New York's WFUV, an intimate celebration at Via Carota and an in-conversation event with author Alan Light at Housing Works Bookstore.