Join us for a new look at an old myth. The real story of the Jersey Devil’s birth is far more interesting, complex, andimportant than most people—believers and skeptics alike—realize.  Brian Regal, co author of the book, The Secret History of the Jersey Devil: How Quakers, Hucksters and Benjamin Franklin created a Monster, will deconstruct and reevaluate this old New Jersey folklore to get to the historical reality of the Garden State’s favorite monster.  We will leave the Pine Barrens turning instead to the varied political and cultural roots of the Devil’s creation.

Dr. Brian Regal is Associate Professor of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine at Kean University, New Jersey, where he teaches classes on science and medical history as well as pseudoscience, alchemy, and book history.

His most recent work is The Secret History of the Jersey Devil: How Quakers, Hucksters, and Benjamin Franklin created a monster (2018) written with co-author, and Kean University professor, Dr. Frank J. Esposito. He is also the author of Searching for Sasquatch: Crackpots, Eggheads, and Cryptozoology (2013). Earlier works include Henry Fairfield Osborn: Race and the Search for the Origins of Man (2002), and Pseudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia (2009). He has appeared on the History Channel and Science Channel talking about monsters in the series True Monsters and Mythical Beasts, and 2021s HULU special Sasquatch. He was an invited panel speaker at Comic Con NYC, 2018, and an NBC TV special on Harry Potter and alchemy.

He is also author of numerous articles and Op Ed pieces and is currently working on a book on American discovery myths tentatively titled, Waiting for Columbus which will be published by Palgrave-Macmillan in 2022.

REGISTRATION: https://www.njstatelib.org/event/october-28-the-secret-history-of-the-jersey-devil-virtual-author-talk/