Stephen Cernek was raised in Corinth, New York and worked five summers for International Paper at his hometown’s Hudson River Mill during college. After earning a Ph.D., he taught American history at several New England colleges. Since the closure of the Hudson River Mill in 2002, he has published several articles on the early history of the pulp and paper industry and the cultural history of the upper Hudson River. The Beater Room Boys: Growing Up in an Adirondack Mill Town, and Hudson River Reflections: The Peculiar History of an Adirondack Mill Town were published in 2024.