Editor
Academic editing + Indexing + Proofreading
SELECTED WORK // TESTIMONIALS
Editing & Indexing
Seth Brodsky, From 1989, or European Music and the Modernist Unconscious (University of California Press, 2017)
★ Winner of the 2018 Lewis Lockwood Award for outstanding work of musicological scholarship ★
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"At this point, Josh Rutner knows this book better than anyone alive, including me; he has edited every line of it with strigine sharpness and the passionate dedication of a bibliophile. His eye and care could not but make every book better."
"I could hug Josh Rutner all day, all week, for the epiphanic index he gave my book."
—Seth Brodsky, Associate Professor of Music and the Humanities at the University of Chicago
Indexing
Eugenie Brinkema, Life-Destroying Diagrams (Duke University Press, 2022)
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“An index is paratext, but unlike other threshold aspects of a work—its table of contents or the epigraphic gambits that frame what is to come—it comes from the outside. It also, and this is crucial, begins with a reading of the work as a whole. One would thus do well to consider the sensibility of this reader, this reader from the outside, who will come to one’s writing—often as one of the first readers of the final work—and produce an exuberant map of pointers to the essential range of concepts in play with which any future reader might wish to grapple. I was honored to have Josh’s extraordinary skill as an indexer, but I was even more delighted to have him as a reader—curious, argumentative, sensitive, undaunted at once. He was an utter joy to work with and I am profoundly grateful for the index he created—and make no mistake: it is an act of creation, a mapping that is an invention, a reading of the work within which it is also contained. Every scholar should be so lucky to have such an indexer for their book.”
—Eugenie Brinkema, Associate Professor of Contemporary Literature and Media at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Editing
Brigid Cohen, Musical Migration and Imperial New York: Early Cold War Scenes (University of Chicago Press, 2022)
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“Working during the pandemic, with family emergencies and a kindergartner in ‘Zoom school,’ I didn’t know how I would complete the task of polishing my book manuscript, which had expanded to robust proportions over the course of several years. A friend suggested hiring Josh as an editor, and what a windfall that recommendation was. I could not have asked for a better intervention. The truth is that Josh is more than an editor, because he reads for factual accuracy, content, and organization in addition to copyediting. He is highly trained and professionally active as a musician, intellectually curious, extremely well-read, and responsive to the smallest details and broadest arguments in texts. He even listened to each of my musical examples and provided valuable new perspectives that I incorporated into my arguments.
Perhaps what I appreciate most about Josh, however, is the fact that he has become an important contributor to contemporary scholarship on music, media, the arts, and modernity by virtue of his unusually thoughtful editing. Because scholars in these fields seek him out, he strengthens lines of communication among those scholars and throughout the field. On a number of occasions, Josh alerted me to relevant books that he had only just recently edited or indexed, which my university library had not yet accessed. Working with Josh is a smart way to stay abreast of the latest developments in the field. And as I observe the growing list of books Josh has handled, I see how he is leaving his quiet imprint. My press copyeditor commented favorably on the ‘clean’ quality of my submitted manuscript. What I see more broadly is that Josh has raised the standards of writing and communication in more than just my book but increasingly in a whole network of scholarship.”
—Brigid Cohen, Associate Professor of Music at New York University
Indexing
Sianne Ngai, Theory of the Gimmick: Aesthetic Judgment and Capitalist Form (Harvard University Press, 2020)
★ A New Statesman Book of the Year, 2021; Co-Winner, 2021 ASAP Book Prize; A Literary Hub Favorite Book of the Year; Seminary Co-op Notable Book, 2020 ★
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“There is a growing Chicago chapter of the Josh Rutner Fan Club and I am its most recently added member. Josh created the index for Theory of the Gimmick: Aesthetic Judgment and Capitalist Form with remarkable conceptual precision, professionalism, and wit—catching multiple errors undetected by my copyeditors along the way, to boot. He gets everything about what we do. It was a sheer delight to work with him and I hope I will get the chance to do so again.”
—Sianne Ngai, Professor of English at the University of Chicago
Indexing
Nathan K. Hensley, Action without Hope: Victorian Literature after Climate Collapse (University of Chicago Press, 2025)
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“I guess I’d known Josh was a musician before we started our work together, but once I saw the first draft of his index it made so much more sense to me. I’d been expecting some version of the usual sort of paratextual tool, and his index was that but also, and instead, an aesthetic artifact in its own right—like a song or maybe a poem, certainly a composition. A gorgeous document, I mean, that’s both superbly functional and structured by figural qualities of hesitation, withholding, and disclosure that made his index far more than the usual conceptual grid of proper names and concepts. Through Josh’s meticulously observant and creative redescription, I came to see motifs and structural logics I had no idea were in my book at all (blur, loss, trembling): constellations of ideas that he discovered and brought into visibility and therefore, in a way, made. It is weird to have the deep structure of your own work shown back to you this way, as your own ideas reverberate back, amplified, and a new structure of notation enables you to perceive melodies that maybe you’d intuited but that somebody else is really playing. To flip through Josh’s index is to watch a work of collaborative art unfold in alphabetical order: it’s an intellectual performance informed by broad but precise knowledge and a focused, idiosyncratic intelligence that is also very, very funny (“frog [slowly boiled]”). I highly recommend Josh, if you’re able to get him, as a collaborator and interlocutor, and I will forever be grateful for what he added to my book.”
—Nathan K. Hensley, Associate Professor of English at Georgetown University
Indexing
Dan Sinykin, Big Fiction: How Conglomeration Changed the Publishing Industry and American Literature (Columbia University Press, 2023)
★ 2023 Seminary Co-op Notable Book; 2024 SHARP Book History Book Prize (short-listed) ★
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“Would you believe me if I told you that out in the American wilderness there were a man composing indexes with Nabokovian artistry? Well, there is, and his name is Josh Rutner. An index must, of course, serve to orient readers in search of a person, place, or thing—or idea, even—in a book, and Rutner's indexes do so with total care and confidence. But Rutner's dedication to his craft elevates his indexes to an artform: they are intellectually sophisticated, theorizing the text; they are elegant, written in fine style; they are witty, hiding Easter eggs for the attentive reader. He shows us that an index—an index!—can be smart, beautiful, and charming. Working with him is a delight.”
—Dan Sinykin, Assistant Professor of English at Emory University
Editing & Indexing
Aimee Bahng, Migrant Futures: Decolonizing Speculation in Financial Times (Duke University Press, 2018)
★ Winner of the 2018 SFTS (Speculative Fictions and Cultures of Science) Book Prize, honoring an outstanding scholarly monograph that explores the intersection between popular culture, especially science fiction, and the sciences ★
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“Writing can bring out demons of all kinds. I deeply appreciate the winning combination of professionalism, light-heartedness, and encouragement Josh brought to our process. His passion for copy editing is stunning and perhaps even inspiring. It helped make the whole process seem less like drudgery. To the writer in her final stages of manuscript preparation, when despair threatens to overwhelm at every moment, Josh brings much needed energy and sparkle to the experience. He’s a keen reader with an attention to both the fine details and broader arcs of the project. I wish I had worked with him earlier.”
—Aimee Bahng, Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies at Pomona College
Indexing
Anna Kornbluh, The Order of Forms: Realism, Formalism, and Social Space (University of Chicago Press, 2019)
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“At once meticulous and creative, Josh’s indexing process has transformed my book into patterns, arcs, and ideas that readers actually want. His skilled treatment enhanced final revisions and enlivened the project at the deadly proofs stage, helping me to see anew what I tried to put on the page. Josh practices the art of understanding manuscripts conceptually, not merely mechanically, and his craftsmanship is very fine.”
—Anna Kornbluh, Professor of English at the University of Illinois, Chicago
Indexing
Zachary Samalin, The Masses Are Revolting: Victorian Culture and the Political Aesthetics of Disgust (Cornell University Press, 2021)
★ Northeast Victorian Studies Association’s Sonya Rudikoff Award ★
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“Josh approached my manuscript like an archaeologist on a dig, excavating and reconstructing latent connections between ideas with precision, care, erudition, and creative vision. The index he produced offers readers a view of the book that is at once useful and fascinating. It even taught me startling new things about my book at just the moment when I thought I’d finally learned everything I was going to learn from it—no small feat, as anyone who’s come to the end of this long process knows. Plus, Josh was fast, thorough, detail-oriented, responsive, and professional, as well as hilarious and a joy to work with. I can’t recommend him highly enough and definitely plan to work with him again; I only wish I could see the index he’ll make for my next book now so that I could learn in advance what it’s about!”
—Zachary Samalin, Assistant Professor of English at New York University
Indexing
Tina Post, Deadpan: The Aesthetics of Black Inexpression (NYU Press, 2023)
★ National Book Critics Circle Award (Criticism); Seminary Co-op Notable Book, 2023 ★
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“Working with Josh to index my book has been one of my favorite academic collaborations. Indeed, the fact that I would call someone indexing a ‘collaboration’ at all speaks volumes. Josh is a tremendous reader in all the obvious ways: careful, conscientious, exacting, and conceptually astute. But he also has an abiding interest in the material—my sense is any material—and he takes unprompted deep dives into it alongside his reading. He points out subtle connections and obscure references, and he catches tiny errors and nits missed even by successive waves of highly competent editors. In this way, Josh not only created a beautiful, helpful index for my book, but he strengthened the text of the manuscript and footnotes as well. Our process was recursive, conversational, hilarious, and charming. Josh is a marvel and I’m so thankful to have found him.”
—Tina Post, Assistant Professor in the Department of English at the University of Chicago
Indexing
Anjuli Fatima Raza Kolb, Epidemic Empire: Colonialism, Contagion, and Terror, 1817–2020 (University of Chicago Press, 2021)
★ Honorable Mention, Modern Language Association: MLA Scaglione Prize for Comparative Literary Studies ★
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“Working with Josh was a pleasure at every moment. His indexing is witty, rigorous, thorough—it transformed how I saw my own book and showed me things I hadn’t noticed before. Even more than producing stellar, inventive work, Josh is simply a supportive and wonderful person to work with. As a first-time author, I felt in extremely capable hands from our first exchange to the completion of the index some *many* years later. That he completed this work on a shifting schedule during quarantine should tell you what you need to know: this guy is the best.”
—Anjuli Fatima Raza Kolb, Associate Professor of English at the University of Toronto
Indexing
Amber Jamilla Musser, Sensual Excess: Queer Femininity and Brown Jouissance (NYU Press, 2018)
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“Working with Josh helped me to really see the beauty of a well-put-together index. He unearthed complex theoretical lines running throughout the text and he also found a way to incorporate the book's sly humor. The result is a compact and clever index that forms its own spine for the book. Apart from indexing, he found several errors in the manuscript that I was very grateful to have corrected. I cannot recommend his services highly enough—he works quickly and thoroughly and communicates abundantly through it all. Above all, he is a thoughtful reader and it was a pleasure to work with him.”
—Amber Jamilla Musser, Professor of English at the CUNY Graduate Center
Indexing
Nitasha Tamar Sharma, Hawai′i Is My Haven: Race and Indigeneity in the Black Pacific (Duke University Press, 2021)
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“I hired Josh on the recommendation of a number of other scholars and am I glad I did! First: the index is impeccable. (I’ve worked with indexers in the past and have something to compare it to.) Josh is a pro: he is sharp, smart, and understands each project. But the added bonus was his unexpectedly close eye for inconsistencies, typos, and other questions emerging from the almost-finalized text. Josh caught errors that would have gone to print, all the while methodically and appropriately arriving at the necessary topics and subtopics needed for the index. I am confident that the book is comprehensively indexed and that it is a more accurate text as a result of Josh’s work. He is an excellent communicator—and funny!—and pays strict attention to deadlines. For any kind of author—whether an anxious and picky one like me, or a more relaxed and easygoing one—Josh is the perfect indexer for any text. I’ll be sure to hire him again for my next project, and I suggest you do as well!”
—Nitasha Tamar Sharma, Professor of African American Studies and Asian American Studies at Northwestern University
Indexing
Hentyle Yapp, Minor China: Method, Materialisms, and the Aesthetic (Duke University Press, 2021)
★ Honorable Mention, 2023 Association for Asian American Studies Book Award in Humanities & Cultural Studies: Media, Performance, and Visual Studies ★
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“Josh is an invaluable resource. He balances efficiency with humor, intelligence with grace, and insight with openness. He worked on my book's index, and I am so glad I chose to work with him. In addition to creating a dynamic and smart index, Josh went above and beyond, reading the full text with laser focus, and catching a few issues. Further, Josh's work reflected true attention to the nuances of my argument. He is theoretically sophisticated across multiple areas, so I would recommend him to anyone, regardless of the field(s) one specializes in. In addition, he was always timely with deadlines and brought a fun, dynamic spirit to our work together. I look forward to working with him again!”
—Hentyle Yapp, Assistant Professor in the Department of Art and Public Policy at NYU
Indexing
Natilee Harren, Fluxus Forms: Scores, Multiples, and the Eternal Network (University of Chicago Press, 2020)
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“Josh excels and delights in his work as an editor and indexer. I recommend him most highly, and his work is worth every penny. The beautifully crafted index he made for my book is full of conceptual richness and taught me things about my project that I hadn’t noticed before. Much more than a list of names, it is a theoretical map of my brain. His expert knowledge of avant-garde music was a particularly valuable asset in working through the final details of the text. Josh is fastidious, energetic, and intellectually omnivorous—really the best qualities one could ask for in someone working closely with you to bring a treasured project over the finish line.”
—Natilee Harren, Associate Professor of Contemporary Art History and Critical Studies at the University of Houston
Editing
Amy E. Elkins, Crafting Feminism from Literary Modernism to the Multimedia Present (Oxford University Press, 2022)
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“At the beginning of the pandemic, I felt like I was writing into a vacuum with my first book. I needed to balance various genres of writing with my larger argument, and I wanted to make sure I was writing in a way that felt authentic and dynamic. (I was also struggling with a lot of unstructured time.) From my first email with Josh, I knew I’d found a sharp interlocutor who could help keep my work on track. What I didn’t know is that I’d also make a friend who would challenge and push my writing to be better on multiple levels. Josh is an efficient, meticulous editor, but he’s also just so good at helping writers feel confident about writing in their own voice. His copy edits were helpful, full of brilliant insights, and he infuses his work with humor and creativity. I found working with Josh to be personally empowering on levels I couldn’t have imagined, and I’m so grateful to have benefited from his expertise and genuine love of thinking with academics in ways that feel inclusive and joyful.”
—Amy E. Elkins, Associate Professor of English at Macalester College
Indexing & Editing
Hiʻilei Julia Kawehipuaakahaopulani Hobart, Cooling the Tropics: Ice, Indigeneity, and Hawaiian Refreshment (Duke University Press, 2022)
★ Scholars of Color First Book Award (Duke University Press); Co-Winner of the 2023 Native American and Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA) First Book Award; Honorable Mention, 2023 Lora Romero First Book Prize, presented by the American Studies Association ★
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“I had the distinct honor of working with Josh in the final stretch of preparing my manuscript for publication. I thought that I was hiring an indexer; to my amazement, I received so much more than that. Josh has one of the sharpest eyes that I know, reading carefully for content, clarity, and accuracy in order to build out a marvelous road map of the book's ideas. As my needs expanded—from indexing to editing—he stepped up and into that role, too, helping me to produce the cleanest version of my work as it went to the press for typesetting. Among the accolades that others have listed—all of which are not only true, but understated even in their exuberance—I want to praise his distinct ability to give corrections and feedback in such a way that the author feels affirmed and supported at a time when corrections sometimes threaten to overwhelm. Working with Josh is empowering. He came to me with the highest recommendations and now I pass along his name to anyone who will listen. I cannot imagine the process of bringing a book into the world without him.”
—Hiʻilei Julia Kawehipuaakahaopulani Hobart, Assistant Professor of Ethnicity, Race, and Migration at Yale University
Indexing
Jennifer Fleissner, Maladies of the Will: The American Novel and the Modernity Problem (University of Chicago Press, 2022)
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from the acknowledgements:
“Josh Rutner worked marvels.”
Jennifer Fleissner, Associate Professor of English at Indiana University
Indexing
Michael Gallope, Deep Refrains: Music, Philosophy, and the Ineffable (University of Chicago Press, 2017)
★ Finalist, Society for Music Theory Emerging Scholar Award ★
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“Brilliant work... [Josh has] got a real style here, and I think it does a lot to revivify the traditional function of the index.”
—Michael Gallope, Associate Professor in the Department of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota
Indexing
Julie Beth Napolin, The Fact of Resonance: Modernist Acoustics and Narrative Form (Fordham University Press, 2020)
★ Shortlisted for the 2021 Memory Studies Association First Book Award ★
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“A good index is an accurate list of words and names. A great index lays out the book's verbal architecture, showing the reader how to access its doors, windows, attics, and basements—the points of contact across the argument's multiple sites and temporalities. Josh makes such an index. It's a sensitive act of reading that can help readers access your claims; it presents a way of reading, unearthing connections and guiding readers through the experience and argumentation, underscoring what's important, and highlighting things that might otherwise have been missed. Josh worked with me on several rounds, explaining his moves and providing advice.
The final stages of finishing a book are maddening, and Josh provided calm assurance that the project would get done—the index was the added bonus of presenting my argument back to me and saying, "Here's what you made!" It is a great feeling. Along the way, he also did light editing, catching some errors that had been missed in copyediting. A rare gem! I can't wait to work with him again.”
—Julie Beth Napolin, Associate Professor of Digital Humanities in the Literature Program at The New School
Indexing
Lindsay Caplan, Arte Programmata: Freedom, Control, and the Computer in 1960s Italy (University of Minnesota Press, 2022)
★ Media Ecology Association: Media Ecology Awards — Finalist ★
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“Josh is a genius—a brilliant indexer and a close reader, and somehow, impressively, capable of doing both kinds of reading (diagrammatic and in-depth) at once. This meant that his index not only thoroughly charts the book’s central themes but also elaborates their multiple, even conflicting dimensions—suggesting new ways of navigating the book and interpreting its key terms. Reading the index, I had so many revelations! Josh also found typos and inconsistencies in the manuscript, just in time to change them. The book is stronger because of his editing and his index. He’s also easy and fun to work with—I can’t recommend him enough!”
—Lindsay Caplan, Assistant Professor of History of Art & Architecture at Brown University
Editing & Indexing
Berthold Hoeckner, Film, Music, Memory (University of Chicago Press, 2020)
★ 2020 Kraszna-Krausz Moving Image Book Award Longlist ★
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“I truly enjoyed working with Josh. He was perfect for this book, not just because of his background in music and astounding attention to detail, but also because of his genuine respect for the author’s voice and unfailing sense for tone, nuance, and argument. Always responds promptly to queries; always goes the extra mile.”
—Berthold Hoeckner, Professor of Music at University of Notre Dame
Editing & Indexing
Jennifer Iverson, Electronic Inspirations: Technologies of the Cold War Musical Avant-Garde (Oxford University Press, 2018)
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“When a reviewer suggested my book manuscript would benefit from an ‘activist copy-editor,’ I was crushed. How dare he critique the writing I had worked so hard to polish? Once I got over the sting, I realized that writing can always improve. Through my colleague network, I found Josh. He fine-tuned my manuscript in ways that were genius—subtle, light-handed, and with real recognition of my organic voice. I loved receiving edited chapters and seeing that Josh had gently pushed my prose into balanced alignment. He was responsive, communicative, and—bonus—curious and knowledgeable about the subject of my book. It was a true pleasure to work with him, to read his brilliant index, and to geek out together along the way. I appreciated his every intervention, which made my book summarily better. A completely affirming experience. Highly recommended!”
—Jennifer Iverson, Associate Professor of Music at the University of Chicago
Indexing
Sarah Dowling, Translingual Poetics: Writing Personhood Under Settler Colonialism (University of Iowa Press, 2018)
★ 2019 Lora Romero First Book Publication Prize Honorable Mention, awarded to the best first book published in American studies that highlights intersectional dynamics in the study of race, gender, class, sexuality, and/or nation ★
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“As a first-time author, there was a lot about the publication process that confused me. Josh brought the fun back. He was genuinely enthusiastic, and it was clear from the first that he was completely committed to making my book the best it could be. In addition to crafting a wonderful index (and catching a number of embarrassing errors in the process), Josh also flagged the things he liked—specific sentences, turns of phrase, and even my conclusion. I can't express how grateful I was to work with someone who combined professionalism and caring in this way. Josh renewed my enthusiasm for my own scholarship, and I very much hope to work with him again. It was a total pleasure.”
—Sarah Dowling, Assistant Professor at the Centre for Comparative Literature and Victoria College at the University of Toronto.
Editing & Indexing
Ryan Dohoney, Saving Abstraction: Morton Feldman, the de Menils, and the Rothko Chapel (Oxford University Press, 2019)
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"Josh was a steady hand and rock-solid collaborator in the stress-filled years before tenure. He is always enthusiastic and his terrific editing not only helped me to get a major article accepted but eased my book through the review and contract stages with the press. His eagle eye and deep thinking were invaluable in the final stages of the production process; he went out of his way to refine the press’s copyediting to make the book even better. His index is a powerful interpretation of the book—one that, even after all the time I spent writing it, helped me see my work in a new light. I look forward to many more years of working together.”
—Ryan Dohoney, Associate Professor of Musicology at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University
Indexing
Jennifer Ronyak, Intimacy, Performance, and the Lied in the Early Nineteenth Century (Indiana University Press, 2018)
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”Before I worked with Josh, I never knew that an index for an academic book could be not just helpful to the reader, but a fascinating document in its own right. Josh also provided invaluable secondary help on the last stages of correcting the proof for my manuscript; his keen eye saved me from a number of potentially embarrassing errors. I would recommend Josh wholeheartedly as an editor, proofreader, and indexer—he is a sheer pleasure to work with.”
—Jennifer Ronyak, Senior Scientist in Musicology at the Institut für Musikästhetik of the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Graz
Editing & Indexing
Fumi Okiji, Jazz As Critique: Adorno and Black Expression Revisited (Stanford University Press, 2018)
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“Josh was recommended by a colleague–friend without any hesitation or qualification, and so I entered into the editing process confident that my book—in much need of smartening up—would benefit. I expected his attention to detail, precision, and exceptional command of language: these are qualities that I, in my limited experience, had assumed to be the most important for an editor to have. Josh offered these and so much more! He read with an ear to the music of the text. He very quickly understood my authorial voice, and through his suggestions and comments helped train it and sharpen it without ever encroaching on its integrity. His enthusiasm and care pulled me out of my apathy, reigniting my passion for the project. (And after years of working on it, the thrill had most definitely gone.) One of the best things about Josh’s approach is that alongside editing and proofing, he really reads the text. He got to know the book intimately—warts and all.
When he came to tackle the book’s index, the fruits of that level of engagement were revealed once more. Qualitatively distinct from a mere list of relevant terms, Josh’s index was able to get to the heart of the project—a compilation of the book’s most important and interesting contributions, executed with the meticulousness that he had shown throughout the editing process.”
—Fumi Okiji, Assistant Professor at the Department of Rhetoric at UC Berkeley
Editing & Indexing
Kaleb Goldschmitt, Bossa Mundo: Brazilian Music in Transnational Media Industries (Oxford University Press, 2019)
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“Josh is a joy to work with and I couldn't have been more pleased with the final result of the book and its index. Everything I had heard about editing and indexing a book referred to those stages as tedious and stressful. Josh managed to transform those steps into something far more fun and connecting. It was very helpful that he came to the process with so much first-hand knowledge of my book's subject matter. In the end, his perspective helped me to make some of my points far more effectively. It was a nice surprise to find so much good humor and support at this stage of book publishing. His personal style and professionalism are unmatched.”
—Kaleb Goldschmitt, Assistant Professor of Music at Wellesley College
Indexing
Emily H. Green, Dedicating Music, 1785–1850 (University of Rochester Press, 2019)
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“The index is amazing. Seriously one of my favorite reads in a long while.”
from the acknowledgements:
“Josh Rutner wrote the index, a list that contributes significant beauty, rigor, and usability to this final product. Readers—and I—thank him deeply.”
—Emily H. Green, Associate Professor of Music at George Mason University
Editing & Indexing
Mariusz Kozak, Enacting Musical Time: The Bodily Experience of New Music (Oxford University Press, 2019)
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from the acknowledgements:
“Josh Rutner combed through the manuscript with the eyes of a hawk, picking out every errant em-dash while peppering his editorial remarks with endearingly irreverent (though ultimately useful) asides.”
—Mariusz Kozak, Associate Professor of Music and Music Theory at Columbia University
Indexing
Christopher Chowrimootoo, Middlebrow Modernism: Britten’s Operas and the Great Divide (University of California Press, 2018)
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“Josh came highly recommended and his work far surpassed my wildest expectations for my index. The result was no mere list of nouns but a judicious compilation of figures, works, concepts, and themes that got to the heart of the project; it could only have been compiled by someone who had taken the time to engage with the book on a very deep level. Josh not only worked to a tight deadline, but his infectious enthusiasm made the final stage of the publication process a stress-free—even fun—experience.”
—Christopher Chowrimootoo, Associate Professor of Musicology and Liberal Studies at the University of Notre Dame
Editing
Kenneth M. Smith, Desire in Chromatic Harmony: A Psychodynamic Exploration of Fin de Siècle Tonality (Oxford University Press, 2020)
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from the acknowledgements:
“A profound debt of gratitude is also owed to Josh Rutner for his tireless work in copyediting the text. Josh was particularly helpful in offering American equivalents to my British idioms. (I hope we meet in person sometime, Josh—I'll stand you a beer.)”
—Kenneth M. Smith, Professor of Music Theory at University of Liverpool
Proofreading and Editing
Stewart + Company, a creative agency specializing in marketing, content strategy, and copywriting.
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"Josh is positively stellar as a proofreader and editor. He supports our corporate clients in finalizing content across a wide range of industries—from financial services, to consulting, to technology, and beyond. Josh is always quick on the draw, and a close and sensitive reader with an extraordinarily thorough grasp of house style rules. Our most precise clients find his work impeccable—and we agree! He’s a real pleasure to work with, and every bit of text he touches is improved as a result."
—Jude Stewart, Principal
Editing
August Sheehy, "Music Analysis as a Practice of the Self in Nineteenth-Century Germany" (PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2017)
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"Josh is an absolute pleasure to work with. Not only did he do excellent work on short notice with a tight deadline, he did so with enthusiasm and a great sense of humor. My project was greatly improved by Josh's keen eye for the errors that inevitably creep into a long document, his ear for the rhythms of prose, and his careful engagement with the ideas I presented. When he wasn't directly improving the flow, he often prompted me to do so myself with a pointed question or thoughtful aside. I would recommend Josh as an editor without hesitation and would gladly work with him again myself."
—August Sheehy, Assistant Professor, History/Theory at Stony Brook University
Editing
Jo Lawry, “‘How High the Larynx’: Collecting the Vocal Tract Configurations of Sarah Vaughan with the Guiding Purpose of Enhancing Jazz Vocal Performance and Pedagogy” (DMA final research paper, New England Conservatory of Music, 2016)
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“Josh is an extraordinary and brilliant editor. I was fortunate to have him edit my final research paper as a doctoral candidate, and I couldn’t have finished it without him. His attention to detail is, in the best possible way, obsessive. Not only does Josh make sure you have correctness, he ensures your correctness has style. It’s hard to imagine that editing a research paper could ever be fun, but Josh makes the process come pretty close. His deep love of language, his insatiable curiosity, his razor-sharp intellect and his quick wit make him so exciting to work with. He can chip away at an incomplete idea or poorly-communicated point until it takes perfect shape and sparkles on the page. Anybody who avails themselves of his services will find themselves glad—and possibly graduated or published!”
—Jo Lawry, musician