Suzanne Wasserman is an historian and award-winning filmmaker who holds a Ph.D. in American History from New York University. She is the associate director of the Gotham Center for New York City History at the City University of New York, Graduate Center. Wasserman lectures, writes and consults about New York City history, especially the history of the Lower East Side. She has published widely on topics such as the Depression, Jewish nostalgia, housing, restaurant culture, tourism, pushcart peddling, the Jewish silent screen actress Theda Bara and nineteenth-century saloons. She has worked as a public historian on projects for the Jewish Museum, City Lore, the Tenement Museum, Henry Street Settlement, Clio, Inc. and Steeplechase Films.

Her award-winning film, Thunder in Guyana, is about her cousin, Janet Rosenberg Jagan, who was elected President of Guyana in South America in 1997.