From a Providence Phoenix article:
[Steerforth Press itself is a fascinating story. According to Ham Davis’s account in Vermont Sunday Magazine, the publishing house was begun 10 years ago by four principals: Thomas Powers, a journalist who was the co-winner of a Pulitzer in 1971 for his coverage, while at United Press International, of an anti-war radical killed in a bomb-making factory in Greenwich Village; Alan Lelchuk, a novelist; Michael Moore, a veteran magazine editor; and Chip Fleischer, who was brought in to run the business on a day-to-day basis.
The Dawn Powell series established Steerforth’s reputation, but today it is known for much more. Through its Steerforth Italia imprint, it publishes Italian literature and cookbooks. Through its Zoland Books imprint — acquired within the past year — it publishes the works of writers such as the National Book Award–winning novelist Ha Jin and the poet Patricia Smith, a former columnist for the Boston Globe.
Lately Steerforth has been moving away from new fiction and classic literature in favor of more-timely nonfiction. The paradigmatic example would be Street Soldier: My Life As an Enforcer for Whitey Bulger and the Boston Irish Mob, by Edward MacKenzie and Phyllis Karas. And, now, the Dean bio.
"I think of them as a really discriminating publisher of thoughtful, interesting books," says Benjamin Schwarz, literary editor of the Atlantic Monthly. "They obviously pick their books with great care, and they really seem to nurture their books."]
They appear to a small but legitimate powerhouse with experienced staff.