The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Modern Library Series)
by JANE JACOBS
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (09 February, 1993)
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Reviews (41)

Helluva Book
It'd be one thing to point out all the flaws in suburban and modern architecture and planning now, after all the failures are fairly well known and felt, but to do it in '61, I give Jane Jacobs a lot of credit. She saw it coming and tried to call it out. Unfortunately, it must have fallen on deaf ears, but I get the feeling that modern planners and architects are listening a little better and hopefully, this book will get a second run with them.

This book deals primarly with big cities, mostly New York where she lives, so it doesn't say anything about the suburbs or the country. She says as much in the book, but still, some of the principles apply. One thing she keeps stressing is the benefits an area gets from mixed use and certain physical features, and I've seen some modern examples that seem to have taken her knowledge to heart.

Excellent for anyone interested in planning, or why some areas of a city are vibrant and fun and others dull or crime-ridden.

Still relevant after all these years
Jane Jacobs's writing style is straightfoward, confident and evocative of a certain time period--the middle of the twentieth century, when postwar modernization was occurring at a quicker pace than ever before.Her writing at times is almost like that of a novel, her descriptions of busy city streets nuanced and fleshed-out.You can easily envision old New York City while reading about the social ballet that occurs in Greenwich Village and Central Park.
While the book was written 40 years ago, it is no less relevant to the problems of American cities today.The ideas put forth by the author in this seminal work were groundbreaking at the time, and while they seem almost common sense to me, they have, for the most part, been largely ignored (in the sense that few tangible results have spawned) and unimplemented.The fact that this is the case makes one realize how *slow* in certain respects our culture is to change and how closed off to new, innovative ideas we can be.
Jacobs does not only point out flaws of commonly held "truths" about city planning, but also successfully argues that many of the tenets of city planning have deep roots in classism/racism and xenophobia.The entire fourth section of the book details the author's suggestions for improving the structure of cities.The only complaint I have is that the subject matter can be a bit dry (such as when discussing housing subsidies), but this is a matter of course and is minimized by the overall importance and originality of the book.

Chicagolander
Everything about this book makes sense.As a resident of a suburb of Chicago, every time I go to the city I see a few parts that are fascinating and energetic, and others that seem so unhealthy.This book makes all of that make so much more sense.The areas that I see that are interesting and successful have diverse primary uses -- the cultural centers, commerce and residences are all together.They have a mixture of old and new buildings so that less profitable ventures that still draw people can continue to fluourish.They have public transportationn that even I can figure out and a variety of obstacles make driving incovenient (and encourage people to use more efficient buses and trains).The sidewalks are broad and people watch out for each other, even though there are plenty of crazies.Places like this, like Michigan Avenue, show me that Mrs. Jacobs at least had some things right about the properties of vital cities.

What saddens me though is that it doesn't seem as though her ideas have caught on in the slums of Chicago.The city still knocks down places that don't function, rather than encouraging people to stay and try and make it work.Why does no one try her ideas for encouraging the unslumming of slums?And if they have, why don't these ideas become more widespread?Why are people continuing to try to expand road space rather than focusing on the attrition of vehicles?The fact that after more than 40 years Mrs. Jacobs' ideas don't seem to have been sufficiently tested makes me sad.

Anyway, I strongly recommend this book, it's easy to understand and very interesting.Read it.Think about it. ... Read more

Isbn: 0679600477
Sales Rank: 27091
Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. City planning    3. Planning    4. Sociology    5. Sociology - Urban    6. United States    7. Urban Planning    8. Urban policy    9. Urban renewal    10. Social Science / Sociology / Urban   

The Power Broker : Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
by ROBERT A. CARO
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (12 July, 1974)
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Reviews (80)

Thirty Years On and Still a Great Read
I read this book while on vacation, on a beach, surrounded by the Grishams and Clancys that so bore me to tears.If you are similarly inclined, and you also happen to care about U.S. politics and quality of life, then this may be the beach book for you.

Caro writes very well, and at a personal level the story is compelling.It is the life of an extraordinary man.The bonus is finding out why there is so muchsuburban sprawl in the US and that the Bush tactic of ruining your political opponents (and getting someone else, Rove, to take the blame) is nothing new.

It took me about 30 hours to read over a two-week vacation.Enjoy.

Take a deep breath and invest the time
There is no way around it - this book requires a very real investment of time.But what a payoff!In addition to having a really thick book to put on your shelf to impress your friends, this is one of the greatest biographies over written.

Caro has chosen a truly unique character to profile.Robert Moses is unlike any other person I've encountered in my reading.The man backed down the Governor of New York and the President of the United States from a non-elected position in New York City government.In addition, Moses dominated every mayor of New York and the politics of the city itself for almost 40 years.No wonder the book is so long.

In addition, the book can't help but be a biography of modern New York City.So much of the city bears the fingerprints of Robert Moses that learning about the man necessarily teaches you a lot about how the city became what it is today.

A must-read for fans of biography, stories of power, and New York City.

brilliant
but 77 reviews is enough!
I just want to reiterate- should you believe this book is overly biased and makes a caricature of the man, watch the "New York" PBS series too see him make a caricature of himself!

Montgomery Burns would envy his public relations style! Sure it would have been interesting to read a little more background, to get an idea of how the man developed into such a ruthless powermonger who saw dollars and legacy, not humans. But this is still an amazing and well written portrayal of not just a man, but of the forces that created the only landscape some of us have ever known.

Some could say the negative was stressed too much. But the legacy of Mose's highways makes me think of the Sopranos episode where Tony visits Italy, and the senile Italian boss can only fondly recall of his visit to New York 'Ma-jor DEE-gan! Cross-Bronx ExpressWAY!'. The episode ends with the men leaving the beautiful coast of Naples, only to drive down endless streches of grey roads. - Mose's Legacy.

There is one thing that I found surprisingly lacking - mention of the influence (and as I remember from history in college, major financial kickbacks) of auto manufacturers. That, as in all cities in the U.S., it was not vision, but dollars from Ford and G.M. that initiated our absurd worship of car 'freedom'.

I only hope that Portland can serve as a model to how urban blight can be reversed. Hopefully the rebuilding of a grand Penn Station in Manhattan is the beginning to an urban renewal in New York. Maybe this time urban renewal will be inclusive? ... Read more

Isbn: 0394480767
Sales Rank: 154419
Subjects:  1. 1888-1981    2. Biography / Autobiography    3. Biography/Autobiography    4. Historical - U.S.    5. Moses, Robert    6. Moses, Robert,    7. Political    8. Presidents & Heads of State    9. Biography & Autobiography / Political   

The Colossus of New York: A City in 13 Parts
by COLSON WHITEHEAD
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Hardcover (21 October, 2003)
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Reviews (14)

Surprisingly negative
The author writes negative comments about every subject, even about subjects he likes.Everything sounds bad in "his New York", as he calls it.I was very disappointed in this book because I really like NY.I read about half the book and threw it in the trash.

Oh, this could have been so good...
Colson Whitehead is a talented writer, as one can easily see in his first two novels. So when I read that he was writing nonfiction about New York, I was thrilled at the prospects. But I don't know what to make of this book.
The majority of the 13 parts have the same structure. Take a place. Write short sentences that explain what you would see at that place. Include actions and thoughts of those characters.
On paper, it sounds awful, and it some ways it is. It is the shortest 176 pages you will ever read, but this style gets highly repetitive. Rather than explaining why he chose these places or what they mean to him, Whitehead includes little about himself. There is quite simply zero insight into the soul of the city.
But the book does have its strong points. Whitehead's scenes are very evocative and I often found myself smilingand nodding at his dead-on descriptions of what I had seen in New York. He notices things about New York that you take for granted. At times, his skills shine through.
But it ultimately felt like reading a good writer's notes before he turns them in to an actual book. I wanted so much more from this book, and based on what is there (and also the wonderful first essay, which is different from all others in structure), I get the feeling it could be there. Everyone has their own version of New York and I'm still waiting to see how Whitehead really sees his hometown. Ultimately it reads like an astute but repetitive poem. Nonetheless, any book that makes me nostalgic about my trips to Port Authority has done one incredible job.

Free Association At Its Worst
People that laud this type of 'work' are the type that can read something significant into anything because they don't want to admit that they don't get it. He tries to paint a picture of Gotham using mawkish free association which comes across as pseudo-intellect at its worst/best. I was really looking forward to this book because it sounded like a very cool exercise and interesting look into the greatest city on the planet. Hardbound pretentious excrement. ... Read more

Isbn: 0385507941
Sales Rank: 13883
Subjects:  1. 1969-    2. Description And Travel    3. Essays    4. Essays & Travelogues    5. General    6. Homes and haunts    7. Literary Collections    8. Literature - Classics / Criticism    9. New York    10. New York (N.Y.)    11. New York (State)    12. Social life and customs    13. Travel    14. United States - Mid Atlantic - New York City    15. Whitehead, Colson,    16. Travel / Essays & Travelogues   

City of Eros: New York City, Prostitution, and the Commercialization of Sex, 1790-1920
by Timothy J. Gilfoyle
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Paperback (01 March, 1994)
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Reviews (6)

A real eye opener
This book was fascinating.I suppose I am not that well educated, because I had no idea how prevalent and how public prostitution was in the nineteenth century.

This book intricately weaves capitalism, social custom, and sex into a compelling narrative of nineteenth century New York City.The author doesn't just say that prostitution was prevalent, he cites newspapers, letters, public records, art, novels, circulars and other publications from the 1900s, which leave the reader in no doubt that prostitution was one of the leading industries of NYC at that time.The image of packs of teenage prostitutes roaming Broadway and the Bowery, (some as young as 10 or 12), will stay with me forever.

The writer goes on to illustrate how the lack of career opportunities for women and the exorbitant rents of Manhattan drove many women into the sex business.For most of these women, there were few choices: live in extreme poverty or turn a few tricks and have decent lodgings, food and clothing.Most of these women didn't think of themselves as "fallen".They were doing what was necessary to survive.They went willingly into prostitution so that their lives could be better.Ironically, although it was business that victimized and objectified women, prostitution gave many of them entrepreneurial opportunities.The sex business made some women rich.

It is interesting to note that the very society that reviled these women directly benefited from the real estate boom that the sex business made possible.Poor people couldn't have afforded the high rents, but prostitutes were able to.Once landlords realized how much more prostitutes could pay, they were happy to have them instead of "decent people".Not only did prostitutes pay higher rents, but they also paid police and politicians to "look the other way".A huge political machine grew up around the sex industry that aided and abetted it.Almost everyone had heard of Tammany Hall.

When you add in the fact that it became "trendy" during the 1900s for men to live the "Sporting Life" (prostitutes, gambling, drinking, boxing - all around partying), the flourishing of prostitution seems inevitable.

Eventually, the changing landscape of the real estate business, the increase of career opportunies for women, the availability of birth control, the changing attitudes towards sex and marriage, and a marked increase in benevolent societies designed to assist the poor and needy made the downfall of prostitution as inevitable as its rise.

This was a truly fascinating book.Normally it takes me weeks and weeks to plough through one of these non-fiction historical types of books, (even though I love them!), but I breezed through this one in about 4 days.I would recommend it to anyone, but particularly to those interested in the history of New York City, sex, and/or women.

The Changing Commercialization of Sex
Timothy J. Gilfoyle's City of Eros looks at New York City in its "century of prostitution", roughly from 1820 to 1920.He gives much more than a narrative history (although certainly many personalities and stories do shine through) as he looks at the broader picture and includes a taste of nineteenth sociology, a dash of its politics, and a smidgen of its literature and culture as it pertains to sex.Through the entire book, the most strongly drawn character becomes New York City itself as the reader is almost invited to see a city that is teeming with commercial sex throughout the entire island of Manhattan.The commercialization of sex, despite the efforts of vice puritans, changes more because the city changes.It was interesting to see the commercialization of sex tied in with other forms of commerical enterprise.A fitting companion to this book would be The Murder of Helen Jewett by Patricia Cline Cohen.Read Timothy Gilfoyle's book for the broader picture and Patricia Cohen's for some of the finer, more personal details.A wonderful read with much information.

Very detailed, very good, but could have made it shorter.
I bought this book, because I had to write a report on prostitution for my history class. This book is amazing. It tells you how prostitution became a huge industry, and how it waned in the turn of the century. It's pure history, full of data. I can not believe prostitution was so pervasive andso normal that 1 out of 6 or 7 woman in New York City were prostitutes. Italso tells you about why people chose to be prostitute. One interestingthing in this book is that you can see that prostitution is just like anyother industries--because it's so hugely profitable, everybody was tryingto think of a new way of attarcting male patrons to earn money, and everytime when people try to eliminate prostitution, it always adapts itself sothat it can survive. The men culture which was a Coo-product of prostitionwas Sporting-men culture, those young boys did not care about anytraditions, they had their new way of doing things. And also therelationship between prostitution and real estate industry. But at the end,because prostitution is so pervasive, causing so much trobles, and therewere so many people angaist it, so it waned. But the main reason thathappened was because the supply and demand for prostitution deceased, andbecause of the rise of industry, prostitution was not the most profitablebusiness anymore.Strongly Recommended. Oh, yeah, this book has 500 pages,but 200 of them are appendix, so it's only a 300 pages book. Also, thisbook sometimes has too much details. ... Read more

Isbn: 0393311082
Sales Rank: 364255
Subjects:  1. History    2. History - General History    3. History: American    4. Human Sexuality    5. New York    6. New York (State)    7. Prostitution    8. Sex-oriented businesses    9. United States - General    10. 20th century    11. Economic history    12. Social history    13. USA    14. c 1700 to c 1800    15. c 1800 to c 1900   

The Island at the Center of the World : The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan, the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America
by RUSSELL SHORTO
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Hardcover (16 March, 2004)
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Reviews (35)

Shedding light on a hole in history
Growing up in New York I always wondered why the origin of New York history was so superficial. This book finally reveals the story of the incredible contributions of the Dutch to the foundations of our country and culture. In fact Gehring's research is providing the Dutch with important historical material.

The book is engaging, entertaining and fascinating yet highly educational. A typical American view of history relates that the English defeated the Spanish Armada and then the English ruled the world. But here we get the supremacy of the Dutch, the Peace of Westphalia, Dutch entry into the slave trade, bitter emnity between the English and Dutch, Grotius and 'natural law'. We also get the sounds and sights of early settlers and the rich relationship with the various native tribes.

On a recent trip to Manhattan, as a result of reading this book, I was able to notice the New Amsterdam of the mid 1600's seeping through the cracks of the modern Gotham City.

The high levels of tolerance and diversity that came with the Dutch colony (largely due to a lack of government) are investigated and how this caused the area to flourish as the key port of the New World and ultimately lending its values to the new nation. The English to their credit knew enough not to tamper with a society and system that was flourishing. Culturally we also received 'cole slaw', 'cookies' and Santa Claus from the Dutch traditions.

Read this marvelous piece of history to add depth to your understanding of our early history adding depth to the pilgrim and Puritans. Notice the key importance of the Dutch 'Burghers' role which gave each resident a minority stakeholder position in the town unlike the typical 'citizen' role which rarely extended to 20% of the residents of other areas.

terrible history, his most important facts are wrong,
Shorto's basic thesis is so deeply flawed, so clearly and factually in error, it virtually destroys the value of his book. Shorto argues that Dutch Manhattan brought religious tolerance to America. This is, simply, utter and profound nonsense. Roger Williams brought real religious tolerance and the concept of separation of church and state not only to America but the world.

This occurred in 1636 when Williams was banished from Massachusetts-- and in those days they often executed people who ignored the banishment order. He founded Providence on the basis of absolute religious freedom, and absolute separation of church and state. Although a strict Calvinist and Puritan in his own theology, he spoke eloquently, and in amazingly modern terms, about freedom of conscience, and what he termed "soul liberty."A decade later he got a royal charter which formally authorized religious freedom in the colony, a freedom not available anywhere else in Europe (Rhode Island's charter went far beyond the tolerance in the Netherlands, which continued to have a state church), in New England-- or in Manhattan. In fact, Manhattan was refusing to allow Quakers to disembark there, instead forcing them to go to Rhode Island for refuge. R.I. was the only place in America that would accept them.

Also, to support his thesis, Shorto continually refers to the intolerance of "the four New England colonies," as if those four colonies-- Massachusetts, Connecticut, Plymouth, and New Haven-- constituted the entire English presence in New England. These four colonies were indeed much as he portrays them, but a reader would never know from his book that a fifth New England colony, Rhode Island, very consciously served as a haven for those forced out of other places because of their religious beliefs.

Shorto is either so bad a historian that he doesn't know about the very explicit, very well known precedent created in R.I.-- so well known that Roger Williams, when he several times returned to England from America, became a friend of Cromwell, taught the Dutch language to John Milton, and had his books ordered burned by the English Parliament-- or he's so dishonest he purposely ignored this precedent because it makes his thesis ridiculous.

Given this extraordinary lapse, despite many other things I like about this book I am forced to give it one star.

Very good book with a few annoyances
Shorto deserves high marks for a very readable writing style and getting the book to market quickly (even though translation of the Dutch records, on which the book is primarily based, is ongoing).He introduces historical figures (van der Donck) and events (Fort Orange settlement in Albany) I'd never heard of in a way that kept me looking forward to reading each night. The book has also inspired me to dig deeper into Dutch and European history during the 1500-1600s.

The negatives: First, Shorto's Ambrose-mimicking style of attempting to put the reader into the sights, sounds, and smells of the day.While Stephen Ambrose does it in a subtle way to give context, Shorto resorts to this style so frequently (and often to fill in key history gaps) that I wondered how much of what I was reading was rank speculation of the author.Second, the book contains too many "teaching moments"---yes, the Dutch are legendary for their tolerance of religions, people, andideas, but does every chapter in this history book need to give a lecture on the importance of civil liberties?These negatives, however, are a small distraction in what is otherwise a very interesting book. ... Read more

Isbn: 0385503490
Sales Rank: 14482
Subjects:  1. 17th century    2. Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775    3. Dutch Americans    4. History    5. History - General History    6. History: American    7. Manhattan (New York, N.Y.)    8. New York    9. New York (N.Y.)    10. New York (State)    11. U.S. History - Colonial Period (1607-1775)    12. United States - Colonial Period    13. United States - State & Local - General    14. United States - State & Local - Middle Atlantic    15. United States Local History    16. History / United States / Colonial Period (1600-1775)   

Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898
by Edwin G. Burrows Mike Wallace
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (01 November, 1998)
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Editorial Review

Like the city it celebrates, Gotham is massive and endlessly fascinating. This narrative of well over 1,000 pages, written after more than two decades of collaborative research by history professors Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, copiously chronicles New York City from the primeval days of the Lenape Indians to the era when, with Teddy Roosevelt as police commissioner, the great American city became regarded as "Capital of the World." The sheer bulk of the book may be off- putting, but the reader can use a typically New York approach: Those who don't settle in for the entire history can easily "commute" in and out to read individual chapters, which stand alone nicely and cover the major themes of particular eras very well.

While Gotham is fact-laden (with a critical apparatus that includes a bibliography and two indices--one for names, another for subjects), the prose admirably achieves both clarity and style."What is our take, our angle, our schtick?" ask the authors, setting a distinctly New York tone in their introduction. No matter what it's called, their method of weaving together countless stories works wonderfully. The startlingly detailed research and lively writing bring innumerable characters (from Peter Minuit to Boss Tweed) to life, and even those who think they know the history of New York City will no doubt find surprises on nearly every page. Gotham is a rarity, reigning as both authoritative history and page-turning story. --Robert McNamara ... Read more

Reviews (45)

Gotham Not Concerned with Accuracy
Perhaps the girth of this work makes it difficult to check all the facts, but I found gross inaccuracies throughout. The authors are biased and totally unconcerned with representing historical truthfulness. The references to Aaron Burr in this book are perfunctory, snide or downright malicious. The first mention of Burr I found was on page 241, regarding the Battle of Brooklyn, where the authors state, "Howe's dallying gave Putnam and the rest of the army, guided by Lieutenant Aaron Burr, time to slip out of New York...." They fail to mention that Burr, debating with General Knox as to the wisdom of remaining, took it upon himself to address the men and take charge. In the ensuing retreat, they met the enemy during which Burr distinguished himself with "coolness, deliberation and valor...His meritorious services to the army on that day, rendered him an object of peculiar respect from the troops..." (Wandell & Menningerode). Yet Burrows and Wallace merely accord him a perfunctory nod.
On page 279 they state, "Among the new assemblymen that year was Aaron Burr, making his political debut with no principles to speak of..." Snide and unnecessarily insulting.
Hamilton, on the other hand receives page after page of high eulogism and the authors take great pains to speak of him, wherever possible, with the greatest regard. In Chapter 19 they state, "Hamilton treated the convention to a remarkable five-hour lecture....."I wonder if the Philadelphia Convention felt that enduring a five hour diatribe was a treat, though I must admit Hamilton's ability to ramble on at such length is indeed remarkable. The authors' choose words for Hamilton which are positive; for Burr, negative.
They describe Burr when he was the front-runner for Jefferson's running mate as, "...too young, too pushy, too devious...," words they claim were said by "...many Democratic-Republicans...," though they fail to say who. They go on to say, "Burr even dammed Minetta Creek to create a grand ornamental pool by the main gate..." (of Richmond Hill.) By inserting the word, `even' they insinuate that he committed a heinous act rather than improved his property. Snide and misleading.
In the five paragraphs dedicated to the "Interview in Weehawken," they state that the impetus for the challenge was Hamilton's remark that he, "...looked upon Mr. Burr to be a dangerous man, and one who ought not to be trusted with the reins of government." While Hamilton certainly made this comment, it was not the one that Burr felt was demeaning to his honor. It was the "...still more despicable opinion..." statement that compelled Burr to demand an explanation.
Though several letters passed between Hamilton and Burr prior to the duel, the only reference this book acknowledges is, "Hamilton let it be known....that his remarks `turned wholly on political topics, and did not attribute to Col. Burr any instance of dishonorable conduct, nor relate to his private character.' Burr nevertheless demanded an `interview' on the field of honor." This cannily shifts the blame totally onto Burr, making Hamilton seem like an innocent victim, which he was not.
Furthermore, in describing the duel they state that Burr aimed and fired, Hamilton fell mortally wounded and Burr fled. They fail to mention that Hamilton not only fired, but probably fired first. Again, by misrepresenting Burr, they lionize Hamilton.
The section ends with, "...facing a murder indictment and fearing his house would be attacked by a mob, he slipped out of town into obloquy everlasting." This won a Pulitzer Prize? I think they wrote the passage just for the opportunity to use the word, `obloquy.' Indeed, if not for books and authors like these, Burr might get the recognition he deserves, rather than the kind of calumny they write.
In a passage on prostitution, they mention Madame Jumel saying, "She did, however, manage a short-lived marriage with the equally notorious Aaron Burr..." Malicious. I could cite more passages where he is mentioned either with contempt or disregard, but I think the point is made.
The bibliographical list for this book is so extensive, they can only list authors without titles or page references. I finally found Lomask (Milton) and Kline (Mary-Jo, I presume) mentioned, but I have to wonder if they actually read any books on Burr or took the time to study his papers. Surely learned people who do in-depth research should, at some point, come the conclusion that history has dealt unfairly with Aaron Burr and stop this ongoing character assassination. Burrows and Wallace seize every opportunity to denigrate Burr while neglecting to use a single accolade when fitting occasions arise. It is distressing that, in 1999, opinions of Aaron Burr remain this convoluted.I do not recommend anyone to buy this book.

Great Giant Tome for a Great Giant Town
Gotham is a significant achievement as a work of history. The beauty of this book is that, despite its length, it is engrossing and very readable all the way through. Indeed, the last 100 pages are as interesting if not more interesting than the first 100 pages. Rich with interesting anecdotes, and a cast of dozens of characters and true stories that are as colorful as the fiction in any Dickens novel, it is a rewarding read, albiet a somewhat challenging one if only because of its 1236 pages of text. Particularly interesting are the sections on the New Amsterdam period, the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, including the Draft Riots, crime, the development of Wall Street and the Stock Exchange, Boss Tweed, the Brooklyn Bridge, transportation and the rail boom, electric lighting, the Astor Place riot, fire companies, immigration, the Astors, Teddy Roosevelt, Coney Island, the skyscraper and building booms,... and the list goes on and on. This is not just a history of New York, but also a history essential to understanding America's past. The book is an enriching read, and heartily recommended.

Vast, but definitive?
Nobody can deny that this is a mammoth work of scholarship deserving of praise, but before you dive into this one with determination and zeal you should know a few things.First, despite what others are saying about the book, it does NOT read like a novel.It's narrative history to be sure, but it's also full of numbers, dates, figures, statistics and other analytical details which make the thing feel far more academic than is frequently suggested or expected.Also, the authors greatly emphasize the political and (especially) commercial history of the city, sometimes to the neglect of cultural matters.This huge and allegedly definitive book is largely and conspicuously absent of substantive references to Columbia University, for example.Are the authors suggesting that Columbia is not an institution deserving of our more focused attention?In this way, the book is quite different from Kevin Starr's treatment of California history, largely as a history of its institutions.Commercial and political institutions get many pages, but important cultural institutions are sadly neglected. ... Read more

Isbn: 0195116348
Subjects:  1. History    2. History - General History    3. History: American    4. New York (N.Y.)    5. New York - Local History    6. United States - State & Local - General    7. American history: c 1500 to c 1800    8. American history: c 1800 to c 1900    9. Local history    10. New York    11. USA    12. c 1600 to c 1700    13. c 1700 to c 1800    14. c 1800 to c 1900   

The Historical Atlas of New York City: A Visual Celebration of Nearly 400 Years of New York City's History (Henry Holt Reference Book)
by Eric Homberger
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (01 December, 1994)
list price: $45.00
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Editorial Review

Eric Homberger's The Historical Atlas of New York City shows what can be achieved within a very narrow frame of discussion. With just one city to depict, Homberger explores the rich variety of details in the city's 400-year history with vivid drawings and illustrations as well as beautifully rendered maps. The atlas takes on the geologic history of New York, major eras (Indian, Dutch, and British), and the formative 19th century, as well as the consolidation of Greater New York, neighborhood histories of Coney Island and Greenwich Village, and the Big Apple exploits of 1945 through 1996. But there's room for the small stuff, too, such as the political and cultural role of New York's taverns in the late 1700s. --Stephanie Gold ... Read more

Reviews (13)

I agree
I agree with Timothy Durkin's December 1999 customer review that this book contains a number of errors and inconsistencies, but my judgment is not as harsh.I also believe a great deal of information that should appear in a historical atlas about the city is inexcusably omitted.However, this is an appealling, informative book and makes for enjoyable reading and reference.

Insofar as positive attributes, the book contains wonderful graphics and color reproductions; is printed on good quality, non-glare paper; and, for a paperback, is well bound.Insofar as flaws, they are both minor and major.Minor flaws consist of editorial oversights such as the misstatement on page 176 that the Broadway musical OKLAHOMA! was written by Rodgers & Hart when it was written by Rodgers & Hammerstein, and the photograph on page 146 reproduced in reverse. (Looking south toward the Flatiron Building, Madison Square Park should be on the left and the World Trade Center Towers should be on the right).Major flaws consist of omission of maps or other graphicspertaining to vanished landmarks such as Jones Wood, an open space on the upper East side once considered as the site for Central Park; Chelsea when it was a country estate; and the Five Points.I had hoped to see maps of large 18th and 19th century upper Manhattan tract holdings; of the boundaries of the Battery before and after Castle Clinton went from island fortification to part of the mainland; of the gradual expansion by landfill of the Manhattan shoreline; and of unique streets and alleys, long vacated.Those, too, are absent.

A conflict is presented by the maps of the DeLancey farms on pages 60-61.On page 60, Division St. is shown to traverse the property, but on page 61 it is absent.According to Burrows & Wallace's GOTHAM, Division St. was the boundary separating the DeLancey and Rutgers estates, hence the derivation of the name [see GOTHAM page 178].If Burrows & Wallace are correct, the presence of Division St. on page 60 is error.

Finally, although not mentioned by the author, the Dutch house appearing on page 30 reappears in subsequent renditions on pages 56 and 62.The house is readily identifiable by its facade numbering scheme.This may be a minor point, but one, I would have thought, worthy of note.

So interesting...
Ever wonder why downtown NYC is a labrynthine maze which makes no sense?Blame it on the early settlers.Read tons of more interesting facts about our marvelous city.

Good but not complete
I just finished the Historical Atlas and while the book does a great job of touching on so many subjects in such a small space, it leaves a little to be desired because it does not focus on any one point in the city's development enough.I would have enjoyed the book more if it had a little more detail on how landmarks came to be where they are, and what the political an social culture of the city was at different time points that influenced the way the city developed.I suppose that wasn't the book's intent, though.Also, it would be nice to get a follow up chapter on the city's continued development since 1994.Overall, I thought the book was a good intro to NYC history, but I think I'm going to try a more in-depth history to fill in some gaps. ... Read more

Isbn: 0805026495
Subjects:  1. Atlases - Historical    2. Description    3. Historical Atlases    4. History    5. Maps    6. New York (N.Y.)    7. New York - Local History    8. Pictorial works    9. Reference    10. United States - Mid Atlantic - New York City    11. United States - State & Local - General   

Lost New York, Revised and Updated Edition
by Nathan Silver
Average Customer Review:
Paperback (08 August, 2000)
list price: $25.00 -- our price: $16.50
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Reviews (6)

The Past Recaptured
Mr. Silver has a poetic prose style, revealing a most poetic soul, and frames his message of architectural conservation and adaptation through a highly effective personal lens of incredulity and nostalgia, articulating what most readers subconsciously knew but probably never take the time to think about:that architecture is the most accesible and inescapable reminder of urban culture at a given moment; that while culture evolves and architecture becomes artifact, these artifacts can often continue - through thoughtful planning and incentives - to live and to serve without economic detriment to their owners; and that rapacious, self-serving obliteration of our architectural past is the obliteration of cultural evolution and memory.

I would like to see Mr. Silver now produce a companion volume to LOST NEW YORK, a book about what has been saved.

A Success on Two Counts
IF the reviewer below is really Nathan Silver, I congratulate him on the shift of gears from his 1968 version of LOST NEW YORK to this one. (Even if it's not him, I congratulate him anyway.) The first edition was heavy on the preservation/conservation debate while this one is more reflective and personal. In both instances, however, Mr. Silver has made an incredible contribution to the study of New York history--not just its architecture, but to the thinking that went into the creation of these lost structures, and the lack of thinking that destroyed them.

Like Jane Jacobs, Mr. Silver shares a passion for the city and how its monuments, public buildings and spaces, and private residences have a direct and fortifying effect on its citizens. The photographs are stunning, as is the quality of the printing. Mr. Silver's text is equally powerful and just as relevant. At times the effect of seeing these representations of a lost time, and reading about their ends, can be upsetting; the sense of loss is very powerful. But there is a point to all of it beyond the seeming nostalgia: we had better start appreciating those gems of the past that are still rooted in the schist of Manhattan before they wind up in the next edition of LOST NEW YORK.

One last note: As rebuilding begins on the site of the World Trade Center (a part of lost New York that wasn't our fault), this book indirectly compels New Yorkers to participate in some forward-thinking. It makes one wonder, not only what was lost to us, but what will we give to future generations?

Rocco Dormarunno,
author of THE FIVE POINTS

Lost New York
The book Lost New York by Nathan Silver is one of the best photo and information books ever writen. Old photos and information on land marks in New York City which have been torn down. Shows you how buitiful a city is but also how little care some people can have for it's treasures ... Read more

Isbn: 0618054758
Sales Rank: 171798
Subjects:  1. Architecture    2. Buildings    3. Buildings, structures, etc    4. Criticism    5. History - General    6. Lost architecture    7. New York    8. New York (N.Y.)    9. New York (State)    10. Public, Commercial, or Industrial Buildings    11. U.S. Architecture - General    12. United States - State & Local - General    13. Architecture / History   

Here Is New York
by E. B. White Roger Angell
Average Customer Review:
Hardcover (01 July, 1999)
list price: $16.95 -- our price: $11.53
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Editorial Review

"On any person who desires such queer prizes, New York will bestow thegift of loneliness and the gift of privacy." So begins E.B. White's classic meditation on that noisiest, most public of American cities. Written during the summer of 1948, well after the author and editor had taken up permanent residence in Maine, Here Is New York is a fond glance back at the city of his youth, when White was one of the "young worshipful beginners" who give New York its passionate character. It's also a tribute to the sheer implausibility of the place--the tangled infrastructure, the teeming humanity, the dearth of air and light. Much has changed since White wrote this essay, yet in a city"both changeless and changing" there are things here that will doubtless ring equally true 100 years from now. To wit, "New Yorkers temperamentally do not crave comfort and convenience--if they did they would live elsewhere."

Anyone who's ever cherished his essays--or even Charlotte's Web--knows that White is the most elegant of all possible stylists. There's not a sentence here that does not make itself felt right down to the reader's very bones. What would the author make of Giuliani's New York? Or of Times Square, Disney-style? It's hard to say for sure. But not even Planet Hollywood could ruin White's abiding sense of wonder: "The city is like poetry: it compresses all life ... into a small island and adds music and the accompaniment of internal engines." This lovely new edition marks the 100th anniversary of E.B. White's birth--cause for celebration indeed. --Mary Park ... Read more

Reviews (15)

Perenially Amazing
There have been a number of books that have tried to "define" what New York means.Rem Koolhaus did it majestically in his"Delirious New York" as others (such as Walt Whitman, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and J.G. Huneker, to name only three) have also done.White's majestic essay ranks among the best of the bunch.Though it's more than fifty years old it illustrates something timeless about the spirit of New York (especially in the first half of the book) that is still unmistakably present today.I hope fifty years from now I'll still be able to say that.

For those who love New York, love the idea of New York, or are thinking of going there soon, you might want to take a gander at this short, charming, beautiful essay.I would also imagine it would make a great small gift to someone fixated on the Big Apple.

None better than E.B. White
Prompted by his son-in-law to return to New York City to write a magazine article, E.B. White wound up writing one of the most elegant, compact and poignant books on the subject. And although White rhapsodized about the New York of youth, and was a little saddened by the New York he was revisiting in the mid-40s, there is no doubting his love and fascination with Gotham. His descriptions of a walk through The Park in the evening, the sounds of ships' horns in the distance, and the comings and goings of commuters are especially provocative.

One of the central theses of this little tome is that so much of the destinies of New Yorkers are measured in inches. He describes how everyday New Yorkers can wind up inches away from a celebrity at a luncheonette, and that at any time you can be as close to or as distant from any significant event or person. He describes the fate of one New Yorker who was crushed by a falling piece of masonry from an old building. If that person had been six inches away in any direction on the sidewalk, that person would've gone on living. A matter of inches.

And so it is with this slender volume, which is not even a half- inch thick. And yet it, like the crowded little island of Manhattan, is filled with so much richness, humanity, and life that it draws you in like a supermagnet. And only E.B. White could have pulled off something as beautiful as this book. Buy it, read it.

Rocco Dormarunno, author of The Five Points.

A gem
Like the Elements of Style, the timeless writing manifesto that White revised and rewrote for generation after generation of scribes, Here is New York has lasting appeal.

White captures a very large city in a very small book. Yet the end this slender volume is as satisfying as a weighty tome because White seems to get the philosophy of New York right.

And I must agree, the final pages seem to eerily fortell September 11, 2001.

If you already love New York, or if you want to know why so many do, pick this baby up and guarantee yourself a good night's reading. ... Read more

Isbn: 1892145022
Subjects:  1. 20th Century Description And Travel    2. Description    3. Description and travel    4. Essays    5. Literature - Classics / Criticism    6. New York (N.Y.)    7. Travel    8. United States - Mid Atlantic - New York City    9. United States - Northeast - Middle Atlantic (General)    10. White, E. B. (Elwyn Brooks), 1899-1985