1 comments about Soho: The Rise and Fall of an Artist's Colony.

1. Author Kostelanetz was a long-time Soho resident and writes a personal account about the history of Soho as an artist's neighborhood. The most interesting parts of the book are the beginning in which he describes Soho's slow transformation from a daytime industrial district into the thriving artist colony it was to become. I lived in lower Manhattan for much of the same period and can recall many of the people and places he describes.
   
   The problem with this book is that there is no story, no narrative trajectory, no structure. The chapters appear to be loosley based on certain themes, although even those are hard to discern at times. There's nothing chronological; it's just a rambling collection of reminiscences with no cohesion or thread to hold it together or make it engaging. The author's nostalgic point of view (criticized in the Publisher's Weekly review above) would be fine if he stayed with it and honed in on it; but as is, it's just an uneven mish-mash of nostalgia and memories weaving in and out of splatterings of facts, with no order or trajectory. I have to honestly say I only got halfway through this book, so it may have improved by the end. But it just wasn't worth it for me to force myself through what felt like literary packing peanuts when there's so much other good stuff out there to read.
   
   It needn't be this way. For example, Legs McNeil authored an excellent history of punk rock taking place mostly in New York at about the same time as this book (see "Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk" elsewhere on Amazon.com). The latter shows that a recent period of New York history can be conveyed in oral remembrances in a way that both informs and captivates the reader. Such an approach would have taken more labor and forethought -- something that is sorely lacking in this volume.

3 comments about Brownsville, Brooklyn: Blacks, Jews, and the Changing Face of the Ghetto (Historical Studies of Urban America).

1. New Yorkers see constant small changes in their city, and the cumulative effect of those changes can remake the character and composition of a neighborhood almost overnight. That is what happened in Brownsville during the late 1950s and early 1960s. What had been an entirely Jewish neighborhood of sidewalk synagogues and old-world customs became an entirely black and Latino neighborhood. Pritchett captures that period of change and the various players -- community activists, business interests, government agencies and politicians -- masterfully. He tells a poignant story of idealistic neighborhood leaders who fought for integrated public housing to meet the needs of their community and were instead given massive projects built to house the city's poor who had been displaced by urban renewal. This is a great book for anyone interested in New York or urban history generally.



2. As someone who lived not far from Brownsville in the 1950s and early '60s, I can say this is an exceptionally accurate book. It is well-written and is the best attempt I've seen yet at explaining the phenomenon of the changing urban neighborhood. Not only does Pritchett provide many well-reserached, well-thought-out answers but, just as important, he raises insightful, penetrating questions. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in American urban history, particularly as it relates to New York City.



3. Don't be fooled by the first part of the title; for this book is really about Blacks, Jews, and the Changing Face of the Ghetto. Pritchett studies Brownsville in details, but never forgets to see the bigger picture, which should be of interest for any historian or social scientist. Pritchett is very good at giving you the facts, the analysis and the feelings as well. This book is not just about a ghetto in Brooklyn, it is indeed about urban change and inequality.

4 comments about The Old Leather Man: Historical Accounts of a Connecticut and New York Legend (Garnet Books).

1. Very informative and enjoyable. Brings local history alive for us. Service was excellent as usual.



2. I grew up roaming the same woods that the Leather Man shuffled through one hundred years earlier. As a young man we would visit his caves, read and tell tales of his adventures, whether embellished by us or not, his story was always fascinating. "The Old Leather Man: Historical Accounts of a Connecticut and New York Legend" is an incredible assemblage of newspaper, personal and photographic first hand documentations of this mysterious historical figure. Dan W. DeLuca's obvious years of research and passion for the subject is plainly evident in the thoroughness and completeness that he brings to this biographic accounting of an enigmatic, almost mythical person dead some 130 years. DeLuca puts to rest Victorian embellishments to this lonely man's legend and attempts in the end to construct a more truthful picture of who the Leather Man really was. Great reading for anyone interested in New England history, a closer bond with the dark forested hills and tales of silent wanderers therein who's real identity we will probably never know.



3. The Leatherman had a circuitous route from the Hudson to the Connecticut Rivers. He would show up in the same location every 35 with amazing punctuality. The book is rich with old photographs, period street map and newspaper clippings. It needs a detailed map showing his route and camping sites.



4. Great collection of information on Old Leather Man... agreed it should have a detailed map of the route, outling camps, etc.

5 comments about One Nation: America Remembers September 11, 2001.

1. Wonderful experience. Seller worked out all the details with me and I was so pleased with the purchase. Would definitely refer others to him and also buy from him again. Thanks so much.



2. The point comes across, but I think there is plenty of other work that should have been included.



3. Ordered same book from three different vendors - one came within a week, one in two weeks, the last in four weeks. All arrived in good shape.



4. The events of 9-11 are still unfolding 8 years later. Scientists from BYU and the University of Copenhagen have recently completed a well-researched and comprehensive analysis of nano-thermite found within numerous samples taken on and shortly after 9-11. NIST only recently completed their investigation of Building 7, and concluded that fire, alone, caused this 47-story building to freefall (in the exact same manner as an engineered implosion) at 5:20 pm on 9-11. NIST refuses to analyze samples for explosive materials (even after the recent confirmation of presence at the scene of this horrific crime). This book, like the media, does not include these uncomfortable facts...but these facts must be known by every caring citizen of this Nation. Our future depends upon the public taking the time to educate themselves.



5. This book is a piece of recent history,and the numerous photographs from that day,together with the minute by minute timeline ,give a good idea of the day as it unfolded. Looking at the large photographs,some double-page,of the twin towers as they were struck,and later as the towers fall,it still feels difficult to believe that this actually did happen.
   A powerful image is of a group of people gazing upwards, the look of horror on their faces as they witness one of the towers fall says as much as any picture, of the magnitude of the event. Well researched and with eyewitness accounts as well as chapters dealing with the aftermath,the clearing up of the destruction, and how some of those left behind are coping,make this a balanced book.It does not only focus on the drama.

5 comments about You Must Remember This: An Oral History of Manhattan from the 1890s to World War II.

1. If that slow, plodding Ric Burns series on PBS was the official history of New York City, "You Must Remember This" is the indispensible people's history: actual voices from the turn of the century (the last century) telling what it was really like to live in the immigrant Lower East Side, the Hell's Kitchen waterfront, Jazz-era Harlem, the last stretches of rural Inwood. With this and "The Box," Kisseloff is hands-down the most perceptive and consistently fascinating oral historian I've read, and yes, that's counting Studs Terkel. Buy one for yourself, and one for a history-lovin' friend.



2. one of the best written books on these subject thati have ever read, and i have read many.bits of history from those who lived it. no long boring pages, just short very useful and amusing stories. absolutely love this book. sorry it took me so long to order it.



3. This is sentimental tripe -- a yuppie's nostalgia for a pre-gentrified city. As for the Amazon.com reviewer who prefers this rubbish to the amazing Ric Burns series or to anything by Studs Turkel -- all I can say is, buddy, you're not a real New Yorker.



4. Personal stories for readers who enjoyed Betty Smith's Brooklyn or Joseph Mitchell's character monologues. We see that America has always been built by English-as-a-second-language immigrants. It's not just Manhattan as much as it is the human experience.



5. Upon opening this book, and seeing my grandfather's name in the opening line, I knew it would be an interesting read. He was descibed perfectly, even though some could say that is not a good thing. Anyways, great job.

5 comments about Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898.

1. I found this book in my building's basement about three years back. It was in good condition so I picked it up. I thought it would make a fair complementary read to The Encyclopedia of New York City by Ken T. Jackson from the New York Historical Society.
   
   The fact that I completely read GOTHAM in one very long sitting (OK, I actually slept a few hours on that Saturday night) is just to tell you how a well written history book can become a real page turner.
   
   Today in the The Wall Street Journal [1-year subscription], GOTHAM takes the Number One spot in their "Five Best" feature on page W10: this title is now a real classic of American history!
   
   (For the words and terms that were unknown or new to me, I used an old copy of the 1993 UPDATED and REVISED American Edition of the New Webster's dictionary and thesaurus of the English language at the very cheap price tag of ONLY 10 CENTS !)



2. It took me quite a while to read this book - several years, in fact. I was determined to read it through to the end, primarily because it was co-written by my second cousin. I am proud of my association with this Pulitzer Prize winning historian, and I am proud to have read the length of this book, a panoramic overview of the history of New York City from its earliest times up until the 20th century, and the creation of the metropolis out of what were formerly independent communities.
   
   I am at a loss of what to say about this book, because it says it all. The authors present a complete, and not overly detailed, account of New York's growth and development. The emphasis is on power and politics, as in most histories, but there are side trails taken into various cultural situations. The diversity and ever-evolving nature of the place, as well as its sometime brutality, are displayed well. The knowledge imparted here is so full as to make it impossible to summarize, and the work itself is in the nature of a summing up of the work of other historians. There were numerous fascinating anecdotes and quick sketches of complicated situations, some of which will stay with me. For example, I recall reading with surprise about the free Black folks of NYC, who were here long before the Emancipation Proclamation, rubbing shoulders with their white neighbors. There is a lot about old, old New York and some of its fascinating characters and leaders, such as Dutch populist Jacob Leisler, someone who deserves to be better remembered. And it is not easy to forget the unsung tragedy of the draft riots that occurred during the Civil War, once one has read about it. Political corruption, particularly under Boss Tweed and his Tammany Hall organization, and the fight against it is discussed at some length. Also interesting to learn about are the numerous devices that make modern life possible which were invented in NYC, such as the elevator and the steam engine, the creation of New York's excellent public water system, and some of the entertaining and partying that went on in the 1800s.
   
   The city's growth from being a city with about the same population and influence as Boston and Philadelphia in the late 1700s into America's leading metropolis and business center is the real main theme of this book, and of course, New York's growth went hand in hand with America's. There is also much here about the waves of immigrants, from Germany, Ireland, Italy, and the Jewish shtetls of Eastern Europe, and about the ongoing conflicts between the upper crust and the working class, and between the proper and the licentious. Gotham is pretty well illustrated too, with numerous drawings and (mostly from the New York Historical Society) that add a great deal to the overall effect.
   
   This will sit on my shelf, a Christmas gift from my father (I got him the exact same thing that year), and I will dip into it from time to time when I feel the need to understand New York City a little better, and I will reflect on this amazing achievement of my kinsman and his fellow historian.



3. Yes it's long. But it's very good and never flags. Amazingly, I can't think of single section that could or should have been cut. Despite its length, it's a tight, well edited book.
   
   It's more like a companion to life, at least for a few months. But you can cheat on Gotham with other books in between! It really is an outstanding history of NYC and, because it's so good and so long, you don't really ever have that fear of finishing any time soon!
   
   My only complaint is that the paper is so big and paper so thin that the book doesn't physically hold up well. It's hard to hold. I ripped mine into three sections to make it more manageable. But perhaps that's not everybody's idea of how to treat a book.



4. Burrows and Wallace provide the definitive account on the history of New York City up until the merge of the boroughs into present day Manhattan. Tracing history from its Dutch beginnings, to the English take over, as a seat of revolutionary power and finally finding its place as the financial capital of the United States and eventually the world. The book is detailed and focuses not only on the urban development and political development, but social and demographic changes as well. It is primarily a story of Manhattan but does spend a considerable amount of time on Brooklyn. The Bronx, Long Island and Staten Island are covered sparingly. The political development of New York from the ward bosses to centralized modern government to the corruption of Tammany Hall followed by the successive progressive movement is done very well and the authors are mindful of the competing Dutch and British heritage that give New York a unique flavor. For those who wish to have a complete overview of how modern New York came to be this is the place to start. Do not be deterred by its length for as the other reviews indicate it is not a detriment. It is through, well written and provides top notch analysis into historical developments relating to all areas of New York.



5. This is an astonishing book: 1200 pages long, deep and rich in detail, covering the history of New York City from the arrival of the Dutch in the early 17th century to the consolidation of the five boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens and Kings counties) in 1898. The writing is magnificent, and despite the range and depth and abundant detail, the material is unfailingly engaging and just plain fun.

5 comments about Old Queens, N.Y., in Early Photographs: 261 Prints (Dover Books on New York City).

1. Queens usually takes third place to Manhattan and Brooklyn on NYC bookshelfs but this terrific photo collection will go a long way to remedy that. There's an enlightening introduction about the borough and wonderful photos/captions for 27 neighborhoods. My personal favorite is on pp.122-123, a jaw-dropping 1906 view of the strange junction of Jamaica Ave., Myrtle Ave. and Lefferts Blvd. in Richmond Hill. Today, this unique street pattern remains but, alas, the Triangle Hotel, later the Triangle Hofbrau, where the likes of Babe Ruth and Mae West imbibed, recently closed down. I've shown this book to a couple of former Queens people and they were amazed. Don't miss it if you're from Queens or have even a passing interest in urban history. Hopefully, the publisher is correcting a page-order problem in the beginning of the edition I purchased at a museum last summer, but don't let that hold you back. This is a real gem.



2. For this former resident (Corona and Laurelton), Old Queens presented an engrossing, illuminating, and refreshing visual window on the area of New York that has received too little historical attention. Arranged by community, the book provides concise, individual historical narratives to go with a set of photographs of people and places and old maps that can only be called amazing. Indeed, the treasures of this book, for my taste, are the many photos from the era before the construction of the subway lines that transformed rural Queens into megalopolis. Many of the area photos (structures from the 1939 World's Fair, for example) will no doubt be familiar to many. What surprises, however, are photos such as the two page spread of an untamed, deserted pre-World's Fair Flushing Meadow, a lush meadow creased by the winding Flushing River, itself crossed by the vanished Strong's Causeway that carried Corona Avenue traffic across the soggy marsh to Lawrence Street in Flushing. Equally compelling are photos of the muddy looking thoroughly rural roads of Queens Boulevard and Merrick Road (in Springfield) from the early 20th century complete with isolated farm buildings. Perhaps the most symbolic photo, however, is the panoramic photo showing a spanking new IRT Flushing Line elevated tracks slanting across a nearly-vacant 1915 Sunnyside landscape that looks more like Ohio than New York City. This book helps the reader see Queens as it existed before the housing explosion. It also makes one wonder what might have been. In effect, Old Queens shows what was lost to all-too-rapid, unplanned suburbanization left entirely in the greedy hands of the marketplace. Lack of urban planning and nonexistent historic preservation is the unspoken theme that resonates often in this book. Who wouldn't want to live in one of those handsome, tree-shaded, Victorian homes on the shady, Lefferts Boulevard in Richmond Hill, Jamaica, or Elmhurst? The question is academic, since none of these homes survived the Queens building boom of the early 20th century. Suppose Robert Moses had actually carried through plans to turn the Corona Dump/Flushing Meadow into an honest-to-goodness park with kinds of recreational facilities he lavished on his Long Island state parks? Suppose the city fathers (and local politicians) had taken a more custodial role and protected Jamaica Bay and it surrounding marshlands from pollution for descendants of the gentlemen angler shown pulling his crabpot out of a quiet channel in Meadowmere? While this reader would have liked to view a few photos from vanished communities, such as Ramblersville (Ozone Park), Black Stump (Fresh Meadows), or White Pot (Forest Hills), he believes that Seyfried and Asadorian have assembled a fascinating book that appears destined for the coffee table hall of fame, that is, if rabid readers don't tear it to shreds, first.



3. I grew up in Hollis, Queens during the '50s & and '60s and thought that I saw a lot of changes in the neighborhood. But this book is a real eye-opener showing how the area changed from farmlands in the 19th century (including developer's ads) to a fully built up residential community by the 1940's. The book is a must read for anyone who has lived in Queens



4. I guess we all have our own opinion of what we'd like to see in a collection of old photos and the history of a particular place. In the case of this book, there are lots of old photos and interesting memorabilia, like early maps and ads for housing developments, as well as a brief synopsis of each section of the borough through the photos' descriptions. The quality of the photo reproductions is quite good, overall, and the writing is fine. I only wish it was larger and had more from the area I grew up in but, never-the-less, still a worthwhile addition to anyone's bookcase or coffee table.



5. Book arrived on time in excellent condition. 100% satisfied with everything and will buy a couple more books as Christmas gifts.

No comments about The Great School Wars: A History of the New York City Public Schools.

5 comments about Old New York in Early Photographs.

1. If one desires a book of page-size, sterile photos of substantial structures (with minimal captions) this volume will certainly fill the bill. If, however, one prefers historical snapshots of people amidst the buildings or scenes of shacks or tenements, be forewarned that these are few and far between. Also, in number, the later-in-time pictures tend to predominate. Thus, if the viewer is looking to gaze a la Gangs of New York, some of the wordier texts provide much more appropriate photographic fodder.



2. The print quality of the photos in OLD NEW YORK IN EARLY PHOTOGRAPHS is quite good, better than most. And the quantity of the photographs is equally impressive. And that's about it for the positives.

   Arranged by neighborhood, the photos have little else to do with each other. There is no unifying theme holding the photos together. Not that every collection ought to have a theme as powerful as Jacob Riis' HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES, but these photos seem so haphazardly arranged. The scanty text doesn't even attempt to explain how the individual vignettes came about, or how it relates to the particiular time in New York's history that the photo was taken. And, of course, Manhattan is the only borough represented here. I suppose the citizens of the other four boroughs had yet to climb down from their trees and build fires, never mind operate cameras.

   Rocco Dormarunno from ooog-ooog Brooklyn




3. This was a good Old whatever book. I had been reading Edith Wharton and really wanted to see the old mansions of the wealthy New Yorkers. I did not see much of this in the book. But I enjoyed the pictures and the text.



4. Pictorial books like these are glorious time machines and invaluable primary resources. We are so fortunate that these pictures exist. The prints are crystal clear and detailed in that way only black and white photography can be. There is no greater joy that going down to Manhattan and finding the places photographed and seeing if anything has survived.



5. I had this book years ago, it got lost along the way, and I was so happy to see this copy offered on Amazon! It is the very best old-New-York photo book available! Thrilled to receive it! Recommended!!!

5 comments about Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan.

1. koolhaas is a bit over-the-top for me, but this I think is is best work. it's worth checking out if only for the story of coney island. once you get past blisteringly pretentious phrases like "coney island is a fetal manhattan", you'll find it gloriously entertaining as both a narrative and theoretical work.



2. A very inventive concept of New York's "culture of congestion" and how people are affected by the architecture they create. It is heavily researched and exhaustive, and after pretty much the third page I agreed with his concept of NY being "totally fabricated by man". What could of been a fascinating article becomes a spastic, heavy-handed read with a sledgehammer effect to your brain. (However,for those of us reading it for school, there are plenty of pictures that fill up the almost devastatingly vast 300+pages quickly.) It will scramble your brain with its thousands of nearly bumper-stickerish statements ("It hides life." "The Mountain MUST become architecture.") written with pretentious glee. However, I believe an independent scientific study has concluded that when pretending to read this book on the train people around you will assume your IQ is 40% higher than truth.



3. through the exhaustive historiography of the phases of congestion coney island brought to manhattan, koolhaas provides a rather cynical view of the Grid as being an ulimatley neutral zoning system of constraining ideas that represent the continual decline of a phantastically realistic civilization, represented as mutated symbols of architecture in the "void" of repeated "pregnancies."
   
   it's really well written. funny. uses, like above, a somewhat inefficient vocabulary but remains in the same vein throughout. it is also a graphic design hubris consuming every page, even the left-justified text, showing off koolhaas's interpretation of the importance to combine scholarship and marketing.
   
   buy it. it's a very good book.



4. While "Delirious" has its fair share of archispeak, Mr. Koolhaas pulls off an intelligent, fun and thought-provoking take on the early 20th century building culture of New York.
   
   One of the quirkier (and frankly, awesome/bravadoish) aspects of "Delirious" is Mr. Koolhaas's analysis of Coney Island: an "incubator for Manhattan's incipient themes." As a reader, one initially questions the inclusion of such a trashy place in such a lofty manifesto. However, as the chapter progresses, you start to see Mr. Koolhaas's iconoclastic brilliance. He pays an amazing homage to "the laboratory" that was Coney Island, illuminating the vital role it played in the building philosophies that would emerge later in Manhattan.
   
   Scattered throughout "Delirious," also, are compelling supporting images that Mr. Koolhaas clearly spent a lot of time digging up. In fact, flipping through the book for the images alone makes for a near-equivalent, and fun, learning experience.
   
   However, unlike his tasteful use of images, Mr. Koolhaaas's flamboyant use of scholarly English makes his writing difficult to digest at times:
   
   "It is probably inevitable that a doctrine based on the continual simulation of pragmatism, on a self-imposed amnesia that allows the continuous reenactment of the same subconscious themes in ever new reincarnations and on inarticulateness systematically cultivated in order to operate more effectively..."
   
   Given Mr. Koolhaas's journalism background (and assumed mastery of writing), I suspect he made the conscious decision to remain somewhat inaccessible to preserve his "lofty" image. While such a decision may be understandable, his brilliance as a writer often gets overshadowed by the sheer irritation of trying to understand him.
   
   Ultimately, "Delirious" proves itself to be a very intelligent synopsis---just as delirious and congested the themes Mr. Koolhaas puts forth. For the most part, it's a pleasure to read, and it also reflects the exhaustive research on Mr. Koolhaas's end. Much like Mr. Koolhaas's buildings, "Delirious" is on the cusp of being as grand as it intends to be.



5. The author presents in concise fashion his own version of New York City's urban development history.
   
   One may or may not be convinced by his thesis that there is a specific New York City psyche that is reflected over time in a wide variety of constructions.
   
   But one can only be enthralled by his intimate knowledge of the City and of projects ranging from Coney Island to the Empire State Building to the 1964 World Fair.
   
   The surprising and at times bizarre illustrations add to the incredibly rich text. They include for instance a vintage photograph of famous architects actually costumed as their own creations: the Fuller Building, the Waldorf-Astoria, the Squibb Building, the Chrysler Building, etc.
   
   Written over 30 years ago and thus also a reflection of the 1970's, this work is definitely a classic well worth reading today for anyone interested in New York or in cities in general.