Book Description
" The Night Club Era should rate as a Broadway Koran. Other books on the subject are unnecessary if they agree with it, wrong if they differ from it, and in either case should be burned." -- Alva Johnston, from the Introduction
Written in the aftermath of Prohibition, Stanley Walker's The Night Club Era is a lively and idiosyncratic account of the people and places that defined New York's night life during the era of "the great American madness." Here we meet murderers and millionaires, gangsters, bartenders, celebrities of the stage, screen, and society, and a host of other colorful characters who populated the city's diverse night clubs, from El Fey to the Cotton Club. Walker relives the "night of incredulous sadness" on which the Volstead Act went into effect, visits a classic speakeasy, discussing the owner's delicate arrangements with policemen, prohibition agents, and bootleggers, and details the frequently brutal swindles practiced in the city's numerous clip joints and the tactics of the era's crime organizations, explaining precisely what happens when one is "taken for a ride." Among the larger-than-life night club habitués Walker sketches are Owney Madden, the elder statesman of the city's rackets; Walter Winchell, America's most influential columnist and the "brash historian of our life and times"; Mayor James J. Walker, who typified the gaudiness, smartness, and insouciance of the city he ran, yet was never too refined to shoot dice on hotel room floors; and Texas Guinan, the beloved entertainer, hostess, and entrepreneur who greeted customers with her trademark phrase "Hello, sucker!" Vividly told, The Night Club Era offers a singular, serious -- though never sober -- history of New York City during Prohibition.
Book Description
For seven decades, Life has been thrilling the world with its unrivaled presentation of the very best photography to be found. Here, the editors have assembled the crme de la crme from the magazines vast collection of images.Because Life has always dealt with matters of every sort, the entire spectrum of society is represented in these pages. One after another, there are unforgettable photos from Hollywoods greatest stars, from the wonders of small-town America, from the terrible wars, as well as from the zestful years of childhood. Life has always represented the apex in photojournalism and its roster of great photographers is unequaled.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Photo's and Stories of Our History.......2007-07-18
This booked turned out to be a prized gift for a history buff friend of ours. Absolutely LOVED IT and wants to share it with his grandkids. Interesting reading, in a beautiful format.
Too much of America........2007-04-15
I picked up this book and "The Great LIFE Photographers" off the shelf of an art bookstore last night. Great books, a lot of emotion, great photography. Although, I wouldn't recommend buying these two books together. A lot of the photos are repeated, so one should be enough.
When I was going through this book, I was slightly annoyed by how "American" it is. I'm sure the Americans did a lot of great things. But about half a dozen of photos of baseball games/players?
Between those two books, I recommend "The Great LIFE Photographers" as it is smaller, more compact, and puts less emphasis on the US.
the image of a century.......2007-04-11
the life of each day all over the world.
The life of men and woman , in peace and at war.
To have, absolutely.
A reminder of how great the original Life Magazine was and what photojournalism should be.......2007-04-01
Before television - an era that well over half the population never experienced - there was Life Magazine, which brought the world into people's homes. The magazine's editors hired the world's best photographers who in turn became some of the world's greatest photojournalists. Life also never said no to great photography from any source. Life was, indeed, a window into life for many millions.
Alas, society moved on and rising costs and television ultimately killed off Life, Saturday Evening Post, Look and many other wonderful magazines.
This book is actually a little bit disappointing in that it is only 304 pages, 251 of them being given to pictures from Life Magazine. The book could have - and, in my opinion, should have - been two, three or even four times the size. Life Magazine represented the epitome of photojournalism for much of its history and I think people would pay handsomely to have the "complete" Life photo collection. Perhaps someday, like the New Yorker did with its cartoons and articles, all of Life's photos will be available for browsing on DVD.
In the meantime, for any student of popular culture, 20th Century History, photojournalism or photography, this book is essential. It does contain a wonderful treasure of Life photography, which in turn gives a mirror into the world as it was.
Perhaps the best part of the book are the tiny reproductions of every Life cover. These provide a true summary of the fleeting nature of fame (many Life cover subjects are entirely forgotten today), the restless world with its wars, famines and other upheavals - and reaffirmation that nothing ever changes.
For the money, this is a wonderful value - a great browsing and viewing experience.
Jerry
Life: The Platinum Anniversary Collection.......2007-01-27
If you want a coffeetable book that has decades of images which have enthralled all of us, this is the perfect choice. Also, photographers can learn what makes a compelling image.
Amazon.com
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
Book Description
To European explorers, it was Eden, a paradise of waist-high grasses, towering stands of walnut, maple, chestnut, and oak, and forests that teemed with bears, wolves, raccoons, beavers, otters, and foxes. Today, it is the site of Broadway and Wall Street, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty, and the home of millions of people, who have come from every corner of the nation and the globe. In Gotham, Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace have produced a monumental work of history, one that ranges from the Indian tribes that settled in and around the island of Manna-hata, to the consolidation of the five boroughs into Greater New York in 1898. It is an epic narrative, a story as vast and as varied as the city it chronicles, and it underscores that the history of New York is the story of our nation. Readers will relive the tumultuous early years of New Amsterdam under the Dutch West India Company, Peter Stuyvesant's despotic regime, Indian wars, slave resistance and revolt, the Revolutionary War and the defeat of Washington's army on Brooklyn Heights, the destructive seven years of British occupation, New York as the nation's first capital, the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, the Erie Canal and the coming of the railroads, the growth of the city as a port and financial center, the infamous draft riots of the Civil War, the great flood of immigrants, the rise of mass entertainment such as vaudeville and Coney Island, the building of the Brooklyn Bridge and the birth of the skyscraper. Here too is a cast of thousands--the rebel Jacob Leisler and the reformer Joanna Bethune; Clement Moore, who saved Greenwich Village from the city's street-grid plan; Herman Melville, who painted disillusioned portraits of city life; and Walt Whitman, who happily celebrated that same life. We meet the rebel Jacob Leisler and the reformer Joanna Bethune; Boss Tweed and his nemesis, cartoonist Thomas Nast; Emma Goldman and Nellie Bly; Jacob Riis and Horace Greeley; police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt; Colonel Waring and his "white angels" (who revolutionized the sanitation department); millionaires John Jacob Astor, Cornelius Vanderbilt, August Belmont, and William Randolph Hearst; and hundreds more who left their mark on this great city. The events and people who crowd these pages guarantee that this is no mere local history. It is in fact a portrait of the heart and soul of America, and a book that will mesmerize everyone interested in the peaks and valleys of American life as found in the greatest city on earth. Gotham is a dazzling read, a fast-paced, brilliant narrative that carries the reader along as it threads hundreds of stories into one great blockbuster of a book.
Customer Reviews:
SPECTACULAR!.......2007-05-30
Tremendous detail and fantastic history make this book top notch. Incredibly well researched without a "revionist" slant make this book a must read. By far this is my favorite of all American History books I have read. Having grown up in Brooklyn (and bored my buddies to death leading them to historical landmarks) only enhanced the experience. Few books "bring you there" but Gotham has that magic of taking you on a time travel to the glorious and not so glorious days of a great city.
Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898.......2007-01-15
The book, Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, was not for myself. Our son wanted it for Christmas. As far as we know he is pleased with the book. He wanted the book because one of my and his ancestors came in to Manhattan about 1650 and helped build the wall that later became Wall St. Our son has an under grad degree in history.
The Dutch.......2007-01-04
This is a masterpiece of the history of NY. I concentrated on this early setttlement in Dutch hands. It all started with Henry Hudson, and his hope. It ended with Peter Stuyvesant and his dictatorial domain. In between there were some interesting characters who can be seen as ancestors and predecessors of the current New Yorker.
Packed with so much information! Wow!.......2006-12-14
WOW! Where do I start? This book is a "must" for those that love history and/or want to know about the backgroung and history of New York . This book is like an Encyclopedia on the history of New York ,and truly worth the price! Excellent reference guide.
I bought this book along with a few other books about New York (eg: "Gangs of New York", and "FIVE POINTS", and "LOW LIFE") and therefore, it was wonderful to be able to refer back to GOTHAM as a reference guide to reading the other books on New York.
Astonishing!!!.......2006-10-26
I am heartbroken to be within fifty pages of the end of this incredible book. Contrary to what one reviewer has said, I have in fact read the whole thing on the subway (the Washington, D.C. subway), which hasn't always been easy but has been more than worth it. This book is extraordinary not only for its depiction of New York through so many different stages of its development, but for the remarkable portrayal it gives of all the parts that go into the development of a large and complex city, from political organizations to the spread of electric lights to the politics of the Croton Reservoir to the migration of the theater and entertainment districts through different parts of town. The authors could easily have written ten excellent books on all the subjects they cover, and I would gladly have read them all. To put all of this into one highly readable book is an accomplishment that is hard to believe.
Average customer rating:
- Check these out
- you're kidding me, right?
- underbaked and flat
- Fun, Make-You-Think Reading
- Chick-lit poetry
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A Working Girl Can't Win : And Other Poems
Deborah Garrison
Manufacturer: Modern Library
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The Second Child: Poems
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The Trouble with Poetry: And Other Poems
ASIN: 0375755403
Release Date: 2000-02-22 |
Amazon.com
Every couple of years, some unlucky soul gets designated as the Poet for People Who Hate Poetry, and now it seems to be Deborah Garrison's turn. It's easy to see why: she gets the voice of the late 20th-century New Yorker to perfection, in all its kvetchy, melancholic glory. At times it's like hearing George Costanza channeling Emily Dickinson:
I'm never going to sleep
with Martin Amis
or anyone famous.
Garrison also tends to sidestep metaphysics in favor of more accessible subject matter. That means love (mostly unrequited) and work (mostly unbearable, particularly for a working girl in a testosterone-driven office, wearied by the appearance of yet "another alpha male-- / a man's man, a dealmaker"). No wonder Garrison seems so appealing. And no wonder her publisher has capitalized on this appeal by packaging her book in such a sleek, chic jacket. It would be a mistake, however, to write her off as one more neurotic light versifier. Her metaphoric agility can take you by surprise: note the Atlantic breeze coming "up out of the surf / like a dog gone swimming, / slagging sand and spray every which way / and making the news unreadable." So, too, can the note of resignation that undergirds so many of Garrison's vignettes-in-verse, giving even her most featherweight performances an odd, unchic intensity.
Book Description
Deborah Garrison, whose work as an editor and writer has enlivened the pages of The New Yorker for more than a decade, evokes the characters and events of her everyday life with intense feeling and, more important, conjures up the universal dilemmas and pleasures of a young woman trying to come to terms with love and work.
Customer Reviews:
Check these out.......2007-04-15
This is very good poetry: insightful, articulate, and very witty. Garrison is quite deft with the English language and doesn't litter her writing with clever, irrelevant tricks. She keeps her work focused and to the point. She has the snap and sting of Michael Benedikt.
you're kidding me, right?.......2004-07-29
That this book got any attention still blows me away. What a boring bunch of poems that read like a nightmarish open reading. If this is poetry that can actually get into the popular vein, I'm gonna lock myself in the library and not talk to anyone.
underbaked and flat.......2004-02-24
Great idea for a collection--poems from the point of view of a female office worker. But there's not much empathy, not much risk, not much music, not much wit, not much anything here. These are above all intellectually and linguistically lazy poems which aim for irony but seldom get beyond archness. No perceptions you couldn't find in the pages of a woman's magazine or on a TV-show about working women--and not even as entertaining as any number of chick lit novels.
Fun, Make-You-Think Reading.......2003-12-02
I picked this book off the shelf by chance. My good luck.
Deborah Garrison's little book of poetry is a treasure. It's funky, funny, wonderful reading. This collection will impress any lover of poetry, whether you just started reading yesterday or you've been a fan for years.
Her writing is accessible. Her writing is real; while she wants to be a "modern" woman, all unoppressed and girl power-ish, she is still a human. And she let's you know that up front. One of the best things about it is that you don't have to break out a dictionary to understand it. And it doesn't take days worth of analyzation to get through a few lines either. Buy it!
Chick-lit poetry.......2003-07-15
It's Bridget Jones country, which I don't think is such a terrible thing. And it's easy to read, which I don't think is such a terrible thing. The poems tell of the men in the poetess's life, from her mother's lovers to her boss, the other men at her job, and her husband. It's in the colloquial style of the English Movement, with something of the American Confessional. Sometimes (at least in the Fight Song) it even scans and rhymes.
The five stars are not because it's GREAT poetry, but because it's enjoyable, true-to-life and readable...
Book Description
Named one of the Ten Best Books about New York City by the New York Times
Book Description
In this sequel to the best-selling One Tuesday Morning, to widow Jamie Bryan it is still September 12, 2001. What will move her from living in the past to living the life God has given her today?
Customer Reviews:
Beyond Tuesday Morning.......2007-06-15
Great. A must if you have read One Tuesday morning.
Great Christian fiction!.......2007-03-09
Karen Kingsbury did it again. Another fantastic story. Another, I can't put this book down until I finish it. I loved it! Great Christian fiction!
Guiltless Pleasure.......2006-12-15
By: Jeffrey W. Bennett author of the Christian Novel "Under the Lontar Palm".
What can I say, I love a great story that has a great ending. Okay, for a guy, this story provides great role models. Karen Kingsbury demonstrate the great things that can happen when men take the lead to keep Christ in the forefront of their families. We all can benefit from heroes and we never know where we will find them. I'd say they can be found inside the pages of Beyond Tuesday Morning within the characters of Clay, Eric and Jake.
Great Sequel, but the First Was Better.......2006-08-12
I fell in love with the characters and story of One Tuesday Morning and I was completely thrilled to find out that Karen Kingsbury was writing a sequel. I tried not to hype myself up about it to much because sequels are never as good as the originals, however I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Beyond Tuesday Morning was also a very good and touching story. Even though I have read One Tuesday Morning ummm...4? times now, I have read Beyond Tuesday Morning twice and I can't wait for a possible 3rd installment in the series!
Excellent sequel.......2006-01-15
After reading ONE TUESDAY MORNING, I was glad to see that Ms. Kingsley had finished the story with a sequel. She did a great job and I would highly recommend both books as Kingsley is one of the better Christian writers out there. I only had one question and it bothers me but not enough to give the book 4 stars. I find it very hard to believe that Clay, during his first tour of St. Paul's, wouldn't have mentioned to Jamie that his brother had been in the World Trade Center at the time of the attacks. It's a small thing but his silence doesn't seem believeable. Still, the story would have come to a grinding halt if he did, so there you go.
Book Description
Two gifted photographers have documented every aspect of this extraordinary urban subculture, complete with 239 full-color photographs.
Customer Reviews:
E.S.T........2007-09-21
I grew up on the south side of Chicago during the 80s and had many friends who were "taggers" and got up every chance they got. They had spray-cans, hollowed-out deodorant sticks somehow replaced with ink, fat markers, Griffin, and who knows what else. Though I myself wasnt a graffiti artist or writer or tagger, this book is a great ride down memory lane for those of us who grew up on the streets. For those of us of a certain age, this book, "Subway Art", along with movies like Breakin' I AND II, Beat Street, original hip-hop and old school house music were all of a specific time and place. This book will make you want to break out the Pumas with the fat laces, bring out the tile and start back-spinnin', but it is also one of the the earliest, most definitive and detailed books on graffiti ever.
BRONX GRAFFITI WRITERS UNITED AGAIN !!!.......2007-07-03
Wow, this book just took me back to my days in the Bronx and the 2 line.
All the greats are in this one..Doing those T and B's and hitting the yards, and dodging the DT's Now those were the great days of the BRONX.
Long live
MIKE170..TAV 1..ALE..AJAX..SUPER SEX..BLADE..COMET..FUZZ..POPEYE..
MIKE 170....
This is what got me back into graff.......2006-12-06
I started doing graff back in the late 90's; I was 14 at the time and to be honest with you; like all great writers we were all toy's at one time but has time went by and we got better with our skills, we all have read this book at one time or another. On with the book review.
This book is just simply AMAZING...you have old school pieces from the Godfather of Graffiti: SEEN, BLADE (which he has painted 5,000 trains during the golden age of the MTA in NYC; since I saw the graffiti scene on the trains at the tender age of six and seven in NYC, I was simply amazed at that age on how people could sneak in at night and do this with spray-paint but I digress), LADY PINK, and the list goes on. If your just starting out in graffit, this is a great book on to connect letters, bubble letter's, block's, and some old school color schemes, though I would not call it the Bible of Graffiti, it is pretty darn close to it. Check it out.
THIS BOOK CHANGED MY LIFE FOR A WHILE BUT NOW I'M 34.......2006-07-01
Subway Art. What can I say? This, Style Wars, Beat Street, Break Dance... they all had their influence on me (& a whole generation) back in the day.
Hip Hop isn't what it used to be, though. Most of what we hear these days is mixed up with R'n'B, commercialised, repackaged and shipped for your dissatisfaction. If you ask me... when it comes to Hip Hop, stick with the old school.
I was brought up in Melbourne, Australia, and did quite a bit of graffiti there during the 1980s. Melbourne had plenty of weird & wonderful characters who were into graff back then. The vast majority have gone their separate ways. But there's always the rare psycho who's still bombing (I'm not referring to the younger generation - but to old school dudes who are still around). There's also those who got into graphic art and made a career for themselves out of graff.
I recommend checking out some of the original Vaughn Bode cartoons for yourself through a simple Google search.
Additional to this, I recommend Getting Up: Subway Graffitti in New York" by Craig Castleman. It has some pictures of trains and so on, but it is more for the reader. A copy was stolen from a local library near me - go figure.
And if you're ever in NYC... Check out the Hall of Fame. It's located on the corner of 106th Street and Park Avenue.
THE word on old school graff........2005-10-05
This classic book, along with "Broken Windows: Graffiti NYC" is all you need to know about NYC graff. Anyone up needs both of these books. Knowledge is king!
Book Description
"An exceptional history . . . Derrick's well-written narrative is packed with thoroughly researched facts and reasoning."
—Library Journal
"Derrick's book goes more into the details of the behind the scenes actions that surrounded the construction of the largest public transportation system ever."
—Bronx Times
"...a valuable case study in the micropolitics of one of the Progressive era's signature projects."
—The Wall Street Journal
"[An] excellent addition to the literature of the city's planning, development and economics."
—Publishers Weekly
"Illuminating . . . Yes, the city built the subway (with a lot of help from the private sector), but more important, the subway built the city, which remains dependent on its intricate structure."
—New York magazine
"As the most detailed and thorough account available of the dual system, Derrick's book has improved out understanding of rapid transit politics and urban planning."
—The Journal of American History, June 2002
In 1910, New York City was bursting at the seams as more and more people crowded into a limited supply of housing in the tenement districts of Manhattan and the older areas of Brooklyn. With no outlet for its exploding population, and the burgeoning social problems created by the overwhelming congestion, New York faced a serious crisis which city and state leaders addressed with dramatic measures. In March 1913, public officials and officers of the two existing rapid transit networks shook hands to seal a deal for a greatly expanded subway system which would more than double the size of the two existing transit networks.
At the time the largest and most expensive single municipal project ever attempted, the Dual System of Rapid Transit set the pattern of growth in New York City for decades to come, helped provide millions of families a better quality of life, and, in the words of Manhattan borough president George McAneny (1910-1913), "proved the city's physical salvation." It stands as that rare success story, an enormously complicated project undertaken against great odds which proved successful beyond all measure.
Published in conjunction with the History of the City of New York Project.
Customer Reviews:
A political-financial history of the "Dual Contracts".......2001-08-24
Peter Derrick's book covers the "Dual Contracts" era of subway construction in New York, when numerous lines were built between 1910 and 1931 by the IRT and the BRT /BMT. Derrick focuses on the interactions between executives of the then-existing subway companies and municipal politicians. Only a few paragraphs cover the "Independent" subway system, which was built after 1931.
Endnotes, bibliography, etc., comprise 155 pages of this book, or nearly a third of its pages. There are eight maps and 24 period photographs. There is nothing in this book about station design, track layouts, operating procedures, or rolling stock. In fact, the book ends when construction began. It was a worthy endeavor of historical research to document the political deal-making of this period, but some readers may be disappointed that the author's interest was solely in the back-room political gamesmanship that preceded construction
New York City's Pivotal Moment.......2001-04-15
No other historian has identified so important a piece of NYC's history on which so little is known, and written so lucidly about it. This is not just enjoyable history. You cannot understand New York City today without reading Derrick's book.
The greatest city of the modern era had its pivotal moment early in the 20th century with the decision in 1913 to double the size of its subway system: the largest public-works expenditure in the Western Hemisphere to that date. This decision, a dozen years and more in the making and led by Manhattan Borough President George McAneny, was propelled by the inability to resolve the problems of disease, crime, prosititution, overpopulation and poverty that overwhelmed Manhattan's Lower East Side, spilling into more affluent neighborhoods throughout the city. Getting employees out of impoverishment and to their jobs was now an impediment to development and modernization. The vision that turned farm lands into an urban center was a leap into the unknown and Derrick meticulously details this exciting chapter in NYC's history, a chapter that when fully understood, reveals how issues get resolved and great accomplishments propelled. In comparison, the highway system of the Robert Moses era was but an anxilary event.
Book Description
In this marvelous anecdotal history, Justin Kaplan—Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of Mark Twain—vividly brings to life a glittering, bygone age.
Endowed with the largest private fortunes of their day, cousins John Jacob Astor IV and William Waldorf Astor vied for primacy in New York society, producing the grandest hotels ever seen in a marriage of ostentation and efficiency that transformed American social behavior.
Kaplan exposes it all in exquisite detail, taking readers from the 1890s to the Roaring Twenties in a combination of biography, history, architectural appreciation, and pure reading pleasure.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent introduction to "the 400", the Astors, and the rise of the grand hotels.......2006-11-30
This book is an excellent introduction to the history of "the 400" (or "the Four Hundred") and the Astor family for the many people who seek such information. Many people ask me for more information about "the 400" because my novel, "Chasing the 400", deals with the African American community's social interpretation of "the 400" during the 1950's. At that time, "the 400" was a term that was used to characterize the Black Bourgeoisie, the same as the term was used to characterize the New York Gilded Age social elite.
I disagree with Kaplan that people largely seemed to not care about "the 400" after Carolyn Astor's death or disappearance from prominence in New York society. "The 400" as the social elite lived on long after Carolyn Astor's grand entertaining, and many groups of people patterned their social groups after Mrs. Astor's exclusivity. In my novel, I explain "the 400" in New York society and in 1950s Philadelphia's Black Bourgeoisie this way: "The women displayed as colored society were the ladies of 'the 400', an exclusive, informal collection of Philadelphia's black bourgeoise, the talented tenth, the doctors, lawyers and other successful colored businessmen and their wives. This exclusive group patterned themselves after "the Four Hundred", the phrase coined in the late 1800's by New York socialite Mrs. William Astor and her friends to symbolize upper crust society--the truly worthy 400 people who could fit into the ballroom of Mrs. Astor's New York home. Like Mrs. Astor's Four Hundred, Philadelphia's colored 400 attended a seemingly endless round of balls, lunches, fashion shows and cocktail soirees. Mrs. Donald Butcher, given name Harriet, ruled the colored 400 which, in reality, had only about 50 people who were truly worthy. Donald Butcher made a fortune operating the largest colored funeral home in Philadelphia, and Harriet made a life running colored society."
More information about groups that might be considered to be the modern day "Four Hundred" in the African American community, such as The Links, Jack & Jill and Sigma Pi Phi--the Boule, and "Chasing the 400" can be found on my Amazon page. Malcom X, in "The Autobiography of Malcom X", also talks about "the 400" in Boston's African American community.
Kaplan's discussion of how and why the Astor's concieved and built New York's grandest hotels is also fascinating. We take the grand hotel for granted today, but Kaplan explains how such hotels were truly revolutionary and transformed society at that time. Modern day real estate investors might find inspiration in Kaplan's detailed discussions of how the Astors used real estate to build their great wealth, working on one deal after another, not satisfied with more wealth than most of us could even imagine.
Hotel Mania.......2006-11-27
This book, while initially giving the impression of being a recounting of the Astor family, actually turns into a history of hotels in New York City built by wealthy people. As a biography it was well done, but as a history of the hotels it is extremely interesting. There are some asides about the inter-family feuds of the Astors, and it mentions, in passing, the death of John Jacob IV on the Titanic (perhaps more should have been said about this). To those interested in the early history of New York, and its famous hotels, this is required reading!
Slim volume promises much delivers little .......2006-09-05
When the Astors Owned New York: Blue Bloods and Grand Hotels in a Gilded Age by Justin Kaplan is a bit of a disappointment. From the title and description, I was looking for a biography of the Astor family along with a taste of history about the times they lived in. While there is some brief biographical information in the book, much of it is focused on the hotels they (and others) built. Pages are allotted to the Palmer House in Chicago (which they didn't build), but far less to John Jacob Astor's death on the Titanic. His scandalous divorce and marriage to a much younger woman are also glossed over. His uncle William Waldorf Astor's life is covered in far greater detail, but even he doesn't get full coverage. Gossipy bits and pieces of the times are dropped here and there. Kaplan goes overboard in quoting Henry James in his eloquence about the beauty of hotels. There are pages of quotes from James, often repeated. The book meanders and repeats itself as well. I suppose not much should be expected from such a slim volume, but I was hoping for more.
Mostly history.......2006-08-09
Book was not what I expected. Does not delve into characters,but more or less who begot who and rivalries, hotel building, and so on. If you're looking for character development or revelation, this is not what you want.
Lacks Focus.......2006-08-03
The Astors are an iconic American family, rising from immigrant roots to great wealth and aristocratic pretensions, undermined by their own social ambition and self-imposed isolation and finally, in later generations, fading from economic and social prominence. (104 year-old Brooke Astor, the widow of Vincent, is the last multi-millionaire Astor, and will leave no Astor heirs.) Yet this book purports to be, not about the Astors, but about the great hotels that they conceived and built, including such landmarks as the old Waldorf-Astoria, The Astor and the St. Regis. As such, the book lacks focus and is poorly integrated; it's not quite a bio of the Astors, since it's character portraits are superficial, but it's not really about the great hotels either, because it limits that story to the role played by the Astors. The result is disjointed and, occasionally, boring. This author knows alot about the Astors and would have done better to write a straightforward biography or family history.
Average customer rating:
- Soldiering
- A great adventure written by a first rate story teller.
- Soldiering : The Civil War Diary of Rice C. Bull
- Very Good Account of the Civil War
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Soldiering: Diary Rice C. Bull: The Civil War Diary of Rice C. Bull
Rice C. Bull
Manufacturer: Presidio Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Similar Items:
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All for the Union: The Civil War Diary & Letters of Elisha Hunt Rhodes
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Mary Chesnut's Civil War
ASIN: 0891412638
Release Date: 1995-06-01 |
Book Description
An excellent firsthand account of the Civil War from a soldier's point of view. It is a masterful description of war's grim reality.--VFW Magazine
Customer Reviews:
Soldiering.......2007-03-04
This books provides us with the knowledge of day to day survival in the union army. He, Rice C. Bull, was severely wounded and captured by the Confederate Army. He describes the conditions surrounding him while he lay unable to move. It's not a pretty picture and many died that could have been saved. He seems to have been a gentleman of high moral standing. There didn't seem to be any bitterness or hate in him. He was simply doing what he felt to be his duty to the best of his ability.
It's in reading these diaries that contain little parts of the war that we can piece together a more accurate complete picture. Read it and find out what was thought of the food and how marching became a way of like.
The privates tale gives a valuable insight to life during the Civil War.
A great adventure written by a first rate story teller........2001-05-22
For those readers who are interested in a good first account of life as a Yankee soldier during the American Civil War, this is the book. I found the account written by Elijah Hunt Rhodes to be quite bland. Full of patriotic sentiment that sheds little light on his vulnerability. Rhodes' may have been a great soldier but he is an amateur storyteller. Rice Bull on the other hand, is a natural born writer. I found this book hard to put down. The pictures Bull paints are startling, amazing, hilarious and terrifying. This book's depiction of war lives in an entirely different universe than, John Wayne, Turner Classics, or any of the tedious accounts written by the Civil War Generals attempting to clear their name. Full of fantastic insight and ironies this book is right up there with "Catch 22" and "Journey to the End of the Night".
Soldiering : The Civil War Diary of Rice C. Bull.......2001-02-03
This is an excellent book to get an understanding in the daily life of a Northern soldier. The R.C. Bull's journal is an "easy" read and allows the reader to grasp what it was like to be in the infantry during the Civil War. R.C. Bull writes about the types of rations they were issued, their living conditions, and the marches they had to endure. He writes about trading goods with the Confederate "rebs" and his treatment as wounded prisoner. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the life of an enlist man during the Civil War.
Very Good Account of the Civil War.......1998-11-13
After reading three diaries (Diary of Daniel Chisholm, Three Years in Co. K, and this book) I place this one at the top (for now.) The description of Bull's experience following Chancellorsville, wounded in the hip and face, lying in the mud, while men are dying all around him, is particularly moving. I'm a novice Civil War buff, and would recommend this title to someone who has more than a passing interest in the daily life of a Northern soldier.
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