We just came back from NYC and went on one of the walking tours in this book--guided by the author Eric Wakin (Ethnic Eating Tour of Chinatown and Little Italy). Mr Wakin took us into Chinatown and discussed how the area is a living, breathing, working neighborhood, filled with shops, pushcarts, and restaurants that cater to the neighborhood's residents. We then walked into Little Italy and noticed how the neighborhoo is nothing but restaurants designed to attract tourists. Quite a contrast. Mr Wakin discussed how the neighborhoods have changed over the centuries as the older, more established immigrants move out and new immigrants (often of a different ethnic background) come in. The author was knowledgeable about his facts and history and the the different food tidbits were a real treat!

Whether you are a native New Yorker or a tourist visiting New York City for the first time, you need to pick up a copy of The Big Onion Guide To New York City.

Big Onion has established itself as the leading walking tour company in New York City for over 10 years. And for good reason. Their guides are American history graduate students who know and love the city.

Big Onion's first guide book is loaded with interesting facts and stories about the city's history. Their easy-to-follow self-guided tours will delight tourists exploring the city's streets and enlighten even native New Yorkers who think they know everything about their hometown.

I'm constantly using this book as a reference book to look up facts about New York history. In my opinion, two of the best tours are the Lower East Side, with its tales of immigrant life, and Central Park, which the book calls New York's "greatest public space." There is even a driving tour (which I haven't tried yet) for those who want to explore New York's "outer boroughs."

The book is concise, well-written and always informative. It's a must-have for anyone interested in New York City history.

this book is a masterpiece for anyone on the search. if you are one of those lower east side hipsters who thinks theres no success like failure, but failure's no success at all, then this book is for you. it leans into the kernel, and asks the right questions from beginning to end. get ready to strap on your conceptual goggles and prepare for some authors intention. from joan didion's "goodbye to all that" to walt whitman's "crossing brooklyn ferry" this book keeps the faith all the way.

Empire City is about NEW YORK CITY, the capital of the world. If you are trying to figure out what New York is all about, read this book! New Yorkers young and old will be capivated by this masterpiece of literature. David Dunbar and Kenneth Jackson deliver one of the books that should be put onto your coffee table in your living room or next to the Bible on your bedstand. Simply put: this books is the BIBLE OF NEW YORK. It is where New York began, ended, and is now. David Dunbar delves into the depths of the burgeoning New York streets, while Kenneth Jackson puts together the pieces of history that have MADE New York. The pieces that these two worldly authors have put together makes even Gotham's Caped Crusader, Batman, sit back in an easy chair and take the night off from crime fighting to read this book. To put it simply, BUY THIS BOOK! It's great. CITYterm is proud, and so is a certain coach Ditka.

This is ABSOLUTELY a book no history teacher should be without. It is filled with black line maps of a wide variety of periods in American history. Can't find "Jackson Hole," or, "Lundy's Lane? You will find it here. I taught for 35 years and for the last 15 this book was my right hand!

From Jerry Garcia to Richard Nixon to Charles Scribner to Tupac Shakur, this collection of biographies is difficult to put down. The recently deceased subjects of each biography come alive in the Enclopedia's concise, neat, and compelling form. A wonderful new volume to add to the already thriving set. I own both volumes 3 and 4, and I refer to them constantly for my American History classes at Princeton. I also periodically enjoy flipping through their pages randomly, and reading a short, yet interesting biography. For any lover of history, America, or biography, Scribner's Encyclopedia of American Lives cannot be topped.

To Be Mayor is an excellent story of the social and ethnic politics of the most diverse city in the world. To Be Mayor provides the reader will a behind the scenes feeling of the races for Mayor. This book is a must read for anyone who is a New Yorker who thinks they are a New Yorker. The book povides the reader with a new prospective to interpret city politics, in a city where the politics is almost as important as the news itself

Slums and ghettos are places that most Americans would care to ignore, but Vergara documents these marginalized "communities" with a personal sincerity and social awareness not often found in this field of study. Those who are involved in bringing back to life the urban cores of American cities would be well-advised to study this book and ponder deeply the author's conclusions. I bought this book today, on a whim, and read it in one sitting. I could not put it down. I'd like to see more works by Mr. Vergara.

Vergara, in a remarkable combination of matchless photography and philosophical but highly informed commentary, chronicles the shameful destruction of some of our most beautiful American cities. His keen insight into the explosion of tastelessness and banality, combined with his careful time lapse documentation of urban decay, provides a sobering record of urban America. Without proselytizing or advocating any particular solutions, this book will help the reader understand the unprecedented task faced by those who would rebuild and re-energize our lost cities. This is the one book I would take to the proverbial desert island--hours of contemplation guaranteed.

This is a book of great patience and love. The core consists of photos taken of buildings in various urban ghettos over the course of ten years. Vargas lays three and four photos out (of the same building or area) across two pages to document decline, or sometimes, development. There are also chapters that focus on the way in which households, stores, and churches have fortified like prisons to protect the people and things inside. Other sections concentrate on self-expression, mostly in the form of elaborate murals that speak of fear, poverty, violence, descent into drugs, friends and family lost to gunplay, or defiant spirituality. The book is beautiful. The reader is shown all aspects of ghetto life, from the gray sad sprawl of death and danger to the color and vitality of the people who live there and struggle to achieve positivity. One beef: Vargas' text observations to accompany the photos are superflous and simple to a fault. It is better to read books like The Corner or Third and Indiana, among others, as a companion to this. But that is small criticism about the text. Vargas is a photo essayist, and his photos are ten-year labors of love that document the erosion (and occasional refurbishing) of these parts of our biggest cities that remind one more of third-world countries than our own. This book should be handed out to those in power who turn their backs on this country's ghettos, which will crawl everywhere like glaciers if folks don't turn their attention to them. This is an amazing book.

If you are a student of New York City or among the millions who love it, Kenneth Jackson's mammoth Encyclopedia is indispensible. I began using it as a reference book for my novel, The Five Points. Before I knew it, I was reading it from cover to cover. What a ride! What an achievement! While loaded with gorgeous illustrations, this is no coffee table book. This is a fact-filled guide to assist the serious student and amorous admirer through the intricacies of the greatest city on Earth. And unlike most books about New York City, this encyclopedia actually covers the other four boroughs, not just Manhattan! The enormous effort that went into this book will be gratefully acknowledged by anyone who reads it.

Just make sure you have plenty spare time when you pick this volume up. It is so addictive - you look something up, then something else catches your eye and before you know it two hours have passed.
I love New York and this book has definately increased my pleasure and knowledge of the city.

This is a great reference book to keep around. Great gift idea to New Yorkers who think they know everything about this great city.

Crabgrass Frontiers explores the development of American cities and suburbs in the late 19th up to the late 20th century. Jackson describes how innovations in transportation, including horse trolleys, steam-powered rail, and others including the private automobile, have helped shape the urban landscape. He also describes how as the cities expanded, minorities and the impoverished became "trapped" in the inner city, cut off by superhighways that speed suburbanites from bedroom communities in the suburbs to their offices in the central business district in the city core.

This is a remarkably well-researched book. However, Professor Jackson makes incredible statements downgrading the importance of race in the making of the American suburbs. While he is undeniably correct that the impetus in American urban policy has been to spread out as far as technology will allow, he does not address to motive behind the no-holds-barred rush for the exits that has typified urban life since WWII. Any observer who credits his senses and not what he reads in a dusty census form in an archive knows that race was the reason for the postwar suburban boom. Professor Jackson or someone should update this book in light of Prof. Sugrue's Origins of the Urban Crisis, which discredits Prof. Jackson's theories on race.

Very illuminating study of the growth of suburbia in American history. However, the book is not without flaws. The editing of this book is rather poor (ie. the balloon house construction method is referred to as ballroom construction method) with at least a dozen typos, probably due to the fact that the author suffered the loss of a teen-aged son in a car wreck just as he was finishing the book. He devotes little time to the radical demographic changes in suburbia since World War Two, a situation leading to a barren lack of continuity in suburban towns. The author shies away from most racial causes of the rise of suburbia and urban ethnic and racial transformations. Still, Professor Jackson brings to life what most Americans consider a mundane, dull subject. This is a job well done- I wish he'd write another.

Although it's a little light on the 50's and 60's overall this is a good read. Great presentation. Nice photography.

This is one wonderful book. It gives a better understanding of Brooklyn's surroundings. I particularly found interesting the histories of Street-names. Now I'd like to know the histories of all the neighborhoods of NYC: Queens, the Bronx, Manhattan, and last and definitely least, Staten Island, particularly the neighborhood of Grasmere.

One of the most accurate portrayals of Brooklyn ever. Accurate neighborhood borders and fantastic descriptions. I was especially fond of Professor John Manbeck's historic "time line" added to this book. Well worth the price!

Board games seem to have a monopoly on our entertaining
pastimes: Their sales have doubled in the last year alone! And if
your idea of a great game is Chutes & Ladders or Risk, they go to
jail and do not pass go. Margaret K. Hofer's nifty volume brings
together more than 100 eye-popping examples of rare and popular
board games, organized by theme, such as sports, courtship and
travel. The late 19th century and early 20th century games here are drawn from more than 500 such gems from The New York
Historical Society's tremendous collection. What's most fascinating (besides the glorious color photos) is being reminded
that as much as times change, some things (like games) don't. Take "The Elite Conversation Cards," manufactured in 1887. Think of it as a vintage "20 Questions" or a host of other games that can be found at Toys R Us .... courting couples "break the ice" with cards that ask such deep, thought-provoking questions
such as "Are you inclined to boss the house?" and "Have you ever
been in love?" Pass the dice, please.