Ellis kept a running diary for most of his adult life. He culls much interesting information from this source as well as several better known authors in painting a vivid picture of what happened in America starting in 1929 and why. This is not to say that the book does not have some flaws. For one thing Ellis has a tendency of placing trivial comments such as "Rexford Tugwell was quite the handsomest New Dealer of them all" which frankly could have been better left unsaid. However, some of his historical information, particularly his chapter on the National Recovery Act, entitled the Blue Eagle, are well researched and very easy to read. I also like the opening chapter on the death of the original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel (now the site of the Empire State Building). This is an excellent juxtaposition considering that this event took place in the infamous year of 1929 and happened on May Day to boot.

This color atlas of surgical approaches, planes, and technique is an excellent book for facial surgeons to add to their collection. The book is authored by two premier oral and maxillofacial surgeons which should also prove useful to persons in the field of plastic surgery interested in facial surgical technique.

As several other reviewers have noted, this book was published in 1966 and so it doesn't contain any recent history. Nonetheless, it's an excellent introduction to NY from it's founding in the early 1600s to the 1960s.

I disagree with the reviewer who said that there are no colorful characters in this narrative and that the narrative is boring -- I found the book full of interesting characters (politicians like Boss Tweed, reporters such as William Randolph Hearst, and influential people like John Jacob Astor). Moreover, I found the narrative engaging enough to make it difficult to put down at times.

My only complaint is that the editing job is shabby. Not so much with typos or grammatical errors, but the sentence structure and the narrative flow is a bit awkward at times. Every now and again, Ellis will switch gears without any warning or explanation. It gets a bit frustrating.

Also, there are NO maps in this book. I used 4 different contemporary maps -- 2 for Manhattan/Queens, 1 for Brooklyn, 1 US map (for references to Boston, DC, and the south). At a minimum, you'll need a Manhattan street map and a NY state map to accompany your reading.

A great book by noted American Diarist, E. R. Ellis, shows the humble birth of New York to the the great city it came to be. Not one to hide the seedy part of New York's past, he also includes the historical figures which made it great. If you don't know the origins of Knickerbocker, Bronx or Brooklyn, you will find them in these pages. Written in good narrative, it sounds more like a story then a history.

There are many newer. more contemporary histories of NYC--but, especially if you are interested in the early twentieth century period, this is still the best overview. Especially good for those who are intrigued by NYC but have a scant knowledge of its history.

"The Informers" is a collection of short stories that I've read one critic describe as 'soul-dead' among other things. Bret Easton Ellis is sort of like the David Cronenberg (or Lynch) of the literary world, in that fans will recognize and feel at home with the style, while others will most likely be left cold and angry.

This collection (which contains material that was started as early as 1983) possesses the same dense characters, subject matter, and dialogue that punctuated his previous novels. Things are horrific and chaotic, but buffered by moments of mocking humor. Stories like 'In the Islands' (which introduces us to "American Psycho" character Tim Price) and 'Letters from L.A.' (the best story in the collection) display Ellis's rarely-revealed knack for showing the feelings that make and manipulate people. 'The Secrets of Summer' and 'The Fifth Wheel' show off Ellis's lust for sadism (echoes of "American Psycho").

As as whole, "The Informers" is a mixed bag. It won't do anything to sway those who condemned AP, nor will it be anything new or special to fans. It's essentially channel-surfing as literature, and Ellis's run-on sentences help make things pass quickly enough.

In The Informers, Bret Easton Ellis continues with his stream of dark consciousness style, plunging deeper into our American wasteland. There is not a plot to speak of. This book is an expose, a strung out journal. No linear story exists. Not a single pleasant thing happens to any of the characters, with the exception of Anne, who does manage to meet a boy, but of course he winds up getting slaughtered by vampires. Even the vampires suffer, vomiting into toilets after discovering their victims blood was rich with heroin. Ellis ended American Psycho with the alarming, "This is not an exit," but The Informers offers perhaps even less redemption for its sorted cast. Loveless and stark, with no epitaph to speak of. Ellis does manage to evolve and branch into, for him at least, new literary territory. In The Rules of Attraction and American Psycho we are introduced to Sean and Patrick Bateman. The young spoiled, exceeding wealthy, ubiquitously jaded brothers who form the crux of Ellis's dusky landscapes. Sean even has a cameo of sorts in The Informers. But Patrick and Sean are young like Ellis is. They are men like Ellis. In The Informers Ellis introduces us to something different, their families. The mothers and the fathers, the sisters and brothers. The portrait is now complete. Here is the why behind the hedonism, the violence, and the senseless moral ambiguity of it all. This is where the monsters come from. Here we find roots, jaundiced and sickly, but roots never the less. Ellis has managed to mature and enlarge his shadowy world, without sacrificing any of the unholy brimfire that continues to be so fresh a voice.

I read this book a few years ago and was totally blown away by its emptiness and futility. It takes a lot of talent for an author to make people feel the kinds of emotions one feels for the characters in this book. Ellis does this easily, sometimes too easily, and leaves you wanting more. I have re-read 'Informers' two or three times since then and still love it. Even though Ellis seems to have only one point in any of his novels, that is to make the reader feel empty contemptment toward his characters, all of his books are a great read. But surely he will have to try harder to do better than 'Less Than Zero'.