A fascinating collection of two hundred large, one to a page, photos capturing the fifties. The photos are divided into five sections and each picture has a caption and credit taken from the back of the print. Page sixteen shows the back of a photo from 1953 taken in Berlin and it is a mess of crossed out picture sizes, pasted on captions, five in all, and rubber stamps, this photo has been used at least six times over the years.

I was pleased to see that most of these photos can be viewed not just as historical news images but as well crafted compositions. So many photos that we see on a daily basis (especially in the media) are purely for the moment and lack any real creative input but the ones in this book encourage you to linger and think about what the photos are saying.

Apart from the two hundred pictures there are three essays, Douglas Dreishpoon's on the background to the Times Picture Desk is particularly interesting, a twenty-one page time-line to the fifties, bibliography and index. The elegant layout and excellent printing make this book a good addition to the library of anyone interested in the recent past.

The book is published in conjunction with an exhibition of the photos that is travelling around the Nation between now and 2004

Another book of photos from the paper is 'Pictures of the Times' by Peter Galassi and Susan Kismaric, this has 154 photos covering the last century and is equally as good as 'The Tumultuous Fifties'. Both books rightly conclude that The New York Times is the world's premier daily.

The beginning is very effective in my opinion because of Alger's use of dialogue. The dialogue in the opening lines has a dramatic effect on character development throughout the entire book. In fact that initial exchange in the beginning reveals itself continually throughout the story. Another technique that this writer skillfully uses is a varying point of view. An example of this is when the rough voice sounded gentler, asking, "Have you got any money to buy your breakfast?" The reply that is given to the voice from both Algers and Dick is,"No, but I'll soon get some." This direct first person attitude becomes something that drives the writing and thus, Dick. But what I find particularly significant abut this exchange is Alger's juxtaposition of this first person text to the insertion of third person fully omniscient text. What follows becomes naturally tangled with the telling of the story, which Algers does with both skillful description and detail alike. As a reader I was grabbed and poised for the adventure that is sure to follow. I was specifically captivated with the narration that enters the story because if its strong voice. If you want to read the book on-line and then buy it from Amazon.com, which I recommend you do, check it out at the University of Virginia Library.

Although many scoff at his work today, Horatio Alger Jr. remains the quintessential boys' author of the 19th century. "Ragged Dick" serves as a model for all his other stories as we follow Dick through his rise from rags to riches (or at least middle class respectability.) Alger's talent as a storyteller can not be denied as the reader is carried along from page to page, eager to find out what will happen to the eponymous hero next.
Why the author of the forward to this volume has chosen to continue to spread the myth of Alger's homosexuality/pedophilia is puzzling. The debunked and almost universally discredited biography by Alfred Mayes first started this canard in the early part of the 20th century and succeeding biographers have parroted Mayes' lies. Mayes himself admitted, in print, that the entire biography was a hoax from start to finish.
Alger should be remembered for his stories which paint a vivid picture of 19th century New York City street life and for the tremendous humanitarian work he performed for homeless children of New York City.

This may be a good book but the foreword is written by a fellow named Trachtenberg who not only claims Mr. Alger was a pedophile [unsubstantiated] but then he challenges the idea of upward mobility. Apparently Mr. Trachenberg achieved his own success through being born with a silver spoon, nepotism, or his ethnic associates. There is only Alger book available at a moderate cost. It is "Struggling Upward," which is one of the best and most famous.

First the good: Trachtenberg's style is good; a flowing historical narrative with plenty of personal voices from history. Well researched and, for the most part, well argued. As is fair in any Industrial Age analysis, Trachtenberg views the Gilded Age through a primarily socialist lense, giving a unique perspective on the situation.

Now the problems. In general, the work is overly academic in several portions, philosophizing beyond what is rational. I recognize that any work on cultural trends will tend towards this problem; none-the-less the book reminds me of my father reading an article in the newspaper about this new fangled 'rap' phenomenon and speculating about all the repurcussions for the American people: it comes across as both overblown and speaking from a biased and not-with-it perspective. This philosophical bent exposes itself in Trachtenberg's fanatical devotion to writers and intellectuals of the time rather than the politicians who were actually getting things done. It's obvious that Trachtenberg is more interested in a fairy tale history he wished could happen rather than a serious analysis of how things might have worked out differently and for the better.

As to the argument itself, Trachtenberg has, unfortunately, chosen to open his book with his weakest argument: that of Native American culture presenting a terrifying and pervasive cultural challenge to the Americans. That he has chosen to do so is no surprise: the back of the book states that he is a professor of the subject. However, it seems bizarre to start an argument with an opposing viewpoint. Moreover, the viewpoint is a tenuous one. It is a stretch to imagine most of America deeply troubled by ideological conflict with the American Indians, a stretch that becomes apparent when Trachtenberg resorts to using American ideas from the 1880's to explain a counter-ideology within America arising 20 years earlier. Again we have a logical fallacy: how can future events give rise to a counter movement in the past? Why couldn't he find contemporary examples to buttress his argument? Was it laziness or a lack of data to support his claims? I don't know. If an editor had convinced Trachtenberg to save this weaker argument for a later chapter, the organizational structure of the book and the credibility of the writer would increase greatly.

Overall, worth reading for class or for fans of the age, otherwise there's no reason to pick it up.

This book revolutionized the debates on naturalism and realism of the later part of the nineteenth century. It is one of the best interpretations I have ever read about how the formation of corporations were inaugerated in the 1870s with growing mechanization, industrialization, labor strife, and depressions. I have no idea what the prior review means that Trachtenberg looks too much at literary history in that the book only devotes one out of its seven chapters to the writers of the times. The book is mainly concerned with showing the interactions between labor and capital, the formation of the new cities, the effects of Westward expansion (once again, I have no idea what the prior reviewer means by having the initial chapter play such a pivotal role since Trachtenberg does not make the claims that the reviewer makes), the growing of populism, and the 1893 Columbia Exposition.

Regardless if one studies history or literature of the late nineteenth century, this book is one of the most important written about the times and offers a wide range of marginal perspective that are usually overlooked in such texts.

Titon unquestionably knows his subject matter well, and this does come through in the book. Unfortunately, he drains the topic of all the spontaneity and joy that one associates with music with a pendantic and tendetious approach. His writing style, in my experience, aptly reflects his personality. I once took a college class from him when he served as a visiting professor at Carleton College in Minnesota. This book was a mandatory assignment...more royalties for the professor. If you are prepared to take the subject as seriously as Titon takes himself, this book could be for you. Otherwise, there are surely more accessible and informative works to begin a study of this distinctively American musical form.