Middleton has spoiled us with quality books, and "Manhattan Gateway" is no exception.

This book contains a well-balanced selection of how and why this beautiful structure came to life, as well as the incredible engineering that made Penn Station possible.

I am not a New Yorker or an American at all.. I live in Rome, Italy and the similarities with the baths of Diocletian and Caracalla is daunting.

Middleton focuses on technical as well as architectural details and I strongly recommend this book to whoever is interested in either subject.

Also noteworthy are the captions of how the Hell's Gate Bridge was constructed and how the "new" Pennsylvania Station will look like, returning this New York terminal to some of the architectural magnificence intended by the great architects Mc Kim, Meade and White (designers of the original station).

If you like New York, especially for what was lost menially in this great city.. you will love this book.

I am always looking for books on the sport of waterfowling and it's history. This book was very enjoyable as it talked of a way of life many years ago; not only about those men who participated as market hunters, but of the tools of their trade. As a modern waterfowler, I blamed the lack of game on these people of the past. From reading this book I learned not to blame them, but rather understand why they did what they did. I have a different outlook now. I would suggest reading The Outlaw Gunner and The Last of the Market Hunters

For all those who want to learn about the position of Max Ernst within Surrealism this is an essential book. Scholarly essays by Werner Spies (arguably the foremost authority on Max Ernst) and William Camfield, who writes in fascinating detail about the transition period when the artist moved from Dada into Surrealism. The period comes alive with rare photographs and anecdotes about the struggles of Max Ernst to survive in Germany after the first world war and his efforts to reach Paris, the promised land. Max Ernst, a true pioneer of many of the art techniques taught nowadays in artschools, such as frottage and collage, is celebrated in this book with not only almost 200 colour plates of many of his masterpieces, but also many lesser known works which show how he constructed his collages. Added to this are inumerable black and white illustrations of the sources for many of his most famous paintings. As Max Ernst never wrote an autobiography,a book such as this is a must for all those who desire to know something more about the artist who is quoted on page 28 as saying "A painter is lost when he finds himself." An artist difficult to know, but this book goes a long way in bridging that gap.

Many thanks to Bill Mulligan, Jr. for this collection of his father's speeches.

Bill Mulligan, Sr. was a great man, famous in a certain circle, and now he may be known to others through his own words, in saecula, saeculorum. The medium is humor, the message extols family, faith, and friendship, with amusing and enlightening digressions on history, the Law, the Irish, and more.

Mulligan, Jr.'s moving introduction and eulogy complete the portrait. Perhaps eloquence is hereditary.

"Mulligan's Law" is a treat for students of rhetoric and law, and and must for historians researching the history and values of Catholics and the Irish in America.

I remember the first time I saw New York. I was with my parents and we drove down through Pennsylvania from Canada, over the Susquehanna and into New Jersey. As we came around the turnpike, I recognized a city scape rising up over my left shoulder. Through the dusty car window and the haze, perspective was compressed and the distant city looked like jutting grey teeth. Emotionally I realized it was THE CITY, before I could make sense of the angle. It didn't fit with all the t.v. vistas and documentary pictures I had been raised on. It was unique, and it was fresh and it was my discovery.

As years go by and a once distant and monumental city becomes rationalized by repetitive experience, it is easy to lose the first sense of discovery, that dreamy feeling of seeing a great city for the first time.

"New York: Literary Lights" restores that magical quality. The book is an alphabetical listing of most of the great writers, publishers and writing haunts and events that have shaped the modern american mythos. More than just a back to back of mini-biographies, it is a secret map of the vital human side of New York. Streets that had begun to fade jumped back to life for me when I read that one of my favourite writers lived or worked there. The biographies are primarily about writers, but weave a rich fabric that depicts the literary history of New York. As I read deep into the book I found myself flipping back and forth, trying to pick up the trail of a place, or an event and its recurrant impact on New York literature. The writing is deft and chatty, the kind of writing that satisfies like gossip, but stays in mind much longer.

Although some of the stories and characters are legendary and quintessentially Gotham, like, say, Hart Crane, Norman Mailer, or the bar where Dylan Thomas took his last twelve drinks, the bulk of the book is deeper and more penetrating. There are several excellent entries on the Harlem scene, as well as the Jewish scene before and after the second world war. And I learned much about the generous nature of Nathaniel West. The merit of the book however, is Corbett's ability to go beyond the merely encycopedic- to bring out aspects or facts about a writer's life that I did not know. I learned more about people I thought I knew such as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Edgar Allan Poe.

Although I did not expect such devices, there is an excellent sectional map of Manhattan and Brooklyn which details the districts in which famous writers worked. As well, there is a nice glossary of quotes about New York, containing both the old familiar ones such as Hemingway's "Literary New York is a bottle of tapeworms trying to feed on each other" to Rem Koohaus' "In Manhattan, surrealism is invisible".

I managed to read this book before my last trip to New York. I regret this action, because if I had saved it, I could have extended the inevitable imaginal travel that takes place only when you have physically left a place behind.

I recommend this book highly, both as city guide of sorts and as a great armchair trip.

This self-help book allows the reader to understand in layman terms certain powers and provisions needed for wills, proxies, etc without the need for an attorney. The forms in the back are easy to understand and can be copied which is beneficial to the user. The forms are also humorous in nature as well. This do-it-yourself handbook is a necessary tool for anyone looking for quick and helpful information.

This is very much like the Archeology of N.Y.S. by Ritchie as far as the point id is concerned. But if you really like artifacts you can't go wrong buying both.

Though written in an untraditional format, Next Year in Salem offers insight to the life styles of small town America as it really existed during World War II. This book offers a collection of exerpts from the local papers of Salem, New York, detailing such events as air watches, victory gardens and war bonds. If you want to know what life was really like, from the joys to the sorrows, Next Year in Salem is your best bet.

Full of Yankees bashing information and real accounts from past and present players. Anyone who wants to know the truth about the Yankees' "dynasty" must read this book!

If you are researching the Civil War, especially the practice of medicine and surgery during the Civil War, this is an invaluable source. This is a personal journal of a Civil War surgeon. As such it is told in his own words. The reader is regaled with day to day details of the surgeon's life.