The House That Ruth Built: A New Stadium, the First Yankees Championship, and the Redemption of 1923 Review

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The House That Ruth Built: A New Stadium, the First Yankees Championship, and the Redemption of 1923 ReviewI love great writing, and author Robert Weintraub has treated us to a rousing rendition of a story in his new book entitled The House That Ruth Built. It is an account of the 1923 baseball season with a concentration on the feud between the New York Giants and their across-the-Harlem River rivals the New York Yankees. We have had recent books devoted to the seasons of 1920 and 1921, but this book surpasses both of those. Weintraub avoids the day-by-day summaries of games that all too often make up books devoted to particular seasons. Instead the featured players in this story such as owners, managers, players, and writers are all brought back to life with anecdotes that greatly enrich this wonderful book. Examples would be a story you may well not have heard regarding the Lou Gehrig and Wally Pipp incident. How did Bullet Joe Bush get his nickname? The train ride that took the life of "Wild Bill" Donovan and spared the life of George Weiss who went on to become the general manager of the New York Yankees. The Odd Couple ownership duo of prim and proper Jacob Ruppert and slovenly Til Huston and their accompanying feud over who should manage the Yankees. Ruppert had the audacity to insist on being called Colonel when Huston is over in France fighting in The Great War to End All Wars. Giant Manager John McGraw's inconsiderate treatment of Lou Gehrig at a tryout. Bomber boss Ed Barrow telling Eleanor Gehrig, "Well, I guess he'll have to find another line of work," when told Lou would no longer be able to play baseball.
This book is loaded with anecdotes regarding individuals such as those listed above along with others such as Bob Shawkey, Herb Pennock, Carl Mays, Art Nehf, Miller Huggins, Casey Stengel, along with numerous others, not the least of which is the Prince of Pounders, the Behemoth of Biff, the Sultan of Swat, the Colossus of Clout, the Maharajah of Mash, Babe Ruth himself. You may think you have read all you need to know about the individuals in this book, but author Robert Weintraub has provided each of us with stories galore and written in a very humorous way that will keep you entertained with laughs throughout the book.
Baseball was blessed with great writers during this time period such as Grantland Rice, Damon Runyon, Joe Vila, Ring Lardner, Westbrook Pegler, John Kieran, Paul Gallico, Bozeman Bulger, and Dan Daniel. All of those names should be familiar to most any baseball fan who has done any reading on the game's history. Anecdotes along with examples of their writing are also provided.
This book is about The Battle of Broadway, the scientific baseball of John McGraw verses the long ball being ushered into baseball by Babe Ruth. McGraw berating his team into trying to win a third consecutive championship against his hated rival Babe Ruth and the Yankees. This book is social history at its best. It also amply illustrates there is more to history than wars, treaties, and presidents. I bought both the hard cover and the Kindle edition. You're a baseball fan, you say? Then buy the book. It is that good.The House That Ruth Built: A New Stadium, the First Yankees Championship, and the Redemption of 1923 Overview

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Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City Review

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Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City ReviewJonathan Mahler has hit a home run with this excellent examination of New York City politics, baseball and social life in 1977. The dual narrative focuses primarily on the titanic, four-way struggle for Gracie Mansion involving Koch, Cuomo, the incumbent Abe Beame and Bella Abzug, as well as the incendiary Steinbrenner-Martin-Jackson triangle of animus in the Bronx.
The sweltering summer of 1977 also featured the Son of Sam serial murders and power-failure-induced rioting - the City's worst civic disorder since the Civil War - and Mahler skillfully weaves these compelling events into a captivating, past-faced narrative. Ground-zero of the rioting was the Bushwick section of Brooklyn - less than a decade before a stable, working class neighborhood - and Mahler provides a vivid portrait of the chaotic mayhem that took hold there (as well as in other poor communities) when the lights went out on July 13.
Mahler also shows how the ghetto rioting transformed the Mayoral race. In mid summer, Ed Koch, then a relatively low profile Congressman, was fourth in the polls, mired in the low single digits. However, the erstwhile Greenwich Village liberal recognized that New Yorkers were ripe for a stern, law-and-order message. In particular, Koch's embrace of capital punishment and his get-tough policies generally found resonance with an electorate that had grown weary of the culture of lawlessness that increasingly pervaded their lives. The long-shot candidate - David Garth, his campaign guru, placed Koch's odds at no better than 40 to 1 - rode voter outrage to a first-place finish in the Democratic primary, and after besting Cuomo in a runoff, to City Hall.
Meanwhile, up in the Bronx, the season-long hostilities between the egocentric Reggie Jackson and his combative manager flared famously in an ugly confrontation in the visitor's dugout at Fenway Park. Steinbrenner sided with his million-dollar superstar (Mahler calls Jackson New York's first black superstar; I'm not so sure), the fans overwhelmingly with the pugnacious Martin. Despite the team's success, the melodrama off the field eclipsed the drama on the field for much of the season - until Jackson's prodigious, three-homer performance in the last game of the World Series. Mr. October's Ruthian feat helped the Yanks capture their first world championship in 12 years and set everything right - at least until next season.
I am a compulsive reader, but found this book especially addictive. I think you will, too.Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City Overview

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Sisters in the Brotherhoods: Working Women Organizing for Equality in New York City (Palgrave Studies in Oral History) Review

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Sisters in the Brotherhoods: Working Women Organizing for Equality in New York City (Palgrave Studies in Oral History) ReviewRosie's Daughters
Nowadays, to find a woman CEO leading a Fortune 500 company is no longer a novelty. The most recent list has a dozen, including the bosses of Pepsi, ADM, Kraft, Xerox and Wellpoint. A couple of years ago, a woman was elected Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. And perhaps, if she'd she taken her underdog rival more seriously, a woman would now be the Democratic Party's nominee for the Presidency.
But some barriers - seemingly a lot lower and less elite -- remain formidable. Anyone who reads Jane LaTour's revelatory Sisters in the Brotherhoods, will come to understand why it's not unlikely that Pakistan, a conservative Muslim country, will have another woman president before a woman is ever elected president of a national blue collar construction union in the U.S.A.
LaTour, a former Teamster herself, as well as a union democracy activist and award winning labor journalist, has produced the most illuminating history yet written of America's most embattled and undeservedly obscure civil rights movement.
Beginning in the late 70's, there began a dramatic, sometimes violent battle by ordinary women to vault over the parapets of blue-collar male privilege. But why are most of us just learning of these battles? Even on the Left, the claims of far smaller groups - think of the transsexual and the transgendered -- are more often invoked than the rights of blue-collar women to pursue a vocation in the trades without risking humiliation, beatings or social isolation.
True, not all of Sisters is unfamiliar territory. Some was explored in the 2005 film North Country (working title "Class Action"). It starred Charlize Theron in the fictionalized story of Lois Jenson who battled against sexual harassment and union indifference in the mines of Minnesota. Eventually, Theron/ Jensen prevailed after decades of legal struggle.
LaTour's stories in Sisters are altogether darker, richer and more diverse. Hollywood's working class heroines are stunningly beautiful individuals whose struggle - generally pursued through the courts -- elevates and isolates them from other women. They triumph because of their greater endowment of character and charisma - and beauty contest looks. Think of Erin Brockovich, the ex-model and unemployed single mom without a B.A. who almost single-handedly takes on and defeats PG&E.
In the beautifully crafted stories of Sisters, there actually are some tradeswomen who have movie star looks. Most don't. There are white graduates of elite colleges and black welfare moms; some strive to be good Marxists others just want to be crackerjack plumbers; there are lesbians and heterosexuals; inspirations range from those who dreamed as little girls of a career in the trades to those who simply liked the prospect of making three times the median wage.
LaTour follows a dozen women who got past the trade union barriers - past apprenticeship programs that favor relatives and co-ethnics; who got by -- at least temporarily --hiring hall favoritism; and on the job harassment --- to become journey plumbers, iron workers, electricians, carpenters.firefighters, telephone technicians, truckers and electronic technicians..Sisters is about women who adopted - after the main cycle of 60's and 70's radicalism had passed -- social movement building as their survival strategy. It's about the difficulties of trying to fight the institution you want to be part of. About how to build a social movement without any real resources or sources of outside support. And about the way a big swath of American labor unionism has adopted solidarity for the few, the white and the male.
All this, Sisters shows, helps to explain why compared to middle class and professional women, blue collar women have had a much harder time making their way. Like the troops who landed on the Omaha Beach, despite their bravery and capacity for organization, they've had a hard time getting off the beach, Thirty years ago, women were radically underrepresented in the trades - only 2%. Since then, there's been some progress, but they still haven't hit 3%.
But does it even matter that there are huge and even brutal obstacles to women becoming plumbers, operating engineers, or working on high iron? Why can't these women just stay in their job segregated ghettos - working in traditional women's fields of health, education and welfare? Or go to law school if they're serious about making money?
Reading the stories in Sisters, you're able to appreciate why - beyond the abstract questions of rights and justice - because the tone of the stories isn't what you'd expect. The women have suffered a great deal, but this is no festival of resentment. Those who've survived have the same pride in their craft that men do. Rather than simply rehearsing their humiliations; we hear expressions of gratitude - like the woman who paid tribute to the guy who watched her back when threatened by a knife wielding "brother." What finally persuades is the common decency and deservedness of the women pursuing these difficult vocations.Sisters in the Brotherhoods: Working Women Organizing for Equality in New York City (Palgrave Studies in Oral History) OverviewSisters in the Brotherhoods is an oral-history-based study of women who have, against considerable odds, broken the gender barrier to blue-collar employment in various trades in New York City beginning in the 1970s. It is a story of the fight against deeply ingrained cultural assumptions about what constitutes women's work, the middle-class bias of feminism, the daily grinding sexism of male coworkers, and the institutionalized discrimination of employers and unions. It is also the story of some gutsy women who, seeking the material rewards and personal satisfactions of skilled manual labor, have struggled to make a place for themselves among New York City's construction workers, stationary engineers, firefighters, electronic technicians, plumbers, and transit workers.Each story contributes to an important unifying theme: the way women confronted the enormous sexism embedded in union culture and developed new organizational forms to support their struggles, including and especially the United Tradeswomen.

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The Origin of Organized Crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891-1931 (Routledge Advances in American History) Review

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The Origin of Organized Crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891-1931 (Routledge Advances in American History) ReviewMeticulously documented survey, with the authors synthesis. Challenges previous interpretations. Of great value to those interested in this history.The Origin of Organized Crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891-1931 (Routledge Advances in American History) OverviewWhile the later history of theNewYorkMafia has received extensive attention, what has been conspicuously absent until now is an accurate and conversant review of the formative years of Mafia organizational growth. David Critchley examines the Mafia recruitment process, relations with Mafias in Sicily, the role of non-Sicilians in New York's organized crime Families, kinship connections, the Black Hand, the impact of Prohibition, and allegations that a "new" Mafia was created in 1931. This book will interest Historians, Criminologists, and anyone fascinated by the American Mafia.

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Central Park, An American Masterpiece: A Comprehensive History of the Nation's First Urban Park Review

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Central Park, An American Masterpiece: A Comprehensive History of the Nation's First Urban Park ReviewCommemorating the 150th anniversary of Central Park, photographer and historian Sara Cedar Miller celebrates the aesthetic, cultural and historic significance of America's first public park with the book "Central Park, An American Masterpiece." This is the park's definitive illustrated history, and offers some of the most gorgeous photographs I have seen on the subject - a difficult task given the number of pictures that have been drawn, painted and photographed of the Manhattan landmark. The book includes over 200 color illustrations, original plans and drawings alongside modern photos, giving the viewer/reader an historical perspective.
Accompanying Ms. Miller's work, portraying the park throughout the seasons, is a well written text which highlights the conception and creation of the park and its art and architecture. This is a big, beautiful picture book that would make a wonderful addition to any home or library. It's a wonderful gift idea. I know as I have given it numerous times.
Ms. Miller is the parks official historian and photographer and has been since the mid-1980s.
JANACentral Park, An American Masterpiece: A Comprehensive History of the Nation's First Urban Park Overview

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My First New York: Early Adventures in the Big City (As Remembered by Actors, Artists, Athletes, Chefs, Comedians, Filmmakers, Mayors, Models, Moguls, Porn Stars, Rockers, Writers, and Others Review

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My First New York: Early Adventures in the Big City (As Remembered by Actors, Artists, Athletes, Chefs, Comedians, Filmmakers, Mayors, Models, Moguls, Porn Stars, Rockers, Writers, and Others ReviewMy First New York is a lot like the city itself, dirty, glamorous, lonely, bizarre and full of wonder. Together these stories really paint a picture of a bunch of different facets of New York City. If you've never been you'll want to go and if you have, you'll recognize something from your own memory of the city.
There is something so uplifting reading about people's first experiences in the city instead of say a random memory, people go there with so much hope and promise and to see if the city fulfills that promise, that's all part of the fun. You never know what will happen until you go there.
The essays vary in length and tone but they all contribute something, some of my favorites include essays by James Rosenquist, Liza Minnelli, Parker Posey, Mike Myers, and Jenny Joslin. At times some of the essays came off as people bragging about people they knew and how they were there when this and this happened but I think it comes with the territory, these people were there making history.
This book IS New York City and I'd highly suggest it to New Yorkers and those that wish they were New Yorkers. I feel like I can open it anytime and get a taste of the city.My First New York: Early Adventures in the Big City (As Remembered by Actors, Artists, Athletes, Chefs, Comedians, Filmmakers, Mayors, Models, Moguls, Porn Stars, Rockers, Writers, and Others Overview

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Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City Review

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Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City ReviewThis is a heavy and substantial tome (inevitably printed in China - where else?) which details the author's amazing work in reconstructing the stunningly-beautiful natural environment of Manhattan Island in 1609, when the Dutch explorer Henry Hudson and his crew first laid eyes on it.
This much I already knew before purchasing the book, but frankly, I was disappointed when I actually got it. In part this is because the book seems to struggle to decide what it wants to be. A major portion does indeed deal with Manhattan Island in 1609. There are a number of amazing images put together with the latest computer-generated image technology after painstaking field research and with the 18th century British headquarters map. They depict a Manhattan so beautiful it brings tears to the eyes, particularly when you consider how totally the natural environment of the island has been destroyed. Still, I was left only half-satisfied, and would love to have seen something other than simulated aerial views, i.e. some neighborhood by neighborhood ground-level close-ups with descriptions (maybe they exist somewhere, but the link to the [...] website printed on the book's jacket didn't work; perhaps it's not up yet). But apart from reprints of historical paintings and drawings, there is less detail than I would have expected. Nor is there much discussion (apart from references to the laying-out of the grid street-plan and the grading involved) of the Manhattan archeological record, or of the massive and traumatic process of changing the primitive woodland paradise of 1609 into an unrecognizable agricultural and then urban environment. Since the earliest Dutch prints of New Amsterdam in the book already show a treeless tip of southern Manhattan, the colonists clearly wasted no time in proceeding with an aggressive program of land-clearing and filling. Perhaps few records exist, but it would have been interesting to learn more about how this happened, and how the deforestation progressed over the decades. For that matter, the calculated rapaciousness with which the natural environment of Manhattan was destroyed over 3 centuries also gets short shrift; to anyone acquainted with the degraded environment of NY City today & the meager environmental consciousness of its citizenry, Sanderson is oddly optimistic as he compares the 'natural biosphere' of the virgin landscape of 1609 to the 'human biosphere' of Times Square in 2009, and talks enthusiastically about a green NY which sounds more like Portland, Oregon.
Dr. Sanderson also digresses with lengthy chapters best described as philosophical ruminations on the nature of environmental research, the composition of biospheres, and the super-green Manhattan of 2409 (a wildly-optimistic scenario which combines elements of agriculture and a Disney 'city of tomorrow') only indirectly related to recreating Manhattan's lush original environment. The chapter on Manhattan's original inhabitants, the Lenni Lenape indians is fascinating, but only emphasizes how utterly the historical record of these people, who dwelt on Manhattan for hundreds of generations, has been erased.
Fully the last quarter of the book is a series of appendices, some of which are fascinating (catalog of the brooks, streams, and ponds of Manhattan), though one wonders whether so many lists were really needed.
Dr. Sanderson's enthusiasm for his topic comes through loud and clear. I just wish a bit more of it had been translated into the concrete and included in this book.Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City OverviewOn September 12, 1609, Henry Hudson first set eyes on the land that would become Manhattan. It's difficult for us to imagine what he saw, but for more than a decade, landscape ecologist Eric Sanderson has been working to do just that. Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City is the astounding result of those efforts, reconstructing, in words and images, the wild island that millions of New Yorkers now call home.

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The Flatiron: The New York Landmark and the Incomparable City That Arose with It Review

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The Flatiron: The New York Landmark and the Incomparable City That Arose with It ReviewAlice Alexiou writes, not only a history of specifically the Flatiron building in New York, but New York's growth in the early 20th century and of the families responsible for building many of the iconic New York landmarks. Her prologue tells of her personal connection to the building. Her grandfather had a part investing in it, purchasing it after WWII for about half of what it cost to build it.
Her writing manner is interesting to read, it captures the growth and spirit of the city, its' slumps, its' businesses and the structure of the buildings themselves.
The building boom of Chicago's influence on New York and the history of the architects, engineers and moguls who invested and built these new skyscrapers is well done. Many stories are included that give the spirit of the times, such as the situation of renting chairs in parks to avoid unacceptable companions and the resulting protests that followed. The lives of the builders and their families are examined, especially that of Harry Black. The good and bad of the unions are included, as are the amazing mechanics of these huge structures of the early 1900's. Construction details are given - riveters tossing hot rivets like baseballs. Fire safety and building codes were a prime concern of New Yorkers and they are covered as are the effects of wind, especially on and created by a freestanding triangular structure such as the Flatiron.
The epilogue gives a much appreciated summing up of most of the people mentioned in the book, even including the wind which is not as strong as in years before because of taller buildings being built nearby.
This is a book that would be of interest to anyone who loves the city of New York, American history or architecture.The Flatiron: The New York Landmark and the Incomparable City That Arose with It Overview

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Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City (Columbia History of Urban Life) Review

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Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City (Columbia History of Urban Life) ReviewWhen I started this book, I thought that it would be a slow and plodding reading.
Not so! It moves along nicely and really gives you an in depth look at what made
Koch the man and mayor he was. Well researched and full of the details that a
history buff would want. I am not through yet, but I love it. The author should
mimic a phrase from the subject and ask "How am I doing?" The answer is you are
doing great! Read this book and enjoy a lovely look at history.Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City (Columbia History of Urban Life) Overview

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