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A Coney Island Reader: Through Dizzy Gates of Illusion

Louis Parascandola

John Parascandola (ed.)

This anthology focuses on the unique history and experience of Coney Island, a beloved fixture of the New York City landscape. It features a gallery of portraits by the world's finest poets, ... More

This anthology focuses on the unique history and experience of Coney Island, a beloved fixture of the New York City landscape. It features a gallery of portraits by the world's finest poets, essayists, and fiction writers. These include Walt Whitman, Stephen Crane, José Martí, Maxim Gorky, Federico García Lorca, Isaac Bashevis Singer, E. E. Cummings, Djuna Barnes, Colson Whitehead, Robert Olen Butler, and Katie Roiphe. Moody, mystical and enchanting, Coney Island has thrilled newcomers and soothed native New Yorkers for decades. As complex as the city of which it is a part, it is famous for its fantasy entertainments, world-class boardwalk and large beach and, even today, provides a welcome respite from the city's dense neighborhoods, unrelenting traffic and sombre grid layout. Coney Island has long offered a kaleidoscopic panorama of people, places and events, creating, as Lawrence Ferlinghetti once wrote, “a Coney Island of the mind.” This anthology captures the highs and lows of the place, with works that picture it as a restful resort, a playground for the masses and a symbol of America's democratic spirit, as well as a Sodom by the sea, a garish display of capitalist excess and a paradigm of urban decay.Less

Foundations of the American Century: The Ford, Carnegie, and Rockefeller Foundations in the Rise of American Power

Inderjeet Parmar

This book reveals the complex interrelations, shared mindsets and collaborative efforts of influential public and private organizations in the building of American hegemony. It focuses on the ... More

This book reveals the complex interrelations, shared mindsets and collaborative efforts of influential public and private organizations in the building of American hegemony. It focuses on the involvement of the Ford, Rockefeller, and Carnegie foundations in U.S. foreign affairs, and traces the transformation of America from an “isolationist” nation into the world's only superpower, all in the name of benevolent stewardship. The book begins in the 1920s with the establishment of these foundations and their system of top-down, elitist, scientific giving, which focused more on managing social, political, and economic change than on solving modern society's structural problems. It recounts how the American intellectuals, academics and policy makers affiliated with these organizations institutionalized such elitism, which then bled into the machinery of U.S. foreign policy and became regarded as the essence of modernity. The book argues that America hoped to replace Britain in the role of global hegemon and created the necessary political, ideological, military, and institutional capacity to do so, yet, it shows that, far from being objective, the Ford, Rockefeller, and Carnegie foundations often advanced U.S. interests at the expense of other nations. It incorporates case studies of American philanthropy in Nigeria, Chile, and Indonesia, and assesses the knowledge networks underwriting American dominance in the twentieth century.Less

Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality: Progress and Poverty in the Gilded Age

Edward O'Donnell

The explosion of American industrial output and national wealth at the end of the nineteenth century was matched by a troubling rise in poverty and worker unrest. As politicians and intellectuals ... More

The explosion of American industrial output and national wealth at the end of the nineteenth century was matched by a troubling rise in poverty and worker unrest. As politicians and intellectuals fought over who to blame for this crisis, Henry George (1839–1897) published Progress and Poverty (1879), a radical critique of laissez-faire capitalism and its threat to the nation's republican traditions. His book, which became a surprise best-seller, offered a popular, provocative solution: a single tax on land values. George's writings and years of social activism almost won him the mayor's seat in New York City in 1886. Though he lost the election, his ideas proved instrumental to shaping a progressivism that remains essential to tackling inequality today. This exploration of George's life and times merges labor, ethnic, intellectual, and political history to illuminate the early militant labor movement in Gilded Age New York. The text locates in George's rise to prominence the beginning of a larger effort by American workers to regain control of the workplace and obtain economic security. The Gilded Age was the first but by no means last period in which Americans confronted the mixed outcomes of modern capitalism. George's accessible, forward-thinking ideas on democracy, equality, and freedom have tremendous value to ongoing debates over the future of unions, corporate power, Wall Street recklessness, regulation, and political polarization.Less

A History of Brooklyn Bridge Park: How a Community Reclaimed and Transformed New York City's Waterfront

Nancy Webster and David Shirley

By the 1970s, the Brooklyn piers had become a wasteland on the New York City waterfront. Today, they have been transformed into a stunning park that is enjoyed by countless Brooklynites and visitors ... More

By the 1970s, the Brooklyn piers had become a wasteland on the New York City waterfront. Today, they have been transformed into a stunning park that is enjoyed by countless Brooklynites and visitors from across New York City and around the world. A History of Brooklyn Bridge Park recounts the grassroots, multivoiced, and contentious effort, beginning in the 1980s, to transform Brooklyn’s defunct piers into a beautiful, urban oasis. The movement to resist commercial development on the piers reveals how concerned citizens came together to shape the future of their community. After winning a number of battles, park advocates, stakeholders, and government officials collaborated to create a thoroughly unique city park that takes advantage of the water and the ’Manhattan skyline, combining an innovative design with vibrant cultural programming. From start to finish, this history emphasizes the contributions, collaborations, and spirited disagreements that made the planning and construction of Brooklyn Bridge Park a model of natural urban development and public–private partnership. The book includes interviews with Brooklyn residents, politicians, activists, urban planners, landscape architects, and other key participants in the fight for the park. The story of Brooklyn Bridge Park also speaks to larger issues confronting all cities, including the development of postindustrial spaces and the ways to balance public and private interests without sacrificing creative vision or sustainable goals.Less

In Pursuit of Privilege: A History of New York City's Upper Class and the Making of a Metropolis

Clifton Hood

A history that extends from the 1750s to the present, In Pursuit of Privilege recounts upper-class New Yorkers’ struggle to create a distinct world guarded against outsiders, even as economic growth ... More

A history that extends from the 1750s to the present, In Pursuit of Privilege recounts upper-class New Yorkers’ struggle to create a distinct world guarded against outsiders, even as economic growth and democratic opportunity enabled aspirants to gain entrance. Despite their efforts, New York City’s upper class has been drawn into the larger story of the city both through class conflict and through their role in building New York’s cultural and economic foundations. In Pursuit of Privilege describes the famous and infamous characters and events at the center of this extraordinary history, from the elite families and wealthy tycoons of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to the Wall Street executives of today. From the start, upper-class New Yorkers have been open and aggressive in their behavior, keen on attaining prestige, power, and wealth. Clifton Hood sharpens this characterization by merging a history of the New York economy in the eighteenth century with the story of Wall Street’s emergence as an international financial center in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as well as the dominance of New York’s financial and service sectors in the 1980s. Bringing together several decades of upheaval and change, he shows that New York’s upper class did not rise exclusively from the Gilded Age but rather from a relentless pursuit of privilege, affecting not just the urban elite but the city’s entire cultural, economic, and political fabric.Less

Kosher USA: How Coke Became Kosher and Other Tales of Modern Food

Roger Horowitz

Kosher USA follows the fascinating journey of kosher food through the modern industrial food system. It recounts how iconic products such as Coca-Cola and Jell-O tried to become kosher; the ... More

Kosher USA follows the fascinating journey of kosher food through the modern industrial food system. It recounts how iconic products such as Coca-Cola and Jell-O tried to become kosher; the contentious debates among rabbis over the incorporation of modern science into Jewish law; how Manischewitz wine became the first kosher product to win over non-Jewish consumers (principally African Americans); the techniques used by Orthodox rabbinical organizations to embed kosher requirements into food manufacturing; and the difficulties encountered by kosher meat and other kosher foods that fell outside the American culinary consensus. Kosher USA is filled with big personalities, rare archival finds, and surprising influences: the Atlanta rabbi Tobias Geffen, who made Coke kosher; the lay chemist and kosher-certification pioneer Abraham Goldstein; the kosher-meat magnate Harry Kassel; and the animal-rights advocate Temple Grandin, a strong supporter of shechita, or Jewish slaughtering practice. By exploring the complex encounter between ancient religious principles and modern industrial methods, Kosher USA adds a significant chapter to the story of Judaism’s interaction with non-Jewish cultures and the history of modern Jewish American life as well as American foodways.Less

A Lever Long Enough: A History of Columbia's School of Engineering and Applied Science Since 1864

Robert McCaughey

This book provides a social history of Columbia University's School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS). It combines archival research with oral testimony and contemporary interviews to build a ... More

This book provides a social history of Columbia University's School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS). It combines archival research with oral testimony and contemporary interviews to build a portrait of one of the oldest engineering schools in the United States. The book follows the evolving relationship between SEAS's engineers and the rest of the Columbia University student body, faculty, and administration. It also describes the interaction between SEAS staff and the inhabitants and institutions of New York City, where the school has resided since it was founded in 1864. It compares the historical struggles and achievements of the school's past engineers with the present-day battles and accomplishments of their successors. It contrasts the school's teaching and research approaches with those of other engineering schools. It provides both a localized history of a school striving to define itself within a university known for its strengths in the humanities and the social sciences and a wider story of the transformation of the applied sciences into a critical component of American technology and education.Less

Nicholas Miraculous: The Amazing Career of the Redoubtable Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler

Michael Rosenthal

To those who loved him, like Theodore Roosevelt, he was “Nicholas Miraculous,” the fabled educator who had a hand in everything; to those who did not, like novelist Upton Sinclair, he was “the ... More

To those who loved him, like Theodore Roosevelt, he was “Nicholas Miraculous,” the fabled educator who had a hand in everything; to those who did not, like novelist Upton Sinclair, he was “the intellectual leader of the American plutocracy,” a champion of “false and cruel ideals.” Ezra Pound branded him “one of the more loathsome figures” of the age. Whether celebrated or despised, Nicholas Murray Butler (1862–1947) was an irresistible force who helped shape American history. This book investigates Butler's rise to prominence as president of Columbia University, which he presided over for forty-four years and developed into one of the world's most distinguished centers for research and teaching. During his time as president, Butler won the Nobel Peace Prize and headed the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, among innumerable other organizations. In 1920, he sought the Republican nomination for president, managing to garner more votes on the first ballot than the eventual winner, Warren Harding.Less

Race and Real Estate: Conflict and Cooperation in Harlem, 1890-1920

Kevin McGruder

Through the lens of real estate transactions from 1890 to 1920, this book offers an innovative perspective on Harlem's history and reveals the complex interactions between whites and African ... More

Through the lens of real estate transactions from 1890 to 1920, this book offers an innovative perspective on Harlem's history and reveals the complex interactions between whites and African Americans at a critical time of migration and development. During these decades, Harlem saw a dramatic increase in its African American population, and although most histories speak only of the white residents who met these newcomers with hostility, this book uncovers a range of reactions. Although some white Harlem residents used racially restrictive real estate practices to inhibit the influx of African Americans into the neighborhood, others believed African Americans had a right to settle wherever it was affordable and helped facilitate sales. These years saw Harlem transform not into a “ghetto,” as many histories portray, but into a community that became a symbol of both the possibilities and challenges black populations faced across the nation. The book also introduces alternative reasons behind African Americans' migration to Harlem, showing that they came not to escape poverty but to establish a lasting community. Owning real estate was an essential part of this plan, along with building churches, erecting youth-serving facilities, and gaining power in public office.Less

The Reagan Era: A History of the 1980s

Doug Rossinow

This book looks at the full measure of Ronald Reagan’s presidency and the ideology of Reaganism. Believers in libertarian economics and a muscular foreign policy, Reaganite conservatives in the 1980s ... More

This book looks at the full measure of Ronald Reagan’s presidency and the ideology of Reaganism. Believers in libertarian economics and a muscular foreign policy, Reaganite conservatives in the 1980s achieved impressive success in their efforts to transform American government, politics, and society, ushering in the political and social system Americans inhabit today. The book links current trends in economic inequality to the policies and social developments of the Reagan era. It reckons with the racial politics of Reaganism and its debt to the backlash generated by the civil rights movement, as well as Reaganism’s entanglement with the politics of crime and the rise of mass incarceration. The book narrates the conflicts that rocked U.S. foreign policy toward Central America, and it explains the role of the recession during the early 1980s in the decline of manufacturing and the growth of a service economy.Less

Reds at the Blackboard: Communism, Civil Rights, and the New York City Teachers Union

Clarence Taylor

The New York City Teachers Union shares a deep history with the American left, having participated in some of its most explosive battles. Established in 1916, the union maintained an early, ... More

The New York City Teachers Union shares a deep history with the American left, having participated in some of its most explosive battles. Established in 1916, the union maintained an early, unofficial partnership with the American Communist Party, winning key union positions and advocating a number of Party goals. This book recounts this pivotal relationship and the backlash it created, as the union threw its support behind controversial policies and rights movements. It reaffirms the party's close ties with the union, yet it also makes clear that the organization was anything but a puppet of Communist power. The book showcases the rise of a unique type of unionism that would later dominate the organizational efforts behind civil rights, academic freedom, and the empowerment of blacks and Latinos. Through its affiliation with the Communist Party, the union pioneered what would later become social movement unionism, solidifying ties with labor groups, black and Latino parents, and civil rights organizations to acquire greater school and community resources. It also militantly fought to improve working conditions for teachers while championing broader social concerns. For the first time, the book reveals the union's early growth and the somewhat illegal attempts by the Board of Education to eradicate the group. It also describes how the infamous Red Squad and other undercover agents worked with the Board to bring down the union and how the union and its opponents wrestled with charges of anti-Semitism.Less

Taking It Big: C. Wright Mills and the Making of Political Intellectuals

Stanley Aronowitz

C. Wright Mills (1916–1962) was an intellectual who transformed the independent American Left in the 1940s and 1950s. Often challenging the established ideologies and approaches of fellow leftist ... More

C. Wright Mills (1916–1962) was an intellectual who transformed the independent American Left in the 1940s and 1950s. Often challenging the established ideologies and approaches of fellow leftist thinkers, Mills was central to creating and developing the idea of the “public intellectual” in postwar America and laid the political foundations for the rise of the New Left in the 1960s. This book reconstructs this icon's formation and the new dimension of American political life that followed his work. It revisits Mills's education and its role in shaping his outlook and intellectual restlessness. Mills defined himself as a maverick, and the book tests this claim (which has been challenged in recent years) against the work and thought of his contemporaries. It describes Mills's growing circle of contacts among the New York Intellectuals and his efforts to reenergize the Left by encouraging a fundamentally new theoretical orientation centered on more ambitious critiques of U.S. society. Blurring the rigid boundaries among philosophy, history, and social theory and between traditional orthodoxies and the radical imagination, Mills became one of the most admired and controversial thinkers of his time and was instrumental in inspiring the student and antiwar movements of the 1960s. This book not only reclaims this critical thinker's reputation but also emphasizes his ongoing significance to debates on power in American democracy.Less

They Wished They Were Honest: The Knapp Commission and New York City Police Corruption

Michael Armstrong

For two years the author was chief counsel to the Knapp Commission, investigating cops. Based on the author's recollections of this watershed moment in law enforcement accountability—prompted by the ... More

For two years the author was chief counsel to the Knapp Commission, investigating cops. Based on the author's recollections of this watershed moment in law enforcement accountability—prompted by the report on whistleblower cop Frank Serpico—this book recreates the struggles and significance of the Commission and explores the factors that led to its success and the restoration of the NYPD's public image. Serpico's charges against the NYPD encouraged Mayor John Lindsay to appoint Whitman Knapp to chair a Citizen's Commission on police graft. Chief Counsel Armstrong cobbled together an investigative group of a half-dozen lawyers and a dozen agents. When funding was about to run out, the “blue wall of silence” collapsed. A “Madame,” a corrupt lawyer, and an informant led to a “super thief” cop, who was trapped and “turned” by the Commission. This led to hearings, which publicly refuted the notion that departmental corruption was limited to only a “few rotten apples.” The book illuminates police investigative strategy; governmental and departmental political maneuvering; ethical and philosophical issues in law enforcement; the efficacy (or lack thereof) of the police's anticorruption efforts; the effectiveness of the training of police officers; the psychological and emotional pressures that lead to corruption; and the effects of police criminality on individuals and society. It concludes with the effects, in today's world, of Knapp and succeeding investigations into police corruption and the value of permanent outside monitoring bodies, such as the special prosecutor's office, formed in response to the Commission's recommendation, as well as the current monitoring commission, of which Armstrong is chairman.Less

Winnebago Nation: The RV in American Culture

James Twitchell

This book takes a light-hearted look at the culture and industry behind the yearning to spend the night in one's car. For the young the roadtrip is a coming-of-age ceremony; for those later in life ... More

This book takes a light-hearted look at the culture and industry behind the yearning to spend the night in one's car. For the young the roadtrip is a coming-of-age ceremony; for those later in life it is the realization of a lifelong desire to be spontaneous, nomadic, and free. Informed by personal experiences on the road, the book recounts the RV's origins and evolution over the twentieth century; its rise, fall, and rebirth as a cultural icon; its growing mechanical complexity as it evolved from an estate wagon to a converted bus to a mobile home; and its role in bolstering and challenging conceptions of American identity. Mechanical yet dreamy, independent yet needful, solitary yet clubby, adventurous yet homebound, life in a mobile home is a distillation of the American character and an important embodiment of American exceptionalism. The frontier may be tapped out but we still yearn for the exploratory life. This book concludes with some thoughts on the future of RV communities and the possibility of mobile cities becoming a real part of the American landscape.Less