Book Description
How does a simple piece of wood become a violin, the king of instruments? Watch and find out as Eugene Drucker, a member of the world–renowned Emerson String Quartet, commissions Sam Zygmuntowicz, a Brooklyn craftsman, to make him a new violin. As he tells this extraordinary story, journalist John Marchese shares the rich lore of this beloved instrument and illuminates an art that has barely changed since the Renaissance.
Marchese takes readers from start to finish as Zygmuntowicz builds the violin, from the first selection of the wood, to the cutting of the back and belly, through the carving of the scroll and the fingerboard, to the placement of the sound peg. Though much of the story takes place in the craftsman's museum–like Brooklyn workshop, there are side trips across the river to the rehearsal rooms of Carnegie Hall and Lincoln center, and across the world. Stops on the itinerary include Cremona, Italy, the magical city where Antonio Stradivari (and a few of his contemporaries) achieved a level of violin–making perfection that has endured for centuries, as well as points in France and Germany integral to the history of the violin.
A stunning work of narrative nonfiction that's also a finely crafted, loving homage to the instrument that most closely approximates the human voice.
Customer Reviews:
Great insight into the mind and craft of a luthier.......2007-06-06
Sam Zygmontowicz is one of the great contemporary violinmakers, and John Marchese has more than done him justice in describing the process of his making a violin (for the Emerson String Quartet's first violinist, Gene Drucker). In the process, Marchese takes us not only into Zyg's studio, but also to Cremona, the birthplace of the violin in its modern form (in the 1560s) and the home of the three greatest families of violinmakers--Amati, Stradivari, and Guarneri. In addition, Marchese reports on his meetings with Drucker, who commissioned the violin, and on Drucker's reaction to his new instrument--which complements the Strad on which he had been playing but cannot, in his opinion, fully replace it.
Enjoyable and generally accurate.......2007-04-02
The author gets to the heart of violin making by studying the work of a modern master. The trip to Cremona is a nice feature of the book, along with the interview with the customer for whom the featured violin is being crafted. I'd love to see a documentary film that parallels this book, with Marchese directing. The references for further reading will help a reader who's inspired by Marchese's book to pursue the study of violin fact and violin mythology.
Book Description
On the corner of Bleecker and Eleventh Streets in the heart of Greenwich Village sits the Magnolia Bakery. This unassuming shop, where the smells of home-style baking weaken even the strongest will, has attracted a clientele that ranges from kids on their way home from school to celebrity glitterati. Cupcakes swirled with pastel frosting crowd the counter, and cakestands display Lemon Vanilla Bundt Cake, Apple Walnut Cake with Caramel Cream Cheese Icing, and Coconut Layer Cake, swathed in fluffy white frosting and covered in drifts of coconut. As Time Out New York says: "The secret to Magnolia's success is simple: Nobody knows how to bake like this anymore."
Magnolia's owners Jennifer Appel and Allysa Torey know how, and in The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook they share their most mouth-watering recipes, from sweet breakfast treats like Dried-Cherry Crumb Buns to classic Iced Molasses Cookies, from decadently rich Caramel Pecan Brownies and Raspberry Marzipan Cheesecake to refreshing Lemon Icebox Pie. Their easy-to-follow recipes and invaluable baking hints mean that even the inexperienced baker will be able to frost the perfect layer cake, turn out the flakiest pie crust, and whip up the creamiest cheesecake. Illustrated with eight pages of glorious color photographs, The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook will inspire you to turn on the oven and create sweet memories for your family and friends.
Customer Reviews:
Good but not the same as the real Magnolia.......2007-10-05
I bought this bakebook for the vanilla cupcakes with vanilla icing, just as they sell at Magnolia. Everytime I'm in the city I like to stop at Magnolia (or my new recent favorite cupcake eatery Buttercup)and eat a delicious treat. However, these cupcakes are definitely not the "real deal." The recipes require tweaking. The cupcakes are too dry when made according to recipe. The icing, had I used all of the sugar the recipe called for, would be cavity rot on a cupcake. I used 1/2 the sugar that the recipe called for and found that to be the perfect amount for the perfect icing. For these reasons, I am giving it 3 stars. It's good, but not quite perfect.
The best cake recipe..........2007-09-14
Cute lil cook book full of fun recipes from one of America's favorite bakeshops. It really is just grandma's recipes, but perfected and increased in serving size. I love this book because I love Magnolia Bakery and their white cake recipe, but if you are looking for a single baking book for your kitchen or a beautiful gift - this book isn't quite at that level. I do, however, love the lil stories that are included with each recipe - how its this customer's favorite or how they first started making it...cute, cute, cute!
Great Book on Baking.......2007-08-06
The book was in perfect shape..just like new. Good price. Great recipes.
Thanks, gb
Cook Book.......2007-07-19
My wife loves the recipes. How can you not want to make these yummy bakes treats. Just don't eat too many or soon you may not fit through your doorways : - )
Yum!.......2007-06-08
I am far from an experienced baker but have had good results thus far. I made the Vanilla cupcakes and they came out great! Definately read the intro before baking. The first round of cupcakes came out not-so-great but after reading the intro and following the tips they came out perfect!
Average customer rating:
- This is the kind of writing that will outlast us all
- Some of the greatest journalistic writing ever written
- Truly a great book.
- Nothing Fishy Here....
- Best Book I Ever Read
|
Up in the Old Hotel
Joseph Mitchell
Manufacturer: Pantheon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| 18th Century
| 19th Century
| 20th Century
| African American
| Asian American
| Classics
| Collections & Readers
| Drama
| General
| Hispanic
| History & Criticism
| Humor
| Jewish American
| Letters & Correspondence
| Native American
| Poetry
| Short Stories
| Women Writers
Similar Items:
-
McSorley's Wonderful Saloon
-
Joe Gould's Secret
-
My Ears Are Bent
-
Here is New York
-
Inventing Human Rights: A History
ASIN: 0679412638
Release Date: 1992-08-04 |
Amazon.com
Journalist Joseph Mitchell, whose death in in May 1996 at the age of 87 merited a half-page obituary in the New York Times, pioneered a style of journalism while crafting brilliant magazine pieces for the New Yorker from the 1930s to the early 1960s. Up in the Old Hotel, a collection of his best reporting, is a 700-page joy to read.
Mitchell lovingly chronicled the lives of odd New York characters. In the pages of Up In the Old Hotel, the reader passes through places such as McSorley's Old Ale House or the Fulton Fish Market that many observers might have found ordinary. But when experienced through Mitchell's gifted eye, the reader will see that these haunts of old New York possess poetry, beauty, and meaning.
Book Description
Mitchell explored a New York City that has now vanished in his four books and his classic reportage for The New Yorker. Mitchell's eccentrics live again in this omnibus volume that contains all of his books and several previously uncollected stories.
Customer Reviews:
This is the kind of writing that will outlast us all.......2007-08-15
Up in the Old Hotel is a masterpiece. I've read it so many times (it is my ultimate desert island book) and have yet to tire of it. The essays (and the few short stories that are included) are timeless, generous works of genius. Joseph Mitchell captures his odd and wonderful subjects as richly realized individuals, and appreciates the smallest of beautiful, dark and humorous nuances. His vision is presented so humbly and offhandedly, yet with absolute precision and so much respect. You truly feel a part of the experience. I'm not sure there is anyone who could write better. All of the essays are amazing, but my favorites are Mr. Hunter's Grave, The Old House at Home, Mazie, and Up in the Old Hotel. The short stories in Section II of the first book are heart wrenching. This book also makes a really great gift.
Some of the greatest journalistic writing ever written.......2007-02-21
This writing puts you right into a time and a place and makes it real.. This is one of the most charming collection of writings I have read so far.. Joseph mitchell's characters of New york are so endearing.. From irish saloon keepers to gypsys to stubborn old men who swear by their diet.. this is great story-telling.. this is the legend of new york..the legends of the real people and eccentrics who inhabit its streets..
Truly a great book........2006-06-09
Whenever I can't think of something to read, I pick up Up in the Old Hotel and read a story or two out of it. I've probably read it 4-5 times and never get tired of it. It captures a lost era of American life that is what I think of when I imagine America in its finest light. Reminiscent of Tortilla Flats and other Steinbeck and even On the Road in a way - a gentler time in our history.
Nothing Fishy Here...........2006-02-24
Well, there is, in the form of several stories of fact and fiction that center around the Fulton Fish Market, and just about all of them are enjoyable. I'll say one thing. If, after reading Up In The Old Hotel, you don't know how to trawl for fish then you didn't really read this book. All in all, over 700 pages of unique character studies. Mitchell seemed to find someone interesting where no one else cared to look. I fully intend to buy more Mitchell.
Best Book I Ever Read.......2005-10-06
I just got done reading this book and I'm sad that it's over. I figure I'll wait a couple of months and then read it right the way through again. I won't go into a lot of boring detail outlining Mitchells fantastically readable writing style and the ease with which he relates incredibly detailed stories and histories he's heard from other people, suffice to say this book will take hold of you and it won't let go. I just feel like this is the book I've been waiting for all my life. Never before has a book fascinated me so much. What struck me most was that I never once became tired of reading it, even right up to the end...usually with a 700 page book I'll be pining for the end by page 500, or I'm bored of the style or the subject matter - not so with "Up in the Old Hotel". It'll have you both regretful that you weren't around 60 years ago, or else wondering if such interesting characters still exist in New York today. Of note are the two incredibly detailed and accurate chapters about gypsies, and the fictional Mr Flood stories. Oh what the hell, it's ALL amazing stuff. I think I decided that Mr Mitchell is the best writer who ever lived by page 100. How come I never knew about this book until I saw it piled high in a second hand book store - and how come they aren't forcing kids to read this alongside such classics as "Huckleberry Finn" and "Life on the Mississippi"? I intend to make it my lifes work to turn as many people as possible on to this incredible book. Don't hesitate, buy it!
Book Description
Repairing Old and Historic Windows Windows are a common problem in nearly every rehabilitation projectshould they be repaired or must they be replaced? What can be done to repair a water-damaged sill? Can a window be retrofitted with storm windows? How can windows be replaced while still maintaining their historical integrity? Repairing Old and Historic Windows explores these questions and provides detailed information on how to go about refurbishing windows within current preservation standards. Written for homeowners, architects, builders, engineers, and preservationists, Repairing Old and Historic Windows is the complete and authoritative guide to window maintenance and repair. Chapters focus on window problems, including deterioration, weather damage, paint problems, and condensation; window maintenance, including cleaning, weatherstripping, and installing shutters; and window replacement, including design, fabrication, and installation. Some 140 photographs and illustrations, many of which are technical drawings, an extensive glossary of window refurbishing terms, and a suggested reading list provide further ideas and guidance for undertaking the repair of old and historic windows. The complete primer on window repair and maintenance.
Amazon.com
There are very few classics in the field of pop culture--the academic stuff tends to be too dry and the fun stuff is too quickly dated. This book by Luc Sante is the exception--in fluid prose liberally sprinkled with astute metaphors, Sante tells the story of New York's Lower East Side, circa 1840-1920. The personal histories of criminals, prostitutes, losers, and swindlers bring to life the social and statistical history that the author has meticulously researched. Not limiting himself to the usual sources, Sante finds his history in old copies of Police Gazette as well as actual police, fire, and social service records. Above all, what really makes this book work is the writing, which brings to life a culture of the streets that continues to form a silent influence on our contemporary popular culture.
Book Description
Luc Sante's Low Life is a portrait of America's greatest city, the riotous and anarchic breeding ground of modernity. This is not the familiar saga of mansions, avenues, and robber barons, but the messy, turbulent, often murderous story of the city's slums; the teeming streets--scene of innumerable cons and crimes whose cramped and overcrowded housing is still a prominent feature of the cityscape.
Low Life voyages through Manhattan from four different directions. Part One examines the actual topography of Manhattan from 1840 to 1919; Part Two, the era's opportunities for vice and entertainment--theaters and saloons, opium and cocaine dens, gambling and prostitution; Part Three investigates the forces of law and order which did and didn't work to contain the illegalities; Part Four counterposes the city's tides of revolt and idealism against the city as it actually was.
Low Life provides an arresting and entertaining view of what New York was actually like in its salad days. But it's more than simpy a book about New York. It's one of the most provocative books about urban life ever written--an evocation of the mythology of the quintessential modern metropplois, which has much to say not only about New York's past but about the present and future of all cities.
Customer Reviews:
Endlessly entertaining... a corrective view of the "good old days".......2007-08-07
If you ever cherished any rosy notions about multi-generational families, striving immigrants, and wholesome American values of the past, this rollicking book will serve as a much-needed eye-opener. With endless fascinating detail, Sante paints a picture of a wide-open city on the make, preying on the innocent and the scheming alike. Housing, entertainment, brothels, bars, pushcarts, reformers...all take their place in this look at life on the Lower East Side in the years of massive immigration. For all of us with immigrant ancestry, a salutary look at everything those amazing folks survived.
Yup, it's good! .......2006-12-14
Luc Sante did an amazing job at presenting life in New York during the early times.
I bought this book along with GOTHAM and GANGS OF NEW YORK and I've enjoyed reading all three books about the "true" history of New York.
Fantastic.......2006-11-11
I just moved to New York City and wanted to read a history of the city that had a different perspective than a typical historical non-fiction book. The book was highly enjoyable: well-written and thorough, with tons of incredible photographs, tidbits and stories. It was well-organized and flowed well. I highly recommend this book.
Low Life, High Interest.......2006-04-04
Fascinating, engaging read that never bores nor lectures. Luc Sante gives us the history of New York City's lower rungs of the economic ladder from the early 1800's to the early 1900's, when the "City" was just the isle of Manhattan, when crime and poverty was more prevelant and diversified and, to the modern reader, more romantic despite the horrors inherent.
Eye Opener.......2004-10-24
I am a life long resident of New York & I am ashamed that I had a scant knowledge of the city that I love. Low Life changed all that. Low Life proves that the history of New York is both lurid and fascinating. Since reading Low Life, I have read several more histories of the city but Luc Sante's remains by far and away my favorite.
My advice: if you want to truly understand New York, read this book.
Average customer rating:
- What's all the fuss about?
- The Perfect Sequel!
- Vivid history and wonderfully believable characters
- A Tantalizing & Turbulent Ten Days in New York
- Another look at old Manhattan
|
City of Glory: A Novel of War and Desire in Old Manhattan
Beverly Swerling
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Historical
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Action & Adventure
| Genre Fiction
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0743269209 |
Book Description
Set against the dramatic backdrop of America's second war for independence, Beverly Swerling's gripping and intricately plotted sequel to the much-loved City of Dreams plunges deep into the crowded streets of old New York.
Poised between the Manhattan woods and the sea that is her gateway to the world, the city of 1812 is vibrant but raw, a cauldron where the French accents of Creole pirates mingle with the brogues of Irish seamen, and shipments of rare teas and silks from Canton are sold at raucous Pearl Street auctions. Allegiances are more changeable than the tides, love and lust often indistinguishable, the bonds of country weak compared to the temptation of fabulous riches from the East, and only a few farseeing patriots recognize the need not only to protect the city from the redcoats, but to preserve the fragile Constitutional union forged in 1787.
Joyful Patrick Turner, dashing war hero and brilliant surgeon, loses his hand to a British shell, retreats to private life, and hopes to make his fortune in the China trade. To succeed he must run the British blockade; if he fails, he will lose not only a livelihood, but the beautiful Manon, daughter of a Huguenot jeweler who will not accept a pauper as a son-in-law. When stories of a lost treasure and a mysterious diamond draw him into a treacherous maze of deceit and double-cross, and the British set Washington ablaze, Joyful realizes that more than his personal future is at stake. His adversary, Gornt Blakeman, has a lust for power that will not be sated until he claims Joyful's fiancée as his wife and half a nation as his personal fiefdom. Like the Turners before him, Joyful must choose: his dreams or his country.
Swerling's vividly drawn characters illuminate every aspect of the teeming metropolis: John Jacob Astor, the wealthiest man in America, brings the city's first Chinese to staff his palatial Broadway mansion; Lucretia Carter, wife of a respectable craftsman, makes ends meet as an abortionist serving New York's brothels; Thumbless Wu, a mysterious Cantonese stowaway, slinks about on a secret mission; and the bewitching Delight Higgins, proprietress of the town's finest gambling club, lives in terror of the blackbirding gangs who prey on runaway slaves. They are all here, the butchers and shipwrights, the doctors and scriv-eners, the slum dwellers of Five Points and the money men of the infant stock exchange...conspiring by day and carousing by night, while the women must hide their loyalties and ambitions, their very wills, behind pretty sighs and silken skirts.
Customer Reviews:
What's all the fuss about?.......2007-07-02
This book was good, yes, but in my humble opinion, not 5 stars good. Frankly, I thought parts of the main plot were ridiculous (pirates, the end battle, etc.) and the whole bit about Blakeman had me asking "What's all the fuss about?" (SPOILER: So how exactly is the diamond and a couple of arrogant men going to bring about the downfall of the nation? I think it would take more than that! I didn't feel the urgency that Joyful obviously felt with the situation.) Thus, I thought the main plot was okay, but it certainly didn't have me sitting on the edge of my seat. There were also many side plots, the opium, the treasure, the slaves, etc., that didn't tie into the main plot very well.
For instance, after reading the first few chapters, I thought the book was mainly going to be about Joyful getting his treasure back and becoming a powerful trader. But no, this turns into a side plot that is so very conveniently wrapped up at the end. (How nice!)
The ending seemed like a 3rd book could be written in the series. If it were, I wouldn't read it.
The Perfect Sequel!.......2007-03-19
"Fans of historical fiction will delight in this rich tale of imagery and characters fighting the British blockade and searching for love."
Vivid history and wonderfully believable characters.......2007-02-27
I enjoyed City of Dreams, but this book, City of Glory, is simply amazing; the writing is as smooth as silk. The opening sections are brief and do make rapid jumps but I was never lost. All the threads kept moving forward and weaving into one single story, one vivid picture of the time.
I liked very much that Ms. Swerling tries to touch on many of the major currents of the time and place - many writers of fiction, historical and otherwise, make their lives easier by limiting the scope of their books to only those elements that work towards the point they're trying to make - and I liked that she shows us all kinds and classes of people. It's a wonderfully honest perspective. I found myself sympathizing with people very different than myself - I've never run a whorehouse or had to be afraid of slavers, I certainly can't imagine wanting to make money out of pushing other people into slavery, like another of the characters (no name mentioned here, to not give away the story) but the pride and desperation that pushed the person into making this choice is shown as clearly as the ugliness of the slave trade. It's a brave thing for a writer to do.
All the people in this book are vividly human. The lesser characters engage as immediately as the major. Reverend Fish's congregation faces black-birders (people who capture and sell blacks, free or otherwise, into slavery) as well as violence and poverty, but there are ministers and leaders of small, threatened communities today, of all colors, who would empathize with his spirit. And though not a lot of time is spent on the Chinese characters, I laughed out loud when I hit the place where the rice cookers the first Chinese brought to New York are mentioned - I grew up in a country with a large Chinese population, and I remember that my Chinese girlfriend's mother sent her off to University with a rice-cooker. I would have enjoyed seeing more of the Chinese (maybe the next book?) but with this many characters I can see why the author couldn't give equal time to all. And I loved that even the characters who spend the least time onscreen are fully understandable - Dolly Madison insisting on being a competent housewife and packing the plate and drawing room curtains before evacuating the White House is endearing or irritating, depending on one's own point of view, but certainly believable, as is the goldsmith who bumbles into plots he doesn't understand in a way that is perfectly on par with his inability to cope with a daughter much brighter than he is. I also love the detail note that Jacob Astor, a man of national and international importance, certainly great business savvy, is blind to a simple, homely fact that his much less successful brother immediately notices. A book, for me, doesn't work unless the little things are done as well as the big, and City of Glory is full of tiny, wonderful details.
City of Dreams ended with a foretaste of the conflicts that haunt America today that was so strong it was almost eerie. City of Glory similarly shows the tension between North and South, coastal city and rural hinterland - some of the seeds that produce those frighteningly divided red and blue electoral maps. It would take a magician, not a novelist, to have an answer to this problem, but if the novelist's job is to hold up a mirror to society and help us understand ourselves a little better, Ms. Swerling has certainly done it - and of course, most importantly, done it in a very entertaining way. This is a grand yarn.
A Tantalizing & Turbulent Ten Days in New York.......2007-02-20
Beverly Swerling's third novel continues the story of the DeVrey and Turner family feud into the early 19th Century against the backdrop of the British Blockade of American ports and the attack on Washington DC toward the end of the War of 1812. This book is chock full of action - it is a wonder that Joyful Patrick Turner, the hero of her latest installment, was able to accomplish so much in these ten days during which he seemingly had so little sleep!
The pluses: this book has all of the ingredients for the making of a wonderful historical novel - pirates, political schemes, war, treason, brothels, slave trading, the largest diamond ever, true love, Irish gangs, the wealthiest man in America, and plenty of characters with missing limbs & digits...
Despite these perks, the sub-stories in this novel are a bit blurry, rushed and littered with extra characters who play insignificant roles. (For instance, why the Chinese Opium side line? It adds little other than to provide opportunities for Joyful to keep his Cantonese in use!) Politics, business, love, intrigue, war and lust are just thrown into the pot and brought to an immediate boil rather than being added one at a time and simmering until the perfect flavor is attained. This seems such a shame as Ms. Swerling's other two books are magnificently written historical epics - perhaps their brilliance casts a bit of a shadow on this one.
However, please do not let these flaws dissuade you from reading City of Glory! It is a fun, fast-paced book full of well researched (and little known) history told through archetypal characters, and quite enjoyable!
Another look at old Manhattan.......2007-02-18
This is a riveting story wonderfully told with all kinds of interesting stuff I'd never have guessed...like slavery in New York? Along with pirates and Chinese and too much to attempt saying here. All superbly researched and relayed with such a masterful touch it's a huge pleasure to read. This is my idea of historical fiction at its very best. Perfect for a snowy afternoon before a fireplace!
Book Description
New York City as it was 1853-1901, through 196 wonderful photographs: great blizzard, Lincoln's funeral procession, great buildings, much more.
Customer Reviews:
A Treasure Trove!!!.......2006-08-12
Pictorial books like these are glorious time machines and invaluable primary resources. We are so fortunate that these pictures exist. The prints are crystal clear and detailed in that way only black and white photography can be. There is no greater joy that going down to Manhattan and finding the places photographed and seeing if anything has survived.
Cara K. Smith"Gerogia Gardener" Jackson, GA.......2005-09-05
This was a good Old whatever book. I had been reading Edith Wharton and really wanted to see the old mansions of the wealthy New Yorkers. I did not see much of this in the book. But I enjoyed the pictures and the text.
There are better collections out there.......2003-11-12
The print quality of the photos in OLD NEW YORK IN EARLY PHOTOGRAPHS is quite good, better than most. And the quantity of the photographs is equally impressive. And that's about it for the positives.
Arranged by neighborhood, the photos have little else to do with each other. There is no unifying theme holding the photos together. Not that every collection ought to have a theme as powerful as Jacob Riis' HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES, but these photos seem so haphazardly arranged. The scanty text doesn't even attempt to explain how the individual vignettes came about, or how it relates to the particiular time in New York's history that the photo was taken. And, of course, Manhattan is the only borough represented here. I suppose the citizens of the other four boroughs had yet to climb down from their trees and build fires, never mind operate cameras.
Rocco Dormarunno from ooog-ooog Brooklyn
The Big Apple Box.......2003-07-28
If one desires a book of page-size, sterile photos of substantial structures (with minimal captions) this volume will certainly fill the bill. If, however, one prefers historical snapshots of people amidst the buildings or scenes of shacks or tenements, be forewarned that these are few and far between. Also, in number, the later-in-time pictures tend to predominate. Thus, if the viewer is looking to gaze a la Gangs of New York, some of the wordier texts provide much more appropriate photographic fodder.
Excellent for historians and genealogists........1998-10-22
This book features 196 carefully chosen photos from the New-York Historical Society, arranged by neighborhood from the Battery to the Bronx (though the emphasis is on Manhattan). These superb photos document the changing face of New York City -- not only the buildings (from mansions to shacks), but the people, clothing styles, and modes of transportation. A succinct description accompanies each, pointing out features of interest. Some focal points are presented in several photos taken years or decades apart. An excellent book for anyone who wants to really get a sense of the times.
Book Description
157 photographs, many never before reprinted, show the vitality and variety of old Brooklyn, Manhattan's first suburb: waterfront, Brooklyn Bridge, Fulton Street, Brooklyn Heights, Ebbets Field, Luna Park, Gravesend Race Track, Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach Hotel, and more from the Long Island Historical Society collection.
Customer Reviews:
A dazzling collection of photos of Brooklyn........2004-07-20
"Old Brooklyn in Early Photographs, 1865-1929" is simply a first-rate collection of selected photographs of my home town from just after The Civil War to the Depression. The text surrounding the photos are just enough to be informative without bogging down the pleasure of turning the pages. And like the other Dover compilation, "New York in the Ninenteenth Century", the quality of the printing and the strength of the spine are top-notch. A truly great book.
Book Description
In this first of three volumes, Paul Jackson begins a rich and detailed history of the early years of the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts, bringing to life more than 200 recorded broadcasts.
Customer Reviews:
A great pleisure for an opera and wonderful voices lover.......2007-08-23
If , as i do , you love great voices of 1910-1940 years ,
please rush buying this book!
One reserve ,the book is difficult to read because the text is too compact ! Not enough blanks on the pages,and the names of the singers are not sufficently apparents;
JP SCHMITT
=====================================================================
Spend several afternoons reading this gem about Saturdays at the Old Met!.......2006-03-09
Dr. Paul Drake the emeritus professor of Drake University has written a sine qua non tome on the history of the Metropolitan Opera from 1931-1950. During these years the Met's General Manager was Gatti-Cassazi and Canadian Edward Johnson.
This huge coffee table sized book is heavy to hold and rich
with Met lore! Beautiful full color black and white photos portray the stars of the era: Flagsted and Melchior; Alabanses and Tucker: Lily Pons and Rise Stevens; Eleanor Steber and
countless more; some are forgotten while some remain famous to the opera going public.
The casual opera goer should be advised that countless pages of this book deal with the technical aspects of the singing art.
While I as a layperson could not understand all of this analysis I did enjoy the anecdotes and the flavor of the golden age of radio when Milton Cross served as the voice of the Metropolitan.
In our time when classical music is fallen into disfavor and the majority of Americans are ignorant of the glories of opera this book is a joy to read, savor and re-read.
It is recommended to the opera buff and music student.
a feast of riches.......2000-09-26
Even glacing through this superbly written volume will whet the appetite to sample the riches Prof Jackson discusses in this thick volume. This is not a pedantic dissection of broadcast after broadcast. Prof Jackson flows from one to another (not always in chronological order) with ease and smoothness. His history of how the Met broadcasts began and the evolving politics over the ensuing seasons makes for fascinating reading.
Book Description
For two years before and after the 1948 Communist Revolution, David Kidd lived in Peking, where he married the daughter of an aristocratic Chinese family. "I used to hope," he writes, "that some bright young scholar on a research grant would write about us and our Chinese friends before it was too late and we were all dead and gone, folding into the darkness the wonder that had been our lives." Here Kidd himself brings that wonder to life
Customer Reviews:
Haunting, and Deeply Moving. .......2007-05-30
Brilliant in every way, David Kidd's carefully weaved tale of the end of Old China, as seen through the eyes of an upper class family, is profoundly personal and endearing. As it wavers between fact and fiction its underlining message becomes abundantly clear: the Old China is gone and never to be forgotten, even as those who lived it fall into the abyss of time. A moving,humorous, delightful, and sorrowful read. Simply brilliant.
Almost better than it has a right to be.......2003-07-30
Memoirs of the surviving privileged classes who lost everything in twentieth-century revolutions can often seem terribly materialistic and self-pitying: when displaced aristocrats wail and wail for their lost tiaras or smashed porcelain, without a jot of sympathy for why they were asked to leave in the first place, you can begin perversely to develop sympathy for the cadres who called these people class parasites and threw them out. David Kidd's memoir of marrying into an ancient and wealthy Chinese family in 1948 shows every sign of such a work, but it's far better than it starts out to be (given his adoration for lives of privilege and his almost willfuil refusal to see the point of view of why anyone would support the Communists in 1949 in the first place). The superb descriptions of the Yu family's rotting but beautiful manor are done with great humor and artistry as well as with melancholy, and the very memorable portrait of the phlegmatic and wry Yus themselves seems to bring additional perspective and depth to the material. What emerges in the end is (despite the book's brevity) a very artful and moving snapshot of a world in transition
A Rare Glimpse into a World Gone By . . ........1998-11-19
Beautifully, lyrically rendered in the author's inimitable voice, full of haunting descriptions of a world that is gone forever yet never to be forgotten. David Kidd was truly one of a kind, unique in every way.
The Sorrow of Transition and Change.......1997-11-21
This book haunts..it stays with you as a most intimate portrait of those special and tender people caught in the transition between the old China and the Revolution in 1948. No account has ever brought more tears and love for those real people who saw and felt their world change almost beyond their understanding.
Books:
- The Wind in the Willows
- Three Adventure Novels: She, King Solomon's Mines, Allan Quatermain
- Three Plays: Desire Under The Elms, Strange Interlude, Mourning Becomes Electra
- Valley of the Moon: the Diary of María Rosalia de Milagros
- Vladimir Nabokov: Selected Letters 1940-1977
- Waking the Dead: The Glory of a Heart Fully Alive
- We're Going on a Bear Hunt (Classic Board Books)
- What to Expect When You're Expecting, Third Edition
- Wide Open: Inspiration & Techniques for Art Journaling on the Edge (Book & Card Kit)
- Will to Murder, 2nd Edition
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Business Plans Kit For Dummies
- We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda
- The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within, Second Edition
- The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Horse Breeds
- This Mighty Scourge: Perspectives on the Civil War
- The Turn of the Screw
- The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal
- Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Madness
- The Complete Idiot's Guide to Starting An Investment Club
- The Global Information Technology Report 2001-2002: Readiness for the Networked World
Violin Dreams
Violin Mastery: Interviews with Heifetz, Auer, Kreisler and Others (Dover Books on Music)
Stradivari's Genius: Five Violins, One Cello, and Three Centuries of Enduring Perfection
The Savior: A Novel
Indivisible by Four: A String Quartet in Pursuit of Harmony
