Book Description

A fascinating account of the life and career of a Pennsylvania Railroad locomotive engineer as told by his son.

"An engaging book, one likely to become a railroad classic. The major strength of Set Up Runningis detail, particularly when it involves locomotives, train movements, and patterns of operation. Especially enjoyable are the depictions of Orr as a loyal Pennsylvania Railroad employee and of his overall pride of workmanship."—H. Roger Grant, Clemson University

"One of my earliest recollections involves the railroad, a plaintive whistle, and my mother stating that my father would soon be home. And it wasn’t long before that large man, clad in blue overalls, came through the door with his travel bag, which he promptly set on the kitchen floor so he could pick me up. There was a strange smell on his overclothes, but it was not offensive, and it was one that I later learned belonged to a steam engine. So from very early in my life I developed an avid interest in the steam engine."—JohnW. (Jack) Orr

Set Up Runningtells the story of a Pennsylvania Railroad locomotive engineer, Oscar P. Orr,who operated steam-powered freight and passenger trains throughout Central Pennsylvania and South Central New York. From 1904 to 1949, Orr sat at the controls of many famous steam locomotives; moved trains loaded with coal, perishables, and other freight; and encountered virtually every situation a locomotive engineer of that era could expect to see.

John W. (Jack) Orr, Oscar’s son, tells his father’s story, which begins at the Central Steam Heating Plant in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania. Oscar operated nearly every kind of steam locomotive the Pennsylvania Railroad owned, working from the bottom of the roster to the top position (number one in seniority). Orr has an ear fordetail, and a vivid memory. He tells about his father’s first encounter with an automobile along the right-of-way, about what it was like to operate a train in a blizzard, and about the difficulties railroadmen encountered instopping a trainload of tank cars loaded with oil in order to take on water and coal-among many other stories in the author’s large memory bank.

This compelling railroad history will enthrall not only everyone in the railroad community but also the general reader interested in railroads and trains, past and present. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Railroad Father
"Set Up Running" is not a book of dry statistics of Pennsy RR trackage, assets, debits, or passenger-miles served. Neither is it a sensational narrative of harrowing accidents, up-set locomotives, or exploded boilers (although O.P. does have a few close scrapes, and the line of rail jacks exploding one after another as his massive 2-10-0 freight locomotive thunders down a track under repair sets the reader on the edge of his chair). No, this book is better than those sorts of books because it brings a man--actually two men--to life. We come to know O. P. Orr very well indeed through the eyes of his son, the author, John W. Orr, and we end up knowing John as well.

This book shows American history as it should be written--giant machines moving the citizens and the commerce of the land, a huge railroad corporation with all the bureaucratic "snafus" of any multi-layered business as those snafus are seen by and sometimes affect the career of an engineman, the impact of the Great Depression on one family as typical of America as any could be. Historical facts are all here, but they are facts as seen by two very real, very human people, a father and a son. Were all history books written so well, we would all understand history far better and read it far more willingly.

My own grandfather was an engineman, through his road was the Frisco rather than the Pennsy, and my own father was a great lover of trains, though his career paths took him in a different direction. I came along late in my father's life, and, by the time I had the ability and the leisure to write about him, he was gone and his history with him. "Set Up Running" is the type of book I wish someone could have written about my own father, and I know of no higher praise than that. This is a book for railroaders, historians, Americans, and every father's child. At the end, I hated to have to say good-bye to O.P.--and to his son John--but I left knowing much more about the first half of 20th Century America, and I really enjoyed the telling.

Set up Running
This is what too many railroad histories lack -- the human element. This is the story of a man and how he ran locomotives across Pennsylvania. It is also the story of his son, who loved trains and loved to listen to his father's stories. If you are frustrated by railroad histories that are nothing but an endless series of stock transactions, then this is your book.

Incredible insights on a working man's life on the railroad
This book brings to life the hard, gritty and dangerous life of working on the railroad. While there's a ton of romaniticized railroad books, this one give the reader insights of what the working stiff had to endure. It does it, however, with an obvious love of railroading, and of the man the book is about.

Not only a biography of the man, but the locomotives as well
I am basically a collector of railroad biographies, every occupation from the President down to locomotive watchman, and I have to say that this has to be one of the best I have ever read. In fact, I would call this book a miracle. The details! The mind bending information that the author relays about his father's years of working as a locomotive engineer on the Pennsylvania Railroad is astounding. Just the everyday stories, the trips he made, the people he worked with, and the locomotives, the intricate details about each type, the power, how they handled..........incredible!! There is stuff in this book that guys who wrote first hand accounts don't even include.
If you ever wanted to know what it was like to operate a steam locomotive then this is absolutely the book to read.
I'll stop here because I can't say enough good things about this book.

A Book I couldn't put down!
As a child we had a Lionel train platform at Christmas and I loved them. For a summer evening out my dad would often take my brothers and me for a walk to the Frankford Junction in Philadelphia, PA to watch the trains. It was a train a minute back then. Fast ones, slow ones, freight and passengers were all to be seen. I loved the steam engines - they were alive - on fire if you will. Waving to the engineer in the 1950's was like a kid meeting a pro athelete or rock star today. Heros in the days of hard work. They always waved back! That is all I wanted to be - an engineer. John Orr's book about his dad and his life as a train engineer has given me the opportunity to be up there with a real engineer, in the cab, in the yard, on the road, for a whole career. Of course, I actualy never got to work on, or for, the railroad because by the time I was old enought, the Pennsy and most of the others were dying due to economic conditions. This book was writen as well as any book has ever been. It is a work of art. It is a history book with a soul. It is a history book with a story. If you like trains, if you like industrial or social history, if you only want to read a well written book on a subject you just wish to visit once, this is mandatory reading. Thank you John Orr. Thank you O.P. ... Read more

Book Description

From the author of the critically acclaimed The Nightingale's Song ("An amazing piece of work...This is a stunning book" -- Boston Globe), comes an evocative, elegiac and rollicking portrait of America.

The Nightingale's Song was Robert Timberg's extraordinary tale of well-intentioned but ill-starred warriors. In State of Grace, his long-awaited new book, he revives the powerful themes of courage, manhood and loss in a strikingly personal exploration of America between the Good War and Vietnam. "It was the twilight of innocence, or what passed for innocence if you didn't look too closely," he writes. "America was at peace, peering confidently into the future, when it should have been holding its breath for what lay ahead."

Robert Timberg has his finger on the pulse of a generation that split along a fault line called Vietnam, between those who went and those who didn't. In his unflinching and riveting The Nightingale's Song, Timberg chronicled a nation haunted by the war and its corrosive aftermath. Now, in State of Grace, the author rediscovers an earlier time and an America now largely lost.

Using the New York City sandlot football team he played for after high school as a rich metaphor for what was best about that bygone era, Timberg evokes the period in fine detail and vivid color. It was a world of girls, beer and the proverbial Big Game, but it also was defined by faith in tradition and institutions, including a still unsullied Catholic Church. State of Grace captures life on the threshold of Kennedy's Camelot, before the Beatles, before the Pill, but in the ever-expanding shadow of Vietnam, "a time when the path to an honorable future seemed as straightforward as playing hard, hitting clean, and not fumbling the ball."

The tale is told through Timberg's own eyes as he moves from troubled youth to man, from running back on a team called the Lynvets to Naval Academy plebe to Marine officer. The story is also told through a collection of other characters, including a genius of a coach overmatched when off the field, a driven quarterback sidetracked by booze and an angry loner fresh from the army stockade who reclaims his life on the gridiron. As Timberg writes, the team was where he and his fellow Lynvets "found a toe-hold on our better selves during a troubled time in our lives. Those snatches of pride and courage and strength we shared...eventually grew within us, becoming the core of a decent manhood that might have easily eluded any one of us in other circumstances. There were times, for each of us, when it was all we had." ... Read more

Book Description

Bruce Edward Hall may have an English name and a Connecticut upbringing, but for him a trip to Chinatown, New York, is a visit to the ghosts of his Chinese Ancestors -- Ancestors who helped create the neighborhood that is really as much a transplanted Cantonese village as it is a part of a great American city. Among these Ancestors are missionaries and reprobates, businessmen and scholars. There is the patriarch with three wives (two in China, one in New York), who arrived in Chinatown just as it was beginning to take shape, and who eventually became a key player in the infamous Tong Wars that ravaged the neighborhood at the turn of the century. There is the grandfather, whose nickname, Hock Shop, bespoke his reputation as Chinatown's favorite bookie. There is the dashing aviator whose dogfight in the skies over Brooklyn made him Chinatown's first hero in the way against Japan, and the matriarch who was purchased as a bride for $1,200 when the ratio of Chinese men to women was two hundred to one. And all of them shared the experience of the great-aunt who emigrated to New York at the age of eight months, but lived in fear of deportation for the next fifty years because this country refused to allow Chinese to become American citizens.

In Tea That Burns, Bruce Edward Hall uses the stories of these and others to tell the history of Chinatown, starting with the tumultuous journey from an ancient empire ruled by the nine dragons of the universe to a bewildering land of elevated trains, solitary labor, and violent discrimination. The world they constructed was built of backbreaking labor and poetry contests; gambling dens and Cantonese opera; Tong Wars, festivals, firecrackers, incense, and food -- always food, to celebrate every conceivable occasion and to confound the ever-meddlesome "White Devils" as they attempt to master the mysteries of chop sticks and stir-fry. A vivid and tactile story, rich with the sights, sounds, and sensations of Chinatown then and now, Tea That Burns reads like a novel, but is history at its best. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Tea That Refreshes
Tea That Burns was an unexpected pleasure to read. Not only is the writing fresh and engrossing, but the overall account of his family history back several generations is fascinating and rings of authencity. I have read numerous interesting Chinese-American memoirs, and what makes this one especially unique, is the ability of the author to connect the events occurring in U. S. History with concurrent events in China's history. This interweaving informs the reader in ways that are absent when the China context is not provided.
As a second generation Chinese whose father was a paper son, and whose parents had an arranged marriage, I already knew many of the factual aspects of the book. However, I never could entirely understand the 'process' underlying the facts until I read Tea That Burns. The author filled in many of these gaps with his eye for detail. The documentation at the back of the book reveals that the author knows his Chinese immigration history thoroughly, but fortunately he does not bog the reader down by inserting an abundance of citations within the body of the text.
I felt invigorated and refreshed after reading this excellent book.

Tea That Burns
Yes, it is a great book! I finish in one afternoon. I couldn't down the book once I started reading.... Mr. Hall provides a very rich history of the Chinatown in New York City during the mid-1800s period. He is succeeded to "enable the reader to smell history." In the book, Mr. Hall describes his father "denied" his identity of Chinese which shows the typical dilemma of the new generation of Chinese immigrants in the United States. However, I was "confused" by the subtitle, "a family memoir of chinatwon". I expect that the book mainly describes the author's family history, rather than concerns on the hisotry of Chinatown history.

More descendents of Chinese immigrants should share stories.
My mother grew up in the mining camps at the turn of the century, (1900) - it would be wonderful if more of the Chinese descendents would write their stories - it was surely a life of great hardship, and a history that needs to be shared. This is a wonderful story of family and life, societal views, prejudice and pain. Many expressions I heard throughout my childhood referred to the Chinese..."...didn't have a Chinaman's chance."..."...the rule was that the sun was not to set on any Chinese in town..." - what torment these people had to endure - yet we have very little literature on this subject. Mr. Hall has provided us with a wonderful, informative read and some true-life views that U.S.History certainly needs.

"Tea that Burns": After an hour you're hungry again.
I read Mr. Hall's narration and found it simultaneously interesting and dissapointing. Interesting because he cleverly portrayed the historical side of the story from an angle I could relate to, with credible detail that in and of itself made for the price of the book (Great Photos!). Disappointing because the individuals contained within were only briefly portrayed and therefore the personal aspect, that in my respectful opinion lends dimension to all historical fact, was somewhat disjointed. I look forward to Mr. Hall's next work to fill in the gaps and continue what he began.

An appreciation for individual lineage.
Tea That Burns reaffirms my belief that despite the overwheming "homogenization" of our human culture, individuals everywhere cherish what makes them distinctly unique and continue to save it from permanent loss of memory.

Bruce Edward Hall is an immensely accessible writer for people from all backgrounds. He allows readers their ignorance without castigating us for not knowing "all the facts" of our American Heritage.

His descriptions of Chinatown and its founding members are incredibly vivid as if they jump out from the page and challenge you to a game of mahjong while sipping Tea That Burns.

His sensitive approach to his realitives' eventual and unavoidable assimilation into American culture reveals the struggles of most of our ancestors. Tea That Burns does answer in a way the question: "How does one keep the torch of our lineage lit while playing the new game in the new world?" By embracing both cultures. The hodge-podge of Chinese-American life as lived in Hall's Chinatown and beyond of course...they get out as all groups flee their early roosting grounds...is one that all children of America can relate to...like the Chinese families that keep a kitchen shrine to Taoist gods, the Italian family serves the Canneloni next to the Turkey at Thanksgiving, the West Indian family serves the Roti and Goat at the Christmas table, the Puerto Rican mother teaches the song "El Coqui" to her child who insists on learning the english version as well.

Thank you Bruce Edward Hall for a positive view of the life of Immigrant America...which is after all the life of ALL American's with the exception of the tribes that resided here when the big ships arrived. And even that is up for conjecture I read these days. "Who really owns the land under one's feet...focus on the realm of your heart." ... Read more

Book Description

After reading Behind Bars, a no-holds-barred tell-all in the spirit of Kitchen Confidential, you'll never look at your favorite bartender the same way again.

Ty Wenzel offers a raw and clever account of slinging drinks in New York City on the Bowery before and during its renaissance. Wenzel, now thirty-six, has just thrown in the towel after a decade at the swank Marion's Continental Restaurant and Lounge--a gig that was supposed to be a temporary escape after corporate burnout, but instead, like with most bartenders, took over her life.

Honest, clever, and often scathingly funny, this memoir at once offers outrageous tales, the dirty little secrets of the trade, and inspired commentary on bar culture and the human condition. Wenzel's candid stories of life behind the bar covers everything: sex, money, celebrities, the tricks mixers play on you to get you to stay on that stool, how to jumpstart your own bartender fantasy, that all-important tip . . . and how "pink drinks" like the Cosmopolitan are ruining civilization.

Behind Bars is also a riveting narrative of Wenzel's life outside the bar, which is complicated by her Islamic background, her drive to save enough money and get out of "the life," and the ultimate realization that the grueling lifestyle that is driving her crazy is also something she has grown to love.
... Read more

Reviews (27)

Witty yet Thoughtful
I read Behind Bars in one sitting. The double-entendre of the title is appropriate for this memoir because "the life" is not all that it's cracked up to be. I really felt that I was sitting in front of Wenzel at her bar on the Bowery listening to her tell her tales. The pace was wonderful in that it felt like a busy, crazy night at a hotspot in Manhattan. I wish I could have gotten a drink from Wenzel before she threw in the towel.

Her Islamic background made it more interesting, more than a chick-lit story of a girl in the big city. It was thought provoking in that her background was everything but where she ended up. Her prose is bitingly witty and brutally honest, yet as the time passes she softens to her regulars/orphans and the job itself. She doesn't pussy-foot around where tipping is concerned, and in fact, I've heard my own fave bartender talk about the topic in this way. In fact, I plan to get Behind Bars for her for Christmas, if she doesn't beat me to it. I already told her about it.

Lots of add-ons: funny glossary, recipes, pet-peeves and famous quotes about booze and bars.

Definite buy.

Jane Threlfall

You think you know your bartender...
I was given this book as a Christmas gift because I'm always going on and on about my favorite bars and the mixers there. When I finished reading Ms. Wenzel's memoir on slinging drinks on the Bowery for a decade, I laughed and high tailed it over to one of my favorite bartenders. I handed it over to him and said, YOU ARE GOING TO LOVE THIS! All the times they told me that they're going to write a book about their experiences behind their bars... well, Wenzel did it first! And it was hilarious and eye-opening at the same time. I thought that the listed "pet peeves" were great as well as educational for hardcore regulars, and the glossary taught me the insider language. There are a lot of gross things about restaurants and the service industry, and Wenzel tells it straight up... literally. Her writing is raw, fun and at times very thoughtful and eloquent. She's had plenty of touching moments to balance out the in-your-face truths and sometimes frightening anecdotes. Her Islamic background was interesting as were other elements of her life outside the bar.

Want to ask your bartender out? She'll tell you how to do it.
Want to know how to get a drink faster? She'll tell you what to do.
Want to know if you're tipping correctly? She'll really let you have it.
Ever wonder what they're thinking as you're babbling on? Wenzel doesn't pussy-foot around with what bartenders think.

Truly fun. And if you love it as much as I did, pass it on to your favorite bartender. They'll not only love you for it, they may get you a round on the house!

Cheers!

Entertaining and Informative
I have always loved bartenders. It was a treat to read Wenzel's account of mixing drinks in NYC and what a joy/nightmare it can be. Her prose is raw yet polished, her stories sometimes horrifying. I learned a lot from it and despite her pleas to stop hitting on bartenders, I will continue to do so because I am further compelled by them after reading her book!

A few anecdotes does not a book make
As a former bartender I hate to say something bad, but how much experience can a person get in two bars across 10 years? We never see behind the scenes of a hosted bar (tipping, forget it), we never see the true interaction of a bartender and cocktail server, we rarely hear the full scoop. Serving in a restaurant bar is different than a hotel bar, an airport bar, a nightclub, a race track (my least favorite).

Insightful Jewel
Just finished Wenzel's account of her ten years in the bartending biz. I really liked the way it was categorized into sections, like "Sex with a Twist" and "Tip or Die in Manhattan" that allowed me to understand which area of the trade she was talking about. As a guy whose fascination with bartenders spans two decades, it was not only fun but insightful. How to ask out your favorite bartender? She explains it clearly. Her use of language is raw, just like what you'd expect from a "mixer" and when she does let her guard down, she's quite generous with her feelings particularly when it came to how she found out about her pregnancy and tidbits about her Islamic upbringing. I really found myself enjoying it. I even laughed when I was reading what I thought was a standard restaurant "glossary" only to find that to "Brit" was to "Stiff" someone. The book is clever, raw and entertaining. Though drinkers who have ever been cut off or thought she were entranced by everything they ever told her might not be too happy to hear that sometimes she were just nodding just to get through the night. Such is the life, I suppose. If you want something entertaining to read, this is a great choice. If you don't want to be told how to tip, you might go elsewhere because Wenzel doesn't seem to be someone who will sugarcoat anything. Another great thing about this writer. ... Read more

Book Description

From an American Book Award-winning author comes a pungent and poignant masterpiece of recollection that ushers readers into a now-vanished "colored" world and extends and deepens our sense of African-American history, even as it entrances us with its bravura storytelling. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

ANOTHER PIEDMONTER'S VIEW
I was fortunate enough to be born and grow up in Piedmont, WV. I was also in the same class as author Henry Louis (we called him "Skip") Gates. I was the 1968 Piedmont High Class Salutatorian and he was the Valdectorian.

Despite what Mr. Gates projects in his book, Piedmont was a "wonderful" place to grow up. I adamantly dispute his connotation of any racism in this town. In 1968, the citizens of Piedmont, although a very small town of 2,500 were very progressive. The fact that the foundation he received in Piedmont growing up which propelled him to the Director of Afro-American studies at Harvard should speak something of the childhood rearing and education he received in Piedmont.

I am not aware of any restaurant or establishment that denied service to anyone of color. I personally entered many establishments with him and never once saw him denied service of any kind.

Mr. Gates grossly misrepresents what was truly a great town to grow up in. I was very offended with his use of my name in the book without obtaining my permission and most importantly he greatly distorts a very close and loving relationship that I had with my Italian father. I felt that he mentioned several personal things about me and my family of which he had NO direct knowledge.

I was disturbed to see that Mr. Gates put such a negative spin on a great place, just to "sell" a book for personal gain and recognition of his college position at Harvard.

Buy it if you want - but buyer beware - this is a college professor who is writing because he is expected to publish or perish. Unfortunately Piedmont, WV happened to be in his sights.

John M. DiPilato (Piedmont High School Class of 1968)

The Book of a Life
Henry Gates is a boy thrown into a life that known would choose but fights to

make it a life that his children would choose. Colored People by Henry Louis

Gates Jr. is a fascinating book that brings you into a life of a boy struggling to be

accepted and understood by the people around him. He is growing up in a racist time and

environment that throws new obstacles at him each day.

What a story. Henry Gates went through a world of racism, hate, and violence. He

was part of a movement that would change a small town forever. The outside world was

fighting for freedom while Piedmont was doing nothing but sitting by and watching. He

saw this and tried to bring it to his town, change his town, make a difference.

I found the writing of the story to be very poor. The memories seemed to be

unconnected; they did not flow well together. The writing never captured me as a reader

but left me with an emptiness when I put the book down. His memories were exciting and

interesting but the writing left you bored and the book seemed unappealing.

This book left me with a feeling of "thank god its over" but a week later I started

to appreciate it more. I thought over each memory and I found a sense of understanding

inside of me. I understood what he was trying to say and how amazing his life was. I

understood why he went into "White only" restaurants, and why he fought so hard for his

cause. I now feel an urge to read the book again and try to understand more of what he

was saying.

Henry Gates Jr. led a life of hardship and pain. He overcame what life through at

him and excelled to become a better person. He struggled through the book to find

acceptance from his father and brother and his peers. He showed you the reader a world

that is unknown to many of us and let you see it first hand.

A Gone Community
Personally, I had a heckuva time keeping track of all the various Gates and Coleman relatives, so I gave up after the first forty pages or so and just appreciated this memoir for what it is -- the story of a community that no longer exists but will be alive for generations through Gates' evocation of it for his children and, vicariously, the readers of this book. As a white age contemporary of Gates, I was impressed by the evenhandedness with which he tells the story of the often grudging desegregation of the late 50s and 60s in West Virginia, and surprised by the extent of black/white interaction -- sometimes positive for Gates -- in this small town, even in the days of segregation. That is obviously a function of small town life, but it struck me as more than in many parts of US life today, leading to the question I wondered about throughout this book -- whether 46 years after Brown vs. Board of Education we are more, not less, isolated by color in our social interactions in the United States. If so, that's a tragedy for all of us.

Being Henry Louis Gates Jr.
This is a great book. No doubt about it. For those who only know Skip Gates from his combatative role in the PBS "Wonders of Africa" series, this book will be a revelation. As a memoir of a young man growing up Black in the segregated south, there are some wonderful epiphanies for people who did not have that experience. As a peice of literary writing, it's a wonderful example of craft and spirit and talent.

I don't always agree with the way in which Prof. Gates places himself in the politics of academia or the pronouncements he sometimes makes about being of color in these United States, but he sure tells a good story. Through sharing his early years, some of the complexities of the man are made understandable. I leave it to others to decide exactly what that means.

Warm and funny and haunting and serious.
So removed from my own experience but a story told with such grace, it will always be one of my favorite books. I read it when it was published some time ago and have not forgotten the real sense of place and people. As a white female wasp from New England, I'm not sure I understand why it affected me so. Lost communities that we gave up in the name of something else. On the one hand, it made me think there will always be a separateness and, on the other hand, that we all want the kind of community and gentle exchange that seemed at the heart of the people in this book. The use of the language is admirable - the writing - but it was what I took away about my own very different life that made the book memorable. It's a scholarly work in its way but simple, clear and classic. ... Read more

Book Description

Thaddeus Stevens is best known for his leadership of the radical Republicans in Congress during Reconstruction, and throughout the years historians have either glorified him or vilified him. Trefousse's balanced biography traces Stevens's career from his early days as a Pennsylvania lawyer and state legislator, when he became an outspoken advocate for black freedom and equality, to his long tenure in the House of Representatives, which culminated in his involvement in the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment and the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Thaddeus Stevens: Nineteenth-Century Egalitarian
Hans Trefousse has done a magnificent job in portraying the "Great Commoner" and his effect on the United States. In fact, the book inspired myself and some other people in Gettysburg to start the Thaddeus Stevens Society to promote his memory. For information about the society, write The Thaddeus Stevens Society, 65 W. Middle Street, Gettysburg, PA 17325 or email me at rhetrick@gettysburg.edu.

Thaddeus Stevens: Complex Man for Comples Times
I want to thank Hans L Tredousse for a remarkable job on the unfolding of the character of one of the most complex individuals I have ever studied. Trefousse does a great job of showing us as much of what is humanly possible to know about Thaddeus Stevens.

By far, Stevens comes alive in the preface of Trefousse'account. The reader is pulled gently into the life of this individal because of the hardships he experienced as a child and because of his determination to see justice prevailed.

As I progressed into the book, I marvelled at both the strengths and weaknesses of this complex man called Thaddeus Stevens. Personally, I think he was a man before his times. It is unfortunate that he considered himself a failure. We have had many presidents in recent years who could not or would not acknowledge that they had achieved anything of "real tangible worth". Stevens comes to the end of life feeling that he had achieved very little of lasting value. It is truly worth lamenting! If Stevens could come back to this century, I think he would be astonished to see what legacy he left the United States and particular minorities who have benefitted much from his efforts to support emancipation and a true Reconstruction for those who had suffered because of slavery.

I was first introduced to Thaddeus Stevens in Lerone Bennett's BEFORE THE MAYFLOWER. I found Stevens to be the underdog, but an all powerful hero for the rights of equality. I think the second best thing to having enjoyed Trefousse' outling the work of Stevens would be to see the book made into historical fiction. Somewhere out there in "fantasy land" is an actor who could bring more to "life" this complex man called Thaddeus Stevens

About Time! A Solid Biography of Thaddeus Stevens
Thaddeus Stevens casts a long shadow in American History; a shadow that continues to bedevil the likes of Robert Bork, Anton Scalia and the so-called "original intent" crowd.

Stevens, the tactical leader of the "radical Republicans" through the Civil War and Reconstruction era stands probably second to only James Madison in Constitutional history.

Considering his historical role a thorough biography has been long overdue. Trefousse has gone a long way toward supplying a fresh biography of the man. In its pages he has applied the extensive depth of modern scholarship now available on the reconstruction era.

Only Fawne Brodie has attempted a biography in recent times and that book, Thaddeus Stevens: Scourge of the South has slid thankfully out of print.

The Trefousse biography will likely be the standard source on the life of "the old Commoner" for some decades to come. ... Read more

Book Description

In New York Days, the long-awaited sequel to the prize-winning North Toward Home, Willie Morris recalls his triumphant, exciting, and ultimately devastating years as the youngest ever editor-in-chief of Harper's, America's oldest magazine, when he was at the center of the nation's stunning cosmos of writing, publishing, politics, and the arts. It was the 1960s, when New York City was a place "throbbing with possibility" and "in which everyone seemed to know everyone else and where everything of importance seemed to happen first". These were Willie Morris's New York days - with William Styron, David Halberstam, Woody Allen, Bobby Kennedy, Truman Capote, Shirley MacLaine, George Plimpton, Leonard Bernstein, and the other leading figures of the time. For he knew them all: the writers, the poets, the intellectuals, the editors, the actresses, the tycoons, the detectives, the athletes, and not a few fakirs and charlatans. He wined with Sinatra at the Players Club and eavesdropped in the trattorias on the Mob; sat next to DiMaggio in the Garden ringside seats and spent evenings at Elaine's. And during the day, Morris worked to transform Harper's from an uninspired literary magazine to its apex as the groundbreaking political and cultural voice of the '60s, until the editorial rift and the mass resignations of 1971 - possibly the most notable dispute in American publishing history. New York Days is a portrait of an era, but it is also a poignant, deeply personal yet universal story of a man's life: a man who attains everything he has ever hoped for only to realize that what he has sacrificed is even greater. For in the process of reaching the pinnacle of his career, Morris also experiencedprofound loss: the dissolution of his marriage and the breakdown of the magazine as he helped create it. Now, from a vantage point of more than twenty years and a thousand miles, Morris asks his younger self: "Where on earth, fast-moving boy, are you going now?" And what, i ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Good Ole Southern Boy Meets NYC Literati
Okay, in reality Mr. Morris was, what, 26 -- and the youngest person to hold the position of Editor at Harper's? Anyway, a fascinating look at the NY literary world during the mid to late 60's. Morris was witness to one of the greatest gatherings of young and gifted writers ever assembled in the modern era.

The book starts with the professional steps Morris took prior to accepting the position. The narrative contiues with his insights into the history of Harper's, and then goes into detail about some of the current and previous literary heavyweights that populated the cramped offices as either full-time workers or contributers.

The passages on how he got Norman Mailer to contribute pieces are illuminating and memorable.

If you liked 'North Toward Home,' you'll like this one as well. A very touching book. ... Read more

Amazon.com

History will probably remember Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Democrat of New York, as one of the great American senators and rank his name alongside Stephen Douglas and Daniel Webster. He isn't known as a topnotch legislator--his name is attached to no ground-shaking bill--but he is respected by colleagues in both parties and by the media as one of the brightest men to work in Washington in recent years. He's also had a fascinating political journey, which took him from liberalism in the 1950s to flirtations with neoconservatism in the '60s and '70s to old-style Democratic loyalties in the '80s and '90s. "In contact with both liberalism and conservatism, he belongs to neither," writes Moynihan biographer Godfrey Hodgson, an English journalist who previously penned a history of American conservatism, The World Turned Right Side Up. "Supported by both, he seems to link them, and to transcend them."

Hodgson covers Moynihan's whole life--from growing up (it wasn't in Hell's Kitchen, by the way) to his time in the navy, his controversial role in the Johnson administration (where he wrote the so-called Moynihan Report on the black family), his Nixon-Ford days as ambassador to India and the United Nations, and finally his career as an elected pol. He moved about constantly, writes Hodgson: "It is a record that suggests impatience, dissatisfaction, persistent difficulty in getting on with superiors, and the troubled emotions that afflict a man of immense ability and energy who cannot quite find the right task and is afraid that his time will run out before he does." Following four full terms in the Senate, he has finally found "increasing serenity." (Moynihan announced he would not seek reelection in 2000, which opened the door for Hillary Clinton's candidacy.) Hodgson himself has known Moynihan for several decades; the senator even attended the author's wedding in 1970. This relationship allows the biographer to include firsthand reflections at appropriate moments ("When Pat announced that he was going to work for Nixon in the White House, I almost fell off my chair").

An interesting, favorable, and admiring book, The Gentleman from New York serves as a fitting tribute to the man. Of Moynihan's legacy, Hodgson writes: "After the dazzling speeches and elegant essays, the wit and the prophetic utterances are largely forgotten, he will be remembered as the man who ... had the lucidity and courage to restate the enduring propositions of the American political creed ... [and] above all a faith in the redemptive power of republican government." --John J. Miller ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A biography worth reading
I found this to be a fascinating biography, which a good author can accomplish regardless of what one thinks about the subject.

Unlike another reviewer, I do not think that History will remember Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan in the same thoughts as the great American senators, alongside L.B.J. or Daniel Webster. As noted, Moynihan is not known as one of the Senate's great legislators. Critics regularly pointed to the fact that he was never (at least, in a leadership role) associated with any sweeping legislation, and his lofty presence made accommodation and the give and take of the Senate was difficult for him.

This is a wonderful biography, which (except for the occasional errors pointed out by other reviewers) remains well written and an engrossing story. Biographer Godfrey Hodgson is admittedly a long-observing and apparently close friend of his subject. Some assert that this the major strength and major of this work while others assert that this is the major weakness of the biography. However, I remain unconvinced that for such an intimate portrait, complete (or even relative) objectivity is impossible to attain. It is hard to imagine a subject letting someone get close enough to do a thorough job who is not a friend. And as we too often see, without the at least tacit blessing of the subject, many people who can offer good insights will not cooperate.

Moynihan was seldom predictable from an ideological perspective. Who else could work for both Kennedy and Nixon, and end up vilified by both liberals and conservatives? Yet, he was consistently respected by Senate colleagues in both parties. Few seriously question the fact that he had a massive intellect. This makes even more interesting the fact that Moynihan so assiduously sought verification and validation of positions which he had taken years before (evidenced by the satisfaction he took as seeing the NAACP - endorsed writings with regard to his decades-earlier call to alarm with regard to the state of the Black family). While many on the left decried some of his positions (the author seems to infer that the occasional, but continued reference to his comment re "benign neglect" was more painful that the stenosis which afflicted his spine), he remained a champion of those whom society left behind.

All of those who are interested in American or New York politics will enjoy this read. However, I do not find it to be (nor do I think it tries to be) as much an in-depth tome on contemporary American history as another reviewer has suggested. For anyone looking for a study (and an attempted explanation) of an incredibly complex figure in 20th century American history, this is a fine addition to the mosaic.

The book concludes with Moynihan's musings regarding what now means to be a liberal, and the role (and ability) of government vis a vis social problems. This is thought provoking and a challenge to many readers (including myself). What else can we expect from a biography?

IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A 4 BUT FOR ITS SUBJECT....
Godfrey Hodgson is a stand-out as a political historian of the second half of the twentieth century. If you read anything of his, read "World Turned Right Side Up" and "America In Our Time". Excellent, crisp writing accompanied by balanced judgment and comprehensive coverage are Hodgson's trademarks. This book was also well-put together.

It is obvious that Hodgson really likes his subject and strives mightily to shore him up, very often without success. An appropriate title for this book could very well have been "Forrest Gump Goes to the Senate." Moynihan turns up at every critical juncture in the history of American social policy....to what purpose, it is never clear. In fact, his entire career leaves one with the feeling, why was he here? This book does nothing to lay these questions to rest and does much to raise them over and over again. Since Jefferson, other men of thought have entered public life to build coalitions and accomplish great things. In this book, Moynihan's first impulse always seems to be to drape himself in a toga and write a monograph. Rather than building alliances with others, he builds moats around himself with gratuitously acerbic commentary.

By all means read the book. However, we can only hope that Hodgson will find a worthier subject for his next book.

A revealing, if biased, political biography
Godfrey Hodgson, the author of this new biography of Daniel Patrick Moynihan, is admittedly a long-standing, close friend of his subject. This is at once the major strength and major weakness of this portrait of the senior Senator from New York. On the one hand, Hodgson has enjoyed unprecedented access to Moynihan in writing this book, which stops just short of being an official biography, making the book extremely revealing. Yet as an intimate of Moynihan's, the author cannot seem to achieve the distance and perspective which objectivity demands.

Nonetheless, anyone interested in American or New York politics--or contemporary American history--is bound to find this an absorbing volume. After all, Moynihan's friends and associates have ranged from Averell Harriman to Henry Kissinger, from Arthur Goldberg to Richard Nixon, from Lyndon Johnson to Irving Kristol. He has exercised power in locales as varied as Albany, the U.S. Labor Department, the Nixon White House, the United Nations, New Delhi, and the U.S. Senate. Perhaps more than most political biographies, this is not just the story of one man but a political and intellectual history of the period in which his career flourished.

Yet the author's biases are apparent. He strives mightily to reconcile and explain Moynihan's political inconsistencies, styling him at one point an "orthodox centrist liberal"--whatever that means. (It strikes me as an oxymoron.) He tries to find consistent strains in what seems to me to have been a political career characterized most of all by opportunism, if not outright caprice. He tries to explain away Moynihan's alcohol problem, while reporting that his staff employs the euphemism that the Senator is "with the Mexican ambassador" to explain that he is enjoying Tio Pepe, his favorite dry sherry. He justifies the Senator's long-standing feud with the liberal wing of his party in light of some early slights at the hands of liberal New Yorkers, referring at one point to "the authoritarian left," an interesting turn of phrase in the wake of Gingrich and Co.

There are a number of obvious errors in the book. The author notes that in 1953, the Democrats had been out of power in New York State for 20 years, ignoring the fact that Democrat Herbert Lehman served as Governor through 1943, following FDR and Al Smith. He refers to the Comptroller General of the U.S. as a "Treasury official," although the C.G. is in charge of the U.S. General Accounting Office, a Congressional agency, not part of the Treasury Department. He suggests that President Clinton pledged that he would "vote for" the welfare reform legislation he eventually signed, missing the fact that America is not a parliamentary democracy.

Despite the weaknesses, this is a beguiling biography, which is for the most part well written, and sure to captivate anyone with more than a passing interest in U.S. politics. I do not regret for a minute the time I spent reading it. ... Read more

Book Description

In 1973, against the advice of experts and the experience of history, LouisaHargrave andher husband, Alex, bought a run-down 1680-vintage potato farm on Long Island’sNorthFork and planted ten thousand European wine grapes. Having begun her grape- growingadventure with the arrogance of youth and the assumption that she and herhusband couldfigure it all out themselves, she was both humbled and transformed by the land,by herchildren, and by the generosity of those who helped along the way. At once wryandheartwarming, this is an odyssey as much about spirit and the connection toplace as it isabout the simple pleasures of a new wine. ... Read more

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Reviews (4)

Wags delivers the goods - - NYPD the real way!
Jimmy does it again! This book deals with his years in the NYPD, and goes right up to the start of his PI career (the first book). As before he delivers the goods retelling his most amazing and dazzling stories of life and crime in New York in a personal and well written way. The book also deals with the person behind the badge, the associates, the friends, the family, and not the least the importance of not letting the job get to you. Starting out in the 60's to the early 90's the way cops work has changed tremendously and Wags takes you on that ride!!! Recommended read.

The best non-fiction NYPD Book I've ever read
I picked this book up in of all places an Eckards drugstore and expected something that would keep my interest yet not be very memorable. Instead what i got was one of the finest books I have ever read period. The reason this book works so well is because Wags has no ego. No stories are present in a way to make him a hero and honesty rings throughout the entire book. The other reviewers have already mentioned the layout of the book so I will only say that this book contains stories you will never forget. I work in NYC and it is extremely interesting to read about the City in to 70s and 80s when it was cesspool..it really makes one appreciate Guliani and the miracle he performed. If I had to draw a parallel to this book, I would compare it to the best of Wambaugh. Wags write about so many fascinating characters that each chapter is like a mini book unto itself. Very importantly, Wags finishes each story with an update on the individual and or event, so you are not left wondering what happened. All in all, the finest police writing I have ever read.

Authentic, fast paced and action packed
James Wagner, nicknamed "Jimmy the Wags" is a retired New York City street cop who, with the help of writer Patrick Picciarelli, also a retired cop, describes his police experiences in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the 60s, 70s and 80s. It's an authentic voice that rings with the cadence of the city and the job he worked day after day, dealing with the dregs of society and everyday crime, as well as some of the major social issues of the time.

We first meet Jimmy as a nine-year old boy, listening to Dragnet with his police officer father in their Staten Island home. We follow him through the police academy and then out to the streets. We meet his fellow cops and feel the pressures of the job, watching some of them turn into alcoholics or commit suicide. We see how many of the rules are bent to accommodate the reality of what is going on in the street. We're right alongside Jimmy, feeling his anger and despair when he goes to funeral services for fellow cops brutally gunned down. We meet celebrities and junkies and Hell's Angels and other assorted oddball characters. We're surprised at some stories, and we cringe at others and wonder how one man could have experienced so many outrageous things. Then we realize that these are the highlights of a long career, all compressed into a fast paced, action packed narrative with something new on every page. It's a good story, well told. Recommended.

the ring of truth
This second book by the 'Wags' is a thrilling ride through the streets of lower Manhatten with the siren going full blast. Written in a no-nonsense style, here is a book about New York that you can really get your teeth into. If you know NYC, then you know that there is little, if any, exaggeration. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction, and every one of the weird situations and perverted personalities has the ring of truth. What a great adventure it was for me, who was a teenager on the streets of New York, to read what was really going on behind the scenes, the stories you never got to read. This isn't just a book about brutality in the streets. Wagner is a cop with a heart, and had a passion for his job. Although the tone is often nostalgic, it is never overly sentimental or mawkish. Here is a beautiful kaleidoscope of the city in all its rawness. Read it and see! ... Read more

Book Description

During his reign as the mayor of New York, the controversial Giuliani has been called many names. But after September 11, 2001, New York had new words to descibe him.

In this riveting and updating edition, political reporter Andrew Kirtzman tells the story of Giuliani's tireless mission to cleanup, control, shape, and -- most recently -- heal New York City.

Reviews (17)

Beautifully written tale of an extraordinary period
Who would have thought that a television journalist would be such a good writer? Kirtzman tells the story of this fascinating, tortured man like an old pro. It's a dramatic recounting of a moment in time that the author obviously felt the need to describe for the world. I didn't know any of the people he wrote about before I picked up the book, but his descriptions are really vivid, and the drama he builds makes us care about these characters. It's one of the better books I've read this year. Really well done.

read in one sitting
I picked this book up to read on a flight from Providence to Phoenix. I never put it down and read the whole book by arrival. It is an incredibly readable book. As far as I understand it was oringinally published before sept 11th so most of the book is unbiased by the great acts the mayor performed on that day and afterword. This being siad the author is great at detailing the intricacies of New York politics. A worthwhile read for anyone who didnt experience the Guliani era first hand(in NY). As another reviewer siad it does lack detail and certainly is in no way a biography of the man. The book is a political biography the starts in 1988 and ends in 2001.

Balanced Portrait of America's Mayor : Ugly and Beauty
This is not a traditional biography, which was what I expected when I picked up the book. If you wish to know about Rudy's life before 1989, his first marriage, childhood, days as U.S. attorney, this is not the right book for you. The first 100 pages or so this book are a bit slow--too much campaign stuff and not enough on governing. However, the narrative picks up quickly over the last 200 pages. We learn about Rudy's mistakes and triumphs--of which there are many. You learn a ton about Rudy's controversial policies. The personal scandals are discussed, but not in a malicious way. We never learn about the details of his mysterious marriage to Donna Hanover--or anything much about Hanover. So, yes, things are left out. However, Al Sharpton is a fascinating character here. You learn about Rudy's day on Sept. 11, when the author was actually running around the city with the Mayor. The narrative ends in 2001. I would have loved to hear more about Bloomberg, but who can change the publication date now? It isn't perfect, but Rudy remains one of the fascinating--and successful--Mayors of our time.

Solid and Condensed Biography
This biography was excellently written in a mostly unbiased way. Kirtzman has an excellent understanding of NYC politics and this served to his advantage in chronicling Giulianis life. For a more comprehensive biography pick up "Rudy" by Wayne Barrett.

america's mayor? hero-mayor? hardly
Consider that even before Sept 11, this "hero" was publically questioning whether there should be mayoral elections at all, (term limits meant he had to go) and after the tragic events he wanted them cancelled so that he could stay on, since in his words he was already "experienced and doing a good job". His contempt for democracy is matched by his endless conceit.
His public order record is bound to be reviewed considering the positions he took over repeated police shootings/savagery of civilians/bystanders (Dialo and Louima being only two of the most publicized).
As for the "hero" part, a hero is one who risks his life to save or help others. It is not clear what risk Mr Juliani undertook either as mayor or as soon-to-be-ex-mayor during the aftermath of Sept 11, other than attempt to monopolize the publicity of a profound tragedy for personal aggrandizement. There is clearly an effort by the Royalist (former Republican) party to place him in the front running for high national office. Don't go for it. ... Read more

Book Description

In The Body of Brooklyn David Lazar, an acclaimed essayist and prose stylist, offers a vividly detailed, hilarious, and touching recollection of his Brooklyn upbringing in the 1960s and 70s. His immigrant Jewish heritage and his bodily history—from the travails of childhood obesity to the sexual triumphs of post-adolescent leanness—form the core of this series of essays, all of which will win the interest and admiration of readers. More-over, this film-flavored confection is so infused with Lazar's fascinating turn of mind and memory, forever digressing and reflecting upon his digressions, without ever losing the thread of his story, that his essays will give the reader the distinctive pleasure of witnessing an extraordinary mental performance.

Lazar's essays vary in their focus as much as each meanders within itself: he recalls, for example, the “melon man” of his childhood, grottoes in Brooklyn, his extensive wardrobe, and his father's “pragmatically crafty alter ego.” Constantly expanding the boundaries of his writing style, Lazar also includes a unique photo-essay that provides a series of brilliant verbal riffs on old family photographs.

The voice found within The Body of Brooklyn—unrepentantly literary, funny, digressive, and centered on Brooklyn—is quite unlike any other in contemporary literature. It will fascinate and intrigue all who listen. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Thinking as fast as you laugh
This is a truly wonderful and unique book. Lazar's voice--conversational but concentrated, self-aware but entirely un-coy, and often just plain out funny-is unlike the voice of any other nonfiction writer I know, and his approach to his subjects is never hackneyed. He can write about such familiar topics as family, sexuality, culture and how they inform his sense of his own identity and identity in general and line by line, paragraph by paragraph, you never get that sense of "oh, he's taking X familiar line" that almost every writer gives. That's what I think the one of the blurbs means by describing Lazar as a writer's writer's writer: people who have read deeply and widely will perhaps appreciate this collection most, since they are most likely to understand the subtle brilliance that illuminates every page. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description

Eleven Stories High is a memoir of a middle class childhood, the perceptions of a girl growing up in a New York City housing project that the author deemed “a utopia of the fifties.” The story follows the process of memory, rather than the conventions of chronology, and explores the concept of "home," how a place like Stuyvesant Town--impersonal, symmetrical, utilitarian--shapes a childhood. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Good Book
This book is wonderfully written. It tells a great story in amusing and moving detail of normal family life- the family life most of us had. The description of Stuyvesant Town is mostly accurate. I grew up there in the '70s and '80s and my family and many friends are still there. There are some details that are just wrong (or at least are wrong about the Stuyvesant Town of the '70s and '80s)and keep me from rating this a 5--the author's one sentence slam against Republicans notwithstanding. The residents of Stuyvesant Town mostly were Catholic , not Jewish as claimed by the author. ... I knew none who did. Overall, a good book about the relationship among a child and her parents. Stuyvesant Town residents, past and present, will appreciate discussions such as the longing for a dog in a place where cats weren't even allowed in apartments. Males who grew up in Stuyvesant Town will certainly wish they could read about Little League and playing sports in playgrounds 9 and 11, which is not discussed in this book. A good book.

Another Stuyvesant Kid
I was excited to read this as I too grew up in Stuyvesant Town. It was disappointing. The author presented her experiences as indicative of all, and actually made some factual errors. For example she stated "the majority of residents were Jewish". It not only is untrue, but on the face of it would seem highly unlikely. Why would this development be so out of kilter with the population at large? She also indicated that most of the residents had cleaning women. Not to my knowledge, though I bet my mother and the mothers of my friends (and those of my 6 siblings) wished that were true. I may be nit-picking, but since I found the writing less than engrossing, I found the inaccuracies hard to excuse. It may have taken me back, but I kept wanting to ask the author what in heavens name she was talking about. It was unfortunate that the author didn't present this as her reminiscences rather than "the" story of growing up in Stuvesant Town. I suppose any of the many Stuy Town kids (or former residents) would enjoy a quick read of this, but it probably wouldn't be of much interest to anyone else.

ABSOLUTELY DELIGHTFUL
What an absolutely delightful book! THIS is what the childhoods were really like for most of us who grew up in the 40s and 50s. I grew up in suburban California but I still identified with the author in almost every emotion, every situation she describes, even though I had always thought those poor kids who grew up in the high rise apartments in New York were really missing out. Not true! I read a lot of memoirs, and I have to say I am so tired of DYSfunctional parents, DYSfunctional situations, etc. This book is like a breath of fresh air. I don't mean to imply that all was peachy keen, but the upsetting situations the author faced were not built into huge life happenings that she was going to take a lifetime to deal with. She had a good childhood. She made a good childhood for herself. She should be very proud of this book and I hope it gets more publicity so it won't be lost in the deluge of memoirs.

Growing Up Revisited
As an ex-New Yorker whose first apartment as a married woman was in Stuyvesant Town, this lovely memoir brought me back 28 years. The descriptions of life there matched and echoed what my husband and sister-in-law always told me, and reflected my experiences as well. The added attraction for me was that the author graduated from Hunter High School, my alma mater, her mother taught at Stuyvesant High School, where my husband attended, and the vignettes of my education at Hunter brought me back to Lexington Avenue and 68th Street in a way that only my own year book could. This is a beautiful piece of writing and I would encourage all with ties to New York and the places of Demas' youth to spend the time reading. ... Read more

Book Description

The story of New York's 21 Club is the story of American glamour in the twentieth century. ... Read more

Book Description

With this stunning memoir of growing up in Italian-American New Jersey, Louise DeSalvo proves that your family's past is baked right into the bread you eat.

In Louise DeSalvo's family, in 1950s New Jersey, the kitchen becomes the site for fierce generational battle. As Louise's step-grandmother stubbornly recreates the domestic habits of her Southern Italian peasant upbringing, she clashes painfully with Louise's convenience-food-loving mother, who is set on total Americanization. Louise, meanwhile, dreams of the day when in her own kitchen she'll produce perfect fresh pasta or pan-seared pork chops with fennel. But as Louise grows up to indulge in the kind of amazing food her impoverished ancestors could never have imagined and travels to Italy herself, her adult discoveries give her new insight into the tensions of her childhood. In unearthing the oppressive conditions that led Southern Italians to emigrate en masse to the United States, gaining a subtler understanding of the struggles between her parents and their parents, and starting a more happily food-obsessed family of her own, Louise DeSalvo arrives at a fuller and more compassionate picture of her own roots. And, in the process, she reveals that our image of the festive and bounteous Italian-American kitchen may exist in part to mask a sometimes painful history.
... Read more

Reviews (4)

Not what I expected---far MORE than I expected
I picked up this book to read thinking it was like so many other books I have read about Italian-Americans in an attempt to better understand my husband's family---a light-hearted look at the "crazy" antics of a close knit, pasta eating bunch of eccentrics. However, this is not at all what this book is, and what it actually is helped me more than any book I've read in understanding the family I have joined.

When Desalvo says "Crazy in the Kitchen", she is not kidding. Her mother and much of her family really does have seriously crazy tendencies---fury, cruelty, irrational financial habits, long running feuds, etc. And the kitchen is where many of these things are played out---from her mother's poor cooking to her step-grandmother's good but steep in unbreakable traditions cooking, to the cooking and eating of her ancestors in Southern Italy, or the NOT eating---for I finally understood what drove so many Italians to come to America. I had no idea how awful conditions were for the peasants of Italy. What they were subjected to honestly reminded me of accounts of places like Cambodia or China, during the Great Leap Forward.

I learned a great deal about Southern Italian culture from this book, and found myself reading many passages to my husband, a first generation Italian-American who spent much of his youth in Sicily visiting, and who had parents who spoke only Italian, and even he was stunned to find out much of what I read. I now understand my late in-laws much better than I did before this reading.

The writing style of this book took a bit to get used to, until I let myself fall into it. It's written like so many stories told by my in-laws---in a bit of a circular way---you find out a bit here, and a bit there, and it all adds up in the end.

I want to thank Ms. Desalvo for this book. I look forward eagerly to reading the rest of her works.