New Jersey Books

I came across a used copy of The Bayman quite by accident at a flea market. I moved to the Barnegat Bay area 12 years ago and some of my friends are wives of bayman. I learned more about clammers from Merce Ridgway's book than in all the years I've been here. It's given me more of an appreciation for the very difficult work they do. My favorite chapter was about the "Ice on the Bay", but every single chapter held my attention. It was easy, delightful reading. Thank you, Merce!

I bought this fine book toward the end of a vacation on Long Beach Island, by Barnegat Bay, and only wish I'd read it before the trip. Merce Ridgway captures the texture of an earlier time, and conveys a culture that combines ingredients of Appalachia, Cajun, Down East Maine, and its own unique local flavor. Reading the book gives you a whole different outlook when boating on the bay, watching the local wildlife, or treading for clams. Mr. Ridgway is not a professional writer, so his prose sometimes stumbles, but his deep knowledge of the area and his clear thinking overcome this challenge to create a thoroughly readable book. A great gift for anyone who loves the Jersey Shore.

This turned out to be a very good read about Atlantic City, New Jersey.You are able to read about the early history of this resort city. You are taken to the time period when gambling is legalized in the city.All of the major gambling companies that came to Atlantic City(as well as Donald Trump) are given time in this book.You are introduced to the politicians,the unions,as
well as some of the underworld elements that have come to dominate the Boardwalk. This is a very thorough book about gambling and Atlantic City,New Jersey. Buy this book and get the
story on the Boardwalk.

The Camden and Atlantic Railroad was built to connect Camden and Absecon Island in 1854 and provided faster access than by stagecoach. The terminus was named "Atlantic City" (p.15). By 1880 Atlantic City was a thriving summer resort. Its Convention Center was built in 1929 - the largest unobstructed room in the world (488 feet long, 288 feet wide, 137 feet high). Chapter 2 explains how any political machine must work to be successful: provide gambling, prostitution, alcohol, and drugs 24X7. With police protection for those who pay for it. (This ignores any commercial rivalry or union breaking.) The Depression and changing fashions led to the downfall of this Queen of Resorts.

Did corruption and crime kill Atlantic City? Can any resort area outlive changing fashions? Chapter 5 points to Newark. With its seaport, airport, and train station, New York close by, it should be NJ's best city, not a national example of urban decay. Does this reflect the policies of the state's Ruling Class? Chapter 8 tells of the politics in passing a referendum to allow gambling in Atlantic City. It names the politicians and fixers behind this deal. Does NJ have the reputation as the most corrupt in the nation? It was run in turn by large landowners, railroads, insurance companies, and big banks (p.62). Could this be due to its powerful state government and the relative lack of democratic power of the people?

Part II tell "The Way It Is" and covers the decade after the Casino Control Act was passed. It has all the big names in Jersey politics, and the squalid scandals. Read it for all the stories on corruption that they will never teach you in school. Since the book ends in 1985 it doesn't cover the effects of the other casinos across the country, or in nearby Connecticut. Too many casinos chasing fewer gamblers? This and changing fashions could mean another decline for Atlantic City. Or maybe not, it they can change with the times. Pages 204-5 tell how Bally moved from pinball machines into video games, and opened "family amusement centers" in shopping malls, and acquired theme parks, health clubs, and the biggest supplier of lottery tickets in the nation.

After gambling was legalized, property taxes, water, sewer, and utility bills increased by 200-300%; street crimes, prostitution, and drug abuse went up 500% (pp. 367-8). Ninety percent of the businesses operating in 1976 were gone by 1985 (p.378). So who really profited?

Chapter 31 gives "The Bottom Line" and summarizes the effects of legalized gambling. Where it once had 30,000 rooms and was a family vacation resort now has a fraction of that in first-class hotel rooms. Las Vegas has far more (but this may reflect travel times). "Gambling is a parasitic enterprise that thrives on the weaknesses of people. It leaves in its wake corruption, debasement, despair, and the subversion of moral authority. That is the real bottom line" (p.424).

Camden County New Jersey; across the Deleware from Philadelphia, contains nearly as much history as its' neighbor to the West, yet like much of New Jersey's history little is known. Rutgers University's Jeffery Dorwort has been on a mission to change this, with books and papers on Cape May County, the New York Ship Yard in Camden, and several other topics of New Jersey history. His book on Camden County should appeal both to scholars and laymen with an interest in how the Multi-cultural American communities of the East Coast developed. One needn't ever stepped foot in New Jersey to appriciate the role this community, with Walt Whitman's final home of Camden at the seat, played in forming modern (ne post-modern) America. From slave traders to suburbanization, this book covers the history of America via a microcosm of the country.

This is an effective history, one that provides a lot of details about the rise and fall/further rise of an area of New Jersey near and dear to my heart. The narrative is chock full of family names and dates and company names; it could use a little more in the way of background about these people. All in all, it's a useful book, particularly in the way that it explains the decline of the city of Camden.

Just shy of 200 pages the chapters cover everything from Citizens In Action; Rebuilding Urban Neighborhoods Lot by Lot; Saving Swamp And other Landmark Campaigns; Better Living thru Mutual Help Groups; Grassroots to Global Civic Action; Putting It All Together; Conducting Citizen's Campaign, Addressing the Political Arena; Navigating the New Media; and Research Resources.

As the book notes civic movements are essential to American's freedom and quality of life. That active citizens have led the way to everything from the American revolution to urban renewal and as I know personally, the United Farm Workers, Reproductive health issues and even Home schooling here in California.

And this is a book that could not have come at a better time. With the economic downturn and many issues facing my own community like stopping or cutting back on growth and trying to help those in the community who are falling thru the cracks, I appreciated the well laid out information from how to get organized, being well informed and NOT spouting hype or opinion but pushing facts and making the cause personal, and making it appeal to my neighbors was helpful. Reminding me that it is a one step at a time mode that brings success, whereas going to fast can cause slip ups and mistakes. And the information on how to get people to work together and avoiding the ego trap where one person steals the limelight was priceless.

If your library does not have this book, but them a copy. It should be a required reading for civics class in public, private and home schools.

Civics courses teach the virtues of the democratic system, but often leave out the part that most interests the individual: What is the role of individuals in a democratic society? What is the gritty reality beyond our image of Lion's Clubs, YMCA's, volunteerism or demonstrations? Which raises a question that wasn't even asked in my civics class: How important is individual activism in a democracy? I'd suggest A Citizen's Guide to Grass roots Campaigns over most civics classes. This "guide" is of the mentoring variety; while full of tips that inspire plans, the real beauty of the style is in the storytelling. There are no precise how-to rules when people take on local issues with local ingenuity. Even better, here are the tales of successful activists, folks who have found ways to confront forces of great change, even in the Garden State. Activism is at its hottest in New Jersey - highly industrial, highly political and highly expensive turf.But the stories chosen are common American struggles. A few folks in the inner city decide to revive their local park, and get graffiti artists to make a lasting children's mural, using the Tom Sawyer ethic. A woman starts a campaign to protect open space with a stream of volunteers through her kitchen office, and emerges as one of the state's conservation leaders. A group of six articulates concerns of the atomic arms buildup by sending a pamphlet to every home in town and a delegation to Moscow, which starts talks across both borders. And individuals explore the much scoffed at and equally popular self-help groups, by facing isolated personal pain, with others, and creating networks of healing.Barry makes a good case that the effects of being engaged are considerable at all scales. (This is a strong topic, as importance of local engagement has not fully been acknowledged and has been undercut in recent decades by the increasing flow and loss of immediacy of knowledge, i.e. virtual reality.) One chapter is devoted to individual empowerment. Other chapters consider every level of group effort - from one person, to a handful, to an army of handfuls. Mechanics, pitfalls and politics of citizen's campaigns are considered. One feels Margaret Mead can listen and hear her message expanded - small groups are powerful insofar as we choose, and this freedom is the bane and boon of American democracy.A Citizen's Guide's sunny side of American woes is a needed voice. A correlation emerges: campaigns taken on by determined local persons are more potent than agendas launched by distant interests. Another correlation: volunteerism isn't to be scoffed at as the dirty work of an entrepreneurial nation, rather it is the grit of a nation of persons able to work for something above personal gain. Thus, the skills it takes for quality grassroots work mirror the best business skills, each successful only insofar as it is done well. Engaged Americans appreciate the full responsibility of democracy, with its eternal vigilance, and the personal and communal enrichment spurred by the ideas and hard work of individuals. These lessons make A Citizen's Guide to Grassroots Campaigns a strong antidote to apathy.

Garner Quinn, true crime writer, is a wonderful neurotic. Her background includes a dead alcoholic mother; rich, neglectful and dead father who had been a successful attorney and sued her over her first book; a Jamaican housekeeper who raised her; a teenaged daughter; an attorney ex-husband; and the Jamaican housekeeper's jealous daughter. There is also the ex-lover, who might have been her mother's ex-lover, who abandoned her.

Then Quinn develops a stalker. It begins with one creepy letter and escalates from there. She hires a high priced security firm to keep her little family safe. But it's not that easy, as circumstances drag in Dane Blackmoor, her expatriated ex-lover.

The really developed relationships in this book though are between Quinn, her daughter, her housekeeper and her housekeeper's daughter. Garner Quinn's life is not just threatened, it's badly in need of being shaken up and set right. Maybe this is the book to do it.

Garner Quinn has taken a hiatus from her famous career as a true crime writer. However, this is one time in which out of sight does not mean out of mind as the public still endows her with much acclaim. However, one of her fans is making her life a living hell by sending her letters, breaking into her car and leaving threatening notes. Garner takes the threats very seriously and hires Corbin, Inc, a security firm to the rich and famous, to safeguard her. Reed Corbin sets up a trap to capture Garner's nemesis even as he makes sure his client knows that he is very attracted to her. She reciprocates his feelings even though he is not Dane Blakemore.

When the stalker is apprehended, Garner concludes that Dane is never returning from Europe to her and is prepared to pursue a relationship with Reed. However, tragedy strikes, causing Garner to flee to the arms of Dane in Paris. However, Garner is called home because some unknown has posted bond for the stalker. The stalker is killed by the security agent but for Garner the terrot has only just begun.

Jane Waterhouse can always be counted on to give her readers the unexpected and her third Quinn novel is no exception. DEAD LETTER is a roller coaster ride of thrills, chills, and unrelenting suspense. There are so many twists and turns coupled with unexpected but believable surprises that the reader will be unable to put the book down until the last page has been turned. Anyone who has tasted a Quinn book will want to read the other two stories as well as future books because they will become addicted to the series.

Harriet Klausner

If you like to bike but cannot handle cars, 40 mile rides, or crowded boardwalks, buy this book. We got the book last month and my husband has taken our 4-yr-old son on three rides already. They have truly had fun on their adventures and the information in the book is right-on.

Finally, a biking book for "normal" people. My wife and I do not ride in spandex and we prefer safety to distance. While we have a few favorite road rides, the rides in this book, being on rail-trails, along canals, or on bike paths, are wonderful. Being New Jersians, we knew about the rail-trail rides but never got around to figuring out how to do them! Thanks to Ms. Goodspeed, all our efforts can now go into biking - not planning! I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants an easy day of biking (children or no children).

I was very glad to read about the history of my first duty station during my army days. It told me a lot I didn't know about Ft. Hancock. I was a member of the 526 Missile Bn., Nike, and was based at the fort in early 1953.

During the early stages of the American Revolution, General George Washington lacked the resources to defend the harbor of New York City. Thus, a British fleet sailed through an undefended Sandy Hook, New Jersey and occupied New York City in 1776. From this experience the United States learned the importance of defending its shorelines through fortifications.

Fort Hancock is a historic fort that for many years protected the Harbor of New York. It is located on Sandy Hook, New Jersey about 19 miles south of Battery Park on Manhattan. Sandy Hook is a remote, six-mile peninsula that stretches into New York Harbor. Although there were earlier fortifications on the site, including fortifications during the Civil War, Fort Hancock itself was established in 1895 and named for Winfield Scott Hancock, a Union Civil War General, hero of the Battle of Gettysburg, and unsuccessful presidential candidate in 1880. Fort Hancock was utilized in the defense of New York City from the late 19th Century to the early 1970s. The Fort is now part of the Gateway National Park administered by the National Park Service.

This book on Fort Hancock is part of the "Images of America" series which has the commendable goal of presenting the local history of places in the United States through photographs. Thomas Hoffman, a Park Ranger at Fort Hancock since 1975, tells the story of the fort from its earliest days through the beginning of WW II. Hoffman offers a brief written introduction to the history of Fort Hancock followed by 128 pages of photographs with annotations and commentary. It is a fascinating story.

The fortifications at Fort Hancock began well before 1895, and Hoffman begins his account with the early days at Sandy Hook. He gives considerable space to the history of the Harlyburton detachment, (pp. 50, 86, 116-117) a group of 14 British sailors who died at Sandy Hook in 1783 while pursuing deserters from their warship, the H.M.S. Assistance. The sailors were buried at Sandy Hook, and their remains were rediscovered in 1908. A park and a monument at Fort Hancock were built in their memory.

Most of Hoffman's account centers upon the massive weaponry that the military constructed at Fort Hancock beginning in 1898 to protect New York City. The defenses consisted primarily of a string of large disappearing gun batteries, operated by elevators, which protected all aspects of the approach to New York City and which were modernized and expanded over the years. The defenses also included an extensive system of mines. Hoffman has many photographs and descriptions of these weapons, their installation, and the soldiers who manned them.

The book also shows the distinctive architecture that was constructed at Fort Hancock to provide a place for the soldiers to live. Hoffman shows the series of quarters known as "officers row" together with the barracks constructed for enlistees. He offers photos of soldiers going about their duties and their daily lives at Fort Hancock that will be of interest to those readers who have lived themselves in a military installation. With the coming of both WW I and WW II, Fort Hancock expanded dramatically, both to prepare for possible military attack and to train the many new soldiers who swelled the Army's ranks. Hoffman's book documents the expansion of Fort Hancock during these years, as well as visits to the fort from Charles Lindbergh and President Franklin Roosevelt.

Fort Hancock's most active years were those during WW II and its aftermath, when the it was used as a missile site. Hoffman's book only touches these years lightly, focusing instead on the early years of the fort. Perhaps the subsequent history of Fort Hancock will be discussed in a follow-up volume.

I have never visited Fort Hancock or the Gateway National Park, but this book brought an aura of familiarity to the site and made me want to go. Readers who have served at Fort Hancock, or similar sites, or those with an interest in the coastal defenses of the United States will enjoy this fine book.

Robin Friedman

If you've ever thought, "Gee, if Jeff Somers would just stop torturing us with his fiction and keep on delighting us with his cranky rants on things like zines, wedding receptions, freaks, and bastards my world would be a much sunnier place," then _The Freaks are Winning : The Inner Swine Collection_ will brighten your days considerably.

If you're familiar with Jeff's well-respected zine, _The Inner Swine_, you know what you're in for: Jeff's funny, irreverent commentary on seemingly every aspect of middle-class Jersey life, tied in with anecdotes of his drunken antics, real and imagined. ... This book, actually, is a great place to catch up on some of Jeff's better essays. ....

Jeff Somers is one of the very best fiction writers who hasn't signed a major publishing deal yet. This anthology is a fine compilation of his "lighter" material.

I saw Jeff read from this book in Chicago recently at Quimbys bookstore - I had kind of heard of him but I'd never read his zine, The Inner Swine, before. He was hilarious! The book's supposed to be a collection of articles from his zine, but it's got a pretty strong theme, which is the title: The freaks are winning! It sounds kind of mean but he's got a point: there are so many weird people in the world you start to feel like you're the only normal person. Of course, everyone feels that way, so we're all freaks, and Jeff's very aware of that.

Anyone who likes cynical, sarcastic, and sometimes bizarre humor will dig this book. It's thick too, so for [$] it's a good bargain. He's got a wonderfully self-effacing style, so even when he's telling you how genius he is, you're not put off by it. Definitely recommended.

Ed Gertler has been down every mile of every New Jersey river, and if I did that, I would insist on sharing every bit of knowledge, tips, joy and suffering that entailed. He does. Minor errors in maps and details are not fatal. This is an unprecedented and fabulously useful guide for people who actually want to get into their kayaks and canoes and head down a river. It provides thorough information on where to start, what to expect, how long it will take, what you will see. (Kayakers note: his average times are a bit slow). While I have no particular interest in paddling past the refineries along the Hackensack River, this book has opened my eyes and ambitions to many small, delightful rivers and creeks throughout New Jersey, and I plan to travel many of them. Because of this book.

Not only does the author provide an assortment of lesser and well known canoe-able rivers, but also presents it in an entertaining fashion. I attribute this book to have doubled my paddling enjoyment through all of the wonderful places I've been directed to by this book. Having had my copy for a number of years, I sometimes enjoy just reading it for the entertainment value in addition to being a guidebook.

As an English fan of the American political process, I found this book a truly great insight into how the big US races are run. I was also pleased that, unlike other books of this type, the author remained neutral throughout.

Michael Aron a fixture on the New Jersey political scene brings both the aware and unaware a vivid and accurate look at one of the closest governor races in the state of New Jersey's history. He mangages to make it all clear not to just the insider but to any political novice reading their first political book. In the end you come away with not only what it takes to win in New Jersey's high stakes politics, but also who and why everything is so high stakes.