New York Books

A beautiful slim volume which should be on everyone's bookshelf. It is a disturbing and yet strangely moving book. However the text is woefully out of date and has a lot of misinformation on the Celts and their relationship with the trading systems of the North. It also lacks the modern theories of how and why these individuals were sacrificed. I highly recommend this book just as long as you don't use it as your only source of information on the Celts.

They are called the Bog People--these remains found in peat bogs in Denmark in the early 1950's. P.V. Glob gives us this story as a direct request of schoolgirls in England in the early 1960's. Asking for more information, the girls wrote: "We would like to know where he (the Tollund man) is now because we want to visit him when we are older." After sending some print-outs, Glob received yet another letter: "We like hearing about these people because it is amazing how well they have kept." THE BOG PEOPLE is his response to these curious girls.

If you are thinking circus at this point, you have captured that trait of man fascinated in the really weird things of life. When I taught "Beowulf the Epic," I included stories and photos from this book and displayed them through use of an opaque machine. Some students were so mesmerized they would leave their seats to examine the photos up close.

What the reader/viewer finds in these photos is an extremely bizarre preservation of these mummies with such detail, one can see eyelids, fingernails, blood vessels, hair, skin pores, and, yes, finger prints. Even the stomach contents of Tollund Man (shown on the cover) are preserved and include clover, rye, buttercup, yarrow, nightshade--it is believed to be a sort of vegetarian soup.

A noose was also found around Tollund Man's neck. Historians believe he was part of a ritual killing for sacrificial purposes. There are other remains, now in museums, that depict other details of life a thousand and more years ago. What preserved these people for so long--unbeknowst to the preservers-- was the peat, whose properties in water prevent normal decay. (The other way is intentional mummification, of course, the method practiced by the Egyptians.)

All in all, this book provides fascinating clues to the way of the life of man in prehistoric northern Europe. Plus, you get to gawk in the privacy of your own home.

P. V. Glob's BOG PEOPLE is a concise and illuminating study of several exquisitly preserved bodies of Iron Age inhabitant discovered northern Denmark by peat diggers in the early 1950s.

Glob, who was on the scene soon after the bodies were discovered, describes the remarkable condition of the bodies, then proceeds to explore the circumstances of their deaths. Glob's exposition gives us a look into the practice of ritual sacrifice in Iron Age northern Europe. Enhancing his discussion with studies of their last meals, the manner of death, the clothes and jewelry they wore as well as other bog artifacts, Glob introduces us to a brutal world where ritual sacrifice played a critical role in the spiritual life of Iron Age residents of modern day Denmark.

The photographs and x-rays of the bodies are stunning. In particular, the haunting photos of the serene, delicately preserved Tolland man cast this study in an earthy yet unearthly light.

This is a rather unusual book and well worth reading. Most of the time we read about remains being found in caves,tombs or graves under stone monuments,etc. In this case, there is a real departure in that they are found in wet bogs.
Although, at the time these bodies were placed in the bogs,it was probably not known that the acidic properties wound result in their unbelievable preservation.
These bodies were most likely "buried" in the period of 200 B.C until
200 A.D. This period was during the early Bronze Age and in the northern
and western part of Europe. Civilization was not near as well developed here as in southern Europe when Rome was at its height of development.
The author describes a few of the remains and tries to show who these people were and why they were interred in bogs.This occurred over a wide area and at many locations.
There seems to be two main reasons why remains were placed in these bogs.
Some were obviously murdered,sacrificed,hung or otherwise executed because of crimes,need of a victim for sacrifice, or because they were thought to be possessed,or otherwise evil. Many were staked to the ground to prevent them or their spirits from returning. Others were placed there because of their high ranking in the society.This was determined because those remains showed no evidence of wounds,mutilation or ropes around their necks or limbs.They were also accompanied with artifacts and or treasures.
This book would probably not be considered a great or highly learned Archaeological effort. Be that as it may,it is a very interesting read and an insight into life at the time through a very different window.
The author has included a large number of excellent photos;though it's a shame they are not in color.
It is also of note, that it was first published in 1969 and is still in print.

Musashi, like every great warrior, knew that strategy was as important as tactics and techniques in combat. This book will teach you things that were learned in combat and will enhance your survival potential on the battlefield, street and life.

It is not the easiest book to interpret and understand, but that hardly matters, as for the information in this book is worth your time and effort. One good book is worth a hundred crummy ones, and this book is one outstanding book. This book is divided into various distinct sections, and the serious and professional warrior should extract as much information as possible from each section. Every time I pick this book up I learn something new. This is the warrior's bible.

I highly recommend this book to all readers.

The book written by the samurai warrior Miyamoto Musashi circa 1645 is considered a classic treatise on military strategy, and it enjoys an audience considerably broader than only that of martial artists: for instance, some business leaders find its discussion of conflict and taking the advantage to be relevant to their work.

The term "Ichi School", which is referred to in the book, Go Rin No Sho, when referring to such books, refers to "Niten No Ichi Ryu", or "Ni Ten Ichi Ryu", which literally translated, means "Two Swords, one heaven".

Throughout the book it is clear: what is primary for Musashi is The Goal, while the means of achieving the goal are secondary. He wrote "According to this Ichi school, you can win with a long weapon, and yet you can also win with a short weapon. In short, the Way of the Ichi school is the spirit of winning, whatever the weapon and whatever its size."

The same is in business: the leaders who are attracted by the goal rather than by embellishments are the true leaders. For example, the dot-com bubble of 2000 was caused by the managers who forgot about the primary goal of the business: net income. Those who were obsessed by their stock prices regarding of massive losses and the lack of revenue became bankrupt. They put attention to the fancy office buildings and furniture rather than to the assets that generate earning. Musashi wrote about it: "Just as a horse must have endurance and no defects, so it is with weapons. Horses should walk strongly, and swords and companion swords should cut strongly. Spears and halberds must stand up to heavy use: bows and guns must be sturdy. Weapons should be hardy rather than decorative".

Musashi also encourages to maintain a balance of your skills throughout your life. This balance could be thought of as Yin and Yang. The balance is to be neither over-familiar with something nor under-familiar. The over-familiarity or over-use of one weapon is not recommended by Musashi, as it would be seen to reveal your spirituality to your enemy, and thus your boisterousness, or over-calm. The over-familiarity makes you stick to a conviction. This is a very important for the business. Take, for example, mr. Warren Buffet. A quality standing out about Mr. Buffett is his ability to morph. If you read his materials from the 1960s, he said very different things than in the 1970s and early-1980s. Early on he was buying dirt-cheap stocks by simple statistical standards and typically smaller stocks (smallcap), later he bought "franchises", then he entered a period of buying great managements of big companies and being a long-term holder, then, amazingly, he was buying smaller things dirt cheap again just as value came back into play as the twenty-first century began. He tactically morphed steadily over the decades. Trying to freeze his tactics from any decade and replicate them in the next few would never have led you to his actual actions. Musashi wrote about that this way: "You should not have a favourite weapon. To become over-familiar with one weapon is as much a fault as not knowing it sufficiently well. You should not copy others, but use weapons which you can handle properly. It is bad for commanders and troops to have likes and dislikes."

I read a small textbook edition of this book decades ago. Recently I chanced upon this edition at a bookstore and was floored at its beauty. The bounty of art and graphic lay-out make this a true treasure that I had to possess. My thankful appreciation to all involved in its production! This will be a life-long companion in my collection.

If anyone is in to Legend of the Five Rings RPG this book is way cool.

Daly is fairly.. lets call it, "imaginative", when it comes to writing about Fr. Judge - he spends an awful lot of time romanticizing about the man's hands, and a preposterous amount of time devoted to trying to develop a romantic subplot into Judge's life that stretches rather beyond believability.

I feel I know a lot less about Fr. Judge and a whole lot more about Michael Daly (and his odd, almost fetishistic preference of Judge over any and every other clergyman referenced in the book, all of whom are considered rather unfavorably) - which isn't what I'd hoped for out of this book at all.

I have no idea whether or not Judge was gay, but there's little evidence of it, even by this book's rather thin evidentiary standards. Daly as a narrator actually comes off as quite hostile to the Catholic Church underneath it all, and his reverence for Judge does little to reassure you about the veracity of the stories he's telling. They seem to be designed to admit only one possible (and hard-to-really-accept) notion about Mychal Judge: that he was a liberal gay activist and noble closet-case whose transcendental faith in Life (not Jesus?) was more important to him than the stuffy old Church he worked for and its silly, restrictive mysticism.

If you already find that easy to believe, you'll love the Fr. Mychal Judge that Daly's invented.

This is not the book on Judge you'll want to buy for your Catholic friends and family. This book really belongs more to the credulous among us, who like tabloid-sensational hero-stories about gay priests trapped in the so-called straight life, harbor some pretty deep-seated distortions about Catholic life and faith, or are otherwise into hyperbolic, revisionist narratives. "The Book of Mychal" reads like a "dramatic re-enactment" of some gay ghost story a la A&E, moreso than a careful, balanced biography of a guy who may get declared a saint sooner or later.

Weird stuff gets published all the time - if you really need to buy this, it belongs on your "homosexual priest fantasy-hagiography" shelf. There are better books out there on the guy, and some of them are actually biographical.

The writing was superb. But the life of Mychal Judge surpassed anything that I could have ever envisioned. This priest was the true definition of the word, Catholic, which means universal. His priesthood, his faith and his life were all embracing, all encompassing. He listened. He did not judge. He understood. As a Franciscan, he knew humility and poverty intimately and he owned them. The goodness of his life allowed him to interact with people of all faiths. He was as comfortable in the White House as he was in the slums of New York. All people were equal. He befriended and respected those of different faiths. He befriended those who were no longer practicing any religion. He did not judge them; he honored and treasured them for their own innate goodness.

He had trials and tribulations and he met them head-on while he monitored a flock that he adopted. Spending hours at the bedside of firemen, comforting their families, administering to the victims of AIDS when others shunned them, offering solace to strangers who became his friends, seeing goodness in others - these are just the highlights of this saintly man's life.

I cried and yet I was comforted. Michael Daly tells of the tragedy and he blends humor and laughter throughout the book. Father Judge always balanced his ministry with laughter.

Michael Daly is an excellent writer. However, his admiration for Father Mychal gave this book "heart."

If you do not read another book for the rest of the year, read this one. It will restore your faith, hope and charity towards one another.

I recommend this book highly.

This book brought tears to my eyes. We know that Mychal Judge's life was tragically ended on September 11, 2001 but this book told his life's story in a very real and touching way. The lessons of Mychal Judge's life will stay with you for a lifetime.

That's what this book clearly is - a labor of love, a probing biography by a Daily News columnist. The author delves deeply into Judge's Irish upbringing, the Catholic church, the Fire Dept, and New York City politics. A Pulitzer-worthy book.

Daly, Michael. "The Book of Mychal: The Surprising Life and Heroic Death of Father Mychal Judge", Thomas Dunne Books, 2008.

A National Hero

Amos Lassen

Father Mychal Judge became a hero after his death. He died while he was helping victims at the World Trade Center after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. He was the chaplain for the New York City Fire Department and he soon became the supreme symbol of those who put their lives at risk so they could help others and he paid the highest price. He was loved by his fireman and was always ready to listen to anyone who needed to talk. He not only was minister to firemen but to gay New Yorkers as well even though many of his firemen had no idea that he was gay and did not learn that until he was dead. Father Judge had problems with reconciling his private life with his public life and this was discovered in a journal he began keeping in 1999. We read that he yearned to speak out but he felt that coming out would cost him his ministry, his friends and his standing in the Catholic Church.
Michael Daly, who was Judge's friend and who wrote this book, had access to the journals and gives us the thoughts of Judge.
Judge's life was gripping from being a youth in Depression Brooklyn to his Catholic upbringing. The last section of the book hits hard as it deals with September 11 and the days following. I love the way we get to see Father Judge as he tries to balance his work with the fire department and his life as a gay man especially during the 1990's when New York City was engaged in a war between the church and the gay community. Daly gives us a peek into Judge's private life as well and with great sensitivity. We read of his involvement with the AIDS crisis, when he bucked his church's official policy on homosexuality. We also learn of the priest's ten year love affair with a much younger man but Daly says that it was never consummated because of the Church.
What makes the book so special is reading about Judge's inner thoughts and turmoils as well as the love his fireman felt for him. He was quite a man and Michael Daly has done both the man and his memory justice.

What a great collection of essays! An excellent book to have around and read when you're a Nuyorican looking for some grounding!

Collaboratively compiled and edited by the team of Gabriel Haslip-Viera (Director of the Program in Latin American and Latino Studies, City College, CUNY), Angelo Falcon (Senior Policy Executive for the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund), and Felix Matos Rodriguez (Director of the Center for Puerto Rican Policy, Hunter College), Boricuas In Gotham: Puerto Ricans In The Making Of Modern New York City anthologizes essays reinterpreting and updating the history of New York's Puerto Rican community and its leadership from the beginnings of the great migration in the 1940s down to the present day. Organized in chronological order and including chapters by noted historians, sociologists, and political scientists, Boricuas In Gotham covers diverse issues of culture, demography, language, economic status, politics, and community organization. Also available in a hardcover edition (1558763554, $69.95), Boricuas In Gotham is a seminal work of impressive scholarship and a welcome contribution to Latino Studies supplemental reading lists as well as 20th Century American History reference collections.

CHOICE Magazin: January 2005

"Collaboratively compiled and edited by the team of Gabriel Haslip-Viera (Director of the Program in Latin American and Latino Studies, City College, CUNY), Angelo Falcon (Senior Policy Executive for the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund), and Felix Matos Rodriguez (Director of the Center for Puerto Rican Policy, Hunter College), Boricuas In Gotham: Puerto Ricans In The Making Of Modern New York City anthologizes essays reinterpreting and updating the history of New York's Puerto Rican community and its leadership from the beginnings of the great migration in the 1940s down to the present day. Organized in chronological order and including chapters by noted historians, sociologists, and political scientists, Boricuas In Gotham covers diverse issues of culture, demography, language, economic status, politics, and community organization. Also available in a hardcover edition (1558763554, $69.95), Boricuas In Gotham is a seminal work of impressive scholarship and a welcome contribution to Latino Studies supplemental reading lists as well as 20th Century American History reference collections."

This new and very important collection of essays reinterprets and updates the history of New York's Puerto Rican community and its leaders from the beginnings of the great migration in the 1940s to the present time. The collection also honors the memory of the late Dr. Antonia Pantoja, who was perhaps the community's most important and influential activist and institution builder during this period.
The book is organized in chronological order and includes chapters by noted historians, sociologists, and political scientists, such as Virginia Sánchez Korrol, Ana Celia Zentella, José Cruz, Francisco Rivera Batiz, and Gabriel Haslip-Viera. These chapters focus on issues of culture, demography, language, economic status, politics, and community organization.
Eminently useful in college-level courses that deal with Latinos and other ethnic groups in U.S. society, the book ends with essays by Angelo Falcón and Clara E. Rodríguez that assess the legacy, current status, and future prospects of the Puerto Rican community in New York.

Gabriel Haslip-Viera, City College, CUNY, is the editor of Taíno Revival: Critical Perspectives on Puerto Rican Identity and Cultural Politics. Angelo Falcón, Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, is the author of numerous articles on Puerto Rican/Latino politics. Félix V. Matos-Rodríguez, Hunter College, is the author of Women in San Juan: 1820-1868.

To me this book is truly amazing the way it takes the reader into a world -- the Asian underworld here in the U.S. -- that very few people know anything about. Not only that, the author presents his main character, a young Vietnamese-American gangster wannabe, in a way that is insightful and compassionate. This could have been just a true-crime mob book, but it's much more than that. This is a book about the American Dream. As the blurbs say -- MUST READING.

BORN TO KILL is a fascinating and well-researched account of the rise and fall of a Vietnamese gang operating out of Chinatown in New York City. Much of the story chronicles the experiences of one gang member who eventually decides to cooperate with the NYPD and ATF to help bring down the gang. This book does an impressive job of explaining the political and cultural forces that affect these mostly very young gang members, but in a way that is never boring or uninteresting. Mr. English is objective yet he also writes with compassion. If you are interested in Gangs or Asian organized crime you cannot ignore this book.

TJ English gives the reader a look into a world many may not even know exists. He does an excellent job of portraying the harsh post-war existence that led Tinh into BTK, yet also shows great compassion for his plight. Despite the brutal nature of the subject matter the book is quite hard to put down. The events that happened resonate with me since I was living in the NYC area when they took place. I also know the exact locations of the streets in Chinatown that were named in the book. If you are not afraid to take a close look at the brutal nature of street life, then I suggest reading Born to Kill.

I am Vietnamese know first hand what the people in that gang experence. In my home town of Sacramento CA their are alot of asian gangs just like BTK. Their is even a gang called Born to Kill around sactown too. I use to kick it with alot of gang member that do some of the same stuff that BTK do like robberies, GTA and busting 211 on houses too. If people wants to know what really happens in an asian gang then you guys should read this book.

Bruchac's autobiography holds the reader's interest to the end. It's a well told story that could be read and enjoyed by young adults, as well as their parents.

'Bowman's Store' resonated with me because of my own history. I was told that my great-grandmother was French Canadian. I never saw a photograph of her - or even knew one existed - until a cousin showed me a picture from one of her own family albums. There is no mistaking the ethnic background of the woman with the intricately beaded collar and sober mien; no doubt about that of the unknown child at her side. This discovery came long after my mother's death. There was no one left to whom I could address my many questions - no answers to be had.

The silence seems impenetrable. What were my great-grandmother's origins - and by extension - mine? I can't reach her. She's carefully hidden from view by the traditions of shame that were felt by later generations. The same kind of silence experienced by Joseph Bruchac.

Bowman's Store - the rememberances, of today and yesterday in an Abenaki life. The discovery of whispers in the blood and the path of discovery in the recovery and claiming of heritage. Circles are begun, completed, and heralded. This story will echo, for anyone who remembers family and celebrates their own. For Jr. High School readers and up. It should be in every library that wishes to have books by and for Indian people. John D. Berry, Native American Studies Librarian, U.C. Berkeley

Bruchac does a wonderful job of mixing Indian tales and legends with the stories of his life. I found myself asking questions about events in one chapter, only to have them answered in a later chapter. Bruchac gives you enough detail to put you in the story, but doesn't inundate you with it. I hope someday to attend a storytelling festival where he is featured. His ease with the language and his experiences in life make Bruchac a fabulous storyteller. Thank you for sharing your memories and those of a great people.

Joseph Bruchac lived through a childhood few would envy. His parents used him as a weapon in their own endless battle. However, he lived with his warm and loving grandparents, and this story retells his life with them. His grandfather, the "Bowman" who owned the store, claimed to be "French Canadian" to his Indian-hating neighbors. Forced to hide his heritage, Bowman still taught his grandson how to grow up strong and proud of himself and his achievements. Now that Bruchac has recovered his Indian heritage, and become a well-known writer and editor of Indian works, this biography shows both the power of that heritage, and the need contemporary Indians feel to recover it.

Great book that brought back a lot of memories of faded Brooklyn Glory. Osborne captures the details of a summer in the minors leagues from the fresh cut grass of a new season to the hope of Major League stardom.

Warning: This book has a tendency to make the reader into a die hard Cyclones fan.

Great book. Loved the historical aspects, and the personal stories of the player and local kid. A great gift for father's day, espcially for anyone with Brooklyn roots or a love of baseball.

With Ben Osborne's newest book, The Brooklyn Cyclones, Hardball Dreams and the New Coney Island, baseball is displayed, honored, and celebrated in such a way that my "jones" for a bleacher seat, a dog and a draft has spiraled out of control. This tale of baseball's return to Brooklyn is much more than just an account of the 2001 season of the Mets' Single-A Brooklyn Cyclones. It is a socially in-depth look into baseballs' influence on not only a community (in this place, the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn), and the city of New York at large, but also on two specific individuals. The two featured in this beautifully crafted piece of work are contrasts in background and involvement with the club. The first featured character is catching prospect, Brett Kay. A native Californian, who had never stepped foot in the Big Apple prior, Kay brings a natural energy to the club, as well as a strong bat and solid defensive play behind the plate. As a single-A prospect, Kay like many others in his position, the Cyclones are the first step in his pursuit of his dream of one day playing in the bigs.
The second individual featured is 13-year old Coney Island resident, Anthony Otero Jr. A big fan of the game of baseball, Otero is the leader of a group of Coney teenagers, who in stark contrast to the borough's basketball history, enjoy using the blacktops for hardball instead of roundball. Living just 15 blocks from the site of KeySpan Park (the cyclone's beautiful boardwalk-side stadium), Osborne chronicles Otero's interest in the team, alongside his own aspirations of one day playing pro ball. Possibly the most intriguing portions of the book, are the historical sections which detail Brooklyn's rich baseball tradition with the Dodgers, the economic rise and fall of Coney Island, and finally ex-mayor, Rudy Guilani's attempt to use the genesis of the team as a cornerstone of his "legacy" as mayor.

In the end, this slice of Americana is truly an enjoyable read. A tale which intertwines many different faces of the American sports fan, from the prospect, to the fierce political leader, to the local kid from the projects. How these individuals affect and are ultimately affected by the team is the true story line. A couple years later, Kay puts it perfectly in the book's final thought, "that season in Brooklyn was something that I'll never experience again."

Ben Osborne's second book is a solid journalistic foray that delves into the political, regional, and economic contexts surrounding the return of professional baseball to the borough of Brooklyn 44 years after the Dodgers took off for California. The first season of the minor league Cyclones, an afiliate of the New York Mets, who play in the New York-Penn League, is recounted in detail through the eyes of Anthony Otero, a kid from the projects and Coney Island native who dreams of playing for the Yankees but had never been to a professional game before the Cyclones came to town and Brett Kay, a Californian catching prospect drafted by the Mets and farmed out to the Class A Cyclones to begin his big league career.

From the potitical manuevering of Rudy Giuliani to the construction of the incredible Keyspan Park at Coney Island to the season long sellout crowds Ben Osborne crafts a riviting story and fascinating read that encompasses both historical and cultural perspectives while exploring the media circus that followed the Cyclones in their inaugual season. The book is about more then just baseball. It's about the inner city struggle, big city politics, and hardball dreams. An accurate portrayal and intriguing analysis of the realities facing Brooklyn and Coney Island today.

An excellent, albeit silliy, addition to the library or coffee table of Brooklynites of any age. Granted, it isn't "all-inclusive," but what pop-up book (or any book on Brooklyn, for that matter) is?

A delightfully colorful whimsy. Beautifully designed by an array of talented artists, including Maurice Sendak, specialists in pop-up engineering and all the pieces lovingly put together in Ecuador. My favorite? Two pages topped with old postcard letters-- "CONEY ISLAND." The beach front is covered with mini-bathers frolicking in and out of the water while the rollercoaster rolls by and the ferris wheel spins. There's a great boardwalk and everything that you could want at Coney Island. The only thing missing from the scene is Nathan's. There's an amazing Brooklyn Bridge, and lots of information for all ages about the history of that special borough....

It is really nice to see a resurgence of such childhood favorites as the "pop-up" book. Truly the first multimedia toys, these books add a new dimension (pun most certainly intended) to the written word.

What a wonderful way to introduce children and adults alike to the cultural Mecca that is Brooklyn. I loved this book so much, not only did I buy it for my library's children's collection, but I also bought a copy for myself.

Highly, highly recommended!

Each foldout page in this book was designed by a different person. Sometimes they're disappointing as pop-ups, but there are some bright moments. The cover by Maurice Sendak allows you to see behind it into how the movements are made. The brownstones page is silly, with stupid bug cartoons everywhere. The library is really disappointing, with no real focus and no real view of what the building looks like. The art museum is just lovely, and is probably the best -- but then, it's by Sabuda (my favorite pop-up artist)! The botanic garden could have been the most colorful and beautiful page -- instead, it's childish and dull. The carousel is fun, with horses popping out at you. The Brooklyn Bridge is nice, but the flavors of Brooklyn are worthless. Coney Island is fun, with a rotating Ferris wheel. The book comes in a handy-dandy re-sealable plastic cover. So if you're fond of Brooklyn this will be a really nice memento. But I do NOT recommend it for reading out loud to children.

Just a correction. Bruce Davidson made these photographs using a 4x5 camera. Not 8x10. Met the photographer tonight and that is what he said.

I opened the pages with trepidation, my heart beating and colliding with memories long forgotten, whose every scene brought to me the miasma of cooking in the halls, the scent of tar on the melting rooftops in August, and the perpetual noise down in the streets strangely mixed with hilarity and shouting; the sounds for one born here was as uplifting as the sounds of crickets to a farmer in his fields at night. But I do have issues with the book. The pictures therein were obviously taken when 100th street was in its last stage of demise. The book should have included the early '60's that would have shown an electrifying explosion of people milling in the streets, firescapes, stoops, cars, doorways; singing doo-wops beneath the lampost; or stickball played in the street. But it sadly lacked that. The candy stores were gone, the bodegas boarded up, my own building (323) boarded with tin. East 100th Street was the most nefarious neighborhood in all of East Harlem, and too, the most frightening place for policemen to enter. But for all its disadvantages, it was by far, the most creative street known. Is it no wonder why it attracted the likes of Elenor Roosevelt, Robert F. Kennedy, Marlon Brando, Miles Davis, Burt Lancaster, Billy Holiday, Mark Lane, and a host of others? Is it any wonder why it haunted me so to write a true novel based on it? (Just now complete). But all in all the photos are real and sadly true.

In 1968, Bruce Davidson took his large-format 8x10 camera uptown to East 100th Street in East Harlem and set about recording the lives and the people of this poverty stricken block.

Davidson had spent much of the 1960s documenting the civil rights movement and the people on the fringes as well massive projects such as the building on the Verranzo bridge but in many ways East 100th Street was forever to define him as a photographer, and establish him as a great photographer.

By working with a large format camera, Davidson was saying to everyone that he was not interested in taking street photographs: fleeting images where the subjects might not even really know you are there. Instead an 8x10 camera (8x10 refers to the size of the negative -- 8" by 10") requires a tripod and considerable effort and time (minutes) just to focus the camera and take light measurements as well as considerable effort and conspicousness to just lug around. The result is rather formal pictures made with the subjects true consent.

And so the pictures are truly intimate portraits made with the collaboration of the people of East 100th street. They are truly a remarkable document.

Davidson takes you inside people's living rooms and bedrooms, into the back alleys and onto the rooftops. He shows you the dinner at the dinner table, and couples swaying to the music in a bar. You see the pictures of Jesus and JFK on their walls. And the family with the same clock on their wall that hung in my kitchen as I grew up.

You see the old man shivering in his bed, looking straight into the camera, an old tired dog under his bed also looking straight into the bed, the floor dirty, the walls bare except for tired old wallpaper. An unforgettable image. You will always remember the child bundled up in his coat, wool hat pulled down tight over his ears, standing by his mailboxes looking straight at you. There is Davidson's famous image of the young black couple smiling, happy, and dignified, cheek-to-check looking into the camera. There is the proud old black woman, sitting in her run-down apartment, drinking coffee, with a portrait of JFK staring at you.

They are Americans; they are Christians; they are black or hispanic or white; they are proud; they dress up nicely on Sundays to go to church; they love their children; they love each other; they drink; they go to the park and have bbq's on Sunday, and have the same pictures on their walls as do "us, other Americans". They are just like us, except they are poor and their skin maybe a different color.

And while this might not seem radical today, in 1968, this was extraordinary. Even though it is no longer a controversial sentiment, the photos are still powerful in terms of their intimacy, the scope of the lives they document, and, yes, the message they send.

It is a book that you will be proud to own, containing images you won't forget.

East 100th Street is a truly stunning, black-and-white photographic portrait of East 100th Street of Harlem. These stark, memorable images captured by Bruce Davidson show poverty, survival, individuals, children, and families -- some having fun, some withdrawn into themselves. "What you call a ghetto, I call my home", is an impressive quote spoken to the photographer, and East 100th Street showcases both sides of this remark in an exceptional and unforgettable manner.

This is a real eye opener of a book if you are looking for an in depth retrospective of the artist's body of work! Burne-Jones is at last receiving his fair due of recognition as witnessed by the recent Met show in the Summer of 1998. This book showcases his many merits, including a unerring color and design technique applied to fantastical subjects. What makes the book so irresistible is the wealth of color plates accompanied by detailed explanations. It also helps that the authors were thoughtful enough to leave out any stuffy, academic narrative that overburdens this genre.

As I only had about 30 minutes to view this exhibit at the Met (I know - it's absurd), I am delighted to have this beautiful catalog to examine in close detail. The reproductions are indeed stunning, and the text, although very detailed, is quite readable. A treasure for art lovers, especially fans of the Pre-Raphaelite style.

This edition of the catalogue for the Metropolitain Museum of Art's recent(and sadly closed) exhibit belongs on every art library's list of " must buys." What a wealth of information and imagery, all presented in generous counterbalance in splendid color throughout. Buy this!!

To visit the Burne-Jones exhibition at New York's Metropolitain Museum of Art is a thrill beyond describing. It is like being surrounded by old friends of the sort usually found in dreams.The stunning, fully illustrated catalogue that accompanies the show is perhaps the best catalogue I have seen, most notably for its impeccable and stimulating essays, and for its phenominal wealth of color reproductions. This book is a stunner, despite two or three flipped pictures( which I guess could happen to anyone in the rush to get such an involved publication ready in time!) I would advise all bookshops, libraries and Burne-Jones lovers to order this book now for its September release. It is sure to be the most valuable book on its subject for many years to come.