New York Books

Anyone who has ever owned a classic car knows there is a bond between man and machine that comes with it, whether it is Corvette or a classic of lesser prestige. That bond can drive one to extremes when thieves try to separate the two. The extremes Berkson went to would be perfectly understandable--anywhere but New York, where the fate of a stolen car is usually sealed within hours of its disappearance. Yet he refused to accept the idea that his car was never going to be found in one piece, and his determination to find it by appointing himself chief investigator in the face of police indifferance put him on a path that your average New Yorker would never have the guts to follow, especially with the odds of success being somewhere around zero.

Berkson writes in a straightforward, fast paced style that makes this book both a quick and compelling read. And -- oh yeah -- he got the car back, but you'll have to buy the book to find out how. Highly recommended.

While visiting our local bookstore, I had the good fortune to come across Terry Berkson's book: "Corvette Odyssey" on the shelf of the transportation section. Being an old car enthusiast, the title caught my eye. After I read the first few pages, I was hooked. I sat right there in the store and read it from cover to cover, then I bought the book so I could read it again at home. I found it easy to relate to the emotions and attachment evoked in Mr.Berkson by his beloved roadster. A fantastic read!

As a woman who has never learned how to drive it feels odd to be touting a book titled Corvette Odyssey. Yet it's so much more than a story of a lost and found car. Yes, we're astonished by Berkson's miraculous recovery of his Corvette after his frantically obsessive search for it. But foremost, for me, the book is about values which, to our great detriment, no longer seem as important as they once were: a sense of connection to one's roots (for Berkson it's Brooklyn and Upstate New York)and to family (notwithstanding his delinquency during the search), and a relationship to possessions which is now foreign to us. In our mad rush for the newest, the most state of the art, the trendiest, we no longer know how to cherish what we have. We learn from Berkson's book the art of cherishing--not only a vintage Corvette, but the connection to his personal history which it represents. An inspiring read for anyone!

There's a great story at the heart of this book, but what really makes it compelling is the way the author places the story in the context of a whole life... all the various connections with family and friends, and even with people who begin as total strangers but get pulled in some way into Berkson's quest. I could have read this in one sitting but preferred to dole it out over the course of three nights just to savor the experience.

This is a straight from the heart book about a man's quest to find his stolen car and almost loses his family. A really great book about how possessions can be symbolic of what's missing in one's life, and how we should instead be grateful for the people who are present in our lives.

I live in California, but have spent a lot of time with a friend who lives in NYC for the past 8 years. He has one of the original copies of this special cookbook. This is the one I use when I am there. It is GREAT! But my friend refuses to give it up. I am begging for a reprint. Can you help me? Betty McAlpine, Visalia, California

This Craig Claiborne `magnum opus' was my very first serious cookbook, from which I have probably done more recipes than any five others put together. As such, I have an intimate knowledge of its strengths and weaknesses.

The evaluation of this book depends greatly on an understanding of the purpose that the book best serves. The main feature of the book is its vast size. It weighs in at about 800 pages. The only `cookbook' on my shelves with more words and pages is the encyclopedic `Larousse Gastronomique'. The class of cookbook which most closely approaches this book in size is the all-purpose `how to cook' manual such as `The Joy of Cooking' and Mark Bittman's `How to Cook Everything'. This Claiborne volume fits neither of these two categories. It is also certainly not a restaurant, celebrity, or `terroir' cookbook such as those about Provence or Tuscany. It basically defines a class of which it is probably the premier exemplar. This is the class of book that is simply assembled to provide you with as many recipes as possible. It's reason for being is volume. There are some special cases of this class of book which deal with a particular cuisine, such as the `Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook' by Gloria Bley Miller. Claiborne outstrips this book by a mile, giving us two to three recipes per page, thereby weighing in with about 2000 recipes covering the four corners of the world.

In a sense, the class of cookbook that may come closest to this MS is the fundraising cookbook commonly published by churches and social organizations with recipes supplied by the group's members. The similarity is that the recipes were supplied by dozens of different authors and there are few if any threads connecting the recipes except the organization sponsoring the publication of the volume. This Claiborne work distances itself from such volumes in the quality and diversity of the recipes. It is important to remember that most, if not all of these recipes have appeared in the pages of the New York Times. In order to do this, they would have had to pass scrutiny of not only Times editors but the thousands of readers of the New York Times food columns. Each recipe would have had to survive a second professional screening when it was being considered as an entry in this book. Additional screenings would have been done for each successive edition. The bottom line is that the value of this book is in its providing a widely diverse selection of high quality recipes for a cent and a half per recipe. Compare that to the twenty to thirty-five cents per recipe you pay for a new hardcover cookbook from the latest celebrity chef or the latest send-off of recipes from Rome, Tuscany, or Provence.

The other side of the coin is that the only thing you get in this cookbook is the recipes. Period. Virtually every recipe is composed of nothing more than a title, a number of servings, a list of ingredients, and numbered steps for the procedure to be followed. A very few recipes for truly unusual preparations such as `Taramasalata', a Greek Carp Roe spread have a brief headnote explaining the source and use of the recipe. For pantry items such as the very first recipe in the book, `Mignonette Sauce', there is only the briefest indication of the purpose to which the recipe is to be applied. This is the price to be paid for the book's filling the role of encyclopedic reference, where sheer numbers of recipes is its objective. I must temper this rather austere picture ever so slightly by pointing out that there are some few recipes which do deserve a special treatment such as the recipe for the omelet for one, where there are some sidebar comments on technique and the procedure is considerably more detailed than the average. This is only fair, since, as Alton Brown has said, the omelet is all about technique. Being an only modestly practiced omelet maker, I believe Claiborne's omelet recipe is illuminating without being overly fussy.

The archetypal recipe in this book, to my mind, is the one for Bouillabaisse. It has a very long list of ingredients, none of which are beyond the reach of the average American supermarket, and a very short procedure. In place of a freshly prepared fumet, the recipe calls for clam juice. The most revealing aspect of the recipe is that it shows that Bouillabaisse is, indeed, a relatively simple recipe. The description of the procedure is less than one-fourth the length of the procedure for making an omelet for one, which can be done within five minutes.

What may be easy to overlook is that this book may have been as important as any in creating the market for gourmet food products. The irony is that Claiborne is clearly a writer and not a chef. In fact, some reports describe him as somewhat deliberate and slow in the kitchen, where he simply did not have the well-practiced manual skills of a professional chef who preps and mixes and sautes every day, all day. In fact, this also means that virtually all the recipes in this book were collected and edited by Claiborne rather than being created or even discovered by him.

This book is a classic which makes thousands of recipes available to people who have no time or room for a library of cookbooks and who have the basic skills which will fill out the complete, but sparse instructions. Coverage of savory cooking is exhaustive. Coverage of baking and pastry is limited. I have never been disappointed by my results from making any recipe in this book, and, most have exceeded my expectations, based on the relative simplicity of the procedure.

Highly recommended for experienced cooks who are time or space challanged.

I HAVE OWNED THIS COOKBOOK FOR ABOUT 20+ YEARS AND HAVE USED IT CONTINUOUSLY FOR AS LONG A TIME. WHEN I WENT THROUGH MY DIVORCE, LUCKILY I WAS ALLOWED TO KEEP THE BOOK IN MY POSSESSION, BUT I HAVE TRIED TO BUY A COPY FOR MY EX-WIFE WITH NO SUCCESS. SHE REALLY LIKES IT TOO. THE RECIPE FOR THE LEG OF LAMB IS A RECIPE OF WHICH IS A THOUSAND YEAR OLD FROM MESOPOTAMIA AND IT IS AWESOME. FINGER LICKING GOOD. THE BHUNA GHOST RECIPE IS ALSO AWESOME.

The best cookbook I ever used. I just love it and use so ofen to cook for my clients. Now I want to buy it for my home cookbooks collection.

I have this cookbook in my possession. It has not really stood out for me as being anything special. I have consulted it occassionally and the recipes are not my cup of tea.

I feel like I'm missing out.

Next week I plan to sell my copy on ebay, as I feel it is taking up space in my bookshelf where a cookbook that better inspires me can go.

Several of you have raved and are looking for it. Well, I have it and it's yours if you want to bid on ebay for it.

Excellent book, I saw this guy on a news program and had to have the book. He is one with the city for sure.

As you can see from the other reviews, David Bradford is a one of a kind, true artist who deserves all the respect he gets. I had the pleasure of boarding his cab back in 1997 which led me to make a short film on him for my NYU film school project. David has access to some of the most incredible scenes of New York as he drives through the city year round and at all hours with his camera. His photographs catch the subtle changes in light, weather, and emotion of the city. And he sees it from the street level behind the steering wheel. I am honored to be his friend and this book to me is as exciting as the work Andreas Feininger did of New York city during the 30's and 40's.

I have never been to the Big Apple, though for as long as I remember, I have always wanted to go there. David Bradford (a taxi-cab driver) captured NYC from his cab window so well that it really "took me there". I got a feel of NYC while I flipped through the pages of his book. His idea to do this is not only inspirational, but brilliant as well. This book makes a perfect coffee table book- highly recommended to anyone who loves New York!

I was so excited to get this book when they showed the story on 60 Minutes. The photographs were all taken with a Yashica T4 point and shoot camera, (the point and shoot of choice for most pro photographers)! The pictures are all in black and white too. The pictures are the pulse of New York City from the viewpoint of a New York Cabbie. I love this concept. I love that this man has used a wonderful point and shoot camera (now discontinued...shame on you, Yashica!), and how he photographs the city while driving. He also photographs the passengers (great idea!!). The text is fantastic. It lets you really understand where he is coming from when he took the pictures. What makes this book winderful is this combination of text and photography, and that it is a new struggling artist who makes his living by driving a cab in New York City, a very rough job indeed.

a book of photographs (and some prose) done by a NY taxi cab driver. all the photos were shot with a point and shoot camera, while he was driving his cab.

a great example of how a body of work is equal to more than the sum of the parts. in other words, the individual images are not necessarily masterpieces, but when you put them all together, the body of work could definitely be exhibited in a gallery. goes to show you that to be a successful artist, a concise body of work is more important then successful individual images alone.

also, this book is a great example of taking one's circumstances and surroundings and creating something artistic from them. there's room for creativity everywhere, especially for photographic creativity.

and in it, the author transcends what might be an ordinary job into something extraordinary. like a bumble-bee buzzing throughout the city, Braford in his cab with camera in hand shows us that in the wake of the events of 9/11/2001 (in fact, the World Trade Center buildings are in many of his shots), NYC is a city full of vitality, life, and soul.

as a published photographer myself, and someone who has not yet spent much time in New York, i really appreciate this book. it's one man's view of the city, yes. but he has such a great vantage point as part of the livelyhood of it.

Twentyish Reality Nirvana Tuttle determines who can enter the Less is More Manhattan nightclub though no one, not even she, knows her conditions, which change almost on a whim, but that impulse is inside her brain. It might be an outfit that was in a half hour ago but seems so ancient at this moment. Reality is a pro at what she does as fool "doorwhores'' can match her skill at picking the trendy and tossing the has-beens and wanabees to the street.

However, Reality faces reality when it comes to her one ambition in life as so far she has failed to achieve her goal. She desperately wants to be featured in Hugo Falks' weekly gossip column in Frenzie as a hip woman of power on the move. She enlists her friends, Perfect Woman editor Phoebe, transvestite Geoffrey, and his dog Cristobal Balenciaga to cause a scandal that will turn her from almost famous to famous.

This reprint still retains its sharp acerbic lampoon of the jet set who needs to obtain fame even if it only for fifteen minutes. Reality is a terrific protagonist whose obsession becomes her reality, but never interferes with her selection of who's in and who's polar. Celebrity status takes a beating as Lee Tulloch's satire rips into the cost and inane need to become a known "personality".

Harriet Klausner

Hilarious homage to clothing and finding THE perfect outfit. Reality "Really" Tuttle was born in the late 60's, so if you are in the same genre as myself, you will definitely appreciate references to ghastly 80's attire that she despises as well as the detailed descriptions of her frocks. ...

Are you curious about the life of Carrie Bradshaw before she became the successful columnist with a penchant for designer clothes and $450 shoes? If you answered "Yes!" then you need to read this book. The story of Reality Nirvana Tuttle is, without a doubt, an unintended pre-quel to Sex and the City.

Ignore what the woman from Library Journal has to say! I'm certain that she's the wrong demographic to understand the social relevance of this story. Fabulous Nobodies is funny, earnest, so very New York City in the late 1980s, and, for those of us who were in our 20s during that time, a wonderfully fun trip down memory lane. If you can remember when in was possible to rent an apartment in alphabet city for $350 month and have a tub in your kitchen then you'll appreciate this story. If you can remember scouring Goodwill, Sal's Boutique, and vintage clothing shops with your meager earnings from a club, record store, or underground publication then you'll appreciate this story. If you can remember life before the internet and came of age at a time when local fanzines and arts newspapers were the ruling social arbiters then you'll appreciate this story.

Lee Tulloch's book is a completely captivating snapshot of a place, time, and people who no longer exist except in our scrapbooks and collected memorabilia.

The writing is masterful, the characters are alive, the story has a compelling mythical power, it should've won a pulitzer. It is wonderful and splendid and shall never perish. It has a deep, soulful message. It has an archetypal power, it shall become a classic. It could be the basis of a great Broadway musical, and we know they are not making great musicals nowadays. Just as My Fair Lady is a great musical, but still consider it now still a Pygmalion. I imagine a animated chorus line of frocks, inhabitated by many the great fashion icons. I would die to see that musical.

Before Bridget Jones, Sex and the City, or Shopaholic, there was Lee Tulloch's "Fabulous Nobodies."

Lee Tulloch was once the editor of Australian Vogue, and she puts her knowledge of fashion and the whole fashion glam scene to hysterically funny use in this little novel. The book opens with a hilarious narrative about the main character's nails of all things.

It's been years since I read Fabulous Nobodies, but it's a definite stand-out in a genre that didn't exist when the book was published in the early 90s. If you're in your 20s, a slave to fashion, any or all of the above, you've got to read this book. You can finish it in a day and you'll spend most of the time laughing at the antics of the main character and her crew. Our 20s are a great time of life (if only in retrospect), because we're no longer teenagers but not quite mature enough to be adults, so there's much goofing off, goofing around, and goofing up to learn from (or at least laugh about). Fabulous Nobodies is filled with all three. Don't miss this one.

This is an outstanding read. I will not look at a fire engine, firefighter or the FDNY in the same light after reading this book.

Always managing and being a firefighter in parallel never truly made me a better person. Now after having read Salka's book and truly understood my management style and applying Salka's hints, I feel I am truly a good manager. My staff has noticed the change as has my senior managers. I have passed the book along and regularly mentor my newer managers with this book. Do not pass this book up!

As an officer in a volunteer fire department and having a real world management job, I was able to use everything this book gave me. At first, I did buy the book to be a better fire department officer but I found myself using many of the principles in everyday business life. This book is one of the easiest educational reads I've ever experienced. Hope everyone else enjoys it as much as I did.

The New York Fire Department (FDNY) seemed a company of heroes in the months after September 11, 2001. Later, when investigations revealed the enormity of the blunders and the degree to which petty political infighting had literally doomed firefighters to death, the FDNY lost a bit of its luster. But FDNY traditionally has a core of strong leaders, and John Salka is one of them. In this book, he shares his leadership philosophy. It's no slur to observe that this is a leadership book for firehouse buffs who are as interested in firefighter yarns as in leadership. The leadership principles outlined here are sound but not new; what is fresh is that the author illustrates those principles with fire fighting stories, clearly far more interesting than war stories from accounting - even if a bit remote from most people's everyday business reality. After all, few business people risk their lives in their daily work, and probably no business has the esprit de corps of a firehouse. We recommend this book to business people across the professions. The ride inside the fire truck will keep you engrossed in its solid leadership lessons.

Salka's advice is modeled on the leadership lessons of the New York City Fire Department. He takes many of the basic principles of effective leadership that are used to define the officers of FDNY and applies it to real life situations that can be used at any level of leadership by comparing these situations to those faced by the firefighters and their daily battles.

This book's real strength comes from Salka's approach: he writes to the front line supervisor/manager, the folks who are often on the first tier of management. While many books, as good as they are, assume that the reader is in a position to affect policy and choose their entire team, "First In" speaks to managers whose responsibility is the daily performance of the staff.

In addtion to great advice that can be put to practical use by leaders at any level, Salka regails the reader with colorful stories of the men and women of the FDNY. Overall, a great read.

I flew through this book because I could not stop reading it. The details of life growing up in the Bronx were truly mind blowing, especially for someone who grew up in a super sheltered environment.

However, the best part of this book is how Canada relates how the gun culture has doomed inner city children to an adolescence of violence and how something must be done to change this.

This is the most powerful anti-gun books I have ever read, and the message isn't shoved down your throat, it's told through the author's own life experience which makes it that more powerful.

A must read.

This is hands down one of the best books I have read. Not only does Geoffrey Canada explain in gritty detail the inner workings of ghetto society, he also lists solid well-thought solutions, which would enable inner city youth and residents to rise above poverty and despair. We, the people, have turned a cheek for much too long. Something really can be done. This book should be required reading for high school and college-level coursework.

Dr. Canada presents an emotive argument for gun control through story and eclecticism. He makes an interesting case for the slide from Fist to Gun without ever dealing with the reason for the violence of fist and/or gun. One might argue with his conclusions though one cannot argue with his heart's concern as to the results caused by the increased violence. Overall, a good read for thought and/or argument.

I personally have had the opportunity to hear Geoffrey Canada speak at my college twice, he an alumni of Bowdoin College. Not only is his book inspiring, he spoke to my class about joining the "losing team", and making a difference in the lives of others, like those of the South Bronx and Harlem, NY. Not only has he lived to tell, he has taken his experiences and turned them into something very positive, by developing and running the Harlem Children Zone, making a difference to those children there. The book is a great read for anybody who is an urban educator, or involved in social services.

Canada grew up poor in the South Bronx in the '50s. Violence, then, as now, was a way of life. All boys fought - life was worse for those who refused. Violence and the rituals surrounding it established the social pecking order. In the preface to his memoir Canada says, "The difference is that we never had so many guns in our inner cities."

Canada's first memory of street violence came at age 4, when his two older brothers had a jacket stolen at the playground. The boys' mother sent them right back to fetch it, promising them a beating "ten times as bad as what that little thief could do to you," if they failed.

They left the house in tears and returned triumphant, with the jacket. Their mother sat them down and told them it was a lesson in not becoming a victim. The author, her youngest, was unconvinced.

Then a neighborhood boy who habitually refused to fight was "stretched" over a car and savagely beaten by a group of boys. "The lesson was brutal and unmistakable. No matter who you fought, he could never beat you that bad."

Canada's memoir is a thoughtful, moving portrayal of social behavior in a culture of violence. A quick study, Canada learned to use posturing, attitude and negotiation as well as his fists to minimize the number and severity of violent encounters.

But he is absolutely convinced that violence is a learned response, not innate. He and the other small boys, says Canada, were aghast at the prospect of fighting. Only fear of worse violence and a life of cowering in corners spurred them to fight.

Today, says Canada, the same imperatives operate. But guns have shattered the rituaized formality of the pecking order. Toughness is no longer determined by fighting skills or "heart" but by willingness to pull the trigger.
This is the book's most chilling precept. The streets are now ruled by those whose most important attribute is a lack of compunction about killing.

Canada's own experience as a gun carrier is a perfect illustration. Home from college he found a nearby street ruled by a gang of toughs so intimidating he would take a circuitous route to avoid them. So he bought a gun. Carrying it, he found his whole personality changed.

Instead of avoiding the block or even crossing the street he would swagger through the gang, his whole attitude provoking a challenge. But back at school in bucolic Maine he saw his behavior in a different light. Appalled at how close he'd come to shooting someone, he threw away the gun.

Those who don't leave the ghetto don't have the luxury of contemplation.

Canada has devoted his life to helping poor children and reducing street violence. Today he runs a program which offers classes and recreational activities which involve the whole community. The Rheedlen Center uses public school buildings, open 17 hours a day, in an effort to provide children and families with safety.

At the end of the book, Canada offers a program for solving the problems of violence in the inner cities. Chief among them is getting handguns off the streets by using buyback programs, registration at the place of manufacture (so any gun can be traced) and registration of ammunition.

Whether the reader agrees with his solutions or not, Canada's memoir is powerful testimony of a future of little hope without major change. It is also a riveting and convincing personal history.

To say that Roy Neuberger's book entitled "From Central Park to Sinai" was a real page turner, is a definite understatement. This most engrossing and captivating book details the story of a personal transformation of a man searching for spiritual meaning and purpose in his life. The grandson of a great rabbi and founder of the "Mussar" movement in Judaism, Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, Roy Neuberger's life couldn't be further apart from that of his grandfather. Educated in the traditions of ethical culturalism, Mr. Neuberger felt an ever present spiritual vacuum in his life and as such he embarked on a personal quest for truth, via the study of Catholicism, Protestantism and a whole host of other religions and value systems. He even wrote a book detailing why these other religions and their credos were superior to that of Judaism and why Judaism held no meaning.

Accompanying Mr. Neuberger on his trajectory towards spiritual fulfillment was that of his beloved wife, Linda, also a student of ethical culturalism. The fear and uncertainty that plagued Mr. Neuberger throughout his life could be simply termed as a man living through a perpetual anxiety attack with no relief in sight.

It would seem that G-d heard the inner cry and pain of Mr. Neuberger, and as destiny would have it, he was guided in the direction of Rebbetzen Esther Jungreis. That night in Neuburgh, NY changed the course of an entire generation of Neubergers. Mr. Neuberger was deeply impressed with Rebbetzen Jungreis' Torah message and he began to attend her classes on a weekly basis, despite the hardship of traveling such a long distance during a fuel crisis. Rebbetzen Jungreis served as a conduit to bring the message of G-d's love and compassion to a man who hungered and thirsted for spiritual guidance and meaning. In essence, Mr. Neuberger began to fall in love with G-d, embracing His Torah and commandments.

Since that time, Mr. Neuberger and his wife have raised a beautiful family steeped in Torah values and has spread his joy and understanding of spiritual truth with hundreds of people who he has invited to his home to enjoy the uplifting experience of Shabbos.

Mr. Neuberger's story will not only inspire, but will captivate the heart and soul of the reader. It is a must read for anyone searching for guidance and truth and even for those who are not searching for anything in particular. It is a welcome addition to any library and will remain within the recesses of the soul for posterity.

Roy Neuberger's journey to find himself is extremely inspiring. It goes to show you that a man can have all the money in the world,but without a some spiritual guidance, what is he really living for? In some ways his wealthy background was a great hinderance to him. His parents did not give Roy all the proper attention and guidance as the Ethical Cultural Schools merely confused his thinking.

Finally after 31 years, a colleague woke him up to the fact that he is a Jew whether he realizes it or not. Mr. Neuberger finally realized that he was not giving his own heritage a chance. Finally he asked to visit a synagogue with a friend and it so happened the Rebbetzin Jungeris was speaking there that night. At that point a chain reaction fo events triggered in Mr. Neuberger's brain that this was answer he was looking for.

The rest of the book consists of many powerful miracles based on prayer and faith in G_d. Although many of the stories are repeated from Esther Jungeris' The Committed Life, it is still a pleasure read about people turning their lives around by believing the Power of the Jewish Religion. Judaism encourages its followers to be strong and persist towards acheiving happiness and overcoming obstacles.

This book will make you believe in miracles even if you are not Jewish. An inspiration to us all.

Mr. Neuberger is a very enthusiastic and sincere man of faith, and these qualities shine through in his book.

This book has the power of spiritual elevation reinforced by a sense of personal discovery.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in religion, who can appreciate religion as an experience where personal growth and community involvement are not contradictory; but, parallel and mutually reinforcing.

Roy Neuberger's personal story has a strong message even for non-Jews and for people who are not religious. His personal search for God is very moving and is written in a charming, conversational style. I was especially taken with his numerous stories about he and his wife, Leah, helping so many people from various walks of life. There are important messages in this book that will help all of us to live better and more enriching lives.

This was a heartfelt story of a mensch who was dissatisfied with the lack of spirituality in bland liberal universalist culture in which he was raised. Eventually, he found true joy in Jewish orthodoxy. However, if you're pondering deep metaphysical issues, you'll find assertions here, but not deep abstract notions of different "isms" and why they are true or not. I was also uncomfortable with the assertion that Jewish assimilation caused the Holocaust.

Excellent study of what it means to be a Jew in America circa 1929-1947, told through the eyes and dreams of a youth who becomes a young man.

Also, an exploration of the angst caused by separating yourself, however gently, from the ideas and expectations of your people and your family.

Read this book.

I became addicted to Haim Potok's writing. Once I finish one of his books, I can't help it - I buy a new one. Amazing story-teller!

This is a beautiful story; it is my very favourite book. I love it with all my heart.

I too have read the more well known books of Potok. I picked up this one at a used book sale. This book is somewhat different from the others in that it it goes deeply into one characte's thoughts and emotions. One could label the book slow, but I didn't find it that way. I found the story of David Lurie's mother to be by far the most painful to read. As a reader, we are given only bits and pieces of this woman's very broken heart. Perhaps it's a sign of a wonderful writer that every character in this book seemed to warrant a book of his or her own.

I've never encountered a novel structured exactly like this one. The details given in the first 4/5ths of its length led a reader to believe In The Beginning was a story about a brilliant young Jewish boy and his family, their life in America, where the boy and his brother where born to recent Polish emigrants, and of the determined struggle this family undertakes, not only to establish their lives in the United States, but to honorably aid numerous Jewish families who wish to leave Poland and settle in New York. As the story of this family, the novel served a detailed, well-written tale that gave terrific insights into the psyche and values of east-European Jews in the early twentieth-century. The family thrives in the US in the prosperous 1920's, though the pre-school-age David is sadistically bullied by anti-Semitic local boys, and he lives to piece together the whispered secrets of his father's conduct as a one-time militant activist among Jews in the "old country." We follow this family into the Great Depression, when its fortunes declined, into World War Two, where its newly-discovered prosperity is scant comfort as its members learn of the Nazis' cruelty to family and acquaintances they left behind in Europe.

However, like a magician dealing out a slight of hand trick, Chaim Potok revealed the true story only at the very end of In The Beginning---and all else that came before this point was merely establishing the stage for the final act and a statement he wished to make on the subject of faith, reason, and evidence. The central character, David Lurie, due to his intellectual brilliance the shining star of his local school, stuns his family, friends, and classmates, by laying aside his Orthodox upbringing and upon college graduation becoming a secular Biblical scholar. Lurie announces his newfound conviction that the Torah was not given by G-d to Moses on Sinai, but was authored by numerous Jews across an indefinite time period, long after Moses' death. To Lurie's parents this is an act of unmitigated treason to all that is holy and life-sustaining in their world. That their much-loved eldest son, their pride and great hope, should plan to write skeptical books on this topic, and thereby "sin by making others sin" is crushing to them one and all. And only at the extreme conclusion of this 430 page novel is this revealed when beforehand a straightforward plot about Jews reacting to a changing world was what we had been lulled into expecting. The earlier tale of David's health struggles, his father's rise and fall, the immigration movement, and even at the end the horrors of Nazi Germany, all of that I found was Potok's subterfuge to sneak in an ending so different from what the deliberately-paced novel seemed to prepare us for that this work almost deserves to be spoken of as having some sort of twist at its shocking ending.

As always, Potok wrote well here and his characters and the setting were magnificently accomplished, but I was left feeling I had read two different books, one a family tale, the other a dissertation on modern Talmudic scholarship. I also strongly felt that the characters at the end, while bearing the same names they had 300 pages earlier, were not exactly the same ones I had been reading about as they advanced thru twenty harsh years in their lives. I also have read that this book is slightly autobiographical, so that deserves to be pointed out. This is a good book but it is slow-moving and spends much of its time inside David's head and the pseudo fantasy world which he inhabits, so be prepared for that. I also wish Potok had written a sequel, as he did with The Chosen. I ended up saying, "Yes, and what happens next?" Sadly, we'll never know...

I frequented the Fillmore almost every Friday night for at least three years. I was looking for an extra gift for my husband (also a former FE attendee) and thought this would be perfect. When it arrived the other day, I could not wait to give it to him. I opened the box and we immediately started perusing the book cover to cover and reminiscing about times that were pure magic and joy. Amalie's photos capture the place inside and out. There were photos from my very first concert -- Santana at the Fillmore in the Fall of 1969 and from other shows that we were lucky to see. It brought back so many memories to the both of us. As an added bonus, when we got to the end of the book, we actually saw a friend in one of the pictures. It was the night of the bomb scare. Lo and behold, there is Joe standing in the crowd outside the theater. This book is a must-have for all of us who were lucky enough to be present at the FE and those of us who wish they could have been a part of it.

I'm sure I'll love this book. Once I receive it. It's been nearly 3 months since I ordered this...Amazon will no longer be the beneficiary of my internet commerce.

Kind of essential lookback to something we'll never see again. All the messiness, sloppiness & amateurism that had me and my pals going all the time to the FE (Friday Night Late Show Only please!). One of few worthwhile rock books.

I love this book. I frequented the Fillmore East 18 times between 1970 until it closed in June of 71. This book brought back so many memories. The Fillmore East was without a doubt the greatest place to see and hear a concert and I miss it. I am glad that I was able to be a part of the Fillmore East - even got to speak to Bill Graham the night of the last public concert. I am very glad this book was put together and anyone who was there will enjoy it. I sure do miss those days - Thanks Amalie!!! Got anymore tidbits - any chance of a Fillmore East Late Show edition?

This book provides a list of the bands playing each night the Fillmore was open! Great historical insight!