New York Books

I teach Memoir Writing to local seniors and I routinely use this book as an example of outstanding biography. It's one thing to write a 250 word bio but quite another, and much more demanding, to pen a few-hundred-word last goodbye to someone and do it with panache. The NY Times has three books of obituaries, this is the most recent. The quality of the writing is, in many cases, superior to anything in the rest of the newspaper(all the obits here were published in the Times). I especially like the reviews of Robert McG Thomas, who died within the past year at age 60. His obituaries deserved a Pulitzer. His obits are worth the price of the book. Everybody deserves a last word. These obits are not just about famous people but about average joes and janes who have been extraordinary human beings. I'd even recommend this book for spiritual reading because the lives here are inspirational. I teach writing and am always on the lookout for examples of prose that will knock my socks off. This is one helluva book.

Rather than an ode to death, this book cherishes lives onced lived by all kinds of people. Whether brilliant or simple, rich or poor, actions great or discreet, each of the people written about contributed to society in a meaningful (and often surprising) way. Equally outstanding are the authors of these obituaries, whose writing talents manage to entertain, educate and move the reader deeply without being maudlin. Even more importantly, this book forces us to examine our own lives: what will people say about us when we've faced our Maker? For those of us who come up pitifully short, this book inspires even the common man to contribute to society, and strive for -- and hopefully, attain -- spiritual immortality.

You wouldn't think a book of obituaries would be entertaining, but it is when the obits are well-written and celebrate the lives and characters of the 100+ people found in this collection. The subjects are most often unknown to the majority of us, but the various authors (including well-known NYT obituary author Robert McG. Thomas, Jr.) humanize each subject and inspire you to contemplate your own life. Most essays are a couple of pages long, and there is an introduction by Russell Baker.

A delightful collection of lives which I read cover to cover in one sitting. Offers a fascinating glimpse of la comedie humaine--often witty, sometimes sad, always remarkable.

I was turned onto this book when it was selected for the Book-of-the-Month Club--I cannot recommend it enough to anyone interested in the lives of others. A great gift.

In our celebrity-obsessed culture, in which bland, no-talent know-nothing windbags like "Dharma and Greg's" Jenna Elfman are considered national treasures and given lengthy pseudo-important profiles in glossy magazines, it is refreshing to read about lives that actually have meaning; about people who commit their lives to doing interesting things for others and for themselves; people whose lives take amazing twists of fate, people who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances and react in ways that no one could predict. The genius of this book is that it covers not the obvious obits of international icons like, say, John Lennon or Richard Nixon, but people whom you may have never heard of, such as the inventor of kiddy litter or the great bluesman Willie Dixon. And they are written not as morbid reflections on death, but as the book's subtitle says "celebrations of life." The Last Word also holds the important distinction of being the greatest bathroom book I have ever read. Why not put it in your own john?

If you are interested in the history of the American Left or are a militant trying to understand some of the past lessons of our history concerning the socialist response to various social and labor questions this book is for you. This book is part of a continuing series of volumes of the writings of James P. Cannon that were published by the organization he founded, the Socialist Workers Party, in the 1970's and 1980's. Cannon died in 1974. Look in this space for other related reviews of this series of documents on and by an important American Communist.

In their introduction the editors motivate the purpose for the publication of the book by stating the Cannon was the finest Communist leader that America had ever produced. This an intriguing question. The editors trace their political lineage back to Cannon's leadership of the early Communist Party and later after his expulsion to the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party so their perspective is obvious. What does the documentation provided here show? This certainly is the period of Cannon's political maturation, and the beginning of a long political collaboration working with Trotsky. The period under discussion- from the late 1920's when he was expelled as leader of the American Communist Party to the early 1930's and the start of the great labor upsurge which would bring wide spread unionization to the working class. Cannon won his spurs in this struggle to orient those organizations toward a revolutionary path. One thing is sure- in his prime, which includes this period- Cannon had the instincts to want to lead a revolution and had the evident capacity to do so. That he never had an opportunity to lead a revolution is his personal tragedy and ours as well.

As an expelled faction of the American Communist Party, which continued to stand on the program of the defense of the Russian Revolution, the Cannon group needed an orientation. That they considered themselves an expelled but loyal faction of the Communist Party was the correct orientation for a small propaganda group. The party was where the vast bulk of the advanced political workers were. Immediately going to the "masses", as has occurred with other expelled groupings, then and now, would have proved disastrous. Cannon's group needed to cohere a programmatic basis and recruit a cadre to win over workers and intellectuals from the party. Its Platform of the Communist Opposition, a generally good programmatic statement, was its key analytical tool to win cadre. There are two points in that document that should be of interest to today's militants. Those are the slogans for a workers party and for the right of national self-determination for blacks (at that time called Negroes).

In a pre-revolutionary or revolutionary period a revolutionary workers organization would recruit militants directly to the party. Other events like the labor upheavals in the United States in the 1930's fall in the same category. Thus, using some algebraic formula for drawing workers to a broader revolutionary formation is not necessary. At other times, and the late 1920's and early 1930's was such a period in the United States, the call for a workers party, presumably based on less than a full socialist program, by a propaganda group would be appropriate. In short, propaganda and agitation in favor of a generic workers party is a tactic. The call for such a formation today by militants in the United States is appropriate. In any case, no militant makes such a call for a workers party based on, for example, the model of the British Labor Party, then or now.

The left-wing movement in America, including the Communist Party and its offshoots has always had problems with what has been called the Black Question. The Communist Opposition's position on this question reflects that misconception, taken over from the party. This position has always been associated with American Communist Party member Harry Haywood (see his book Black Bolshevik). Marxists have always considers support to the right of national self-determination to be a wedge against nationalists and to attempt to take the national question off the agenda and put a working class resolution on the agenda. In any case, that programmatic point has always been predicated on there being a possibility for a defined group to form a nation. Absent that, other methods of struggle are necessary to deal with the special oppression, in this case of black people. Part of the problem with the American Communist position is that the conditions which would have created the possibility of a black state were being destroyed with the mechanization of agriculture, the migration of blacks to the Northern industrial centers and the overwhelming need to fight for black people's rights to survive under the conditions of the Great Depression. If one really thinks about it the only realistic time that this slogan could be raised or supported would have been shortly after the American Civil War when the black population was more compacted geographically and there might have been some political will by Radical Republican to back such a scheme. This misconception of the viability (or desirability) of a black nation would later came back to haunt Cannon's group when the Civil Rights struggles of the 1950's and 1960's presented opportunities for intervention in the black struggle. At that time they essentially abstained from recruiting blacks based on their program. They zigzagged between following Malcolm X and Martin Luther King rather than fighing for a socialist program among blacks. And we are still paying the price for that missed opportunity.

The Cannon faction was not the only group expelled from the American Communist Party during the period under review. One cannot understand this period inside the Communist movement if one does not understand which ways the winds were blowing from Moscow. A furious struggle for power in the Russian Communist Party, reflected in the Communist International, was under way during this period. First, the Stalin faction defeated the Trotsky-led Left Opposition, and then shortly thereafter the Bukharin-led Right Opposition was defeated. In America, this was reflected in the expulsion of the Lovestone group, previously the leadership of the Party. The political shakeout from these events was a certain pressure to unite the two expelled factions. Trotsky, and through his influence Cannon argued strenuously that such a combination was unprincipled and unworkable.

Most parliamentary parties, and here the writer includes reformist workers parties, do not confront a question such as this proposed bloc for the simple reason they are not, and do not want to, carry out a revolution. Therefore, such parties, will freely block with any other organization under any advantageous conditions. Not so a revolutionary party. While it may unite, for the moment, with a wide range of organizations for general democratic demands it must have a fairly homogeneous program if it is to lead a revolution. The program of the Right Opposition, in effect, was a transmission belt for reformism. In short, if you unite left and right you have two parties, at least in embryo in one organization. The Russian Revolution and later the Communist International in its better days should have put that idea of unification to rest. For Trotsky, Canon and the International Left Opposition this necessary separation was shown most dramatically in Spain when the formerly Trotskyist Left Opposition led by Andreas Nin fused with the Right Opposition led by his friend Juan Maurin in 1935. The result, the Party of Marxist Unification (POUM), while being the most honest revolutionary party in the Spanish Civil War floundered over revolutionary strategy due to its confused orientation on the popular front, military support to the bourgeois government and a whole range of questions of revolutionary strategy and tactics. The POUM experience is the textbook of what not to do in a revolutionary period. Unfortunately, for confusion on this issue Nin lost his life at the hands of the Stalinists, the POUM leadership was arrested after the May Days in Barcelona and the Spanish Revolution was derailed.

In Communist history, the period under review is called the `Third Period', in theory allegedly the period of the final crisis of capitalism. The conclusions drawn by the Stalinists from this theory was that revolution was on the immediate agenda everywhere and that it was not necessary, and in fact, counterproductive to make alliances with other forces. This writer has read a fair amount of material about this `Third Period', mainly at the level of high policy in the Communist International, especially in regard to Germany where it was a disaster. This volume gives a very nice appreciation by Cannon in a number of articles of how that policy worked at the base, the trade unions and the unemployed. It is painful to see how the Stalinist withdrew from the organized trade union movement and set up their own "red" unions composed mainly of Communist sympathizers. That the Stalinist did not suffer more damage and isolation after this flawed policy was changed later during the great labor battles of the 1930's testifies more to the desperate nature of those struggles than any wisdom learned by the Stalinists. Read this book for more on how to build a workers organization in tough times.

As an addition to the historical record of this period this book is a very good companion to Cannon's own THE COMMUNIST LEAGUE OF AMERICA, 1932-34 and DOG DAYS: JAMES P. CANNON vs. MAX SHACHTMAN IN THE COMMUNIST LEAGUE OF AMERICA, 1931-1933, PROMETHEUS RESEARCH LIBRARY, Spartacist Publishing Co., New York, 2002.

In 1928 James P. Cannon is one of the central leaders of the US Communist Party known through the labor and civil liberties movement as the leader of the International Labor Defense,sent to Moscow to represent his faction in the party. In 1928 Cannon along with two of his assistants happen about Trotsky's critique of the draft program of the Communist International. They decides that these are the right ideas, and they fight for them, knowing they will lose offices, and jobs, not knowing but facing being attacked in the streets, their homes burglarized, pilloried through the labor movement from a leader of tens of thousands to a leader of a dozen. This book shows what Cannon's faith in his ideas meant and how they struggle to build a nucleus of a real movement because of the faith of ideas and in the revolutionary capacities of humanity. Anyone who thinks that Marxism had anything seriously to do with the US Communist party should read this book. Anyone who wants the courage to fight for a real future for the working and farming majority of humanity should read this book.

This might seem a rather obscure set of writings, but in reading through them I found a very rich collection of political writings, one that should be inspiring and useful for any thinking worker or young person today.

James P. Cannon was the central leader of the cadres expelled from the U.S. Communist Party in 1928 for their fight to maintain the revolutionary perspectives of Marx, Lenin and the 1917 Russian Revolution in face of the bureaucratic, conservative and increasingly counterrevolutionary policies imposed by Stalin from Moscow. The articles and speeches in this volume amply illustrate two points Cannon stresses time and again: the importance of political program, starting from a working-class world view, in building a revolutionary leadership; and the importance of knowing what to do next and doing it, based on the objective reality confronting the movement at any given time.

Cannon's writings here also present fascinating details of the working class struggle from these years, including the onset of the 1930s depression, defense campaigns for workers framed up and imprisoned by the bosses and their courts, and important strikes by miners, textile and garment workers in the United States. Don't miss them!

Cannon was a central founder and leader of the working class wing of the Communist Party. He was expelled for organizing opposition to the Stalinization of this party. In these writings Cannon explains the dangers of Stalinism and contrasts it with the revolutionary Marxist alternative that he and a number of other workers were in the process of founding. These writings also touch on little known but important working class struggles before the thirties, like the textile battles of the south and the mineworkers "save the union" movement. Cannon's insights on politics as well as his fine writing ability make this a good read, and an important one for those wanting to discover their roots in the fight for a revolutionary party.

The Left Opposition in the Communist Party USA, expelled in 1928, fought to maintain the traditions of the Russian Revolution against the corruptions and crimes of the bureaucracy of Stalin. This collection of writings by its central leader debates the issues at stake: the future of the USSR, the revolutionary potential in the U.S., revolutionary work in the labor unions, the South and the fight against racism, and much more.

This is a collection of moody black and white photographs taken at dawn with a large-format pinhole camera. There are no people or moving cars but lots of rays of light from the rising sun and brooding clouds. The effect is fantastic. Sometimes the photos look like they were executed in charcoal. The details are mostly very crisp even though the palette is dark.

The major landmarks are all present. Two of Mlle Liberty, 3 or 4 of the Empire State Building, a wonderful shot of the Flatiron Building, etc. (Only 1 of the Chrysler Building, however, and not one of Berts's best.) There are some nice shots of Central Park. He likes the Brooklyn Bridge--and he's good at making large objects like bridges and the Empire State Building look massive. The use of black and white and dawn's early light defamiliarizes the postcard icons and restores them to their original majesty. There are also some nice shots of Little Italy and lesser known buildings, too. This is a great book. If you like it you should check out Light of Paris by the same photographer.

I can't resist offering up one more recommendation, this time for a book that's almost the opposite of The Light of New York in its approach but which is still a wonderful and fun look at the Big Apple: Manhattan Lightscape. Its colors are magnificent.

This book is one of the best books that one can appreciate the photographic style of the photographer. The fact that it was shot on film and the long shutter speeds are great. I am assuming that a bit of research went into picking out the various locations and picking out the right time of night or dusk to shoot was taken in consideration.f

Great book all around and great conversation piece for people that appreciate photography and the art behind it.

New York City at dusk or dawn with a magical lighting and a unique photo processing that highlight architectural details of iconic features of the city. Manhattan for lovers!

Amazing book for anyone into photography. New York is captured beautifully in breath taking photos.

Absoluely beautiful. I went through it three times and each time I find something more wonderful. I highly recommend this book, especially this time of year. It makes a great table top book.

I bought this book years ago because of a glowing review in a book close out catalog. I really had no interest in beavers. I was suprised I could not put the book down. It is wonderfully written. Like a funny movie, I feel better after reading this book. The insights into the life and habits of beavers are overwhelming. I had no idea these creatures were so human like. The story is often funny, but we see the sad side when some punky teens try to destroy the beavers home. I have lent the book to many friends, after working hard to convence them it really is a great story. Each person, male and female, loved the story. I just bought multiple copies to loan, and some for gifts, something I have never done with any other book.

Hope Ryden describes the natural world like no other author. Her writing is informative and entertaining. You learn and love the creatures described in her writing. Lily Pond allows you to become a member of beaver family. You feel the pain of winter, the joy of new life. If you like nature, you'll like Hope Ryden's Lily Pond

This is a wonderful book by a wonderful naturalist. Follow a beaver family through seasons of plenty and hardship. Ryden weaves a delightful and moving tale while at the same time maintaining her integrity as a keen observer of animal behavior.

I really didn't have much interest in beavers, but when I was given this book, Lily Pond, I decided to go ahead and read it. I finished it in 2 days, it was phenominal. The way she talked about the beavers was like a sitcom, but at the same time you learned so much. I didn't have to force myself to concentrate, like I normally do with text books, for one second, but the abundance of information I got from this book never fails to amaze me. I have to give Hope Ryden 2 thumbs up for this book. It's one you can't put down no matter how hard you try. I was really sad when it was over.

An insightful look into the saga of a Beaver family. The lives of this Beaver family comes alive through the eyes of author Hope Ryden. You'll begin to feel you're right there with her as she studies this Beaver family over the course of four years painstaking work. Ms. Ryden does an excellent job of conveying what this family of Beavers is up to and you learn an outstanding amount of information about the natural history of Beavers. You become both attached to Ms. Ryden and the family of beavers, feeling both her joy and pain as you see their lives progress before you. I even shed some tears..it was that good. Thanks Ms. Ryden, for an outstanding piece of nature writing

This book is perhaps the most elaborate statement of general living systems theory yet to be written. Not recommended for those not well versed in both systems terminology and biological concepts. However, if you are adept in these areas, you will be rewarded with incredible insights.

Despite this is a book with an enormous and difficult text, since the very first chapter it enlightens the most basic message: that sciences, and knowledge, can be integrated, in a sort of unified theory, the "general theory of living systems", as the author puts it. And it does; since I began to understand the hole thing, it really makes me easier to think, and to view the world, like somekind of natural phylosophy, or organic phylosophy. It's really helpfull. (My email is galfroid@hotmail.com)

Although reading such a long book in its entirety seems at first measure a daunting task (and one that few people's academic credentials hold up to....), readers daring enough to try are pretty well rewarded across the whole of this book. This book is an introduction to systems theory (i.e. that the result of a conglomeration of small scale processes can be seen to accumulate into larger, predictable processes at macro levels, similar to how a person who makes individual knots can end up with a rug...) that straddles the mark from physics to political economy (which is running far indeed!!!)

This is a really big book besides having a lot of pages, and I have a hunch that not too many people are going to buy it outside of researchers or university librarians. But, I suppose, if you're either of these (though if one were going to research they'd probably look to a sucession of smaller books, no?) I'd buy this book.... your collection would be enriched through having it....

This is the Bible on the living systems we see around us in today's world. Years ago, a reviewer described Miller's theory as "fundamental yet capable of elaboration in great detail." No one has explained it better.

Here Miller lays out 19 processes which every living system needs to perform in order to compete and survive; eight processes for information, nine processes for matter and energy, and two processes for both. Miller also sees that there are billions and billions of different kinds of living systems in the world from microscopic cells to international organizations. So, he has categorized them into seven levels from the simplest and tiniest to the most complex and largest. And, he frequently makes interesting comparisons across these different levels.

Miller weaves volumes of information about the life sciences into his theory, particularly the biology of evolution. The concept of "emergence" appears to be its bedrock. New characteristics emerge as living systems become more complex, miraculously it would seem. In that sense, the book appears to be a detailed proof of Aristotle's famous conclusion that "the whole is more than the sum of its parts."

Many readers of this book have described it as a reference book, which it is. But, that description sells the book too short. Miller's prose is graceful and readable. I would say this book is enjoyable and well worth reading even if you have only enough time to read one chapter.

Two interesting companions to Living Systems would be Kevin Kelly's Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and Economic Order and also Ruppert Sheldrake's Morphic Resonance: The Habits of Nature. It might be said that Living Systems is a sequel to Alfred North Whitehead's famous book Process and Reality.

Don't let the size of this book stop you from exploring it. The author has designed the book so it (slowly) reveals itself, working from basic concepts of how dynamic systems work through levels of biological and social complexity. It is a brilliant work, a must for anyone involved in any sort of analytical work. It is one of the most important books of the 20th century and, if attention is paid, will be an important guidebook to the 21st.

To see more of Miller's work and its implications, see the web site Principia Cybernetica.

Maeve Brennan was born in Dublin, which she wrote about in "Springs of Affection," a book that the editors at Amazon named one of the best of 1997. She came to the US when she was 17, and in her 30s hooked up with The New Yorker, for which she wrote the 50-odd sketches about daily life in Manhattan that are collected in "The Long-Winded Lady."

Where the Dublin stories are savage studies of failed marriages, these New York sketches are gentler in tone, more wistful and blue. Brennan, the "I" of all these pieces, eavesdrops on conversations in the bars, streets, and hotel lobbies of the seedier parts of Times Square and the Village. Her vivid, precise reports are then fleshed out with sepeculations, opinions, and little autobiographical details that reveal her own humorous, melancholy sensibility. The book ends up being not just an incomparable time capsule of the city of the 1950s and '60s, but also a self-portrait of one of its many silent "travellers in residence," a somewhat timid, ultra keen-eyed, super-sensitive exile trying to keep her bearings in an often inhuman metropolis. Brennan is never precious, never self-pitying. And there's not a dull or cloying or lame sentence in the book. "The Long-Winded Lady" is a small masterpiece, and both it and "Springs of Affection" are not to be missed.

This exquisite book of short essays is for you. She captures New York of the `60s in her highly focused vignettes. A long-time writer for The New Yorker, these sketches were featured in the "Talk of the Town" section of the magazine always beginning with "Our friend, the long-winded lady, has written us as follows:" I always looked forward to them and vaguely thought the author was likely to be a well-heeled matron of impressive family lineage with a flair for turning words. My impression was totally incorrect. Ms. Brennan emigrated from Ireland at age 17, never had much money or security and viewed herself as "a traveler in residence."

She gave personalities to streets, buildings, and stores as well as people. " Sixth Avenue possesses a quality that some people acquire, sometimes quite suddenly, which dooms it and them to be loved only at the moment they are being looked at for the very last time." Her focus is keen and unblinking, but she sometimes infuses the scene and the people with the magic of her imagination. Her word portraits are so incisive, I often felt that I was sitting beside her seeing a man "morose and dignified, as though humiliation had taken him unawares, but not unprepared."

There is a certain sadness and loneliness in Ms. Brennan's peripheral outsider remarks, but you never feel pity only admiration for an author that always looks outward to keep from looking inward.

I am so impressed with this book. Brennan's eye for detail, her descriptions of New York, her own loneliness are written in prose that any writer would envy. I have recommended this book to a couple of friends and also will suggest it for my bookclub. Brennan's writing sometimes reminds me of an Edward Hopper painting-the way she captures the light from a room across the way, her observations of situations in restaurants, hotel lobbies, and subways. I read somewhere that she had a terrible breakdown and her last column was written in the early 80's. After that she was seen wandering the streets of NY. I bought this book on a recommendation and never expected to be so moved. Also the book brings the reader back to the 60's.

Maeve Brennan's book is a collection of perfectly polished little gems. Writing just doesn't get any better than what you'll find here. "Howard's Apartment" is a piece that you won't just read; you'll also see, hear and feel it. Follow this wonderful writer as she leads you through a New York City that no longer exists.

She is a marvel, a gem. Each of these little expositions is so rich... You're walking down a street, when suddenly, gracefully, she turns a corner and glances into a window of our common soul, and describes what is reflected therein. Her observations are touching, without maudlin sentiment, dead-on accurate, and her language clear and hard. It is more a book about New Yorkers than New York; what I mean is that there is a certain approach to life that is genuinely cosmopolitan without being especially clever or reckless or cute, and we who love reading have a deep affinity for the well-tempered, understated observation that Maeve Brennan perfected. This is one of the two or three best reading experiences I've had all year.

I thought that this book was an educational yet fun mystery! The map at the front really helped me place what was happening, and relate it to what exists there now. I also found the main character, Sooncy, to be the perfect perspective through which to tell the story! Overall, a fantastic book for anyone looking for a fun and informative read! Best wishes to Ms. Killcoyne on future writing endeavors!

There are few opportunities offered our children to learn an important lesson about both our own past and our nature as individuals than that delivered by Hope Lourie Killcoyne in her gifted story, "The Lost Village of Central Park." Set in mid-nineteenth-century New York City, at the cusp of the construction of that seminal landmark of modern America, Central Park, Ms. Killcoyne's lyrical narrative traces the factual history of Seneca Village, a real establishment in which African-American and Irish immigrants somehow co-existed peacefully in pre-Civil War America. Creating compelling and believable characters, Ms. Killcoyne provides today's pre-teens with an invaluable and unique perspective on an important era in American social development, one which was cut curiously short by the idiosyncratic yet poetically inevitable advancement of New York City, through the creation of Central Park. The Park stands today, a monument to New York civic achievement; what is lost is Seneca Village, perhaps an even more meaningful yet necessarily ephemeral reflection of all that is possible, yet also lost, in the American dream.

Having lived in New York my entire life, I was surprised to find out about Seneca Village. I was never taught about the time, place, and events that surrounded the demise of that area of the city. The author successfully tells the story from the point of view of two young girls, one black and one white, and the strength of their friendship. It's a great way to teach children about their past. There's a lot going on here... plenty to use the characters again and turn it into a series. I'd certainly pick up the next one for my niece!

I had though the art of captivating storytelling in the realm of children's historical fiction was long gone. The last and one of the best was Ben and Me. Not to mention the fact that intelligent prose directed toward but not insulting children has disappeared with the likes of greats like E.B. White, Judy Blume & Madeline L'Engle... until now that is. Meticulous research has allowed Hope Killcoyne to create a captivating historical backdrop that most New Yorkers weren't even aware of including myself. Even as the story unfolded I couldn't help feel a sense of sorrow knowing the timely end to what was probably a fascinating culture within the tapestry of NY. Nevertheless, Killcoyne takes what might have just been an interesting footnote in NY lore and weaves a modern folk tale of ingenious promise and heart. Characters well developed for any novel not to mention one for young adults, add depth and almost tangible realism to a time and era long forgotten and sometimes better off forgotten. Hope Killcoyne places her characters in a small pocket of the American landscape dwarfed by slavery and the dawn of Civil War allowing us to glimpse what might have been and what should be in a world too often blurred with self-interest and prejudice. Although some readers might be wary of the melodrama of a culturally diverse Utopia Killcoyne has pictured, there is nothing contrived about the story and intent behind this book. A highly recommended book for any young or old reader... from any walk of life.

This is a wonderful story and fascinating piece of history for children as well as adults. As with so much in history, the more that is uncovered, the more it tells of the way things are today and why. As with many of the colorful stories from the annuls of New York, The Lost Village of Central Park illustrates a very important chapter in the history of the city as well as the nation. Educational as well as entertaining. The fact that such a place existed more than 100 years ago proves that which makes us the same far outweighs that which makes us different. As former grade schoolteacher, I think this book should be on the shelves of every school and public library.

The book arrived in a timely fashion and was in perfect condition. I would definitely order from this person again.

buildings there are until one reads this essential history of some of the greatest buildings in the city.

Architectural historian Andrew Alpern takes the reader through a survey of luxury apartment buildings on Manhattan Island. There are 34 chapters, of which 28 are descriptions of particular buildings, their histories, and their unique features, each illustrated by one or more large b&w photographs. The book includes four floor plans. Buildings discussed include the Majestic, Century, Ansonia, London Terrace, Beresford, Osborne, and Alwyn Court. There are also six chapters dealing with more general topics: British 'antecedents of American apartments,' famous courtyard buildings, office-to-residence conversions, classic buildings of Fifth Avenue, double-height studios for artists, and changing fashions in floor plans.

There is substantial overlap with Alpern's earlier book, 'New York's Fabulous Luxury Apartments,' although the two books were clearly separately written works. That earlier book is aimed at the reader whose interest is mainly in floor plans, while the reader who is more interested in detailed narrative descriptions might prefer 'Luxury Apartment Houses.'

An interesting overview of the design and evolutions of apartment bulidings in NYC, originally published as the very hard to find 'APARTMENTS FOR THE AFFLUENT.' Cretainly good fun for todays real estate conscious New Yorker with photos, floorplans and even original selling prices of NY's tonier buildings.

An interesting overview of the design and evolutions of apartment bulidings in NYC, originally published as the very hard to find 'APARTMENTS FOR THE AFFLUENT.' Cretainly good fun for todays real estate conscious New Yorker with photos, floorplans and even original selling prices of NY's tonier buildings.

Although I think I'll have to buy another NYC travel book in order to get more detailed information about places to stay and to eat, I really enjoyed reading this. It's full of interviews with interesting New Yorkers, like Wigstock's Lady Bunny and the guy who runs the sideshows at Coney Island. There's a great section on NYC neighborhoods as well. The charming personality of the Mad Monks really comes through in their writing--you learn a lot about what they don't like (yuppies, sterile architecture, the Disneyfication of Times Square) as well as a few things about what they do (drag queens, egg creams, and Rudy Giuliani, strangely enough).

Funny, irreverant and witty ....took me to places I never would have discovered . . . .what a mind expanding trip without drugs! BRAVO.

The Mad Monks' Guide to New York City avoids dwelling on well-worn landmarks such as the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty, focusing more on the eccentric and offbeat, such as Miss Vera's Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls, Fly Fishing in Central and even Toxic Tourism like Staten Island's Fresh Kills Dump, the world's largest dump/landfill.

Along with the sublime and the bizarre is a cornucopia of the great city's diverse culture, from bars and restaurants to entertainment spots, making it probably as useful for those who live in the city as for those planning to visit it.

The Mad Monks' Guide to New York City is definitely the best thing I've read on that place in years, maybe the best book on New York since Washington Irving.

Here I am, spitting and cussing and followed by my tribe of beautiful wife, giggling baby, manic dog, neurotic cat, tiny overpriced one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan, thirty-two South Bronx homeroom students, anti-situationist buddies in the Yale Art History Graduate School, coffee shop aficionados, strange relatives, no money, one as yet unfinished great American novel, an entire collection of badly washed decaying old college clothes, and, last but not least, one pristine, mint, delectable copy of "The Mad Monks' Guide to New York City." Genius! Genius! Genius!

But who are these morons who keep giving the Monks the cliched comparisons to Kerouac and Kuralt? Where are the comparisons to the greats? As convoluted, descriptive, and gratuitous as a Faulkner sentence! As minutely involved as Wolf! As sharp and evocative as Hemmingway! As full of life and extraterrestialy wise as Salinger! As innovatively plotted as Joyce! As romantic as Austin! As poetic and erotic as Shakespeare!

An excellent book for all people interested in Laing. Hopefully Mullan will find a way to publish the material so that those interested can read it rather than holding onto it and waiting for a publishing deal that isn't too far "beneath" his expectations.

In this huge set of interviews, the former king of counter-culture philosophy expresses his provocative opinions on all imaginable topics, from mystcism to politics. If you are the type of person who thinks for yourself and suspects that straight society is almost incurably ill, you will probably find a kindred spirit in this fascinating man. Being a prestigious psychiatrist and former military officer, he knows the system he's trying to change from the inside out (an advantage most radical thinkers don't have).

This is one of the most engaging books I've read in over 20 years: it brought back to me the stimulation of encountering a truly first-rate mind.

Mullan has brilliantly effaced himself so that you get 100% Laing direct. And a Laing worthy of his better reputation. Mullan limited himself to brief preface and introductions and, during the interviews, short guiding comments and questions. Another interviewer might have cluttered the interviews with his/her own agenda and introduced the book with lengthy analysis, all of which would have obscured Laing. Undoubtedly Mullan also had a mark in selecting and editing the interviews, but what he achieved was this wonderful effect of making the reader feel like he/she is alone with Laing listening to Laing pour out his life in great detail, with great feeling, and without pulling any punches.

In the section on "Influences", Laing's amazing retention and grasp of his existentialist sources is illuminating. In "Kingsley Hall", you get an inside scoop, with lots of warts acknowledged, on this famous and infamous experiment. These conversations are an invaluable complement (and more) to the other sources on Laing, including Laing's own books.

"Great men have great weaknesses": I was struck by how negative Laing was about many of his contemporaries including coworkers. He seems to have distanced himself from many people. As much as Laing seemed to understand Existentialism, my impression from the section "Buddhism" was that his understanding of Buddhism wasn't especially strong. He claimed to have been credited with having a rare kind of "Nirvana consciousness". Do you need a credited consciousness? At any rate, even with Buddhism, Laing poured himself into it and was not shy of insights.

Whether Laing had a "Nirvana consciousness" or not, he was most certainly extraordinary in these interviews. You'll feel why Laing was special if you read "Mad to be Normal". And you'll have a great context for understanding any of Laing's major books.

Mullan has done Laing a special favor. And us.

As the editor of MAD TO BE NORMAL (Ronnie Laing's last recorded conversations), I was pleased to read Matthew Morrisey's review. In response to his query - "what am I going to do with the material NOT included in the book?" Well, I have a lot of material I would like to publish from the conversations, but in this dumbed down world it is hard to get a publisher to agree to do it.

This book holds many treasures, for both beginning and advanced students of R.D. Laing. For beginners, the book serves as a valuable tool of clarification for many of Laing's ideas. For the more initiated, the book offers up juicy morsels of hard to find information. For example, how many people know that Laing actually obtained copies of Nietzsche's hospital records to find out if Nietzsche actually had syphillis? (Laing contends he didn't). It is little bits like this which make the book continually revelatory. Even moreso than in his autobiography, one gets a sense in this book of Laing as not only a brilliant conversationalist, but as a tremendously complex and conflicted person. As we listen to him describe his relations with the prominent philosophers, psychoanalysts, and critics of his day, his recounting of his emotional and spiritual development, and of his dashed hopes and unrealized dreams, we begin to get a sense of what it might have been like to be around Laing when he was alive. Mullan for his part does a wonderful job of asking Laing pertinent, incisive questions, no matter whether the subject is Sartre or his boyhood days in Glasgow. The only question which arise are, if Mullan spent hundreds of hours talking with Laing, what is the nature of the content he excluded, and what has he done (or is he going to do) with that material? Overall, an excellent and indispensible book for anyone interested in R.D. Laing.