New York Books

If you really want to know the history of Coney, this book is a must. I grew up in Brighton Beach during the 50s, and this book was a wonderful read.

The Terra and Belgenio patriarchs arrived in Coney Island at the turn of the 20 th centuty--legend has it that they got on a train and got off at the last stop--Stillwell Ave. This wonderful book put me in touch with them and my parents who lived and died on 15 th and 17 Streets between Mermaid & Neptune Aves. up until the mid 70's. My grandfather Anthony Terra sold ice in the summer and coal in the winter while his wife Maria ran a fruit & vegetable store and raised 6 children--one of whom was my father George, who knew everybody and everybody knew him. This book --the narrative and photos--ignited so many memories for me that I cannot read it without shedding some tears --as I am doing now. Buy the book--you'll love it! Dr Anthony Terra

This is the best book I've ever read on the history Coney Island and I've read every one I could find. It is extremely well researched and written, has incredible photographs and graphics, and a personal story that's moving and deeply felt.

Like many of the other reviewers of this book I grew up in the Coney Island area (Brighton First Street). Coney Island has an almost magical draw for me, so much so that I recently completed writing and illustrating a novel called, "Coney Island Book of the Dead" that takes place in 1956. Charles Denson's book proved to be an invaluable source of facts, lore, and pictures, but, even more importantly, of inspiration. If my novel ever gets published (I'm looking for an agent as of 6/08/07) I hope all of you coneyislandaphiles read it.

Also, you might also be interested in a new book by Charles Denson called "Wild Ride! A Coney Island Roller Coaster Family." I just ordered it.

I actually got a copy of this book from my grandfather -- who was featured in the book. I enjoyed this book so much that I have since bought this book for every friend and relative who has moved out of state. This is a great gift for any occassion... for any Brooklynite.

Like many of the other reviewers, I'm a Coney Island native. Unlike them, I grew in Trump Village, located on the border between Coney and Brighton. Growing up in the 1970's and 80's, central Coney was always a bad neighborhood and I'd only heard vague stories about how great it used to be. While I have since read books and seen documentaries about Coney, Denson's book goes even deeper, especially with his wonderful use of oral history.

I had always been told that before Trump Village and Warbasse, there used to be nothing but empty land in that area. Thanks to this book, I have finally learned the truth, that there used to be a vital, functioning and even happy lower and middle income neighborhood called the Gut, before Fred Trump, Robert Moses and other developers and politicians came along and destroyed all that. Despite it's unfortunate beginnings, Trump still ended up being a decent, affordable place for many middle class Jews and Russian immigrants to live, thanks to this book, I'll always see the ghosts of the homes, theaters and people who came before everytime I go home.

For anyone who is interested in Coney Island or the rise and fall of a city neighborhood, this book is most definitely recommended. And if you grew up in or even near Coney, this book is a must-read.

Rest in peace Dondi, your art will never die! If you liked Subway Art and Spraycan Art then grab yourself of a copy of this absolute gem as Dondi was truly up there with the likes of Seen etc and my favorite Dondi piece still has to be the children of the grave. Buy this as in a few years when it's harder to get your gonna regret it and probably pay a lot of dollar.

i grew up in brooklyn in the 70s and was witness to much of what is shown in this book. there are dozens of train photos from all phases of dondis subway days which i spent much time looking at. what really fascinates me though are the hidden things in these photos. anybody pick up on the iz the wiz throwups in the top photo of page 26. how about the le throwup in the top photo of page 57 or the blade tags inside the windows of the photo on pages 71/72? ever wonder what are those pieces faded beneath so much of dondis work? the birth of graffiti book out recently showed the very beginnings of the graff movement in nyc, but there seems to be a lack of photo/written history of the stuff from that time till the late seventies. i wonder how many people know how cool it is to just sit, relax and look at something like this that you've admired for so long without having to run down a train platform and try and commit to memory the amazing blur that just went by. the interview with dondi was very insightful and actually gave me a renewed appreciation for his work. the book itself is medium sized, hardcover and the paper is of excellent quality. i would love to see more books like this on other just as prominent writers. blade, lee, seen etc.

this is one great book,very well detailed from dondis underground train bombing days plus his days when he was hitting up art gallerys and it even tells you about dondi b4 he was even a writer.plenty of great pics plus lots of top reading too.one of the better graff books.

What can I say an excellent book from an excellent artist, I am sure Dondi and others form the late 70's to early 80's movement in NYC never would have thought that their creations and inovations would become such a world wide hit and change cities across the world. From my early days as a youngster starting out in Graff in 1985 to now as a somewhat maturer but always youthful graff lover I can definately say that this book was like turning back the clock, and boy was I shocked to hear that he was never caught, "I just wish I could say that"!. A well documented and presented book but sad he is'nt here still to have written it himself "RIP DONDI"

This is one of the must-have books if you dig graffities! It features lots of beautiful photos, sketches and actual pages from the Dondi's own black book. Hardcover with slipcover gives a good value for money!

These stories set in Mr. Parkhill's classroom at the American Night Preparatory School for Adults ("English -- Americanization -- Civics -- Preparation for Naturalization") are wonderfully humorous and warm. They reflect a generous humanity and a keen ear for language in author Leo Rosten (1908-1997), who first wrote the stories for The New Yorker using the pen name Leonard Q. Ross.

When Rosten wrote the stories in the 1930s, the debate that had roiled American society over the high levels of immigration at the beginning of the century had ended with passage of the restrictive Johnson-Reed Immigration Act of 1924. Readers of The New Yorker could well remember the rancor and the stereotyping of the debate.

Rosten countered the prejudice against immigrants by portraying Mr. Parkhill's students, drawn from several national and ethnic groups, as earnest learners eager to know about and join American society by first learning the English language.

When people from different cultures meet, there are bound to be some collisions. A dark side take on those meetings is the ethnic joke. The bright side is this book, finding humor in the encounters that all can smile at.

I read The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N as a teenager in the early 1960s. Though I do not recall negative attitudes about immigration in my family, school, or suburban New Jersey neighborhood in that decade, the book surely shaped my attitudes and feelings about immigrants and immigration in a positive way. Hyman Kaplan taught me immigrants make America a better and richer society.

Each time I look through the book now, I worry whether Rosten crossed any of our modern "PC" redlines that would cause it to be crossed off reading lists. The book's humor ("comic dialect" is the scholar's term) depends on the rendering of accents, not much used at present. I found one use of the N-word (misspelled, in accent, not in anger) by a student character. On the whole, however, the book stands up well.

I give copies of this book to friends who are ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers. Leo Rosten's own nights as an ESL teacher, while he was working on his Ph.D., gave him the inspiration for the stories.

The shape of our nation's immigration policy is certainly a licit issue for debate and disagreement. Current immigration has some different countours than in the 1930s. Some voices, however, get carried away and tip over into negative stereotyping. They should take a break, have a cup of coffee, read this book, and meet Mr. Kaplan.

-30-

Think you can read an uproariously funny book without laughing out loud? Think again. Adventures of an English-as-a-second-language class for new immigrants in 1950's America.

Having just begun teaching English As A Second Language to a group of Asian adults, a relative thought I might enjoy "The Education of Hyman Kaplan". The novel takes place entirely at the American Night Preparatory School for Adults. There under the tutelage of Mr. Parkhill, Hyman Kaplan, Miss Mitnick, Miss Caravello, Mrs. Moskowitz and an assortment of Jewish and Italian immigrants struggle with the complexities of the English language, anxious to master the language and learn about the history and culture of their newly adopted home. The irrepressible Mr. Kaplan takes center stage in the classroom with his singular logic in using the English language. Abraham Lincoln becomes Abram Lincohen, King George III of England is an autocrap, and Valley Forge becomes Velly Fudges. Kaplan conjugates the tense to die as "die, dead, funeral", and when talking of the contents of a newpaper he can't understand why he must say "it said", instead of "he said", since the paper is decidedly of the masculine gender. It's the Harold Tribune after all. This is a hilarious yet touching book. We are never laughing at Hyman Kaplan's linguistic foibles but with him, as we appreciate the struggles of all immigrants, those seventy years ago, or those today to come to terms with becoming Americans and learning the language that binds us together.

As a new ESL teacher, my husband thought I'd enjoy this book. H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N* is an irrepressible immigrant to the US, struggling to master English, but that doesn't stop him from communicating at every opportunity. Waves of malapropisms spoken with a thick Eastern European accent don't get in the way of his enthusiasm. Set in the 30's, this is a world where teachers and students are Mr., Mrs. and Miss, immigrants worked in garment factories, and all still believe in the American Dream. Even Mr. Parkhill, the god-like teacher, can't help but be infected by Mr. Kaplan's unique interpretations of the great works of English literature--the Shakespeare story was a classic. Definitely dated, certainly politically incorrect, these stories hail from a simpler, but maybe tougher time--Leo Rosten originally wrote under the name Leonard Ross. A lovely little collection of stories!

This book, along with its sequel, "The Return of H*y*m*a*n K*a*p*l*a*n," (and don't be fooled, those stars are important) is a beautiful work and one that I'm surprised hasn't been rediscovered by critics and readers alike. Originally published as a series of stories in a magazine, these stories were finally collected into book form and later combined with its sequel in a grand form called O, K*a*p*l*a*n, My K*a*p*l*a*n (which is now out-of-print, but worth reading if you find it in a library or rare book store, since it was edited and improved by the author, with new characters and stories).

The stories all revolve around a group of immigrant adults attending the American Night Preparatory School for Adults in New York City in the 1930s. Under the tutelage of the fastidious, but patient and kind, Mr. Parkhill, the book chronicles their challenges in learning the English language. This is in and of itself a masterpiece: Leo Rosten (who had to publish the stories under a pseudonym since he wrote them while living off a fellowship and did not want to let his professors know that he was working on totally unrelated research) has found humor in GRAMMAR!! He not only shows how difficult English is to master, but how irrational and arbitrary the grammatical rules are that we all, as students, desperately try to commit to memory. Moreover, he writes with an expert ear, hearing the subtle differences in the accents and common foibles of English speakers from various language backgrounds. The fact that these passages are life-out-loud funny (and not at all in the sense of laughing at any character's mistakes but at the English language itself for torturing non-native speakers so) is astounding enough.

But this is the story, however, of a true comic hero - Hyman Kaplan. Leo Rosten has created a character as complex and poignant as Shakespeare's Falstaff, or John Kennedy Toole's Ignatius J. Reilly. Hyman Kaplan is a force of nature, yet distinctly human -- irrascible, dogmatic, determined and yet sensitive, noble and joyous. He is a man who refuses to kow-tow to the rules and guidelines of the English language and who truly relishes the joys of wrestling with learning. Since his exuberance leads him into constant conflict with his fellow students, his character is one of the greatest literary devices ever devised by an author. The stars emblazoned in red, green and blue crayon that are part of his signature, only serve as the ultimate monogram, defining this character as one worthy of the ages.

While this book is about efforts by foreigners to assimilate as Americans, it also highlights the glories of America's immigrant, melting-pot past -- a heritage and tradition that is sadly rapidly being forgotten and lost in this modern globalized world. Moreover, with the advent of the politically correct era of hypersensitivity, it is likely that this book will never experience a renaissance of popular support that it richly deserves. This is a true treasure -- I discovered it as a teenager and have often enjoyed returning many times to visit with these charming, inspiring characters. I cannot recommend it enough!

I purchased this book as a gift for a friend who is a New Yorker and loves to know everything about the city he loves. He was thrilled with the book, as he'd been reading it already whenever he visited his brother, and said he can never put it down once he picks it up. Covers everything there is to know about NYC. I can't speak for myself, having not read it personally, but the hard core New Yorkers at the table when I gave it as a gift all swore by it!

Wonderful book. Full of tidbits of information about NY. Some I knew already and some were eye-openers! I recommend it to anyone with a thirst for knowledge.

This is a very entertaining book. Good for a coffee table type book.

If there was anything you ever wanted to know about NYC but couldn't find the answer, this book will have it. What an amazing treasure trove of history, information and trivia. This book should be in every library in America.

Looking for very old maps of the Big City, the Mayoral and Presidential elections, Capsules of about every neighborhood in all 5 boroughs, histories of Broadway, Wall Street, MidTown, Columbia and NYU, the New School, and every other educational institution. Music from Classical to Jazz to Pop to Rock (but there is no listing for Sinatra! I think there should be.)How about the incredible skyscapers, docks, restaurants, clubs. And all this goes back to 1624, when the Dutch first settled. And sections on about every leading NYC personality ever. (though for some reason Mantle and Dimaggio are not listed separately, amoung many other famous NYC sports stars ). Even though the book is 10 years old, it is about as timeless as you can get, even with my very few small quibles mentioned!

I absolutely adored "Holly Would Dream"! It is a delightful, funny, and captivating tale about a young woman obsessed with Audrey Hepburn and who desires to live the style, romance and the absolute perfection of a Hepburn movie. (Don't we all?)

I love all of Karen Quinn's work: each book is more enjoyable than the last. (btw, I absolutely cannot wait for her stories to hit the big screen. I heard that "The Ivy Chronicles" might star Sarah Jessica Parker, fun, fun, fun!!). "Holly Would Dream" is my favorite book by Karen Quinn so far, though. Holly is completely lovable, genuine and funny and her exciting and glamorous adventures in the world of fashion and high society are so much fun.

An added bonus to reading "Holly Would Dream" is that it may inspire you on a treasure hunt to discover all 125 of Karen Quinn's clever winks and nods to the romantic movies of Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant. A good excuse to watch these wonderful, dreamy movies again!
Holly Would Dream

This is such a fun book - I ate it up like a delicious piece of candy. Karen Quinn creates characters that you root for (or against) from the very beginning and can't wait to find out what happens in the end. Once I started this book, I couldn't put it down and was riveted from start to finish!

This book was soooooooooooooooooo scrumptious. I snuck it in at every possible opportunity, even taking mini "reading breaks" at work (shhh! Don't tell!) and it was absolutely the most fun read I've ever had. I love Holly (and Denis - especially Denis ;) and I really hope this book gets made into a film. She has a wicked-fun sense of humour and I LOVED all of her clever metaphors. Her characters were hilarious and the sex scenes were YUM (literally - strawberry jam, anyone?). This is a totally delectable read, and inspiring to boot.

At first I wasn't sure I was going to finish this book. I read about sixty pages or so and thought the writing was kinda all over the place, no flow. I didn't feel there was a lot of explanation at what her job entailed. And I was kinda bored but once they boarded the ship, I was hooked. I LOVED the characters, especially the older ladies...they were so cute and lovable. And Holly's dad was awesome. So funny. I thought Holly's escapades were hilarious, just one bad thing after another! I didn't care much for Denis King. I don't know why but he just seemed to not be developed enough and there wasn't a whole lot of built up passion between them...it kind of all happened too quickly I thought. But cheers to Quinn for writing a book that is unique from all that repetitive chick lit out there!!

The mark of a good book for me is rather or not the characters stay with me! I still find myself longing for Holly's world what a gorgeous fun read!!!!

First-person tales from the likes of Herman Badillo and Jimmy Breslin recall life here a half-century ago.

THE CITY HEARD

Words can conjure up places and times as vividly as pictures do, especially when people are speaking from the heart, fueled by intimate experiences and affectionate memories of a place.

It Happened In Manhattan stitches together anecdotes and recollections told by a disparate group of Manhattanites - from writers and architects to rabbis and restaurateurs - all steeped in the spirit of the city where they live and work.

Stretching from the close of World War II through the psychedelic 60s and beyond, the subjects of the recollections are equally diverse. Many of the chapter headings come from songs - "East Side/West Side," "Puttin' on the Ritz" - reflecting the writers' wish to celebrate their city as enjoyably as generations of entertainers have. They also note its dark and somber sides.

Imaginatively chosen photos round out the portrait capturing nostalgic moments or illustrating stories told on adjoining pages. Flipping through the book is like riding a time machine to one of New York's energetic eras.

Myrna Katz and Harvey Frommer's It Happened in Manhattan ... is an encyclopedic oral and visual memoir of life in New York from the end of World War II to the fiscal-stricken era of the mid-1970s. The Third Avenue El, Ebbets Field, the Automats, the Chelsea Hotel, the Fillmore East, and the pre-AIDS clubs of the swinging gay '70s can all be found here, along with accounts of the rise of abstract expressionist and pop art and Norman Mailer's mayoral race. This book captures a New York in transition, accelerating through the cultural changes of the 1950s and '60s from the world of Joseph Mitchell to the world of Tom Wolfe.

It Happened in Manhattan probably is the anti-book for unreformed New York haters. It revels in the story of Manhattan, a 22-square-mile borough in the city during the mid-20th century.
Interviews with more than 60 current and former residents of Manhattan tell a rich story of city life in the post-war era. The prologue, a monologue by Sid Bernstein, the music promoter who arranged the first Beatles's appearance in America, is wonderful.
"I'm still a tourist in the city I was born and raised in," says Bernstein. "I'm a walker of the city streets." Bernstein wanders and explores by his own north star: his sense of smell. "If I walk by a place and an aroma greets me, I go there."
There are plenty of food stories in It Happened in Manhattan. There is a lot more, of course. Sections deal with memories of growing up in Manhattan, of starting careers in finance and fashion, of finding sanctuaries in churches or museums. There are memories of restaurants, nightclubs, department stores, eateries, celebrities. People remember when they cleaned out a section of a restaurant for Frank Sinatra's posse, the early days of Bette Middler, described as colorful as a "Jewish parrot."
Tin Pan Alley, the Guggenheim Museum, Yiddish Theater, Walter Winchell, Harlem, Greenwich Village, escapees from the Hollywood blacklist - they're all in here, not in formal history, but in the memories of people who knew them.
Perhaps Manhattan expatriates will enjoy It Happened in Manhattan most, as there really is a lot of nostalgia in a book like this, but others can find many pleasures.
After all, even if we never go to New York, part of it come to us. It's that big a town.

Manhattan is a narrow island, only 22 square miles, but its history is much bigger. It Happened in Manhattan is an album of vintage photos and first-person reminiscences that form mid-century Manhattan. Ranging from the early post-World War II years to the mid-1970s, the book is an oral history constructed from dozens of interviews with New York luminaries such as Jimmy Breslin, Elaine Kaufman, Alan Greenberg, and Pauline Trigère, as well as everyday people like Rabbi Dan Alder, teacher Linda Kleinschmidt, and drugstore owner Joel Eichel. With chapters like "If I Can Make It Here..." about emerging celebrities, "Sanctuaries in the City" concerning religious communities, and "Politics As Usual," It Happened in Manhattan evokes an era when Checker cabs still passed down a two-way Fifth Avenue, when 11 daily newspapers covered the city beat, and when young women attended their Katharine Gibbs continuing education classes in hats and white gloves. Their reminiscences and perceptions are woven into a narrative that describes how New York became an international center in the wake of victory in the Second World War, and how the city was affected by new immigrants from Europe fleeing fascism and immigrants from the Latin America seeking opportunity. This was an era when soaring real-estate values led to the tearing down of whole neighborhoods, and when community activists rallied to save many architectural treasures. It Happened in Manhattan illustrates with personal details and anecdotes the passing of the Manhattan of the Industrial Age, how the city government almost went bankrupt, and how New York City survived and continues as a financial, political and cultural center of the nation. Father Peter Colapietro, pastor of Holy Cross Church on 42nd Street, offers his recollections:

As a kid, I always saw Sixth Avenue as the dividing line between the East and West Side. The East Side was Rock Center and St. Patrick's Cathedral; the West Side was the stuff on 42nd Street. It was like you needed a passport to go from one to another... Even though Manhattan was only a fifteen-cent ride away from where I lived in the Bronx, it was a whole new world. I felt I had to dress up to go down there. I couldn't wear jeans and a polo shirt. I was an eleven- or twelve-year-old, I knew what Playboy magazine was, but when I went into some of these stores on 42nd Street - wow! Ten or twelve of us used to come down to Herman's Flea Circus. It had an arcade with pinball machines, magic shows, and a famous Flea Circus. We would go to Rockefeller Center and see as many television shows as we could get into, getting there early to be first on line for shows like The Price Is Right, The Match Game, and Truth or Consequence. A warm-up person like Johnny Olson would ask the audience, "Anybody out there celebrating a birthday? anniversary? parole? We got to know the routine. Once my kid brother and I got a pair of handcuffs. When Johnny Olson got to "Anybody celebrating parole?" we raised our hands handcuffed to each other.

Finally this Australian children's classic is becoming available to Americans. I first read it 60 years ago and it has never lost its unusual charm. I read it to my children, enjoying together its wonderful illustrations by author-artist Norman Lindsey and its whimsical poem-songs: "It's worse than weevils, worse than warts/ Worse than corns to bear/ It's worse than having several quarts of treacle in your hair." My grandchildren are now enjoying the books (I had to order copies from Australia, and consider it wonderful that children today can more easily obtain the book). I consider it a classic of the first order--one of the greatest children's stories of all time.

Big tough talking penguins and talking never ending desserts, what more could you want? Ok, that, but this is a kids book, and one you should get if you have some (kids, that is, not talking penguins and puddings). There are the good guys, and there are the bad guys. Both are hungry, but the bad guys want to put out tasty pudding friend to nefarious ends, while the good guys just want enough dessert. Needless to say, the pudding is cantankerous.

Honestly, I'm no read-aloud wimp! And my kids are usually up for anything. They giggled like mad at the pompous puns of Mr. H.M. Wogglebug T.E. in the Oz books, and urged on my faux-Yorkshire accent in the Secret Garden. The century-old Australian slang and endless sea shanties of the Magic Pudding, though, just about did us in. It really is a magnificent flight of fancy, but there were just too many incomprehensible sentences to paraphrase and longggg songs to make up tunes for. Save this for when you're at your most daring and energetic, read-aloud parents!

The Magic Pudding is a fun-and-nonsense tale that has become my nine-year-old son's favorite book. It deserves to be published in the US so that American children can enjoy what has become a classic in Australian children's literature. If you enjoy Roald Dahl's books, "The Phantom Tollbooth," and "Alice in Wonderland" you'll enjoy this.

This book is part of the wonderful new series of republished children's books from the New York Review of Books. Over 80 years old, "The Magic Pudding" describes the adventures of a koala bear, named Bunyip Bluegum - the kind of koala who wears a high collar and spats - who falls in with a crazy cowboy sort of fellow named Bill Barnacle and a penguin named Sam Sawnoff.

Bill and Sam are possessed of a magic pudding (named Albert, if you can believe this), who regenerates every time you take a bite of him and changes into whatever flavor you like. Albert the pudding is much coveted by two evil villains who are constantly tricking our Heroes into giving up the Pudding, whereupon they must go and re-re-re-rescue it.

The characters and style are very reminiscent of "Alice in Wonderland," with Bunyip seeming a little White-rabbitish to me, and Bill and Sam sort of Mad Hatter and Dormouse-y. The effect is somewhere in between "Alice" and an old Loony Tunes in which Bugs Bunny constantly bewilders Elmer Fudd.

The whole narrative is punctuated with many whimsical song lyrics, like the poetry in Carroll's book. The lyrics make it a great read-aloud for the younger set, although older kids might be a bit puzzled by its style. However, everyone will be charmed by the Pudding himself and want one of their very own.

If you are a guy or gal who was born before 1950 and enjoy the game of baseball then Phillip Hoose's "Perfect, Once Removed" should be right up your alley. Author Phil Hoose had just moved to Speedway, Indiana with his mom and dad in late 1955. He was eight years old and having an awfully hard time adjusting to his new school and making friends. To make matters worse, no one had ever taught young Phil how to play baseball. He had never swung a bat or even had an opportunity to play catch! Kids being kids, they jumped all over Phil in gym class and at the playground after school. Phil was completely miserable until one day his mom casually mentioned that his dad's cousin pitched for the New York Yankees. And so Phil Hoose took it upon himself to write to his dad's cousin Don Larsen and ask for some advice. A short time later Phil received a postcard from Don Larsen that would literally change his life forever.
It is always wonderful to read a story like the one portrayed in "Perfect, Once Removed". Sometimes we never realize how such a simple act of kindness can impact someone so much. But Don Larsen not only sent that postcard but he also arranged for Phil and his parents to attend a Yankees--White Sox game at Commiskey Park. While in Chicago Phil had an opportunity to meet several of the Yankee players at the hotel where they were staying. It was an experience that would make him a baseball addict for life. It turns out that as usual the New York Yankees under legendary manager Casey Stengel would win the 1956 American League pennant. This time their opponents in the World Series would be their crosstown rivals the Brooklyn Dodgers. And in Game Five on a Monday afternoon in October Don Larsen would make World Series history! Due to the heroics of his cousin, once removed, Phil Hoose was suddenly the BMOC (big man on campus) at school. Quite a turnaround in just 6 or 7 months!
If I had to pick one adjective to describe "Perfect, Once Removed" it would have to be "charming". That may sound odd for a book about sports but I think the term fits here perfectly. For this book is so much more than a book about a perfect game. It is also a real period piece. For those old enough to recall those days it will bring back a flood of fond memories. I found "Perfect, Once Removed" to be a great change of pace from the much more serious fare that I ordinarily read. A great book to read while lounging at the beach or relaxing by the pool. This is an extremely well written and thoroughly enjoyable book that is am very pleased to recommend.

Anyone who grew up loving baseball needs to read this book. It perfectly captures the romance of the game from the perspective of a 9-year-old, back when 9-year-olds lived and breathed baseball. Five stars!

Served well by its brevity and the honesty of its recollections, Hoose's memoir is a perfect accompaniment as you follow your team through another spring training, because it's not so much about the team or the players as it is about your own hopes.

A great book really hitting the emotions of one's childhood growing up around baseball. A wonderfully written book and a very easy read. It is so much more than just the history of baseball's greatest pitched game. A very special book!

With ease and skill, Phillip Hoose recalls his childhood days when baseball ruled his world, consuming his thoughts during the school day, and consuming his play time at night. Hoose chronicles his childhood, from his family's move to the center of the racing world, Speedway, Indiana to his discovery of the great game of baseball, to his relationship with distant cousin Don Larsen, a Yankee great.

The book is an exceptional tale of baseball, and the effect it truly has on so many of our nation's youth. From his intense, yet usually fruitless baseball practice sessions to his late night attempts at finding a signal for a baseball game, Hoose adds a personal touch to the greatest game in the world. His personal touch, then, is what makes this book so special. In an age where baseball is struggling to keep a clean image, amidst steroid use and huge salary contracts, Hoose takes the reader back to the magic of the game. Hoose accomplishes what all good books should do, he transports us into another time, and another place: our youth, and our neighborhood. He reminds us, the kid in us, the joy it felt to first pick up a ball and bat, and the disappointment we felt when we lost our neighborhood pick-up game.

A refreshing and inspirational tale, Hoose's book should not be missed by even the casual baseball fan. Hoose's writing establishes a deep connection between baseball and life, and lessons which each can learn from the other. His tale is one of up's and downs, triumphs and heartaches. Through it all, however, Hoose maintains a sense of hope for life and a sense of love for the game. This hope is what propelled so many of our own baseball dreams, and it is what helps make Hoose's book a truly wonderful read.

We used this book on two recent trips to NYC as a guide book for planning 4 different afternoon teas. Excellent!

If you enjoy tea, why not take a tea trip in my hometown, New York? With this book, you can plan out everything. I have found the information provided by Ms. Knight to be accurate and have also learned a few interesting tidbits about tea culture. The excellent photos are worth noting as well. With more and more tea places popping up (and I've noticed a few recently), I hope they plan to put out updated editions. But this is by far the best tea guidebook I've seen, and a necessity for any tea lover who spends time in New York City.

What I really love about Tea in the City is the breadth and depth of Ms. Knight's profiles, especially when it comes to non-traditional tea rooms. This is the first guide I've seen that really makes an effort to incorporate the newer influx of modern East Asian tea destinations, rather than limiting itself to British and hotel teas (though these are here as well). Although I work in NYC, this guide may inspire me to try some new places in some neighborhoods I haven't visited in a while. I also find this guide more male-friendly than most tea books.

This is the perfect guide to tuck in your handbag or pocket when going to New York City. Color coded maps tell you the tea spots available in each area of NYC. Daily hours, phone numbers, subway stops nearby, websites, decor, approximate costs, and description of teas and food are included. This will be in my handbag anytime I take a train into New York City.

I had slight sticker shock and hesitated to buy this book. In fact, when it arrived, I was a bit unhappy with the small size. Having perused this small tome (with a cuppa in hand, of course), I've come to realize that my reservations were in vain. What a great book for the tea lover! This guide is not only informative, but well written. I'll be reading it again and again, and I'm sure that many a happy afternoon will be spent in the City (and here in Brooklyn, too) thanks to Ms. Knight. The only downside is that the fifth NYC borough is not mentioned... sounds like a great opportunity for someone in Staten Island to rise to the occasion for a possible (and hoped for by this reader) 2008 edition.

Beautifully written, WHERE SHE CAME FROM is also the product of very serious and exhaustive research. It is a magical and haunting book. It brings alive a period of Jewish women's history that is only now being written about in English. Travelling through pre-Holocaust Central Europe with Epstein is an amazing experience: the reader follows both the process of investigation of family history and the emotions this opens up for the writer.

I taught the book several times both in the US and Mexico in classes on Memory and Autobiography. My students loved the book. Many of them bought several copies to give to relatives and friends as gifts. My graduate students (in History and Literature) were impressed by the rigor of Epstein's research, and the skill with which she weaves historical information into her prose.

This is a fascinating chronicle of three generations of the author's female ancestors. It is probably the only book in English that tells the story of Jewish women in Prague in the the first half of the twentieth century. Helen Epstein has a special talent for recreating social history and bringing it alive.

This book was a beautiful personal tribute to the author's ancestors.

I was engrossed in this book from the first page...although it was a slow read for me, because I wanted to grasp the intensity of the generational saga, and grasp the historical facts, correctly. Epstein has more than proved herself in this dramatic memoir of family generations, identity, and history, weaving us through time, each piece of family fabric a part of the final tapestry. The reader is given remnants and squares of fabric in a familial tapestry, of sorts, through history and time, through the horrors of war, and how it affects all the generations, from past to present. From assimilating into society and racial and religous identity, to how one views themselves and what they identify with, Epstein manages to stitch a tapestry of her family, each stitch in time adding to the fabric of her own identity. Bravo for a wonderful read!

In WHERE SHE CAME FROM, Cambridge, Massachusetts-based award-winning author Helen Epstein has penned a meticulously-researched memoir to the four generations of Czech and former Czechoslovak women in her extensive family, from her mother's side of the brood.

While today she associates her public persona to the proud and extensive line of former Czechoslovak Epsteins (see Ms. Epstein's fabulous Amazon Short available off of this site, SWIMMING AGAINST STEREOTYPE: The Story of a Twentieth Century Jewish Athlete), the writer stakes her claim to a noble and illustrious family line which once proudly sported famous Viennese and Prague-based surnames such as Rabinek, Solar, Weigert, Sachsel, Furcht, and Frucht.

Like an experienced batsman for a World Series-winning major-league baseball team, Epstein managed to hang in that old batter's box, waiting for just the right pitch to slug out of the ballpark. In the book world, the analogue was when all the right moments fortuitously transpired to assist Ms. Epstein in securing many essential clues of research which she utilized handily in crafting this excellent book's narrative. Even she'll tell you, the process was far from easy.

Thanks to a dedicated coterie of like-minded collaborators based in points all around the globe as you'll soon read (the former Czechoslovakia, Czech Republic, Israel, South America, and the United States), Ms. Epstein succeeded in cobbling together one of the most comprehensive Czech geneological histories on the public record.

The work is not only emotionally remunerative for Ms. Epstein, to the extent that those missing links in her family chain were finally sewn together, but it's additionally a fine account of several strong women, renowned in their various fields of endeavour, who persevered during the best of times and the absolute horrorific worst of the 20th century.

Starting with Helen's great-grandmother Therese Sachsel, nee Frucht (Furcht), who lived during the reign of Franz-Josef in the last of the Habsburg-ian thrones, passing through her grandmother Pepi's life story during the turbulent First World War and the First Czechoslovak Republic, and finally overlapping the history of her own mother Frances Epstein, Helen pored over hundreds (if not thousands) of archival sources in constructing this cogent tale.

Collectively, these three noble upstanding women belonging to the author's colourful past outlived the worst of the 20th century's ravages, passing fads, and tragic downfalls.

We swoon with Therese Sachsel during the euphoria of Tomas Garrigue Masaryk's (TGM) storied first Czechoslovak Republic (1918-1938), when all seemed possible for the Central European remant of the former Austria-Hungarian powerhouses of Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, and Slovakia. Our hopes and dreams are temporarily crushed alongside her grandmother Pepi Rabinek as we witness the invasion and subsequent occupation of Prague by Nazi hordes, who sweep unchallenged through the former Czechoslovakia's borders after the West's perfidy of Munich. We agonize alongside Pepi's daughter, Frances Solar/Rabinek/Epstein, the paragon of the family and Helen's stalwart mother, as she is dispatched to the Teresienstadt (in modern-day Terezin, Czech Republic) concentration camp, or in the colloquial Czech, the "koncentrak." We also rejoice when Frances is extricated from the hellhole of Auschwitz, and tranported the West in wartime Germany as part of a labour brigade, towards the oncoming Allies from the West, liberated in Bergen-Belsen by British forces at the end of WWII. Finally, we are shocked to discover the insensitivity, sheer apathy, and in many instances -- outright hostility -- that Praguers demonstrated towards the surviving returnees from the Nazi camps, to which Frances and her future husband, famous former Czechoslovak Olympian swimmer, Kurt Epstein, counted themselves.

Helen Epstein's lines draw us inexorably into this story, and once you start you'll have a difficult time finding excuses to stop.

What staggered me as I made my way through this read was Ms. Epstein's formidable discipline. The sheer single-mindedness with which she approached the colossal task of the near-vertical climb to reach the bottom of her family's history. I read with awe how solace was found towards the end.

WHERE SHE CAME FROM will stand as one of the foremost examples of the self-researched memoir. If you need any reason at all to read this book, then let it be thanks to the iron-willed determination which the answers gracing its pages were unearthed by Ms. Epstein.

A book like this needs to be savoured for its significance, appreciated for its illumination, and respected for its purity. There isn't a single letter which graces these pages that wasn't typed, written, or transcribed in the absence of a labour which can only be termed love.

I sit back and wish we all had the staying power of Ms. Epstein. The book is laudatory in the extreme.

As if Ms. Epstein's family history were not enough, there are other benefits to this book too. For those with a keen interest in the past two centuries of life in Prague and the experiences of Bohemia's and Moravia's Jews and its Czech peasantry, WHERE SHE CAME FROM is chock-a-block with painstaking factoids and historical tidbits that'll nudge you gently towards further reading. It will also supply its readers with a glimpse towards the increasingly-distant Czechoslovak past, which, with the passing of the years and the keener integration of this country with the rest of the EU, slips further and further away from the grip of Czech youth.

This book is more than just a reminder, it's a testament to a time which no longer exists. In that respect, it is now part of the permanent historical record.

WHERE SHE CAME FROM is written in a language at once accessible and magnetic. For all ages, for all backgrounds. I can't do anything less than award this superb work of history my highest rating of 5-stars.

I know you will too.

-- ADM in Prague

Although this book has a slow start with a lot of historical information, once you get to the Holocaust section, you will not be able to put this book down. I read it while in Vienna and after I visited Prague. I felt so connected to my surroundings and the author that I literally felt like I was in the book. Makes the enormity of the Holocaust personal and understandable. A MUST READ FOR EVERYONE!