New York Books

I read Mrs. Slate's first novel ("The House on Sprucewood Lane"), and found it hard to get into, but about halfway through, I could tolerate it and then found it suspenseful enough to want to finish. The first novel's sentence structure was, I thought, filled with way too many and unnecessary metaphors, and clearly seemed like a first attempt, for both the author and the editor. The verbose style seemed irritating to me even though the story was a good one. BUT, look out! This second novel is one of the best books I've read in a long time. I can hardly put it down! All that excess and verbosity from the first novel - gone. As a matter of fact, I'm half-way through "A Fractured Truth" and I just had to stop long enough to recommend this with more then the highest honors, in my opinion, in both style and story content. I'll let you know when I finish it if it remains as SUPERB as it is so far.

I just discovered that I can't write a second comment, but that I can add to this one. I finished the book and it was SUPERB all the way through. I was disappointed when it ended. I loved the story, twists, and characters. It was truly a page-turner. I can't wait until Mrs. Slate's next novel.

Kate

This book deserves best-seller status. As other reviewers noted, heroine Grace Leshansky has just been released from prison, where she spent 7 years for killing her husband. As Grace begins to adjust to a new scaled-down life -- her husband had already destroyed her bank account -- she tries to learn more about her father, a gambler whose debts had led to frequent confrontations with "enforcers."

Author Caroline Slate weaves multiple threads in and out, moving us from present to past effortlessly and skillfully. She keeps us interested in the characters . And, most important, she makes us care about characters whose flaws are both serious and obvious.

Grace admits she can be gullible -- and she manages to attract some of the best liars on the planet. Grace's father George, a George Burns wannabe, has earned Grace's love and trust while providing an erratic but eventful home life. Each character embodies a level of complexity rarely found in heroes, let alone minor charactersi

After reading the book through, I went back to re-trace some missing parts. All the strands were tied neatly, except for a mention of Grace's "stalking" her grandfatrher: it wasn't clear when she acually did find and follow him.

I hope Slate writes more fiction like this one - and gets more publicity and fame, too! A wonderful, thought-provoking all around "good read."

After killing her husband, Grace Leshansky plea bargained a five to fifteen year sentence for manslaughter and was released after seven years. During her prison time she pushed all her friends away except for Sheilah Donlan who not only picked her up from the penitentiary but also got her an apartment and a job in her headhunting business. Now Grace has to adjust to life on the outside knowing that she killed the man who took away her livelihood, her father her and her self-respect.

In the first weeks of freedom, Grace realizes her parole officer is a battered wife who hates her, makes friends with a con man like her dead husband, and reconnects with her first love Michael, whose father is indirectly responsible for the mess her life is in. Michael's dad, serving a life sentence, is also the only man who can help her find the father she wants to see one last time.

Caroline Slate lives up to the promise she's shown in her debut novel THE HOUSE ON SPRUCEWOOD LANE with her second novel, a powerful work about a woman who is driven to murder, but somehow hooks the reader's sympathy even before all the facts are revealed. The protagonist's relationship with her friends, her lover, and her father ring so true that the audience will shed tears for a woman who was deliberately pushed to her limit by an expert manipulator and brilliant con man. A FRACTURED TRUTH is a compelling powerful story.

Harriet Klausner

"A Fractured Truth" grabs your attention and keeps you engrossed. I lit candles and read "A Fractured Truth" from the night of August 14th through the night of August 15th. I almost forgot the heat, darkness and lack of water. I wonderful escape into a world of fascinating people.

A Fractured Truth is one of the most suspenseful novels I have recently read. The dark language and building of tension kept me turning the pages until the wee hours of the night. I couldn't put it down. Grace Leshanky is convicted of murdering her husband. When she's released on parole, she has difficulty getting on with her life. As the story progresses, the reader gets a glimpse into Grace's life and the sort of marriage she and her husband had. What develops is a twisted story that takes the reader in a whole other direction. As said earlier, I couldn't put this book down. Are you in the bargain for an intelligent, sinister thriller? I recommended A Fractured Truth.

This is a book that helps you see the world with fresh eyes and a generous heart. Jim Atwell has a knack for elevating the experiences of daily life - some charming and quirky, others poignant and painful, some just seemingly mundane - into the realm of the profound, the beautiful and the joyful. Though his world may seem circumscribed by the tiny, rural community of Fly Creek in upstate New York, that is simply the window through which we walk with him into a wider world of human behavior as he ponders the world of meaning in the doleful eyes of sheep, the world fame of the town kazoo band, and the lives of neighbors who befriend and transform him from a citified academic escaping the pain of his young wife's death into a new and vibrant, occasionally adept, farmer. These are tales that can give guidance to anyone intrigued by a life's journey.

Writers and illustrators worth their salt MUST add colors, or tangibly bring life, to images discussed and presented in their writings. Otherwise, their words and illustrations should naturally die on the vine.

In their current book, From Fly Creek, with Jim Atwell's words, and Anne Geddes-Atwell's illustrations, nothing dies at all. With his written observations and her magnificent illustrations, they do the positive things, and so much more. They poignantly paint such vivid and meaningful pictures. As readers, we must now use a different set of glasses, and view things through humans' AND animals' eyes. What an opportunity! To see and experience life through another perspective. Hey, not bad!

Anne Geddes-Atwell's illustrations are superb! They strike the graphic and visual chords that we all need to hear and feel. They enhance the pictures and text exactly when they need to appear. Jim's and Anne's creative talents add to more than the arithmetic total of their individual contributions. As readers, we are able to experience and enjoy their combined talents and offerings. Better still, we'll remember them individually on the levels we need to.

Several years ago, circumstances brought Jim to Fly Creek. He needed what that New York local community had to offer. Fly Creek needed the writing and visual talents that he and Anne ultimately brought to local readers. The rest, as some might say, is recorded history.

Excuse me, but have you ever fed hungry animals on a cold morning? If not, don't bother me with you're your small problems. The Atwell's have dealt with these, as well as bigger ones. Please read Chapter 2 of From Fly Creek. Then tell me about your insignificant concerns. Pardon me, while I don't care.

I have more encouraging words about future chapters. However, for now, I'll blow them off. Just buy the book. Believe me, you'll be better off for having done so.

Buy this book, NOW! Otherwise, you're missing a part of life you'll need.

Reading From Fly Creek is like listening to a good-humored friend, a friend looking at the passing parade from a country setting. Atwell's tales of unique persons and lively creatures are so filled with fine detail that "we are there," wherever he wants to take us. The song of his prose enchants us, especially when writing about Cooperstown's baseball aura and the Salvation Army kettle incident. And, oh yes, don't miss the delightful sketch of the mouse in the bed or the last page's inspiring motto. This is a book to read and re-read. Frances Fowler, California

I have been reading Jim Atwell's columns in the Coopertown Crier for a couple of years now and liked them so much I went back into the archives for more of Fly Creek's history and people. These essays are in the very best tradition of observational writings of authors like James Heriot and Bill Bryson. You will find yourself transported to and become part of this community whose people will become your neighbors and friends.

Jim Atwell is an immensely talented author. The powerful imagery found on each page of From Fly Creek: Starting Again In Leatherstocking Country will enchant and awaken your imagination. This lyrical, deeply felt but unsentimental, distinguished book of non-fiction is destined to win the Pulitzer Prize.

I got this book to read to my kids. It's amazing even on the first page! I LOVE this book. Can't wait to get to the end. Such an easy read!!!!

Dead mothers are always a good plot device. There is nothing like the absence of a mother to create a suitable amount of angst, heartache, uncertainty, and self-doubt. Think of the Alice books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, where the first couple of books in the series are driven by the fact that pre-teen Alice is growing up without a mother, surrounded by men in her family, and suffers the nagging fear that she is not approaching the formative years of her life with due female influence. And more recently we have had the mother-less Bee from Being Bee, and Jack from The Night Tourist. Now there is Evie Adler in K.L. Going's The Garden of Eve. Her mother is ten months dead from cancer, and Evie is left with her botanist father who has never appreciated--or even understood--magic the way her mother did. He is too much of a scientist to put much stock in fairy tales, or stories in general. When he takes on the job of trying to revive a dead apple orchard in Beaumont, New York, far from their Michigan home, Evie is resentful. They move into a house right next door to a cemetery--but the only cemetery Evie cares about is the one back in Michigan, where her mother is buried. Her father devotes his time to the orchard--but all Evie can think of is the magic garden she used to plan with her mother, a perfect garden with magnificent trees and noble beasts where the three of them would always be together. When Evie is given a seed supposedly from the Garden of Eden, Evie thinks she has her chance to find that perfect garden, and consequently find her mother, too.

There is a lot going on in this book, some of it allegorical and some of it just old fashioned mystery. There is the boy Alex, whom Evie meets hanging around in the cemetery. Is he really dead, as he claims to be? Is the orchard where Evie's father toils really cursed, or has it simply been abandoned? When Evie plants her seed and enters the magical garden--by way of eating an apple, of course!--is she in Eden or is it a trap? There is another Eve who grew up in Beaumont and disappeared many, many years ago. What happened to her? And will Evie find peace after the death of her mother?

Some of the pieces in the book are tied together a little bit too neatly, but for the most part this is an engaging and thoughtful book. Evie is disillusioned without being broken. The father is pragmatically devoted to his work but all open-hearted and open-minded business when Evie needs him most. The supporting characters range from saintly (the dead mother)to utterly convincing (Alex). Readers who like their books with magic and symbolism will enjoy this.

Since her free-spirited mother Tally's passing, Evie has given up her belief in magic and nearly all the activities she had loved to partake in with her mom, like painting and reading bedtime stories. Then another difficult change occurs when her father decides to move them from their home in Michigan to Beaumont, New York. Evie doesn't want to relocate or forget about the memories of the life she once had with her mother nearly a year before. However, her father is anxious for a fresh start.

When Evie and her father arrive in rural Beaumont, Evie can't help but feel a little uneasy about the atmosphere of the place, with its blackened, gnarled trees and seemingly perpetual quiet. Then, when picking up the keys from Maggie, the sister of previous owner Rodney, they learn that many people believe that the town is cursed because of the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Maggie and Rodney's sibling, Eve, and the fact that the once-vibrant orchard's appearance changed shortly after.

Evie's father (a "realist," as he refers to himself) dismisses the story as superstition and thinks that, with his skills, he could help bring the trees and, in effect, the town back to life. Meanwhile, to Evie's dismay, she discovers that their new home is near a cemetery, which is where she meets a boy named Alex, who claims to be a ghost. Despite her initial skepticism, Evie can't help but be intrigued by him and his determination not to be forgotten. Then for her 11th birthday, she receives an unusual gift left behind by Rodney. Along with the story behind the supposed curse and a little help, Evie begins to piece the clues together that may put the past to rest, while revealing some surprises about herself and those she cares about.

On the surface, THE GARDEN OF EVE may appear to be just a whimsical mystery, but underneath is a poignant story about keeping a hold of family, hopes and dreams, even if they don't always seem to be in reach.

--- Reviewed by Sarah Sawtelle

Evie grieves for her sensitive and imaginative mother, angry that her practical father has taken her far from home to a lonely house by a cemetery. As her father tends to a blackened orchard, Evie befriends a dead boy and an elderly woman who gives her an ancient seed that brings the children to an alternate world. Evie dreams of finding her mother there, but instead discovers the love of her father.

Chapters flow from one to another with suspense that should not frighten the "average" child. My fifth grade daughter and I read this aloud and thoroughly enjoyed the fresh, natural dialogue between Evie and the strange boy, the mysterious magical happenings and the realistic relationship troubles between father and daughter. This might be a good book to read to upper elementary or middle school children dealing with the loss of a parent, or even a sibling as the boy grieves the loss of his brother, but might be disconcerting to some younger children.

The storyline is creative and although the last chapter does wrap up a little too well, we are glad that Evie finds a final, surprising connection to her mother.

Sometimes when bad things happen, the whole world seems shriveled and dark, as if nothing good will ever grow again. But life isn't like that. Really.

Here comes Evie, strong and brave and wise. She's searching for truth, hoping for magic, yearning for comfort. Like Lucky in The Higher Power of Lucky, Evie is trying to make sense of world made barren by the loss of her mother. Like Lucky, Evie needs someone to help answer questions a girl really needs her mother for, especially, "How do I know what is true?" But while Lucky's story stays anchored in the rather imperfect real world, Evie finds her truths through a purer magic in the very best fairy-tale tradition. A ghost-boy, some ancient mysterious seeds, a warm wind swirling over frozen soil--K.L. Going breathes her magic into these elements to bring forth a rich tale of new life after loss. Here in The Garden of Eve, the truth is magic and magic is truth. And if you can't see it with your eyes, maybe you should look "with your ears or your nose, instead."

Read this book. It is beautifully crafted and deeply satisfying. As soon as you finish it, you'll want to share it with someone you care about. As it whispers its truths, it brings comfort and warmth and hope that life can begin again, even when all seems lost.

Janet Gingold
author of Danger, Long Division and Finch Goes Wild

In GHOST OF PORTBYRON AND GHOSTS ALONG THE ERIEI HAVE SELECTED MOST OF THE FAMOUS STORIES.P.BHAPPENS TO HAVE A WEALTH OF THEM.MOST OF THEGHOSTS RECORDED CAN BE CONNECTED WITH SOME PERSONWHO DIED THERE.IN MY STORIES I HAVE PRESENTED ONLYTHOSE ACCOUNTS SUBSTANTIATED THRU OLD FAMILY RECORDS AND THE PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF RELIABLEINDIVIDUALS.HOW THE READER CHOOSES TO INTERPRETTHEM IS A MATTER THAT ONLY THE READER CAN DECIDE,IF YOU MEET UP WITH A GHOST, JUST EJOY THE HAPPENING. DON'T BE AFRAID. MARY ANN

In GHOST OF PORTBYRON AND GHOSTS ALONG THE ERIEI HAVE SELECTED MOST OF THE FAMOUS STORIES.P.BHAPPENS TO HAVE A WEALTH OF THEM.MOST OF THEGHOSTS RECORDED CAN BE CONNECTED WITH SOME PERSONWHO DIED THERE.IN MY STORIES I HAVE PRESENTED ONLYTHOSE ACCOUNTS SUBSTANTIATED THRU OLD FAMILY RECORDS AND THE PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF RELIABLEINDIVIDUALS.HOW THE READER CHOOSES TO INTERPRETTHEM IS A MATTER THAT ONLY THE READER CAN DECIDE,IF YOU MEET UP WITH A GHOST, JUST EJOY THE HAPPENING. DON'T BE AFRAID. MARY ANN

This book is absolutely ravishing. It's obvious that the author put her heart-and-soul into writing it and has a keen sense of recording the stories from around her town. Mary Ann Johnson must be a wonderful woman to know and must be the best and most beautiful Grandmother in the world.

In GHOST OF PORTBYRON AND GHOSTS ALONG THE ERIEI HAVE SELECTED MOST OF THE FAMOUS STORIES.P.BHAPPENS TO HAVE A WEALTH OF THEM.MOST OF THEGHOSTS RECORDED CAN BE CONNECTED WITH SOME PERSONWHO DIED THERE.IN MY STORIES I HAVE PRESENTED ONLYTHOSE ACCOUNTS SUBSTANTIATED THRU OLD FAMILY RECORDS AND THE PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF RELIABLEINDIVIDUALS.HOW THE READER CHOOSES TO INTERPRETTHEM IS A MATTER THAT ONLY THE READER CAN DECIDE,IF YOU MEET UP WITH A GHOST, JUST EJOY THE HAPPENING. DON'T BE AFRAID. MARY ANN

In GHOST OF PORTBYRON AND GHOSTS ALONG THE ERIEI HAVE SELECTED MOST OF THE FAMOUS STORIES.P.BHAPPENS TO HAVE A WEALTH OF THEM.MOST OF THEGHOSTS RECORDED CAN BE CONNECTED WITH SOME PERSONWHO DIED THERE.IN MY STORIES I HAVE PRESENTED ONLYTHOSE ACCOUNTS SUBSTANTIATED THRU OLD FAMILY RECORDS AND THE PERSONAL EXPERIENCES OF RELIABLEINDIVIDUALS.HOW THE READER CHOOSES TO INTERPRETTHEM IS A MATTER THAT ONLY THE READER CAN DECIDE,IF YOU MEET UP WITH A GHOST, JUST EJOY THE HAPPENING. DON'T BE AFRAID. MARY ANN

I have only scanned the book, however I am historically familiar with a
lot of the content which motivated me to buy the book as a collectors
item. I also order the book for my grandson and a friend's son.

Doug Murray

Here is a man who should be an inspiration to a whole generation. This book is more proof that he is more than just an athlete. This book is recommended reading for all teenagers

On the Shoulders of Giants speaks of a bygone, sometimes forgotten piece of America and its culture that nevertheless has great, reaching tentacles into our present, and that will continue to shake and embrace us well into our future. Beautifully written, with a title that says it all, this book is just as evocative and fascinating for non-sports, non-jazz fans as it will undoubtedly be for those entrenched in both subjects.

A wonderful discovery.

Especially interesting are the musicians and music that originated or passed through Harlem during this time.

The Harlem Renaissance continues to contribute to society today, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar explains why in this memoir.

This book is great for anyone looking for entertainment in NYC. Not only does it break down all of the bars/clubs/restaurants/lounges for any kind of mood...it gives you great ideas for any kind of entertainment you are looking for. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone living or planning to visit NYC.

This book rocks! I'm a guy and I have to say that this is truly not just a "Girls Guide". My buddies and I picked it up one night at a local bookstore, just to see what all the hoop-la was about. To our surprise, we finally learned and figured out where to meet chicks! THANK YOU DANIELLA! Now, we can get out of our Apts. and stop playing PS2. This is a great book for guys as well. When is "Girls Guide 2" coming out? Looking forward to it!

Well, I've never been to your town but if like me, you come from a little town in the darkest recesses of wild and wooly wales (uk) then, theres nothing like getting your feet up and reading daniellas book. It was a laugh from the first page to the last and I'll make sure I make a bee-line to your shores toot sweet.Please give us some more and give my love to your mother who I'm sure is a lovely lady. Don't worry I'm a nice person really .....all the best E.

This book was the most hilarious, quick-witted thing I've read in a long, long time. I am EAGERLY awaiting the author's novel. I am her hugest fan now! The book is great (not to mention the chic art), includes many many places to hit in NYC and the stories are absolutely hysterical. She cuts nightlife down with a double-edged sword and makes choosing where to go out SO enjoyable, especially for a fellow soon-to-be-former commuter LI'er like me. God bless you Daniella, and your magical pen!

Good stuff! I'm a dude and all I have to say is, Thank you Daniella! I have been living in NYC for several years now and I can finally say that I have found my Nightlife guide. This is not just a "Girls Guide". Any smart guy should pick up this book and read it cover to cover. Fellas, she TELLS us where ALL the ladies are. How much easier can it get? I read it, used it and meet many females. You may have to go to the Beauty Bar, but who cares...you'll be glad you did later. She has it all in there. Be it the local hole(Reservior)to the high-roller(Bungalow 8) joints. She knows her spots and you will too!

I had Mr. Eder as a Professor for two Philosophy classes, so I knew a bit of the background behind his daughter's murder but I never completely grasped the tragedy of it. I cried like a baby in a few places...Mr. Eders' memoir is the heart-wrenching story of a father living his worst nightmare; the dissappearance and murder of his only daughter. I couldn't put it down until I had finished the book. My favorite quote from the book is so classically Eder: simply put yet powerful..."I teach the great Philosophers, study the great ideas, and search for God." Thank you for introducing me to this book, Professor.

As a former student of Mr. Eder's (and the former-Mrs. Adrienne Eder), I felt an instant connection to this book & the author. As a student, I knew that something bad had happened to their daughter, but I was not aware of the extent. This book is provacative, poignant and I must commend Mr. Eder for having the courage to write it.
As a teacher, myself, I know that it is hard to put your heartfelt personal life out there for students (let alone others in the general public) to see...this crime was so horrific, that I can't imagine how this man managed to inspire students the way that he did everyday. He has been through Hell and it is inspiring to see how he and his family have carried on with such dignity and courage.

James Eder has written a thoughtful and provocative memoir. His tone is candid and at times brutal in his frank inner pain. To read him is to discover our own worst fears; to walk with him is to realize the immeasurable power of the human spirit. The book aches in the very pages, but there is much beauty and craftsmanship in Eder's stirring journey. Ultimately, Eder's story is necessary reading for all of us.

Recommended to anyone who loves a good book; excellent for libraries.

Vicki was a fellow classmate of mine at Northport High School (Class of 1981), we were also in the Environment Team together(those who went to Northport know what that was). I remember vividly the day when they found Vicki's body, I cried like a baby. I suppose that was odd considering we were not good friends, but just aquaintances. Yet I cried like a baby none the less, the hurt and sorrow were real. After reading this book, the sadness all came back.
My heart goes out to Mr. Eder, and I thank him for sharing his terrible ordeal with us.

This book is amazing! I couldn't put it down! Eder is beautifully spoken and writes with pure honesty, emotion, and detail. Of course I'll never know what it's like to be in his shoes but this book comes close. He makes the intense thoughts of a father, husband, teacher, and human being during a time of crisis so real to the reader. There are things in this book that we can all relate to like the loss of a loved one, questioning of your worthiness as a parent, and questioning your relationship with God. Eder raises the questions we have all considered at one point in our lives - How can an all loving God allow such horrible things to happen? and Are our troubles in life punishments from God? I highly reccomend this book to anyone and everyone. The content is universal wether you believe in a God or not, wether you believe the world is an evil place or a good place, we all have something to gain from understanding the experiences of others.

This book is beautifully conceived. The photographer, James Rudnick, had the foresight and the love for these icons of New York City to preserve them photographically for generations to come.
The design is elegant. The text is interesting and important.
A great book.

Rudnick's book is monumental both figuratively and literally. In photographing the restorative work performed on New York's most recognizable structures, Rudnick has forever preserved an important piece of Americana. With a discerning and creative eye, he juxtaposes images of exquisite detail and grandiose sweep, of human form and man-made object, of decay and renewal. One of my favorite shots is that of Liberty's internal spiral staircase (p. 75). This photograph could just as easily be a study in abstract form; three ghostly lights punctuate an array of metallic angles and curves in an enormously deep field of vision. Another stand-out is a view of Liberty through scaffolding (p. 67). The torch rises dramatically above the gridwork, suggesting that American freedom can never be constrained. There is obvious forethought to Rudnick's work -- as in a shot of ironworkers on the Brooklyn Bridge perfectly framed by the Twin Towers (p. 49) -- but his photographs never appear cliched or stilted. Gotham Restored offers up new rewards with each viewing. It should serve to place Rudnick among the pantheon of living photographers. Highly, highly recommended.

Thomas Mellins provides the text for Gotham Restored: The Preservation Of Monumental New York, an impressive survey of photographer James Rudnick's works on New York. Rudnick's images gave him a reputation as a documentary photographer, and his projects following landmark buildings and structures in New York provide fine shots from 'before' and 'after' their reconstruction. New Yorkers in particular will find this packed with memories and familiar images.

This beautifully designed book presents monumental icons in a way that is both insightful and inspirational. The subject matter in this work is so very familiar (the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, Grand Central Station and the NY Public Library) that it would have been temptingly easy to trivialize and display these structures as they are frequently seen in glossy calendars and travel books. In contrast, Rudnick's exquisite work transcends these more commonly seen depictions. His intimate knowledge of, and obvious reverence for, the structures allows him to share with the reader unique perspectives that revitalize our appreciation for these great national treasures. The book celebrates the exhaustive and impressive work that the restorations entailed and the presence of the various craftspeople in the shots allows one to appreciate the enormous scale of the projects. Those who spend time with this book will never look upon these colossal structures in quite the same way again.

A curious thing happened to me as I read the text and looked at these photographs. They made me feel somehow comfortable and pleased. I realized this after going through the entire book. It was comforting to see how these standard landmarks are rejuvenated to be enjoyed for time to come. Far more than a "coffee table" book on famous sights (or sites), the images are embued with the authors sensitivy to the aesthetic of the structures and the city. If you love New York you will enjoy this volume. Wonderful book and a great gift for anyone who knows NYC.

I first read "Please Kill Me" and developed a fascination for this era of American social history. This book describes, through stories and pictures, the various stages of Max's and all the celebrity goings on. Very entertaining, also a high quality edition, of a period of decadence.

I often walk past the site where Max's once stood. Even though I only came to New York about three years ago, I already knew the look of that building from photos. Patti Smith said that when she saw the deli that has taken over there, she cried. I found it sad myself and never even went to Max's. Thanks to this fascinating, touching, and sometimes terrifying book, I feel that I got a small taste of what it must have been like. I do realize, however, that "you really had to be there". Of course, if I had been, I might not be here now. Max's was probably way too fast for a guy like me to handle. I might look back fondly like some of the people in this book or I might have jumped off a building like Andrea Feldman. Pick this book up for a heartfelt examination of what was truly a crossroads for pop culture--a place where the only poeple who felt like freaks were the ones who weren't.

Anyone interested in the NYC rock'n'roll scene of the 1960's-'70's should get this book. Warhol's Superstars, the Velvets, Nico, Patti Smith, and so many more all have their place in here! Mickey Ruskin, the owner of Max's, pretty much kept alive 99% of the cities "starving artists" during those times! A lot of popular musicians got their start at Max's, from Bruce Springsteen to Debbie Harry (a former Max's waitress!). If you want to learn more about the "back room" at Max's and all the characters who hung out there, get this book! Lots of entertaining anecdotes from so many different scenesters! Most of these people lived on the edge! Other books I would recommend are "Man Enough To Be a Woman" by Jayne County and "Rebel Heart" by Bebe Buell (they were regulars at Max's as well)!!!

This book was great, excellent pictures and a great tell all of the time. Nothing was held back from this oral history, very detailed and fun. Yvonne Ruskin did a great job, I felt like I knew these people and since I have never been to Max's and now that it is gone it was alot of fun to see what it was like and sad at the same time because I wish I could of been there.

Yvonne Sewall-Ruskin's "High on Rebellion" is a wonderful recreation of Max's era (1965 thru 1981). Filled with hundreds of photographs (by Leee Black Childers, Anton Perich, Billy Name and others) and hundreds of interview quotes, reading it is like a multimedia experience - as exciting as a night in Max's infamous backroom! For those of us lucky enough to have been there, it is a trip back to the center of the maelstrom... Max's was New York's high energy intersection of the art and music world, where up and coming young ones could brush elbows with Warhol, Patti Smith, Bowie, the NY Dolls, et al. Beautifully designed, this book will be enjoyed by anyone interested in the artists, musicians and popular culture of the late sixties and the 1970's. It really is shocking to realize how many young talents succumbed to the excesses of that time, still the book created in me a longing to go back there again! Thanks for a wonderful tribute, Yvonne!

Must read for anyone in the Ironworker family!! You will learn a lot about what it means to live the life plus you'll learn the roots and sufferings of the early sky-walkers.

Not many books have made me stay up until the early morning hours reading,this one did,the alternating chapters of present day steel workers and early 1900s history was a stroke of genius,all you office people who sit in your little air conditioned rat holes all year need to read this and understand what the construction industry has had to put up with for many years just so you little prima donnas can be comfortable.This is the story of real men working hard for a living.

"High Steel" has the reader marveling that this dramatic story has remained untold until now. As in "Seabiscuit," the author's narrative skills work with an exotic profession, and a dramatic period in history, to produce a truly gripping read. Rasenberger illuminates the history of ironwork in this country, and beautifully evokes both its danger and its draw to those who join the trade. It is a thrilling, perilous, foreign world up there where the ironworkers spend their days; we are privileged to gain entrance to this world through "High Steel."

Jim Rasenberger unblinkingly depicts the demanding nature of the work done by these unique men. The reader cannot help but be impressed with their bravery and accomplishment.

It's also clear that this is one of the last few places where men only need apply. In almost every other phase of American working life, qualified women are accepted as working peers. It's really ironic that one of the thickest "glass ceilings" is where they haven't even built the ceiling yet...

But Rasenberger's job is not to change this world, but just write about it. And write he does - you share in the working days of these men, of what happens when they fall (as they do), their families, their heritage, and, in an especially moving chapter, their heroic work right after the collapse of the World Trade Center.

Gender equality is the right thing. I get impatient when I encounter a workplace where women are so clearly unwelcome. What these men do, though, is very special and very much worth our attention and praise. As we might ask them to confront their stereptypes about women, we're challenged to confront our own stereotypes about the "lazy, ignorant construction worker." Rasenberger teaches us that nothing could be more unfair.

These are intelligent, skilled, disciplined and, above all, brave men who can do what we need done. The book will open your eyes.

An outstanding account of the brotherhood that built the New York City skyline. Rasenberger does two things particularly well in this book. First, he provides a fine history of the DANGEROUS iron working trade, as it developed with the advent of the syscraper, the redoubtable Flatiron building. "The danger was reflected in the carnage...of 1,000 members of Chicago Local 1 that same year, 103 were injured, 15 permanently disabled and 18 died." Second, he paints lovely portraits of the individuals (the stoic daredevils) who did the work, Sam Parks, "Frenchy" and Jack Doyle, to name a few. I highly recommend that a prospective reader use Amazon's "look inside" feature to sample Rasenber's non-nonsene prose, so well-suited to his subject matter.