New York Books

A superb book - lots of fun - but digestible only in little bites. There is a lot of information in here!

This book is a must read - it was so entertaining and funny, I had pop comming out of my nose laughing! And my friends and I had a great time sitting around the piano playing and singing the composed musice enclosed! We even added a few lyrics of our own to the already hilarious lyrics ;-)
Have Fun!

If you share my growing concern at the musical cross-over tendencies in synagogue songs and how "un-Jewish" much of today's Jewish music sounds, you'll find a charming antidote in Dr. Jack Gottlieb's new and original coffee table book: Funny, It Doesn't Sound Jewish. Gottlieb's earnest musical detective comparisons and analyses invite us into joyfully playing the "sounds like" game. After we chuckle in consternation, at the Yiddish or liturgical roots of a pop song's pedigree, we marvel at the truism that there seems to be "nothing new under the sun"; especially under the show biz music lights.

Gottlieb loves to make puns and burst bubbles. This effervescently entertaining study is filled with anecdotes, song sheet covers, musical illustrations, photos of composers and performers, and even an accompanying Audio CD to bring home his astute assertions.

Some of my favorites include: Did you realize that -

George Gershwin's It Ain't Necessarity So is kin to the Torah blessing Barachu Et Adoshem Ham'vorach?

The Torah cantillation for Merchaw R'via inspired both Bach's Oh Sacred Head Now Wounded and Paul Simon's American Tune?

Rozhinkes Mit Mandlin prompted Irving Berlin's Blue Skies.... and my all time favorite

I Am A Gay Caballero, I'm back again from Janeiro is both Y'hei sh'mei rabah m'vorach from the Kaddish and Ashrei yoshvei veitecha od y'hall'lucha selah

Are you curious to follow Gottlieb's unearthing of more of these amusing affinities? There are dozens of other examples, some more apparent than others, but all will cause you to "aha!" pause, smile, and, most importantly, think about what we consider immutable Jewish traditional melodies.

Dr. Gottlieb is an engaging author and lecturer (this book began as a touring presentation with him at the piano). He is a published composer of both secular and synagogue music who most recently was honored by The Milken Archive of American Jewish Music when it distributed a CD of his works on the Naxos label. He is also a meticulous researcher, program notes writer, and former assistant to Leonard Bernstein. In all these endeavors it is quite obvious that he is also a passionate lover of all thing musical and Jewish.

We offer kudos to Dr. Gottlieb for this wonderfully endearing study of Jewish melodic ties to mid 20th century pop music and enthusiastically recommend it as both an urbane entertainment and a carefully documented study. Buy it and enjoy!

Over 30 years ago there was a famous ad campaign for a brand of "Jewish rye bread," showing an American Indian eating a deli sandwich, and the caption read, "You Don't have to be Jewish to Like Levy's Rye Bread."

With regard to this book, this was never so true. Anyone who love the "Great American Song Book" spanning the first half of the last century cannot afford to miss this book.

Especially remarkable is that it IS a scholarly book, complete with footnotes and bibliography, but the tone is also so jocular.

The accompanying CD of musical examples alone is worth the cost of the book.

Do yourself a favor - Order this book, but pass on the Most book offered by Amazon.com in tandem. It is hardly as comprehensive and definitely pales by comparison.

Don't be mislead by the title of this book. It isn't glib or lightweight--in fact, it's a brilliant analysis of the subconscious effect synagogue music and Yiddish song have had on our most beloved popular music. When I picked it up (out of curiosity) I found myself mesmerized and couldn't stop reading.

The book is peppered with musical examples that continually evoke "I never realized that song was related to that"! Gottlieb must have spent decades researching this and it seems unbelievably thorough. He doesn't stop at musical analysis; he also includes a good examination of the history behind everything, particularly focusing on the heavy periods of emigration, when most of the (now) well-known Jewish composers came to America. The book made me look at some of the best known popular songs in a new light, yielding a deeper understanding of what went into their creation.

It may seem a little expensive, but you also get a CD packed with great rare recordings that have never been released before (try Bernstein performing Blitzstein's classic "Zipperfly" or Jolson singing "Khazn oyf Shabes" in Yiddish).

Gottlieb decides to pay limited attention to some of the living composers who focus on Jewish themes (for example, Jason Robert Brown and Osvaldo Golijov are only mentioned casually) but I suspect he could write another book on them. Let's hope he does--I would line up to get a copy.

The essays and stories that make up Gardening at Ginger are about things like greenness (the color, not the movement), the author's city-born-and-bred wife's reaction to insects that get indoors (not hospitable) and where to place a bench. James Raimes' writing is by turns personable, erudite, witty and earnest, and his book goes a long way toward explaining why gardening, an activity that regularly leaves its practitioners filthy, pooped and bleeding, also makes them so happy.

Not only for the gardener, this collection of personal essays draws you right into the writer's life, and his obsession with landscaping the gardens around his second home. His insight into the nature around him--not just the flowers, but the trees, the grass, and the dirt--will give even avid gardeners something new to think about. If his garden is half as beautiful as his writing, then Raimes has done a wonderful job.

Seven years ago the author and his wife bought a country home on nine acres in upstate New York, calling it 'Ginger' and evoking in him a desire to learn about plants and gardening. Raimes grew up in England, so his instinct in this area was always there: his desire to shape a landscape proved challenging, however, and GARDENING AT GINGER: MY SEVEN-YEAR OBSESSION WITH DESIGNING AND PLANTING A PERSONAL LANDSCAPE reviews his efforts, achievements and failures alike. A vivid memoir of the 'gardening bug' involves all.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

What an amazing and enchanting book! So different from the run of the mill "how to". The author shares his plans, dreams, hopes, experiences with the reader. (After completing the chapter on Digging in Clay, I was so exhausted that I needed a lie down to recover.) Please can we have a sequel or at least a blog with photos and maps. I want to see it all.

Raimes' recounting of his "growing" obsession is subtle, graceful and altogether involving. He includes lots of background from his English childhood, gardening experts he's consulted and absorbed, his sometimes bemused wife who nevertheless stands by his often backbreaking, daylight hour devouring transformation of a landscape into areas of inviting woods, stonework, flower beds, greensward, specimen trees and water. It made me stop and think in a new way about my own gardening and enriched my understanding of what all gardeners do.

I highly recommend this book for anyone with an interest in New York's Geology. The map included with the book is an excellent visual aid and for someone like me who is interested in finding fossils gives a good idea of the time periods represented.

A great reference book. My favorite part is the section with the historical diagrams of orogenies, rifting etc. Each diagram shows a time period and how New York was affected. There is also an abundance of information on fossil bearing strata and mineral locations. The book also does a great job with applying most geological processes to New York.

I found this book in the library while doing some research for my own book. I have for the longest time wanted to know what is below ground, what type of rock and stuff is a mile or two or three below me. And this book not only gave me an idea of these things, finally, but it was also just chock full of other little fun facts as well. I've spent hours reading it in the library ...

I tip my hat to the authors, Messrs. Isachsen and Rogers. A very good job. An excellent book for the coffee table, to rally a conversation around. An excellent edition to anyone's personal library.

This Leaflet I found was was very useful for thoses students who are researching particular areas in the Upstate Regions Of New York State. The language used with in the this leaflet is very easy to understand, especially if you are novice to the field of Geology. What is most useful is the many geologic time scales that give a vast amount of information in one page. I found this very useful especailly if I was studing for paleontology and field study classes. I countinue to use this leafel in my class room, mostly to help introduce topics in paeloenvironemnts, plate tectonics, and econmic geology. Each reading, which constits of 10-15 pages, includes questions at the end of each unit. I found these questions not only help to improve teh reading comprehension of my studnets, but also help to insite descussion and further research in these areas.

In spite of it's title, this account, weighing in at 280 pages, is far from "simplified". It is a comprehesive work, with numerous chapters on earth history, plate tectonics, bedrock, surficial materials, mineral resources, hydrogeology, and engineering geology. It is profusely illustrated with charts and diagrams. At least seven State Survey geologists prepared chapters for this book.

The book includes a New York State Geological Highway Map. This is a beautiful 1:1,000,000 scale time/stratigraphic bedrock map of the state, with lots of statigraphic charts and a satelite image A "photo mosaic of the state on the flip side.

Mr. White describes his experiences with training a goshawk for falconry. He has no guidance beyond an ancient manuscript and things go horribly awry. An outstanding book, a pleasure to read. Also an example of why current US regulations require a falconry apprenticeship period.

As a fan of The Once and Future King as well as falconry, I couldn't wait to start reading this book. It is an absolute gem. White's descriptions are extremely vivid. No one should be daunted by the fact that this book was penned in '51 or that it is about falconry; his story is immensely (and enjoyably) readable.

"Sha-hou!" rang down the centuries for 3,000 years as the hawksman sent his bird aloft. In Arthurian times, every king had his eagles, every earl his peregrines, and even a knave might fly a kestrel. They brought pigeon and duck to the table, and sport to the afternoon.

In 1952 T. H. White was a young author of an Arthurian tale, The Sword in the Stone, and a short novel, Mistress Masham's Repose. White's researches for Sword inspired him to learn the ancient art of falconry for himself. He writes the attempt grew mostly out of an urge to pit himself against an exacting challenge, as another man might set out to climb a stubborn mountain. All that White knew about hawks to begin with he had learned from three tracts on the subject and from an exchange of letters with two of the few remaining hawk-masters left in Europe.

Gos was an untamed tiercel (male) of the largest European species of the short-winged hawks with a wing spread three inches shorter than a golden eagle. White lived in a cottage in Buckinghamshire wood, and he ordered the bird from a dealer in Germany.

On the first day, White caught Gos by the leather jesses tied to his feet, and set him on his gloved fist. "For an instant he stared upon me with a mad, marigold or dandelion eye, all his plumage flat to the body and his head crouched like a snake's in fear or hatred, then bated wildly from the fist." He hung, by his jesses, screaming with rage.

Thereafter, it is White against Gos. Gos bated for hours; each time White gently lifted Gos back to his fist, he bated again. All night long Gos bated and White lifted him back. Hawkmasters taught White that if he gave up or fell asleep, the hawk would know that it was the stronger, and could never be tamed.

"Oh, the agony of patience. At the thousandth bate in a day, on an arm that ached to the bone . . . merely to twitch him gently back to the glove . . . to reassure him with tranquillity, when one yearned ... to pound, pash, dismember!" After three days and three nights, the hawk fell asleep. The next day he was as wild as ever.

The rest of the story is thrilling, exhilarating, and finally tragic.

"Nothing is more certain than that Gos entangled his jesses in one of the myriad trees of The Ridings, and there, hanging upside down by the mildewed leathers, his bundle of green bones and ruined feathers may still be swinging in the winter wind."

Marie Winn has written the introduction to this book. She is a wonderful observer of wildlife, writes an excellent blog called "Marie Winn's Central Park Nature News", and is the author of the enchanting Red Tails In Love. I was delighted to find this new and well produced edition of White's classic book. I share other reviewers's concerns that Winn was not entirely fair to White. As an observer of wildlife I empathize with her point of view, but can "Sha-hou" ringing down the centuries be entirely wrong?

Thanks are due to New York Review Books for putting back in print this wonderful book. The edition is well produced. A quibble is that Marie Winn who writes the introduction is clearly not familiar with ,or comfortable with ,"field sports". T H White (and many modern writers and followers of fishing,falconry and related actities) would take issue with her distinction between being a natural history lover and a practioner of fishing,shooting,ferreting etc. More seriously, she writes that White "blithely snagged salmon". White fished for salmon and caught them fairly using a fly. He wrote many fine passages about his salmon fishing and the pieces are still found in anthologies of fishing literature. To "snag" a salmon means ,to those who fish ,that he took salmon illegally and unsportingly, by jerking a hook into the body of a salmon.There is no evidence that I have heard of that he would ever have done this.To suggest it does his memory a grave disservice. The introduction by Steve Bodio,himself a falconer, to the 1996 Wilder Places edition of The Goshawk is,to my mind, far better at exploring and explaining the reasons why this is a much loved book.

I highly recommend this book to anyone, even those with no interest at all in falconry. The author is so skilled and talented that I'd say that he could write an entertaining piece about paint drying. Enjoy!!

Why should we care about the oceans of the earth? This meticulously researched book poses a convincing argument: the physical and chemical cycles and life webs of the sea are under siege from humans, with consequences to reefs, plankton and whales, as well as to our weather, health and livelihood. The threat goes way beyond global warming. Cramer effectively illuminates the problems and consequences while showing how we are all accountable for protecting the great waters -- whether we live in coastal communities or in cities far inland that dump pollutants into waterways that eventually enter the sea.

In "Great Waters: An Atlantic Passage" Deborah Cramer not only takes the reader along on an ocean trip from Woods Hole, Massachusetts to Barbados, she explains the ecology and history of the Atlantic in the process. In doing so, she brings Rachael Carson's classic "The Sea Around Us" up to date and gives the reader a solid grounding in ocean biology and physical oceanography. After reading "The Empty Ocean" I was delighted to find this book, one that takes a broader look at a smaller area- Atlantic, as Cramer likes to characterize the great ocean.

Unfortunately both recent books give the same, often bleak, picture of what is happening to the oceans as humans over-fish the once huge fisheries and dump more garbage, human and animal waste, toxic chemicals and remains of machines into what is becoming a global "land fill." We have also refused to take serious steps to reduce global warming at the same time evidence for our complicity in carbon dioxide increase in the atmosphere is mounting. Unfortunately for us Atlantic and the others oceans of the planet are starting to return the favor both in lower fish catches and altering ocean circulation that may well cost us way beyond the value of the fish we extracted.

Yet there is some glimmer of hope. Humans may yet wake up, if a bit late, to the damage they are doing. There are still nearly pristine beaches and walking alone along a beach with sea birds crying is still possible over much of the planet. I hope it always remains possible. Read this book, if you are not already convinced of our lack of foresight, you will be!

Ms. Cramer has achomplished the incredible here--a historic, scientific and poetic tribute to one of our great masses of water.
This book, while inspiring and "novelesque" in scope, also presents
the alarming ecological state of our planet's seas . . . yet not without springs of hope. I love what Cramer has done for all of us.
Good for anyone who gets excited about the sea and/or science!

This is a wonderful book. A great read with incredible facts and a lyrical view. Deborah Cramer brings real journalism to the story of the Atlantic.

This is an incredible book! It manages to take the last 30 years of ocean science and craft it into a compelling, readable, and eloquent story of the Atlantic and our dependence on it. The science is first rate and up to date; there have been few examples of natural history and environment writing so well done....

Totally gorgeous pictures of one of the last great places in the world. Sun and sand and water and nature make up Robbin's oeuvre and he gives us pictures that are worthy of his subject--and elevates it to art.

Brandt's essay is particularly enlightening about Robbin's body of work.

A magnificent work of art transports you this land of beauty and charm. it leaves just enough for your imagination to interpet.

I would love to buy this book but the price prevents me from doing so...

Your Price is much too high!

These beautiful hand-painted and computer-manipulated photographs of the Hamptons transcend category and genre -- they are simply masterful works of art.

You don't have to have any familiarity with this part of the world to derive considerable pleasure from these images. If you do know this place, you will be amazed: It's as if you've never seen it before.

This exquisitely designed and produced volume has the feel of an instant classic.

Hilda Dunn's The Hanged Man is a clever and entertaining mystery that should be read by everyone who admires the novels of Jane Austen and Barbara Pym. With great skill, Dunn presents an exciting story (one that makes unobtrusive references to works by such writers as T.S. Eliot and Graham Greene among others)while presenting a view of post-World War 2 England that is as good as anything in the novels of Pym. The reader needn't have read these earlier writers to enjoy Dunn's novel, but if one has some familiarity with with them, the enjoyment is increased, and the reader sees that Dunn is an extrordinarily clever writer.

But,more important, The Hanged Man is an entertainment. It is fun to read, and the final pages are as exciting as any other mystery story I know. Don't miss out on this treat.

THE HANGED MAN offers the enjoyment of meeting a well-furnished mind through an enthralling story, with highly evocative period details that bring daily life in the 1940s to the page. The author's wit and intelligence shine through and ensure the reader's pleasure.

Reading "The Hanged Man" was a thoroughly enjoyable experience for me. The plot has more twists than a Celtic knot, something I usually don't go for since in most twist-and-turn detective novels the cast are not much more than pawns in the author's effort to concoct a surprise-filled puzzle. In this book, however, the players were all alive and interesting, each with its own funny and loveable idiosyncrasies. Every character in this book was vivid and fascinating to me, even the secondary ones. In fact it seemed each one had enough "juice" in it to merit being a protagonist in a book of its own.

The language in the book is rich, sometimes almost too rich for someone like me for whom English is not a native tongue. I'm sure I missed most of the interesting (and funny) homages to (and parodies of) classic works of literature. It comes across very vividly that Ms. Dunn was in love with the English language and literature, and the book is virtually fizzling with this love affair.

With suspense hitting you right on page 1 without relenting till the last chapter, "The Hanged Man" manages a truly unique tight-wire act in my eyes: It somehow manages to be fun and yet deep at the same time. A spoiled reader like me is thus provided with everything he could possibly wish for: Instant gratification AND an intellectually worthwhile adventure...

Isaac Orr, Israel.

This novella is a gem, a comedy of manners written with gentle wit and intelligence.There is a mystery to hang the plot on, but Dunn shines best in the scenes and the verbal sparring of characters. It's the kind of book that makes a reader hope to get a bad cold, just for an excuse to stay in bed and slowly reread it.

THE HANGED MAN is a masterpiece of the thriller genre, every page pulsing with energy and interest. Dunn treats her characters generously but with clear-eyed understanding, and, as in the great realists' novels, each character has the complexity and instability of a living thing.. The speech of the characters is quicker, racier, wittier, more richly evocative of personality than actual speech, and it is precisely for that reason that it seems to ring so true. It is when Dunn ties together all of the novel's various strands at the end of the novel that the extent of her artistry is revealed: even as one is overcome by the surprise ending, one feels that the novel could not have ended any other way.

Great read, to see just how these people live. Interesting facts about the buildings and the people who live in them.

This book was fantastic. I couldn't put it down. For someone like myself who is obsessed with all things New York, this gave an unprecedented look at what goes on behind the walls of NY's most coveted buildings. A definite must read.

This book is a great and easy read. I enjoyed shuffling the chapters so that I could read about the most famous/notorious buildings first. The best thing is that each chapter "tackles" a different building. In addition, each chapter reads like a Movie of the Week - stranger than fiction. The stuff is so bizarre that it could not be made up. The wealth of information shows that the authoress really did her homework.

Great read if the outrageously rich, shallow and pompous icons (of thier own minds) facinate you. I couldn't put it down!

If you are a New Yorker like I am and enjoy history of New York buildings, this book is for you. It will be one I read over and over and even imspired me to go around to all the buildings and take my own pictures of them. I LOVE NEW YORK and especially the buildings. I thank the ladies who wrote this book as they did a very good job. I have always been in love with New York buildings. You will enjoy it too if you are so inclined.

I enjoyed this book very much. Tarleton's deductive and vainglorious writings are very informative yet do not dwell on American victories but rather American humiliation. I would not recommend it if you are not altogether serious though.

A fascinating book, plainly and well written. It took a moment or so to get used to the vernacular but it's a smooth read. I was particularly interested in Tarleton's say on what happened during the Buford Massacre because he implies (in my opinion) that the slaughter of the American troops was not ordered by him but rather, a circumstance of war and the crazed emotional upheaval that accompanies the heat of battle. The book presents an interesting view of the American War of Independence from the "other side". Well worth it.

After over 113 years of being out of print, Banastre Tarleton once again speaks (at an affordable leavel no less) of his experiences and knowledge of the battles he and his British compatriots went through. Mind you, it is a bit of a dry read as that his legal style of writing shows through the whole thing. If you ever wanted insight as to the British side of the American Revolution,here's your book!

The style of the antique font is most appealing to devotees of British Militaria. It is though one is reading the dispatches from "Bloody Bana" himself. This is the point of view never learned in America. If you enjoyed "The Patriot" you will enjoy this book. Refers in the 1st part to Major Patrick Ferguson, the inventor of the Ferguson Breechloading Flintlock rifle. The descriptions of the terrain and hardships as well as surrender terms and stores captured are thoroughly detailed.

A very detailed history of the Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution. At times a little self serving. It is enjoyable in eighteenth century text. Detailed maps.

When one Edwin Henderson, a Harvard-educated African American physical education teacher - was introduced to basketball in Washington DC in 1907, he envisioned it as a method of organizing black athletes to allow them to excel at northern while colleges. In sports, he reasoned, blacks would get a fair chance to succeed. Hot Potato details the birth and rise of black amateur basketball in America, examines college basketball and the origins of the CIAA, and surveys the rise of black professional athletes. A truly outstanding sports history evolves.

Kuska has given us some details to back up the legends of black basketball stars from the first half of the 20th century. Many of the individual names are known and the New York Renaissance team has been heard of by real basketball fans. This book gives us some details and further understanding of what the individuals went through and what modern basketball owes to them. A GREAT READ!! Hope to hear more from this fine writer and sports historian.

I am the granddaughter of Samuel Buck Covington. I'd just like to point out in the editorial by John Grasso, from Guilford, NY, that my grandfather, Samuel Buck Covington was mistakenly referenced as "Cunningham". Samuel Buck Covington was an outstanding athlelete and pillar of the Washington Metropolitan community. He was honored to be part of the writing of this wonderful book and the naming of the title "Hot Potato". Growing up he told countless stories of what it was like breaking barriers and playing semi-professional basketball for the Washington Bruins against teams such as the Harlem Globtrotters. This is a wonderful tribute to those who came through during this time who had gone unnoticed. I am proud to say he was my grandfather. Unfortunately, he did not live to see the final product of this book. Samuel Buck Covington died in September,1998 . . . Cheryl Moore

There aren't enough adjectives to describe this important work on an oftentimes overlooked part of U.S. history/sports.

Bob Kuska takes the reader on an exploration of the development of black athletics at the turn of the last century, with his focus surrounding basketball teams and leagues in New York City and Washington, D.C.

The chapters are in chronological order by year and highlights the important personalities, teams and events in the two cities and throughout the country - from youth leagues to the colleges and beyond.

I am particularly impressed with Kuska's acknowledgement of many individuals that time had seemingly forgotten. The ten years of research he did certainly accomplished his goal of giving the reader a complete understanding of the era.

To set a clear path to the future, our society must have an appreciation of the rough paths taken by those who confronted the hideous Jim Crow laws and other forms of racisim & truly learn from the past.

America's game was changed forever, but not just on the hardwood floors. These heroes knocked down barriers and opened the door for others to pursue their dreams, no matter what the odds.

Seldom does a basketball historian find a book on basketball in which more than 75% of the material is new to him. Bob Kuska's new book - Hot Potato: How Washington and New York
Gave Birth to Black Basketball and Changed America's Game Forever is such a book.

It is a chronicle of the earliest days of Black basketball in the two cities where its impact was greatest and covers the period 1905 through the 1930s. There have only been a handful of
books written on basketball history of this period and none of them devote more than a few pages to Black teams.

More than a decade of research went into this work which includes a detailed reference section and twelve pages of photos.

The story begins with Edwin Henderson, the first major contributor to Black basketball and concludes with the New York Renaissance - the Hall of Fame team of the 1930s. Both amateur and pro basketball are covered.

Along the way the basketball exploits of such legendary figures as Paul Robeson and Cumberland Posey are detailed along with Fat (not Fats) Jenkins, Pop Gates, George Fiall, Bob Douglas and many others.

The intriguing title came about as a result of an discussion with Sam "Buck" Cunningham, one of the players interviewed during the research for the book. "The players today are much better than we were - ... but there is one thing that we could do better. We could pass the ball better than they can now.
Man, we used to pass that basketball around like it was a hot potato."

This is definitely a must addition to the library of a basketball historian. Thank you very much, Bob."