Tag Archives: Book Review

Book Review – Building The Metropolis By Alexander Wood

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Building New York City 1880 – 1935

A tremendous flurry of construction in New York City occurred between the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. New Yorker’s know many of the the notable accomplishments; the subway, the skyscrapers, apartment buildings, bridges and infrastructure. But who built New York? And how did it get built?

Stories Previously Untold

Alexander Wood provides the nitty-gritty about how the modern city came to be in Building The Metropolis Architecture, Construction, and Labor in New York City, 1880 – 1935 (University of Chicago Press), 2025.

Building The Metropolis digs into the architects, unions, developers and the industries that made New York.

Even with thousands of books previously written about New York, Wood uncovers ground that has not been thoroughly explored. The result is an entertaining examination into the details of developing New York. Continue reading →

Book Review – The Day The Bubble Burst October 29, 1929

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A Classic Wall Street Tale – Soon To Be Repeated

October 29 is an important anniversary date that many do not remember because they did not live through it. On that date in 1929 the stock market crashed to an astonishing level.

Major media outlets are praising Aaron Ross Sorkin’s forthcoming book 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History–and How It Shattered a Nation, (Random House, November 4 2025). 

Coincidentally I was just finishing an older book about the same subject. It is  among the best books ever written about Wall Street.

The Day the Bubble Burst: A Social History of the Wall Street Crash of 1929 by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts (Doubleday, 1979) is a masterful work of  storytelling.

While John Kenneth Galbraith’s 1955 book The Great Crash 1929, remains the seminal work on the economic causes of the crash, Thomas and Morgan-Witts examine the human aspects of the financial calamity which ushered in the Great Depression.

Threading together the lives of movers and shakers of Wall Street and the ordinary citizen, the authors lay out stories that resonate today. Events unfolding before us now, have similarities to the great crash of 1929. Continue reading →

Book Review – “Brothers” Alex Van Halen

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The Quiet Van Halen Speaks Of Family, Music, Life, Love And Loss

The band Van Halen share their name with its two founding members. So when speaking of Van Halen sometimes it’s important to distinguish if you are referring to the band or personnel. Frequently it was interchangeable. The band Van Halen or the guitarist Edward Van Halen. Infrequently was the reference to band co-founder Alex Van Halen.

Sitting behind a drum kit for over 50 years made it possible for Alex Van Halen to be in the background rather than the spotlight. Continue reading →

Harlem In the Teens & Twenties As Seen By Frederic A. Birmingham

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Growing Up In Bucolic Harlem Before And After World War I

Frederic A. Birmingham’s 1960 memoir of New York, It Was Fun While It Lasted (J.B. Lippincott Company), describes a Harlem which few New Yorkers would recognize today.

The action takes place from approximately 1915 -1925, when Birmingham was between the ages of 4 and 14. Continue reading →

Book Review – American Rascal Jay Gould By Greg Steinmetz

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Jay Gould: A Rascal Or Shrewd Businessman?

It would be impossible today for one person to cause the collapse of the stock market, corner the gold market or just print stock shares in a large-cap corporation as needed.

Not that Jay Gould single-handedly did any of these things.

He had help. Continue reading →

Book Review -Set The Night On Fire By Robby Krieger The Doors Guitarist

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An Inside View Of The Doors From Guitarist Songwriter Robby Krieger

It’s possible that somewhere among Robby Krieger’s possessions is a rare leather bound inscribed copy of Jim Morrison’s book An American Prayer. It’s also very possible that the book is moldering in a storage unit or was misplaced long ago and discarded.

The Doors guitarist Robby Krieger is not quite sure. Continue reading →

Book Review – Diary Of A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star By Ian Hunter

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It’s A Very Long Way To The Top – Ian Hunter’s Diary Of A Tour

Remembering Mott The Hoople’s 1972 American Tour

In November 1972 Mott The Hoople embarked on a whirlwind tour of America, sometimes headlining, playing in large theaters and clubs. If you’re wondering, the English band’s name comes from a 1966 book. And after three years together they were developing a loyal following.

Mott’s current big hit, All The Young Dudes, written by their producer David Bowie was climbing up the charts. Continue reading →

Tigers Star Catcher Bill Freehan Dies At 79 – Wrote One Of Baseball’s Best Books

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Bill Freehan Dies, Tigers All-Star Catcher, Gold Glove Winner & Author

Detroit Tigers catcher Bill Freehan at Yankee Stadium 1969

Before Thurman Munson and Carlton Fisk arrived in the late 1960s and early 1970s there was no question as to who was the best catcher in the American League. It was the Detroit Tigers Bill Freehan.

I won’t recount Freehan’s excellent baseball career or personal story in too much detail here. Freehan told it himself while at the height of his playing days in a little known autobiography.

Author

Freehan’s terrific 1970 book, Behind The Mask: An Inside Baseball Diary (World Publishing) was written with editors Dick Schaap and Steve Gelman and was quickly forgotten.

It is one of the best books ever written about the nuances of baseball. Behind The Mask was overshadowed because it came out the same year as ex-Yankee pitcher Jim Bouton’s explosive tell-all Ball Four. Continue reading →

Book Review – A 21st Century Woman In The 19th Century – Maverick In Mauve

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Maverick In Mauve The Diary Of a Romantic Age

Maverick In Mauve book coverLifelong New Yorker, Florence Adele Sloane kept a diary from 1893 – 1896. That in itself is not unusual. What is out of the ordinary is that the diary covers Florence’s life from the age of 19 through 23 and her observations on life and her surroundings are written with astute wisdom beyond her years. Continue reading →