Review by Choice Review
On the surface, Homberger's work is an attempt to understand how and why mid-19th century New York City was divided into an imaginary geography of sunshine and shadow, but beneath that surface lies a subtle analysis of an urban middle class's struggle to define itself. Homberger (Univ. of East Anglia) uses the "intersecting biographies" of the lower orders, Madame Restell, "Slippery Dick" Connolly, and Central Park to examine the evolving conscience of middle-class residents entangled in the frantic pace of New York's urbanization. After canvassing the plight of impoverished Gothamites, Homberger describes how they and the abortionist Madame Restell were important reference points that contemporaries used to define community morality. He then presents the rise and fall of the corrupt politician "Slippery Dick" Connolly and the building of Central Park as representations of the fears and hopes of a growing middle class that had lost control of their community. This work is illustrated with enticing photographs and engravings. Homberger's intrepretive approach and blend of sources make it an essential read for urban historians. All levels. T. D. Beal; SUNY at Stony Brook
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This study of life in mid-19th-century New York City examines how a sense of community was increasingly weakened by issues such as poverty and political corruption. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Homberger's theme, the struggle of mid-19th-century reformers to awaken a sense of community in laissez-faire New York, unfolds in four absorbing but largely independent essays. He focuses on Steven Smith, whose probe of typhoid clusters in the slums led to the creation of the Sanitary Board in 1866; Madame Restell, the abortionist who rose from poverty to residence at a Fifth Avenue mansion before the persecutions of Anthony Comstock drove her to suicide; "Slippery Dick" Connolly, the only member of the Tweed Ring to escape with his fortune; and Frederick Law Olmsted, whose design of Central Park represented the era's great attempt to reconcile the city's warring social classes. Homberger (American literature, Univ. of East Anglia) has a keen sense of historical irony, a remarkable command of 19th-century memoirs and journals, and a rare talent for drawing vivid characters acting on complex motives. One wishes he had constructed a more coherent frame around his individual "scenes" or drawn more connections between them, but this book is highly recommended for any collection with an interest in urban and social history.-Gregory Gilmartin, New York City (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Four scholarly glimpses of 19th-century New York City, adding up to a dull but informative portrait of an urban community in search of its soul. Homberger (American Literature/Univ. of East Anglia) focuses on the ills that assailed New York City as a result of a population boom that quadrupled its population to nearly a million between 1830 and 1860. His first essay examines the ``Virgilian mode of social investigation'' conducted by 19th-century journalists, who portrayed the city as a Dantean underworld of hardened criminals, lost souls, and terrible torments. Reports by Jacob Riis and others prompted a public outcry against slums, with eerie echoes of the 1990s, including attempts to close down homeless shelters and relocate the poor. Simultaneously, the city went on a crusade against abortion--another campaign with ironic modern overtones. Homberger then turns to the sorry life of Richard Barrett Connolly, a.k.a. ``Slippery Dick,'' an Irish immigrant who became treasurer of New York during Boss Tweed's heyday and absconded to Europe with several million dollars when Tammany Hall collapsed. Earlier portraits of Connolly present a self-serving lout, but Homberger (John Reed, not reviewed) depicts a good man ground down by the machinations of corruption. After these forays into crime and misery, the author lets in the sun with his final study, which recounts the construction of Central Park. Frederick Law Olmsted led the charge, designing a retreat that offered the city just what it needed: bucolic vistas, paths for quiet strolls, ponds for ice- skating. Central Park was an instant success, a glorious creation that ``truly represented the achievement of New York in this period''--from a modern perspective, the final irony in a book teeming with them. Less popular than H. Paul Jeffers's Commissioner Roosevelt (p. 905), which also limns the woes of old Manhattan: a painful reminder that New York was once a city on the rise.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
