by Richard M. Trimble (2000)
"Serving in the 48th New York Volunteer regiment, Thomas and William Jones wrote their sister Maggie, a school teacher in West Farms, New Jersey. But Maggie also received letters from friends of the family who also served in the 48th New York. Brought together in this unique collection the activity of the 48th New York comes to life.". "Brothers 'til Death offers a view of the Civil War from the perspective of the frontline soldier. It provides insights into a forgotten theater of the war, the coastal campaign of the Carolinas and Georgia, providing new witnesses to assaults on Forts Pulaski, Wagner, and Fisher. Finally, the letters give new dimensions to what life was like for Irish soldiers fighting for the Union along the coastline of the South."--BOOK JACKET.
Marvin McAllister
An exploration of the career of William Brown, a 19th-century free man of colour, who pioneered theatrical spaces for black New Yorkers, hitherto denied access to whites-only venues. The text explores these intercultural, multiracial environments and investigates negative white reactions.
Eric C. Schneider
They called themselves "Vampires," "Dragons," and "Egyptian Kings." They were divided by race, ethnicity, and neighborhood boundaries, but united by common styles, slang, and codes of honor. They fought - and sometimes killed - to protect and expand their territories. In postwar New York, youth gangs were a colorful and controversial part of the urban landscape, made famous by West Side Story and infamous by the media. This is the first historical study to explore fully the culture of these gangs. Eric Schneider takes us into a world of switchblades and slums, zoot suits and bebop music to explain why youth gangs emerged, how they evolved, and why young men found membership and the violence it involved so attractive. Schneider focuses on the years from 1940 to 1975, but takes us up to the present in his conclusion, showing how youth gangs are no longer social organizations but economic units tied to the underground economy.
Jonny Steinberg
"In his latest book, Little Liberia: An African Odyssey in New York, Steinberg takes us to Park Hill Avenue on Staten Island, where a community of Liberians have made their home. Through interviews and shadowing of two community leaders, Steinberg strives to understand the peculiarities of this community; while it appears at times as if a piece of Liberia has been sliced off and dropped in New York, the Park Hill community is ravaged by conflict between different interest groups. To understand what is going on in 2008 New York, Steinberg travels back - back to Liberia and back to the country's tragic recent history of civil war, military coups and mass exterminations. The story of Liberia is a gruesome and miserable one but Steinberg's empathy for his subjects never allows the narrative to descend into voyeurism. The combination of hard nosed investigative journalism, a gift for storytelling and an obvious empathy for the characters that he shadows makes Steinberg an author who demands to be read, whatever the subject matter. A brilliant and important book which will delight Steinberg's thousands of followers and doubtless earn him many more"--Book Lounge.
James F. Simon
In The Center Holds, James E. Simon provides the first behind-the-scenes look at the private deliberations and deep disagreements of the justices of the Rehnquist Court at a critical juncture in the history of the modern Supreme Court. But more than that, he gives us the inside story of a conservative judicial revolution that failed. Simon focuses on four crucial areas of civil rights and liberties - racial discrimination, abortion, criminal law, and First Amendment freedoms - to chronicle the most intense confrontations between the old liberal order and the emerging conservative majority. He takes us into the courtroom where the cases were argued, into the closed conferences where they were fiercely debated, and into the justices' private chambers where strong personalities and wills often collided. In fascinating detail, Simon shows that it was the internal dynamic among the justices - and their desire to stake out independent positions - that ultimately discouraged the wholesale revolution that Reagan, Bush, and Rehnquist hoped to achieve. This is a compelling, behind-the-scenes account of how the justices fought - sometimes diplomatically, sometimes with bare-knuckled determination - for the soul of the Court, and of how, in the end, the center held.