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A review by jdintr
Dreamland by Kevin Baker
4.0
I picked up this book to get my imagination ready for a visit to New York City. Like many Americans, my ancestors had settled for a time in the Lower East Side before moving on into the hinterlands.
Baker brings early 20th-century New York into vivid view, weaving a tapestry of a tale that includes Jewish gangsters, a politician from waning Tammany Hall, and young women fighting for labor rights at the doomed Triangle Shirtwaist Works. Dreamland/Coney Island is just a sideshow--as are the psychological German-speaking doctors, but it sets the scene for a memorable climax.
I would recommend Dreamland for any one of the millions of Americans who have roots in the Lower East Side, and those interested in seeing this era come to life.
Baker brings early 20th-century New York into vivid view, weaving a tapestry of a tale that includes Jewish gangsters, a politician from waning Tammany Hall, and young women fighting for labor rights at the doomed Triangle Shirtwaist Works. Dreamland/Coney Island is just a sideshow--as are the psychological German-speaking doctors, but it sets the scene for a memorable climax.
I would recommend Dreamland for any one of the millions of Americans who have roots in the Lower East Side, and those interested in seeing this era come to life.