Richard S. Drezen

22 Articles

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PREMIUM

Preserving South Street Seaport: The Dream and Reality of a New York Urban Renewal District

Readers interested in a portrayal of the "old" seaport should consult Barbara G. Mensch's South Street. Despite its lack of recommendations, this cautionary tale informs readers how not to run a museum and is recommended for museum educators, historical preservationists, and New York City history buffs.
PREMIUM

Inside the Dream Palace: The Life and Times of New York's Legendary Chelsea Hotel

This is an exuberant tale of pop history about a New York landmark. While Tippins may be faulted for providing perhaps too much historical context, her spirited writing effectively illustrates the Chelsea as the unforgettable place it was. Recommended to pop culture enthusiasts, architecture specialists, and fans of celebrityhood.
PREMIUM

The Race Underground: Boston, New York and the Incredible Rivalry that Built America's First Subway

This felicitous tale of American ingenuity and perseverance serves as a useful reminder today of our past commitment to improving our infrastructures as we now face the challenge of stopping their deterioration. Recommended for readers in American urban history and specialists in urban transportation.
PREMIUM

The New York Nobody Knows: Walking 6000 Miles in the City

This is a landmark achievement, for those wanting to dig deeper than The Encyclopedia of New York City, edited by Kenneth T. Jackson. Highly recommended to sociologists, urban demographers, New York historians, and all walking enthusiasts in the city.
PREMIUM

Battle for Ground Zero: Inside the Political Struggle To Rebuild the World Trade Center

Greenspan has done yeoman service here. An absorbing book, essential for those studying post-9/11 New York, and urban planners or scholars researching how a city can rebuild or memorialize a devastated site.
PREMIUM

Thieves of Book Row: New York's Most Notorious Rare Book Ring and the Man Who Stopped It

McDade has carried out exemplary research. Sadly, book theft continues today, though the author doesn't address that issue here. Highly recommended for rare-book specialists and true-crime enthusiasts.
PREMIUM

Picking Up: On the Streets and Behind the Trucks with the Sanitation Workers of New York City

An important study documenting the labors of these municipal workers. Highly recommended for urban anthropologists, waste-management experts, and readers with an interest in New York City.
PREMIUM

City of Ambition: FDR, LaGuardia, and the Making of Modern New York

The material here is too dense and inartfully presented. Perhaps scholars of U.S. presidential history or urban political specialists may value it as a reference, but others looking for a more insightful analysis of the era and these two leaders would be well rewarded by consulting Thomas Kessmer's splendid Fiorello H. LaGuardia and the Making of Modern New York.
PREMIUM

Capital of the World: The Race To Host the United Nations

While plenty of books address the creation of the United Nations, Mires provides an important supplement showing how the idealistic search to establish the physical presence of the fledgling organization gave way to the cold realities of the marketplace. Recommended for readers of 20th-century American history, students of urban history, and scholars of post-World War II diplomacy.
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