Downtown

Author, editor, and renowned journalist Pete Hamill voices in his craggy, urban style a memory and loose history of Manhattan. This is definitely a nostalgic reminiscence--the author reels off childhood memories, family history, and city legends with a fond and misty backward glance. From the Dutch burghers of old New York to the chumps and Trumps of the current city, Hamill misses little in his wry accounting of a city he calls home. If you've never been to Manhattan, visit it through Hamill's eyes; if you live there, you'll either say "thanks for the memories," or, as New Yorkers are fond of saying, "fuggetaboutit!" D.J.B. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

Starred review from November 15, 2004
New Yorkers love calamity," writes Hamill in this marvelous guide to the most expensive piece of real estate in the world. This is a look at the calamities—and the successes—that have struck downtown Manhattan since the time of the first explorers from the Old World. Hamill's Manhattan is filled with history, architecture and giant personalities. Readers will be thrust into the Civil War riots in Greenwich Village in 1863 and will rejoice in a Times Square filled with delirious New Yorkers on VJ Day in 1945. They will watch the city grow as the subway crawls northward and the big skyscrapers begin to pop up, from the Woolworth Building in 1913 to the World Trade Center in the 1970s. The city's rogues and heroes are portrayed in action—from Aaron Burr and John Jacob Astor to Stanford White, Walter Winchell and a visiting Oscar Wilde. This is a companion piece to Forever
, Hamill's novel of New York, and The Drinking Life
, which explored the city through the alcohol-fueled eyes of the young Hamill. It is written with insight, humor and, most of all, a deep love of the Big Apple. Perhaps Hamill's mother, Anne Devlin, best put it into perspective: "You've seen it before," she told young Peter the first time he was transfixed by the spires of Gotham. "It's Oz." Agent, Esther Newberg. (Dec. 1)

Forecast:
A national advertising and media campaign is planned. Hamill, a favorite on the talk show circuit, is sure to appear all over just before the holidays, giving this title a nice Christmas boost.

August 1, 2004
Hamill, who has served as editor in chief of the New York Post and the Daily News, knows his city well. Here he heads to downtown Manhattan, where it all started.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2004
Former editor in chief of both the New York Post and the New York Daily News, Hamill spent his adult life in downtown Manhattan. A highly literate and eloquent writer (see also his memoir A Drinking Life), he thoughtfully guides readers through that borough's neighborhoods, which he knew as a young man and still walks. Threaded throughout is the idea of loss and nostalgia: New Yorkers pay an emotional price for the city's constant, irreversible change, he writes. Yet his vision is ultimately uplifting, that of "New York alloy." Hamill masterfully includes many astonishing facts, e.g., Washington Square was built on the graves of a potter's field; the first branch of the New York Public Library, the Ottendorfer Branch, founded in 1884, still stands doing its job, on Second Avenue. The book ends with Hamill generously sharing his sources for readers wanting to continue learning about the city. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 8/04.]-Elaine Machleder, Bronx, NY

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2004
Hamill is an excellent novelist (see in particular " Snow in August," 1997), but in his latest book, he wears his hat as one of the last of the old-time newspapermen whose life and work simply " define" New York City. He calls this book an "essay . . . based on memory, reporting, and reading." What that amounts to is a delightfully personal, robustly informative portrait of New York, Manhattan in particular (and Lower Manhattan more specifically).Having been in the newspaper biz for four decades, he knows how to keep his eyes and ears open for the good story, the telling detail, and the quirky but exemplary character. As he escorts readers around the island of Manhattan, he takes heavy glances back into history--insisting that New Yorkers constantly experience "aching nostalgia"--as he not so much classifies but revels in the distinctions of NYC both as a "concrete place and as an idea." A marvelous read for anyone who has a hometown.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)