What is Brooklyn? A bedroom suburb of Manhattan? A crumbling relic of urban decay? A collection of gorgeous million dollar brownstones? A magnet for artists and writers and hipsters and yuppies and new immigrants and real estate developers? A hotbed of political activists? A breeding ground for mobsters? A place to achieve the American dream? A living, breathing piece of American history? A state of mind? It’s all these things—and more.
Peter Golenbock—the Studs Terkel of sportswriting—writes terrific oral histories, capturing first person history on paper. The author of the terrific Bums: An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers back in 1984, Golenbock returns to Brooklyn for a look at the Borough Beyond the Dodgers. Once the fourth largest city in America--Brooklyn became part of the Greater New York City in 1898--the 71 square miles comprising the Borough of Brooklyn is currently home to nearly two and a half million people. Golenbock gets the first-hand story of some of Brooklyn’s important neighborhoods, institutions, people and peculiar characters from across the decades--from the early years of the 20th Century right up to the present. Although for some people time may have stopped in Brooklyn the day the Dodgers left, a lot has happened in the last 50 years. Some of it has been good, some of it has been awful, but through it all, Brooklynites have persevered and flourished. While In the Country of Brooklyn can’t be all-inclusive, it will provide a dazzling array of what Brooklyn means and has meant to so many--white, black, Latino, from every ethnic background imaginable!
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"Despite some misinformation this book was a wealth of information about a variety of subjects with their origins in Brooklyn. I found it fascinating"
— Eileen (4 out of 5 stars)
" A series of essays/interviews regarding 20th century Brooklyn. Many stories I did not know about the history. The Dodgers seemed to be a part of everything... Individually, some of the chapters weren't great, but collectively, i really enjoyed the portrait this gave me of my new home borough. "
— Frances, 9/12/2013" Enjoyable, as long as you can stomach the heavy liberal bias by the editor and the contributors. "
— Walt, 2/2/2012Peter Golenbock, a well-known name in sports literature, has written five New York Times bestsellers. Among his many books are Dynasty, the definitive history of the 1949–1964 New York Yankees; Wild, High, and Tight, his revealing biography of Yankees manager Billy Martin; and Wrigleyville, an oral history of the Chicago Cubs. He has been a frequent guest on many television shows, including A&E’s Biography, ESPN’s Fifty Greatest Athletes, and Larry King Live. He lives in Saint Petersburg, Florida.
William Dufris attended the University of Southern Maine in Portland-Gorham before pursuing a career in voice work in London and then the United States. He has won more than twenty AudioFile Earphones Awards, was voted one of the Best Voices at the End of the Century by AudioFile magazine, and won the prestigious Audie Award in 2012 for best nonfiction narration. He lives with his family in Maine.