Book Description
"Life in the city, for the millions who lived it,
was once something less than the sum of their lifestyle
choices: they woke up, they ate, they shoveled coal, loved,
hated, prayed, mated, reproduced, died. For most, the home
was not a display object but a place to keep the few things
they had managed to hold on to from the surpluses produced by
their labor. Their material life was made of the things they
didn't have to eat, wear, or burn right this minute. A
concertina maybe? A family Bible? A hunting rifle?"
This life in "the old neighborhood," so
lyrically captured by Ray Suarez, was once lived by a huge
number of Americans. One in seven of us can directly connect
our lineage through just one city, Brooklyn. In 1950, except
for Los Angeles, the top ten American cities were all in the
Northeast or Midwest, and all had populations over 800,000.
Since then, especially since the mid-60s, a way of life has
simply vanished.
Ray Suarez, veteran interviewer and host of NPR's
"Talk of the Nation®," is a child of Brooklyn who
has long been fascinated with the stories behind the largest
of our once-great cities. He has talked to longtime
residents, recent arrivals, and recent departures; community
organizers, priests, cops, and politicians; and scholars who
have studied neighborhoods, demographic trends, and social
networks. The result is a rich tapestry of voices and
history. The Old Neighborhood captures a crucial
chapter in the experience of postwar America. It is a book
not just for first- and second-generation Americans, but for
anyone who remembers the prewar cities or wonders how we
could have gotten to where we are. It is a book about
"old neighborhoods" that were once cherished, and
are now lost.
