Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #153767 in Books
• Published on: 1993-08-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 736 pages

Synopsis
A collection of literary portraits looks at waterfront workers, people on the Bowery, Mohawk Indians working on high structural steel, gypsies, itinerant preachers, and others.

Customer Reviews

A pleasant fascinating look at New York City
Joseph Mitchell writes and I become the wiser. His first story on McSorley's Irish Pub prompted my visit to same last week when I visited NY. The visit made me pick up Mitchell's book and read it all over again. Every story is worthwhile despite subjects that would, at first, seem uninteresting. His profile of Joe Gould was one of the best pieces of non-fiction writing I can recall. If only a dozen guys in the world could write this way about real people.

One of the best non-fiction writers of the 20th Century
Mitchell might've been a genius. This is an incredible book filled with personalities and observations of the human condition that are simply unforgettable. His depictions of people and places are deeply felt, and New York is as alive as it ever was. A true classic. Astoundingly good.

A multiple re-read
Unless you have an extraordinarily adept system of tracking the books you've lent to friends (or friends far more diligent than mine) you should strongly consider buying two copies. I lent my hardcover to a friend, and mourn it. I will lend it no more, having made the same mistake with a subsequent softcover. This is a book into which you can escape. It is alternately hiliarious, troubling, deeply sad. You can pick it up and read one piece or go through it cover to cover. Mitchell was a genius. Brilliant non-fiction writers like John McPhee and Tracy Kidder had their way paved for them by Mitchell... wanna see courage in print? Here it is.