New Yorkers: A Feisty People Who Will Unsettle, Madden, Amuse and Astonish You

by Clifford Browder

Overview

Clifford Browder's New Yorkers is the quirky memoir of a longtime resident who loves his city, a selective glance at that city's amazing history, and a bit of a travel book, all rolled into one. It's for people who love (or hate) the city, and people who have visited or want to visit it. Readers will learn

- Who New Yorkers are and how they live and die

- How many languages are spoken there (you'd be surprised)

- How many witches there are (you'd be surprised)

- Whose funeral caused an all-day riot

- Why a cemetery offers trolley-car tours and whiskey tastings

- How Fifth Avenue went from goats to grandeur

- How your taxi driver may be a Tibetan, a Sherpa from Nepal, or a gypsy

- How the Statue of Liberty almost didn't happen

- Which flashy modern hotel would-be suicides should avoid at all costs, and why

- How the author learned the Charleston on YouTube, proof that geezers rock.

New York is the most exciting city in the world. Everyone should know it, at least a little. It's unique.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781733378208
Publisher:	Clifford Browder
Publication date:	01/19/2020
Series:	Wild New York , #3
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.73(d)

About the Author

Clifford Browder is a longtime resident of New York, living in the West Village high above the Magnolia Bakery of "Sex and the City" fame. He has published two biographies; two nonfiction titles about New York and New Yorkers; and four historical novels in his ongoing Metropolis series of historical fiction set in nineteenth-century New York. New Yorkers is his third nonfiction work inspired by posts from his blog, "No Place for Normal: New York." His blog and all his fiction and nonfiction deal with the wild, crazy, and profoundly creative city of New York. His poetry has appeared in numerous small reviews, both online and in print. He has never owned a car, a television, or a cell phone, never kills spiders, and is fascinated by slime molds and the mushroom known as Destroying Angel. Mostly vegan, he eats garlic for its culinary and medicinal values, and its reputed ability to keep off vampires. (So far, it seems to be working.)

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part 1: Who We Are: 800 Languages, Hustlers, Basques, and Chorus Boys 3

Chapter 1: Diversity 5

Chapter 2: The Heartland vs. New York 13

Chapter 3: Sherpas, Basques, Gypsies, Sikhs 19

Chapter 4: Tibetans, Afghans, Mohawks 29

Chapter 5: Scavengers 39

Chapter 6: Hustlers 47

Chapter 7: The Rich 57

Chapter 8: Freelance Editor 67

Chapter 9: Broadway Chorus Boy 77

Part 2: How We Live: Booze, Bagels, Gay Bars, and Graffiti 85

Chapter 10: Fun 87

Chapter 11: Booze 95

Chapter 12: Smells 105

Chapter 13: Graffiti 113

Chapter 14: Construction and Destruction 121

Chapter 15: Fires and Firemen 133

Chapter 16: Are New Yorkers Rude? 143

Chapter 17: Scams, Cheats, and Cons 151

Chapter 18: How We Worship 159

Chapter 19: Finding the Sacred 171

Chapter 20: Dying 181

Part 3: Our Thoroughfares: From Goats and Bums to Condos and Trump Tower 191

Chapter 21: Broadway: From Heere Straat to The Great White Way 193

Chapter 22: Fifth Avenue: From Goats to Grandeur 203

Chapter 23: The Bowery: From B’hoys to Bums to Condos 213

Chapter 24: Wall Street: From a Buttonwood Tree to Credit Default Swaps 221

Chapter 25: 14th Street: Auntie Guan, ezPawn, BLOOD AND FIRE, Macs 229

Part 4: Artsy Fartsy: Museum Wars, a Fighting Mom, and a Whiskey-Tasting Cemetery 237

Chapter 26: Museums and Museum Wars 239

Chapter 27: Statues and Statue Wars 249

Chapter 28: Lady Liberty and How She Almost Didn’t Happen 259

Chapter 29: Cemetery Wars: Green-Wood vs. Woodlawn 267

Chapter 30: Landmarks: Saving the Old from the New 275

Part 5: Glories and Horrors of the Past: Cholera, the Beatles, and the Miracle of Light 285

Chapter 31: Light: The Conquering of Darkness 287

Chapter 32: Catastrophes: 1832 and 295

Chapter 33: Brownstones 305

Chapter 34: Along the Docks in the 1870s 313

Chapter 35: Legendary Hotels 321

Chapter 36: The Next Big Thing 331

Source Notes 341

About the Author 343