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:	9781733378215
Publisher:	Clifford Browder
Publication date:	02/04/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	354
File size:	3 MB

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 1888 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