Mike Wallace (2) (1942–)

On cold winter afternoons when I was a child, we’d pile out of school at recess and run to the mounds of snow that grew next to the skating rink built in our school yard. We’d head for the top of the snow and push anyone behind us to the bottom. We’d throw snowballs, we’d shout and heckle those weaker souls who would aspire to the top. “I’m the king of the castle,” we’d sing, “and you’re the dirty rascal.” Over and over and over we’d sing until the school bell rang show more and sullenly we’d troop back into the classrooms.

I don’t know who invented that ditty, but it has stuck with me for more than a half century.

“I’m the king of the castle and you’re dirty rascal.”

I was reminded of it as I quaffed the remaining pages of Mike Wallace’s second instalment to his great history of New York, “Greater Gotham: A History of New York City from 1898 to 1919.”

It isn’t really just a history of a city in those years. Think of a fat man in a very small suit bursting at the buttons in the front, rolls of fat peeking out along the belt line, his jowls drooping over the shirt collar. No. Many of Wallace’s tales begin in the years leading up to the period, focus on places far from New York, and encompass the sometimes well-meaning actions of actors far from the stage. The book is like a holy compression of personalities, of waves of migrants, and causes, and more acronyms than I care to remember.

His unifying theme is the consolidation of the boroughs which opens the story and the consolidation of business. Perhaps that is the easiest way into the story, how capitalists through merger and buyout and stock-watering gathered up the competition into massive trusts toward the end of the 19th and into the early 20th centuries and New York was the grand stage.

Beginning with the railroads, and continuing with the oil interests, the steel interests, the sugar interests, and so many more. How they hated competition. It was such a drag on profits. It happened with the expansion of public transit, the modernization of the docks, and it happened with labour, the awakening of women’s rights, and the plight of black New Yorkers who founded a citadel in Haarlem.

The brewers united. The elites built racetracks and spurred the gambling habits of a generation of migrants and the unemployable. And then there was the coopting of opium, heroin, and cocaine into the nascent drug industry. So many of these drugs were used in patent medicines, then made acceptable with the professionalization of medicine, and public hospitals.

And with each wave of immigrants came new groups to hate and despise and grouse about. The Irish, the East European Jews, and the waves of Italians, Italians who dug the water tunnels, the subways, the passenger train and freight train tunnels that criss-crossed underneath the growing skyscrapers.

And at the bottom of the heap, the blacks who moved in from the south and later from the Caribbean.

How contemporary the howls against the dirty and dangerous immigrants this book sound today. The only difference being that when the Italians came to town there were massive public works to build, little automation in the factories, and booming consumer demand. If those same immigrants arrived today they would be blasted for taking away the jobs of honest Americans.

“I’m the king of the castle...” etc., etc., etc.

Blacks returning from fighting WWI were spat on and even lynched on burning crosses. They were kept out of polite company and given only the worst jobs. You think it’s dangerous for a black man on the streets of America today?. Ask Marcus Garvey, or W.E.B. Du Bois what it was like in 1898.

There is a malignancy in American society that did not begin with Donald Trump, the Tea Party, or Ronald Reagan. The tendency to demean the accomplishments of collective action like modernizing housing regulations, or chlorinating the water, or inoculating children against infectious diseases.

Or giving women the vote, or limiting the work day, or devising a progressive tax code, or outlawing child labour, or providing for unemployment insurance.

It is a malignancy built into human nature that says we will never fully trust each other or completely share what we have built together. And it is not necessarily an American thing. It is a human thing that says, as Teddy Roosevelt believed, that you must shed your individuality to become one of us and even if you do, I am still the king of the castle. Become American and you will be worthy but never assume that you deserve it. show less

A strong sequel to Gotham. Obviously, a book like this requires a commitment; if you’re reading a review of the sequel to such a book, I’ll assume you can judge for yourself whether you have that. I will say that for me, it was definitely worth it.

Wallace’s method here—like his & his co-author’s method in the previous installment—is certainly more about breadth than depth. This isn’t a Caro-esque deep dive into the minute details of one individual’s life & career. Rather, show more these books are a sort of “life & times” approach to the history of an entire city. I like this technique. It makes sense to me that a history of New York should also have a lot to say about contemporaneous developments in Europe, Asia, etc., not to mention throughout the rest of the United States. If you read the first & didn’t appreciate that aspect, or if you’re considering reading both and that doesn’t sound to you like a valid approach, then you certainly should stop now. Because these books are devoted to that strategy. As I said, I think it works very well.

While the first book covered a lengthy span of time—just short of three centuries—this one devotes roughly the same number of pages to just two decades. When you read them, it should be clear why. In a sense, Gotham (#1) is a prequel—it charts the birth & development of the city’s boroughs, but ends just at the point where they are coming together to form New York City. Thus Greater Gotham is really more about New York City. And in spite of my indication in the previous paragraph, it does provide quite a bit of depth into various hyperlocal developments & trends which affected the city as a whole.

I have enjoyed both these books; beyond the breadth mentioned above, I think they do a fine job integrating the various political, economic, and social realities that coexist in the life of such a large global city. I’m already excited for another volume, should one ever arrive. show less

Written as a novel, this book covers most of American history: focusing on New York meant concentrating on the world. Very well documented and superbly written, it's a gem of sociopolitical history with emphasis on the poor and inequality's distant roots.

I decided to read Gotham because it had been quite some time since I had a "project." By this term, I mean an oversized book history or philosophy that triggers collateral inquiries and stimulates further reading. I have read, so far, 957 show more pages of this splendid book, richly illustrated and superbly written by a duo of true historians. Every aspect of New York's development is analyzed and dissected (hence the size of the tome!) with particular emphasis on people, the masses that are usually barely mentioned in history books. It talks about the Native life before the arrival of the colonizers and the early development of what will become a beacon on world history and economic discourse.
I mentioned attention to detail: don't let this discourage you, for the book reads as a very interesting novel with a solid plot and many characters, from Cornelius Vanderbilt to the street prostitutes, from Morse to indigent people and drunks, those of religious believes to secular groups.
A few of the achievements of olden times are, even with today's technology, impressive: connecting by underwater cables to Europe and the Erie canal come to mind.
Give yourself time and sample this phenomenal work of art, literature and history. show less

To the people who only gave this book two stars: I wish you would write a review and let us know why!

I read this book over a lazy summer, and have never been more fascinated by a work of non-fiction. Burrows and Wallace profile the city from its "discovery" by white men to the bustle of the 1890s. They discuss almost every conceivable aspect of the city with humour and insightful research, providing us with astonishing statistics, fascinating quotes from the time, and a comprehensive scope show more that reaches from the aristocracy to the slums. Individual readers will have their own areas that could have been further researched, but truthfully this is a truly absorbing read. (And, since the book at least touches on every aspect of the city's history, it's a good starting point to find areas for more specialised reading.)

More so than just the history of one city, this book is a history of trade, urban life, culture and really America as a whole. It is filled with colourful personalities, uplifting stories and tragedies. In some areas, it can be quite academic with its catalogues and investigations of history, but I'm the kind of person who loves that. Better to be ambitious than lazy, I say!

I can't wait for the promised sequel to this book (chronicling the 20th century). show less