It looks like we may take a family vacation in the spring to New York City to see my cousin and her husband in Brooklyn. This is the trip of a lifetime for our daughter (15 years old)… not so much for Maureen and me but we know it will be fun and a big adventure for hicks like us.
To get more excited about the trip I’d like to read up on the history of the City so as to take in some sites other than clothing stores and coffee shops and whatever else it is that a teenaged girl wants to see in “the greatest City on earth, dad. Jeez, get with it.”
If any of y’all have suggestions about good history books on NYC, I’d appreciate the input. My Cousin and her husband have lived there for about 10 years (she’s from Oregon and he hails from North Carolina) and will be pretty good tour guides, but I’d like to get more acquainted with the place before we go. Thanks.
It's not really history, but I once read a book called, I believe, Under the Sidewalks of New York. A fascinating and very fun read, as I recall, about the sewers, utilities, basements and sub-basements, etc.; the whole intiguing world beneath the city.
Kit
“This is the trip of a lifetime for our daughter (15 years old)…”
If that’s the case you should give serious thought about taking her to a Broadway Play, even if she doesn’t like it at least she will be able to tell her friends she saw one.
That’s just my 0.04’;-)
Have a great week! B-)
Yeah if you want to get the real scoop read:
The Power Broker by Robert Caro
Mainly a biography on Robert Moses, but Caro delves into all the inner workings of New York City since it's inception.
Ralph
Thanks Kit and Ralph. I checked out both books and they look worth reading even if we weren’t going to NYC. A funny similarity – two books about the dirty underbelly of NYC, both literal and figurative. As far as culture and plays, we hope to see a play and if things work out our cousin has a friend who works on the Colbert Report and we might get tickets to a taping of the show.
The times square ticket outlet has half price tickets for the day's shows for Broadway...
