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4th of July, Asbury Park: A History of the Promised Land

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I am a Jersey kid by birth. I graduated high school the same year as Bruce Springsteen, but about 50 miles away. It might as well have been 5 million miles.

As a kid, there were family trips to the boardwalk at Asbury Park. When I was in high school, there were concerts at Convention Hall. I even dated a girl who's family spent part of the summer in Ocean Grove, but that's a story for another time. To me, Asbury Park was the length and breadth of the beach and boardwalk.

It was obvious, even to an infrequent visitor like me, that the city was in terrible decline, but it took this book to explain how and why that happened, and, at the same time, place that experience within a much larger context.

The stresses caused by the fundamental dichotomies that Asbury Park was built on are the same ones that challenge much of the U.S. Religion and commerce, racial conflict, the strengths and weaknesses of machine politics, even the tug-of-war of fantasy and reality, they are all in Asbury Park's history, and they are all around us, wherever we are. Those conflicts all took a terrible toll on Asbury Park, just as they all take a toll everywhere.

In this book, Daniel Wolff tells us the history of a small place, and in the telling, illuminates larger truths. It is no coincidence that Springsteen's fame grew as he found ways to express his universal themes without tying them to a specific place and time. In his own way, Daniel Wolfe lets us see how and why that happened.

As serious as the subject matter is, the book is written in a deftly lighthanded style that makes reading it a completely enjoyable event. Don't miss it.

This book is a great resource. As a person who grew up "down the shore" adjacent to Asbury Park, I've learned a tremendous amount about the area's history. Interesting read with a great level of detail and chapter notes. I had borrowed it from the library but wanted my own copy to add to my shore book collection.

Who knew that the history of a town that I had never heard of in New Jersey would yield such an interesting read? The town is set up in such a way that it resembles some of the seedy racist behaviors that all of us would like to believe don't exist anymore but need to come to terms with.
There is plenty of talk about Springsteen, but there is also plenty of well-researched information on the rest of the love-to-hate-'em characters in the town.

At its very best biography is social history. That's what Daniel Wolff did so brilliantly with his biography of Sam Cooke, and has done again, this time with the story of a town. Prior to reading this book I had thought of Asbury Park only in passing, and usually in relation to Springsteen. Wolff made me care about Asbury Park and understand it within a much larger scope. My only gripe about Wolff is that he doesn't produce more -- let's face it, he stands among the Ritz of writers.

It's tempting to call this surprising gem of a book "quirky" but for the fact that it addresses themes -- music, religion, race, commerce -- central both to the American dream and reality. From Asbury Park's double-barreled beginnings as a pleasure retreat for the devout, we watch the struggle for the town's soul evolve. Christianity yields to commerce as the town's organizing principle, but, in Asbury's case, economic salvation proves as elusive as the spiritual kind. Out of the gloom arise racial battles and, eventually, a skinny kid with a guitar to put the town back on the map. But can rock 'n roll save Asbury's tortured soul? Wolff's electric description of an Asbury race riot -- at a concert, naturally -- certainly suggests a clue.

Not a Bruce Springsteen bio or critique and not advertised as one, 4th of July, Asbury Park: A History of the Promised Land by Daniel Wolff fits its eponymus title exactly.

Please excuse any hubris - it is not intended - but you will enjoy this book a lot more if you have an aquaintance and familiarity with Asbury (the only name by which it was referred). And, while my title aptly describes what this book addressses, I have to admit to being stunned by the history author Wolff presents.

Key to that is the knowledge that Asbury Park did not develop as city through what I'll call natural means. There was no influx of population that arrived and, other time, established roots and the attendant need for a municipal structure to meet public needs. Instead, it was the creation of a individual who in this day and age would be called a fundamentalist Christian but was profit-minded enough that he wanted to work on Sundays.

The creation was named Asbury Park after noted Methodist Francis Asbury and its mission, if you will, was to provide beach-related services to the quasi-rich. This is did with notable success to its customer-base while providing virtually nothing to the population that worked there. Its municipal government was based on the premise of "of the influencial, for the wealthy, supported by the down-trodden." This precept cannot be better depicted than by the fact that the blacks who worked in the city's nyriiad hotels and business not only lived literally on the wrong side of the railway tracks but also lived in an area not incorporated into the city until the 20th Century so that the administration did not have to provide services to them.

The Administrations also subscribed to the "no honor among thieves" doctrine by engaging in perpetual internicine warfare among themselves to win the mayoralty and patronage dispensations. But, irregardless of whomsoever was in power, there was adherence to the notion that public funds were - after appropriate skimming - only to be spent on the tourists. This left the city with an elegant ocean facing facade backed by a rotting infrastructure.

With the advent of cheap airfare in the 1960s, tourists ceased to come to the Jersey Shore, choosing instead sites in the Caribbean and Mexico. With the slowdown in revenue, the city collapsed inwardly and, by the 1970/1980 period devolved into the Beruit cum Baghdad appearance it has to this day.

Wolff portrays this history in a clear, concise fashion and does name the names and cite the crimes. His appraisals are scrupulously honest and fair. He points out that the tendency to fortget anything more than, say, five blocks from the boardwalk was not limited by race, color, creed or place of national origin; in a way, he provces that corruption is the best example of diversity.

All in all, an excellent book. It broke my heart to read it.

Great Summer read. Uncover the dark secrets behind the rise & fall of Asbury Park, NJ, and get a slap in the face about the rest of America during the same time. Sprinkle in some great insights about Springsteen and his music and you just might learn something even though it's Summertime.
Bobby V
Nyack, NY

What a fascinating little history of an American town! It's amazing the diversity of events, people, and motives that occupy this book. I love local histories, and this does not disappoint--it covers the good, the bad, and the ugly in a neat and very readable package. I have always been fascinated by Asbury Park because of Bruce Springsteen's lyrics, and in a recent visit my husband and I happened on one of Ocean Grove's camp meeting services. After spending some time talking to a church elder, I learned a lot about the religious roots of the area, of which I had no idea. This book built on what I learned that day and more. It lays out a parade of fascinating local personalities and visiting celebrities and artists which drew me along in one very insightful but fun reading experience. Good job, Daniel Wolff!

I have used this book as research for novels that I am working on. Never before have I read a book for research, and been so enthralled. For readers who like fiction, the narrative carries like one. Yet, for readers who like history, facts abound. This book is unique- and a great read.Murder 101 (Mystery 101)

I couldn't put this book down. Wolff goes into great detail about this town, yet it's never boring. I also loved the way he tied in the thoughts of Stephen Crane and Bruce Springsteen to the political and social happenings of the town. While he uses the insights of these writers to great advantage, he also makes marvelous insights of his own. If you are interested in Asbury Park, or American social history in general, this is a must-read.