Customer Reviews

Canarsie: The Jews and Italians of Brooklyn Against Liberalism

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I lived in Canarsie from 1959 through 1970. I think that the author presented an accurate picture of the social fabric of Canarsie, especially the view that it was a "closed place" in the eyes of the inhabitants; that is, it was a safe haven for its inhabitants and could remain so if outsiders were kept out. In view of skyrocketing crime rates in the 1960s outside of Canarsie, this was a rational opinion in what was seen as an oasis in an otherwise crumbling city. Rieder captures the sense of rage and helplessness felt by Canarsians about their lack of control of their lives by threats of violence by minority populations and actions of Manhattan elites who tried to redress centuries of legitimate grievances of blacks by making the Canarsians (and not themselves) give up control of their schools (and lives) and pay taxes for doing it. This is not to condone violence against black children and the firebombing of black-bought homes, but Canarsians had every right to oppose forced busing of their children from successful Canarsie schools to unsuccessful schools outside their district, and the busing of outside children into the district in order to satisfy the desires of outsiders without any evidence that such bussing would benefit Canarsie children (let alone the outside children as well).

For anyone who thinks that the people of Canarsie were nothing but small-minded, mean-spirited bigots, I'd like to remind him that this was a population of hard-working, law-abiding, tax-paying members of society who were the working backbone of New York City. They may have not been as educated nor "cosmopolitan" as many Manhattanites, but they were wise enough to see through the nonsense of expanded welfare handouts, non-enforcement of law, excessive government spending, and "ethnic politics" of the Lindsay years that took a generation to repair.

This is definitely a book worth reading for anyone who is interested in ethnic politics or the history of New York City in the 1960s and 1970s.

For those of you who wanted the racial Epilogue about the actual subject of this book, Canarsie, here it is. In the 80s the first black families started to move into single family homes in the "prime" white areas of the neighborhood. The realtor who brokered one of these moves had their offices fire-bombed. Alas, the trend already was underway and not to be stopped. A significant number of Chinese families were the first to make inroads, but I believe they since left since a critical mass of these never was established. Black families, largely middle class drawn from the ranks of city workers and others, began to move into the neighborhood in great numbers. The racial changeover occurred with remarkable speed. Within about 5 years during the mid 90s, it was complete. It seems as if there had been a huge exodus of the former residents, probably to other middle class areas in Long Island, Staten Island, Queens and elsewhere (which is where my own siblings went).

The economic outcome is mixed, at least to the observer. Rockaway Parkway and the neighborhood's shopping areas (Avenue L, and those on Rockaway Parkway itself) have declined over the years. However, the housing stock seems to be well-maintained. The decline of the shopping areas may have been a result of outside influences such as large retailers.

The rise of conservatism among the areas inhabitants, to my mind, is drawn more along economic lines. The upwardly mobile Jews in particular may have remained somewhat liberal. The working class probably did go more right.

Pay the actual neighborhood a visit one day! Canarsie Pier has been wonderfully renovated and it a nice place to walk on a summer day, to see what the fishermen have in their buckets.

This is about how working-class ethnics in New York, who are supposedly solid Democratic constituents, came to resent Liberalism. Basically, they saw the blacks and other racial minorities around them behaving in ways they considered uncivilized and saw a rich trendy white liberal elite making justifications for their behavior. People like this eventually elected Nixon and Reagan.

This case study of Canarsie New York and the 1970's shows vividly how racism is not always a product of distant media stereotypes, but rather real day to day contacts between the races. Professor Rieder, who was my professor last year while I attended Columbia, clearly indicates how liberals, and especially the liberal elites failed. The limosine liberals on the upper east side would vote for school busing in the abstract because they did not have to deal with the consequences. THose lower-middle class whites who saw blacks moving in and property values declines became resently towards the liberal estabilshment. It was these former new deal Democrats who switched to Ronald Reagan in 1980 and, who before that, provded Nixon a great percentage of his "silent majority." As a liberal, and a rich one at that, it made me think of the impact that liberal policies have on the ground.

In many circles, the most often given reasons for the decline of American cities are highways and tax-deductible mortgages. This book is good because it gives a much fuller picture of what really happened. Nobody wanted to live, or could live, in an integrated neighborhood.

A conclusion I drew from this book was that the French (who usually annoy me) handled their urban problems much better than we did. Instead of dropping housing projects in the middle of cities where the projects slowly-but-surely eroded the surrounding urban fabric, the French located their projects outside of cities, where no preexisting neighborhoods were affected.

Even though projects there are as bad as projects here, at least no one was displaced.

The biggest thing this book is missing is an epilogue. Published in 1985, the book is kinda dated.

This is, to say the least, one of the greatest books ever published in regard to the recent political change we have seen. What is it that has led some former left-wing liberal New Deal Democrats to turn into conservative Democrats - and on occasion Republicans - who backed Reagan and Bush and bucked President Carter and pro-union Democrat Walter Mondale? This book points at the issue of the "culture war" in regard to race and ethnicity. The author points at every issue which the Republican Right has used - crime, "welfare," government waste, etc. - and how it all points back toward the issue of race. The author is right in his declaration that liberalism and progressivism must begin to take the wishes and dreams of working class white families seriously - as well as their sympathies.

Racism is, obviously, wrong and immoral. Yet, liberals and Democrats must begin to listen to why people give in to right wing racism. If they do, then they will hear the wishes and concerns of the white working class and can begin to form an inclusive and truly compassion answer to these problems, without the scowl of Pat Buchana, Ronald Reagan, Barry Goldwater or George Bush. Problems - even the racist fears of whites - can be solved in a compassionate manner. Nay, they must be solved in such a manner.

Yes, it is true that most working class folks - even white ones - are self described Democrats. How can't they be? Yet, it is true that on occasion may drift from the party of FDR and unto the right for certain candidates. Why? Racial fears. Progressives must learn to prevent this. This book shows us how we can.

I lived in Canarsie 62-86, so I saw first-hand what he is talking about. My mom lived there 1962-2009, so I see what the neighborhood has become.

Rieder pulls no punches, but he is fair to all parties. Wonderful book. It gives me greater insight to what I was experiencing as I was growing up and to the other cultures involved.

I would love to see Rieder go back and look at the social forces that are now in the community. Barely anyone who grew up in that time still lives there.

Rieder's book does a good job in detailing what must be considered a monument to the often unbelievable stupidity of white, working America. The author tactfully does not take sides either with the Italians, or Jews, or Blacks in this narrative, but lets them speak for themselves. In my assessment the reactionary mentality of the Canarsie Italians can be understood only as an hysterical attempt to make time stand still. Mentally stuck in the Eisenhower era, the Italians and Jews(themselves products of violent ethnic ghettoes over a century ago) real resentment came from seeing African-Americans and Puerto Ricans share the same social equalities that they themselves fought for. Their fears of high crime and drugs infesting their communities were childishly unwarranted. Their own violent racism blinded them to the realities of upwardly mobile African Americans who were seeking to get AWAY from the ghetto, NOT (Heaven forbid!) to bring the ghetto with them: if this is what upwardly mobile blacks wished, then, naturally, they would have remained in Brownsville or Harlem. To this day, Canarsie remains a safe neighborhood. The Italian and Jewish communities, however, have largely disappeared, making way for the black newcomers they fought so hard to stave off. Seems that their real fear was not "crime," or "drugs," but a world where blacks could quietly live alongside them, as equals.

i ordered this book, am very interested in reading it since i lived there from 1964 til 1979