Customer Reviews

Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I live in NYC and admit that I am daily taking all of the great sites around me for granted. I saw the positive NY Post review about the book and decided to buy it. It was well worth every penny. This book is broken down into concise, well-written and clever chapters (182 of them! Great info!) that do a phenomenal job of introducing the reader to little-known facts about a huge variety of areas in the city. I've learned more things about the city in reading the book than I have in the 6 years I've lived here!!

I fully admit that I am not even "into" history and found this book fascinating. AND they include 14 walking tours at the end of the book.... my husband and I went on one this weekend as a "date" and had a wonderful (COST-FREE) day. I can't wait until the spring when we can go on all of the tours!

I'm going to buy this for all of my NYC friends and will hand it over to any out-of-towners visiting me looking for fun things to do in the city. I would highly recommend this book for anyone who lives in or will visit NYC (or anyone just interested in learning more about the city).

Can't wait to see what these authors have lined up next.

As a historian, I'm truly impressed with the way this book succeeds in presenting a wealth of in-depth, thoroughly researched information about New York City history in a highly readable, sometimes downright humorous, manner.

On one hand, Inside the Apple traces a chronological history of the city from its Native American settlements to the present, divided into thematic chapters such as The Early City (1600s), The Growth of the Immigrant City (mid-1800s) and Boom and Bust (1920s). By focusing on a number of well-chosen places, people and events in each period, the authors bring their stories to life. For instance, the section on The Great Port (1805-1835) includes detailed discussions of: DeWitt Clinton's role in implementing Manhattan's street grid; the consruction of the city's first tenement building; and the hugely destructive but little remembered Great Fire of 1835.

Complementing the chronological history, the book also contains a collection of self-guided walking tours. Fourteen easy-to-follow tours, accompanied by maps, appear at the end of the book and continually refer readers back to the historical discussions. So, when you come upon a statue commemorating the Great Fire while walking through Central Park, you're directed to the earlier chapter on the fire.

I recommend this book for visitors to NYC, for history buffs, and also for life-long New Yorkers who are sure to uncover layers of the past hiding in plain sight just beyond their doorsteps.

I really loved this book. Both the historical account of the city and the walking tours work amazingly well as if separate books, and the way they integrate into one another so seamlessly makes this a truly unique resource. I disagree with Publisher's Weekly where they said that "Inside the Apple" was not for cover to cover reading. In fact, I read it cover to cover and found it both fascinating and easy to read. You don't need to be out there using it as a tour book--it makes an excellent history of the city for anyone interested in New York.

I'm a native New Yorker, born and bred in Queens, and I could not put this book down the moment I picked it up! The authors write in such an interesting and engaging manner, you almost forget you are reading history. Now I happen to be a history buff but my husband, who's a doctor and about as interested in history as I am in medicine also found this book fascinating. The tours in the end are great, especially because you can appreciate the buildings and structures so much more since you've read about them. I actually borrowed this book from the library, read it, and then bought it from Amazon because I enjoyed it so much. five stars!

Inside the Apple asserts itself as excellent background for your next trip to NYC. Choose any topic or two from the book to form the backdrop for an unbeatable walking tour. Highly recommended for all who wonder what lies beyond the next corner.

I must say this is one of the best history books I have ever read. It should be part of our school system. If a parent is homeschooling their kids in New York City, this is great material. The book also includes several self guided tours! The information is given in such a way that it is easy to retain and not boring. I am so thankful to the authors for writing this book and look forward to their next books.

I took this to NYC with me to read on the plane and get some history of NY and also for the walking tours. The book is divided up by time periods, from before the Europeons to present day. It's an interesting fast paced history focusing on the places and institutions of NYC and the people associated with them. Lots of interesting trivia. On the down side, it's a relatively large book, 364 pages and standard size. Not easy to carry around. But what really put me off this book were the walking tours. I bought the book basically to take these tours and really understand the history behind what I was seeing. We were going to the Statue of Liberty so we decided to do Tour 2, Wall Street and Beyond. Forget it. The "map" was sketchy with lots of streets not named. The directions for walking did not correspond to the streets on the map. The sites we were supposed to look for were named in the text but on the map they were numbers and to figure out what site the numbers corresponded to you have to go to the front of the book where they are listed in numerical order. Sound confusing? Try doing it with a husband and nine year old waiting on marching orders and hundreds of thousands of people milling around. After flipping back and forth furiously for an hour I just gave up and used my no frills guide book. I really like the idea of this book but it needs work to make it more user friendly.

Breezy pop history of Manhattan by reference to notable people and places, which seems appealing, judging by prior reviews, to out-of-towners, although it doesn't purport to be anything other than a selective historical guide. But how many New Yorkers have been to the Statute of Liberty or the Empire State Building, much less, for example, Governor's Island, or know their history? For New Yorkers it's good to be reminded of the likes of Peter Stuyvesant; and there's interesting history in this book regarding places denizens of the Magic Island have never much thought about. The read is effortless, informative and enjoyable. The author-couple is free of cant or ideology. Just the facts, Ma'am. There are many deeper accounts/guides re NYC specializing in architecture, Tammany politics, the subways, the Brooklyn Bridge, the WTC, and even natural history and geology. This is Manhattan 101 and works on that level. Guides such as Lonely Planet, which no Manhattanite would ever think of perusing, are probably more satisfying overall. The text is mapped into 14 walking tours, which, predictably, exemplify the guide's limited breadth, as the walker passes all kinds of interesting sites that are not treated in the main narrative. There can never be too many useful and informative books about NYC, for reasons these authors readily and continually explain.

I got this book a couple months before we left on a three day trip to New York City. I read it twice before going and was so excited to actually see the city! The writers did such a great job of not only relaying the historical information but making it very fun and interesting to read. While we were there I remembered so many things from the book and was able to really dwell on the historical aspect of what I was looking at. We were going to do the Central Park walking tour but once we got to the park we realized we just didn't have enough time to do the entire thing so we didn't actually do a full walking tour. But, as we wandered through, we pulled out the book numerous times to remind ourselves of what we were looking at. This book made our trip so much more memorable. Rather than just going and doing a whirlwind tour we set out with a goal of knowing the background of where we were going and we accomplished it!
Now that we are back from the trip I'm reading through the book again and am now enjoying reading about the places I have visited.

A good book with bite size pieces of NYC history from it's inception as a Dutch Colony to present. It debunks some of the common myths. Also has nice walking tours laid out in the back.