The Mad Monks' Guide to New York City (The mad Monk's guides) [Paperback]

Michael Lane (Author)

Book Description

Series: The mad Monk's guides | Publication Date: January 20, 1999

The Naked Truth on the Naked City In the deep, dark 1980s, Jim Crotty and Michael Lane quit their jobs, traded everything they owned for a 26-foot motorhome, and hit the road with their cats, their convictions, and a solar-powered Mac. Their mission: to travel the great American landscape and report on the incredible people, places, and parking lots they encountered along the way. One fateful day, their Monkmobile rattled into New York… "Reading these guys is like watching a grainy, irreverent film about America—real, unreal, surreal." —The Boston Globe "[The Monks] don't simply document a chosen city or region. They dissect it, demystify it, revel in its oddities." —San Diego Union Tribune "Modern troubadors…writing about themselves and America." —The New York Times "Kerouacs of the ’90s." —The Seattle Times "An unshaven version of Travel & Leisure." —Utne Reader Annie Sprinkle ■ Bar Hopping Blessing of the Animals Circus Amok ■ Cupcake Cafe Domsey's Warehouse ■ Dr. Zizmor Driving to Ellis Island Fly Fishing in Central Park Fresh Kills Dump ■ Gene Pool Lady Bunny ■ The Mermaid Parade Mother Cabrini Shrine The New York Doll Hospital The Phun Phactory ■ Quentin Crisp Sideshows by the Seashore The Subway Inn ■ Supreme Macaroni The West Indian Dry Parade Wigstock ■ and more, More, More Visit us online at www.frommers.com

Editorial Reviews

Review

"As astute and oddball a guidebook as that heavily over-guidebooked megalopolis could hope for." -- Los Angeles Times, April, 1999

"The Mad Monks' Guide To New York City is truly alternative. Witty, subversive and profane, it brims with life, like the city it so passionately chronicles." -- Chicago Tribune, May, 1999

"The coolest guys ever to emerge from a 1986 Fleetwood Bounder motorhome." -- USA Today, April, 1999

"Unlike traditional travel books, the Mad Monks' Guide to New York City cuts right to 'the soul of the city.' Along with the sublime and the bizarre is a cornucopia of the great city's diverse culture, from bars and restaurants to entertainment spots, making it probably as useful for those who live in the city as for those planning to visit it." -- Reuters News Service, April, 1999

From the Publisher

"As astute and oddball a guidebook as that heavily over-guidebooked megalopolis could hope for."Los Angeles Times

"Talk about alternative guides. The Mad Monks' Guide to New York City is truly alternative. Witty, subversive and profane, it brims with life, like the city it so passionately chronicles."Chicago Tribune

"Unlike traditional travel books, the Mad Monks' Guide to New York City cuts right to 'the soul of the city.' Along with the sublime and the bizarre is a cornucopia of the great city's diverse culture, from bars and restaurants to entertainment spots, making it probably as useful for those who live in the city as for those planning to visit it."Reuters News Service

"Reading these guys is like watching a grainy, irreverent film about Americareal, unreal, surreal." The Boston Globe

"The world of travel writing has seen some big bylines. Chaucer, Kerouac, and of course Kuralt. Now some might add the Monks." Ed Bradley, CBS TV

"The coolest guys ever to eme! rge from a 1986 Fleetwood Bounder motorhome." USA Today --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (January 20, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0028627555
• ISBN-13: 978-0028627557
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,079,752 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GENIUS, GENIUS, GENIUS!, May 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Mad Monks' Guide to New York City (The mad Monk's guides) (Paperback)

Here I am, spitting and cussing and followed by my tribe of beautiful wife, giggling baby, manic dog, neurotic cat, tiny overpriced one-bedroom apartment in Manhattan, thirty-two South Bronx homeroom students, anti-situationist buddies in the Yale Art History Graduate School, coffee shop aficionados, strange relatives, no money, one as yet unfinished great American novel, an entire collection of badly washed decaying old college clothes, and, last but not least, one pristine, mint, delectable copy of "The Mad Monks' Guide to New York City." Genius! Genius! Genius!

But who are these morons who keep giving the Monks the cliched comparisons to Kerouac and Kuralt? Where are the comparisons to the greats? As convoluted, descriptive, and gratuitous as a Faulkner sentence! As minutely involved as Wolf! As sharp and evocative as Hemmingway! As full of life and extraterrestialy wise as Salinger! As innovatively plotted as Joyce! As romantic as Austin! As poetic and erotic as Shakespeare!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars CD Rom version is the best!, November 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Mad Monks' Guide to New York City (The mad Monk's guides) (Paperback)

Funny, irreverant and witty ....took me to places I never would have discovered . . . .what a mind expanding trip without drugs! BRAVO.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Captures "the soul of the city", May 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Mad Monks' Guide to New York City (The mad Monk's guides) (Paperback)

The Mad Monks' Guide to New York City avoids dwelling on well-worn landmarks such as the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty, focusing more on the eccentric and offbeat, such as Miss Vera's Finishing School for Boys Who Want to Be Girls, Fly Fishing in Central and even Toxic Tourism like Staten Island's Fresh Kills Dump, the world's largest dump/landfill.

Along with the sublime and the bizarre is a cornucopia of the great city's diverse culture, from bars and restaurants to entertainment spots, making it probably as useful for those who live in the city as for those planning to visit it.