Customer Reviews

The New York City Draft Riots: Their Significance for American Society and Politics in the Age of the Civil War

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

 

 

This is a fine, insightful study of the New York "Draft" Riots, which were about far more than military conscription. It does have some problems of organization and repetition, as others note. Overly harsh critics probably assume that this is a conventional, event-oriented tale of the riots themselves, but Bernstein's forte is analysis rather than narrative. He explains their context, causes and importance for understanding urban tensions in an era of intense stuggles over freedom, industrialization, work, wages, immigration, assimilation and exclusion. He tells the story well enough (though a coherent chronology is hard to locate), focusing on what it reveals about a period of fundamental change in US history. See also T. Anbinder, "Five Points;" N. Ignatiev, "How the Irish Became White;" and the hoary tome by H. Asbury, "Gangs of New York."

If you're looking for descriptive battle sequences of the three-day riot which rocked New York City in July of 1863, this is NOT the book to read. Carefully (and thankfully) avoiding the sensationalism that often accompanies discussions of these draft riots, this book was one of the first to identify and discuss the causes (political, social, economic, racial, etc.) that led up to this insurgence. And, for this, Mr. Bernstein has done a more than admirable job.

However, and as the other reviewer mentions, the book suffers--really suffers--from a good deal of repetition and a haphazard presentation of statistics and other data. Not that the stats don't belong--they absolutely do--I just wish they had been more smoothly incorporated. This is why the title to this review asks where Mr. Bernstein's editor was. Any decent editor could have made this a more engaging text. It could and should maintain its scholarly style, but it doesn't have to be as dry, distant and self-referring as it is now.

My only other critique: Similar riots exploded in Brooklyn during those same days, but little mention is made of that. The reasons for those riots weren't exactly the same. A comparison of the two uprisings would have been interesting. Still, this is a well-researched book but it should only be read for research purposes.

Rocco Dormarunno, author of The Five Points

There is no doubt this is a difficult book with a great deal of repetition. It is difficult to absorb. However, the riots themselves are a confusing and very difficult chapter in American history. It is important for a serious student of New York City history to read this book. Whether you enjoy the tome or not remains to be seen, but it is an absolute essential if you are going to speak seriosly about the 1863 Draft Riots, and the events that followed. Check it out and be prepared to study!

The New York City Draft Riots: Their significance for American Society and Politics in the Age of the Civil War tells the story of the New York City draft riots, following their participants and their underlying importance to the overall social concerns of the times. It's surprising to note that this is the first book to examine the riots in detail, making it a recommendation for any serious college-level American history and social issues collection.

I did not realize this is a reprint of a 1990 book I read as a hardback. I would not have ordered it if I had. This is not a bad history in terms of accuracy, notes, use of sources, reasons or conclusions. The author drills down into the social, cultural and political issues of New York. He details how these items contribute to the worst riot in our history. This is a very detailed work with a good set of maps to supplement the text.
It is one of if not the standard work on the riot. In addition, it is a cure for insomnia. This is a very difficult book to read. For a person interested in labor history and social issues from the 1850s to 1890s this is a great book. If you are looking for information on the draft riot, this is the book but it is a difficult read.

A mediocre read, this author did a fair and to average job in explaining the New York "Draft" Riots, and does at least hit the mark on the fact they were about far more than the draft. This book is somewhat mixed up organizationally; it is also repetitive. I agree with one other reviewer, that the overly harsh critics probably assume that this is a conventional, event-oriented tale of the riots themselves; Mr. Bernstein's forte is analysis rather than narrative. Bernstein explains in his repetitive manner the causes of these urban tensions in an already explosive era of ongoing war were the additional stresses of industrialization, work conditions, wages, immigration, and problems of assimilation. The Irish in particular, were facing harsh discrimination and outright hatred from many groups in New York at the time, over all these issues. A fair to average book, but this is not "Gangs of New York."

I will make this short and to the point. In my later years I've grown to love reading history. This book reminded me of why I hated it in school. The back cover reviews are deceiving. If you enjoy torturing yourself, read this book. It is dry and repetitive. In the first three chapters I had to keep going back to check and see if I was reading the same chapter again and again. I don't expect every book to be a winner but I don't want to feel as if I were in a classroom with a professor who drones on and on in a monotone while spewing tons of info that could have been presented in a more cohesive manor. I had to force myself to read each new sentence in a majority of the book. I find the subject fascinating but this book is not.

If you want to read about the New York City draft riots, do not read this book. As other reviewers have stated the book draggs on and is rediculously repetitive. In addition, the wording of the book makes for a very boring read, and becomes quite confusing at times.

Knowing little about the Draft Riots, I was hoping to learn something. But what I realized, however, is that in order to read this book you must know much about the political history of New York, and have a great desire to learn about trade unions.

How this type of book was released by Oxford press is beyond me. In any case, I found this book to be a waste of time and energy with little use or worth. I would not recommend it at all