Customer Reviews

New York Underground: The Anatomy of a City

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great book for anyone interested in learning more about the Tunnels under New York City. Solis gives interesting accounts of the history behind each kind of tunnel and her own experiences exploring them. She warns that while popular fiction on this topic may be overly romanticized, she sticks solely with the FACTS. However, even thought I am a BIG fan of one such fictional account of the people living below New York City, the '80s TV series "Beauty & the Beast," I was still very much intrigued and amazed by her "real life" stories. Great pictures of the Tunnels found throughout the book as well.

The book is an interesting look into the lost and forgotten places of the New York Underground. There is a lot of history presented by the author which is interesting and insightful.

However, after the book starts exploring the author's expeditions, it sort of becomes like watching a relative's slide show of their recent RV trip. The photographs become "Here I am in [x aqueduct]" and "Here I am in [x tunnel]." In other words, the book loses its focus on being informative, and rather focuses on the author herself.

Excellent book if you are looking for the real stories behind (or below) the streets of NY. Nicely written. Sticks to the facts and the author's impressions of the scenes did not affect the character of the book. The photographs are amazing! If you want a good introduction into the NY underground this is the place to start.

Having ordered this book from Amazon, I did not clue in that it was a large format, paperback, glossy book. I had expected the typical nonfiction book print treatment. This is not a negative just a heads up - it does lend itself to the photographs, maps and plans provided. It is an extremely interesting subterranean history but I would recommend it only for those who are fascinated with New York and/or tunnels and below ground architecture. The author's love of the subject and associated explorations shines throughout the book and that enthusiasm is passed to the reader.

I am a huge fan of the history of New York and this took my interest in a new direction...down. Solis takes us on journeys through the subway and train systems, underground passageways and the immense and sometime interlocking building foundations. The amazing stories that she "digs up" along the way hold interest and the accompanying photographs do not rob one's imagings of what it is like underground New York - they enhance the whole experience. It is also a history of the growth of New York and how strains on fresh water, transportation, electricity, and communications drove the need to tunnel and burrow. As well, it ably proves that 'progress is mostly the product of rogues' by telling the stories of the rich and the entrepreneurial who headed many of the large capital projects underground.

The opulence of some of the now abandoned or destroyed work is awesome. This includes City Hall Station closed since 1945, McAdoo station's vaulted ceilings, the incredible Pennsylvania Station (sad that it is gone), and Grand Central. The Chapter, The Lost Tunnel of Atlantic Avenue, reads like an Indiana Jones movie. Because of reading the book, I may now have to book a private dinner in the restaurant Philip Marie which has a long buried living room beyond its basement which must have resulted when Manhattan was leveled for planned urban development. A very interesting contribution to the incredible history of New York and an area where much more is waiting to be discovered.

Julia Solis' New York Underground is a playful romp beneath New York City, exploring its secret tunnels, basements, labyrinths and other mysterious subterranean passages. Solis appears to be an intrepid and fearless explorer, as she probes underground lairs which most people would not even wish to visit in the realm of dreams (especially in dreams). Of course, the essential irony to New York Underground is that the underground exists at all. New York City is envisioned as a place of verticality, as the colossal drive to move people up and beyond the ground. Solis' book shows that there was no less an impulse to carry Manhattan downward. From grand projects to bring fresh water to the city, to shelters for the homeless, Solis shows how New York's underground spaces have been vital to the growth of this most vibrant city.

One of the great things about growing up in New York City was the ability to go to all sorts of places on the subway system. Unlike suburban kids who couldn't go more than a few blocks from their houses on their bikes, I got to explore most of Manhattan and parts of the rest of greater NY by myself after I turned eleven. I would ride out to my Granny's in Brooklyn and then continue on the train to Coney Island or the Rockaways. As I got older I would wander through some the abandoned 'City Hall' and 'Grand Central Station'. It was a wonderland of grottos, vaulted rooms and concourse.

Salis has done a first rate job of showing those parts of the underground that most people will never see. The color photos are especially delightful because they match the stories in the narrative. Though there is a bit too much of blowing her own horn, no one forces you to read the text and you could content yourself with just looking at the pictures.

Zeb Kantrowitz

This is the best book on the underground realms New York City. It is written and photographically illustrated, without sensationalism, by an experienced, uniquely creative artist, explorer, and frequent denizen of NYC's and the world's hidden underground spaces.

I'm not gonna write a review, but just let you know that I thought this book was brilliant, and hard to put down for a general underground enthusiast and lover of NYC and the subway. Very well written by a woman with an obvious passion for what she does.

The book is okay, just not what I was wanting. I wanted a book of pictures of how they did all the underground stuff in New York City, the progress of constructions and stories of how they did it. The pictures are okay in this book, I was just wanting more.

"(This book) is meant as an armchair guide to the city's nether worlds, not as an invitation to exploration and that is why no private entry locations will be revealed." In other words, tough luck to you, would-be adventurous reader.

Ms Solis displays a certain Teutonic smugness in her writing, and her own translation of her book from German to English grates on the nerves.

I have serious doubts as to whether she actually made at least a couple of the journeys that she claims to her credit, based on my own exploits.

Moreover, she praises the work of graffiti "artists," which is inexcusable from a public safety and welfare standpoint.

I will give her credit for a couple of interesting photos, both her own and from historical archives, but that's about it.