The Park and the People: A History of Central Park [Hardcover]

Roy Rosenzweig (Author), Elizabeth Blackmar (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1992

This "exemplary social history" (Kirkus Reviews) is the first full-scale account of Central Park ever published. Elizabeth Blackmar and Roy Rosenzweig tell the story of Central Park's people--the merchants and landowners who launched the project; the immigrant and African-American residents who were displaced by the park; the politicians, gentlemen, and artists who disputed its design and operation; the German gardeners, Irish laborers, and Yankee engineers who built it; and the generations of New Yorkers for whom Central Park was their only backyard. In tracing the park's history, Blackmar and Rosenzweig give us the history of New York, and bring to life larger issues about the meaning of the word "public" in a democratic society.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this prodigiously researched, eloquent work, history professors Rosenzweig (George Mason University) and Blackmar (Columbia) have written an outstanding study of the evolution of Manhattan's Central Park, from its early days as a carriage promenade for the rich to its development as a haven from urban stress for all classes of people. Construction of the park, which was conceived by the wealthy both as a boon to the public and as a means to enhance real estate values, began in 1856. The project displaced 1600 park site residents, including Seneca, an African American community; exploited the laborers who cleared the land; and was rife with disputes between Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the architects who won the design competition. Although the emphasis is on the first 50 years of the park's development, Robert Moses's reign as park commissioner from 1934 to 1960 is adequately covered, as is the current controversial dependence on the private sector to finance this beautiful, democratic public space. Illustrated.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

What took 166 tons of dynamite, six million bricks, 19,000 cubic yards of sand, 20,000 men, and $5 million to build? If you answered New York's Central Park, give yourself a perfect grade. The same is awarded this magnificent public works history, a masterpiece combining the story of the park, the history of New York, city and state politics, and the people of the city. Central Park was conceived in the 1840s, built in the depression era of 1857, and renovated during the Great Depression. The authors have exhausted primary and secondary sources to produce this definitive work, which surpasses an earlier photographic history, Circle of Seasons . From the work of park designers Frederic Law Olmsted and Calbert Vaux to New Deal park commissioner Robert Moses to the administration of Elizabeth Barlow Rogers, the volume is a rare combination of scholarship and readable text. The emphasis is on the 19th century and the park's formative decades, including design, property acquisition, and the men whose labor created the world's best-known park. Ignoring neither the vested interests of the propertied class who stood to benefit from the park nor the fear of crime in Central Park, Rosenzweig and Blackmar produce a model history--not just of the park but of the city and people who turn to it for amusement, recreation, relaxation, and more.
-Boyd Childress, Auburn Univ. Lib., Ala.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 623 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press (October 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801425166
• ISBN-13: 978-0801425165
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.9 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,089,503 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-must read if you're serious about Central Park., December 31, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Park and the People: A History of Central Park (Hardcover)

"The Park and the People" is an exquisite work of scholarship. I've read much about the park but nothing approaches the depth of knowledge and insight contained in this extraordinary book. It's provocative, exciting, extremely well written, and downright readable. I learned something new on every page and simply could not put it down.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an excellent work, June 1, 2006

By 

Peter G. Buckley "petermenlo" (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Park and the People: A History of Central Park (Paperback)

This is not just a wonderful study of the park itself but a wonderful route into the social world of 19th century new york....one of the points of the book is that the park's boundaries were never natural, however naturalistic the winning design, but were, in the broadest sense, political. What remains today in the park was always fought over and contested.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amerian Masterpiece, December 16, 2005

By 

Shannon Deason (Houston) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Park and the People: A History of Central Park (Paperback)

No park has been so exhaustively researched, photographed and documented as this 843 acre oasis. So in saying this book stands out, I'm really saying something. This history of this park is just fascinating and the photos are just wonderful, Mr. Rosenzweig does fine research and it shows, his love for the park is evident in his writing and it makes the book all the more enjoyable. Central Park is the heart of the city, and to understand New York you really need to understand the history of the park. A New York without a Central Park is just unimaginable. I highly recommend this book.