Postcards from Manhattan: Sights & Sentiments from the Last Century [Paperback]

George L. Lankevich (Author)

Book Description

Series: Postcards From... | Publication Date: May 2003

These unique full-color books capture the events and emotions of times gone by through beautiful postcard images, personal messages, and captivating text. Each book is designed to bring alive not only the sights of the last century, but also the sentiments—whether those of a young actress telling her family that she’s landed a job with Rudy Vallee’s revue, or of an army corporal letting his friend know that he’ll be discharged by Christmas 1941. Perfect as mementos, pictorial histories, and gifts, the Postcards From . . . Series transports you back in time, allowing you to explore the events, places, and people that have enriched our country and our culture.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This postcard-shaped, spiral-bound book gives readers a walking tour of Manhattan, from Battery Park to the top of the island via a terrific set of vintage and contemporary postcards. The images generally document one or another landmark building or site straightforwardly-with the rare fanciful or moody shot. Yet what sometimes emerges is less a collection of postcards than one man's overwrought love letter to New York. Historian Lankevich captions the cards in an informative, but often deliriously over-the-top manner: the Stock Exchange is "one of the most intimidating places on earth." Lankevich also writes, "Everything about Manhattan is stupendous and inadequate....It is a place of blind ambitions, intellectual hauteur, and frightening indifference." One need not be a Brooklynite to ask: "Everything?" Yet when the original inscriptions are visible or provided by Lankevich, they are bizarre, hilarious and romantic. "The Matt Hudsons" write: "Well Chas! This is some place. Boy, no place for an Okie! They don't even speak our language." One shows an entire street covered with hanging laundry, with the mysterious scrawled inscription: "Please-stop praying, if you don't, we will all be drowned. Jack." The overall impression is of a group of transfixed outsiders looking in. Combine that with vintage drawings and photographs of places like the Empire State Building, Riverside Drive mansions, a teeming Hester Street, and cheesy productions incorporating all of the most famous at once-and the result is an unusual perspective on a much-vaunted metropolis.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

George J. Lankevich received his PhD in American History from Columbia University. He taught for over thirty years in the City University of New York, and is now a professor emeritus. Dr. Lankevich is the author of over twenty volumes of history, including New York City: A Short History.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Square One Publishers (May 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0757001017
• ISBN-13: 978-0757001017
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 8.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,762,988 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Big Nino, March 8, 2007

By 

Louis R. Caruso - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Postcards from Manhattan: Sights & Sentiments from the Last Century (Paperback)

My wife and I sent this book to my father/in/law who grew up in lower Manhattan many years ago. He thoroughly enjoyed all the postcards, the narrative information and the entire "front to back" history. There were many informational definitions of locations of which he was not aware. He was reminded of many memories as he paged through the book and was enjoying daily reviews of the book time and time again.