Customer Reviews

The WPA Guide to New York City: The Federal Writers' Project Guide to 1930s New York (American Guide)

5 star:		(6)
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3 star:		(2)
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Anyone interested in New York City will find this book absolutely fascinating. Imagine being transported to the City's golden age -the years during which America was emerging from the Depression---and before being thrust into World War Two. The City is chronicled neighborhood by neighborhood and includes interesting historical background information. With this book you will see New York through the eyes of the past; One of my all time favorites.

I haven't read any of the Guides yet, but I just finished reading "Soul of a People: The WPA Writers' Project Uncovers Depression America" by David A. Taylor. I found it to be a fascinating read and I recommend it to anyone interested in the Guides. What I found particularly interesting was that the Project was always under fire for alleged connections with communism. From the chapter on the Guide to New York City is the following: "The red-bating was intensifying. Earlier in the year, Congress had tarred the Project broadly with the brush of communism and managed to get FDR to slash the budgets of the arts projects under the WPA." There are numerous references throughout this book to links with communism, un-American, etc. The stories of the people who actually wrote the guides are all of great interest. I do not mean to imply that anyone was ever proven to be a communist, just that there were frequent allegations. In particular was the opinion of many that anyone working on the Guides was lazy and just living off the government, i.e, socialism. You'll have to read it for yourself. I think you'll be glad you did.

This well written guide had intersting facts about this - the greatest city in the world. The majority of the buildings described are still standing. The descriptions of the city in 1939 are facinating to read. Well worth reading if you are planning to visit 21st century New York and a must for any New Yorker

Part of a massive government-sponsored writing project to help put the nation's writers back to work during the Great Depression, the WPA Guide to New York City takes the reader back to the New York City of the 1930's, neighborhood by neighborhood, block by block, building by building. You can almost taste the blintzes on the Lower East Side and the aroz con pollo in Spanish Harlem. This remarkable book about our nation's most remarkable city is as close to time travel as you can get--and what a trip!

This is the third copy of this book I've bought over the years; I gave the other two to New Yorkers.

Like the rest of this long series of guides to U.S. destinations, it was written under the Roosevelt-era W.P.A. by an array of higly talented, highly unemployed writers.

If you love the City, or even are curious as to What Went Wrong, this particular guide is a great work. Wonderful Black and White photos, and fine writing.

A facinating treasure trove of detailed and documented information on New York's neighborhoods. The bibliorgaphy is an invaluable but often neglected resource. Despite its extensive detail, the text is a facinating read.

I'm writing a novel set in 1930s New York and for research purposes, this book is a great starting point. But as for simply sitting down and reading it all the way through, well, it's a bit dull. For a better sense of the sweep and drama of New York's history, try tracking down New York Panorama, also put out by the WPA around the same time.

This is a very good guide to New York City at the time it was originally written (1939). I must, however, rate it at only three stars for the following reason:

I've seen the original in libraries, and said original contained, inside the back cover, a pocket with a detailed street map of New York City, and this map was NOT included in this reprint. From my own standpoint as a cartographer, this is inexcusable.

Robert L. Sklar