Customer Reviews

You Must Remember This: An Oral History of Manhattan from the 1890s to World War II

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If that slow, plodding Ric Burns series on PBS was the official history of New York City, "You Must Remember This" is the indispensible people's history: actual voices from the turn of the century (the last century) telling what it was really like to live in the immigrant Lower East Side, the Hell's Kitchen waterfront, Jazz-era Harlem, the last stretches of rural Inwood. With this and "The Box," Kisseloff is hands-down the most perceptive and consistently fascinating oral historian I've read, and yes, that's counting Studs Terkel. Buy one for yourself, and one for a history-lovin' friend.

one of the best written books on these subject thati have ever read, and i have read many.bits of history from those who lived it. no long boring pages, just short very useful and amusing stories. absolutely love this book. sorry it took me so long to order it.

Personal stories for readers who enjoyed Betty Smith's Brooklyn or Joseph Mitchell's character monologues. We see that America has always been built by English-as-a-second-language immigrants. It's not just Manhattan as much as it is the human experience.

kisselhoff manages to recount one of the most interesting periods of history through not only one persons view - but hundreds. By interviewing the people who created and witnessed history, the reader is taken back to a time when stickball was played on the streets and egg cream sodas were the rage. recounted by witnesses, the history of ny is a must read for everyone!

Upon opening this book, and seeing my grandfather's name in the opening line, I knew it would be an interesting read. He was descibed perfectly, even though some could say that is not a good thing. Anyways, great job.

This is one of the best non-fiction titles I've read this year. The author clearly put in a lot of time in finding interesting subjects to interview, then synthesizing their feedback into detailed, intimate, sometimes funny, other times touching accounts of life in NY (split up by neighborhood), when Els still rumbled above Manhattan, immigrants were still crammed into poorly ventilated tenements, and the Meatpacking District still reeked of animal carcasses.

If you're a fan of NYC history, this is one of the best ways to dig deeper and immerse yourself in a narrative that is as easy-reading as it is informative. Some of the anecdotes really come to life, and you can picture the interviewees, with their various accents and socioeconomic backgrounds.

In short, highly recommended!

This is sentimental tripe -- a yuppie's nostalgia for a pre-gentrified city. As for the Amazon.com reviewer who prefers this rubbish to the amazing Ric Burns series or to anything by Studs Turkel -- all I can say is, buddy, you're not a real New Yorker.