The Birthday Party and over 400,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle – Amazon’s new wireless reading device. Learn more

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
More Buying Choices
91 used & new from $0.50
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
The Birthday Party: A Memoir of Survival
 
 
See all product images
See 1 customer image
Share your own customer images
Search inside another edition of this book
Start reading The Birthday Party on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
 
  

The Birthday Party: A Memoir of Survival (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "In New York City, 1998, crime was down, but not out, as I was to learn the night before my thirty-eighth birthday..." (more)
Key Phrases: velour scarf, cash machine card, New York, Bottom Line, Social Security (more...)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
List Price: $24.95
Price: $22.25 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $2.70 (11%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Want it delivered Wednesday, February 10? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
17 new from $5.00 74 used from $0.50

Formats

 Amazon Price New from Used from
Kindle Edition $9.99   -- --
Hardcover $22.25   $5.00 $0.50
Paperback, Bargain Price $6.00   $4.99 $3.95
Audio, CD, Unabridged $55.48   $49.97 $58.68
Unknown Binding $59.99   $56.63 --
Audio, Download Offsite Link $15.73 or less with new Audible membership

Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Counterknowledge by Damian Thompson

The Birthday Party: A Memoir of Survival + Counterknowledge
Price For Both: $39.37

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: The Birthday Party: A Memoir of Survival by Stanley N. Alpert

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Counterknowledge by Damian Thompson

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Fresh Kills

Fresh Kills

by Bill Loehfelm
3.3 out of 5 stars (38)  $3.43
Meat: A Love Story

Meat: A Love Story

by Susan Bourette
3.6 out of 5 stars (7)  $4.84
Starting Out in the Evening

Starting Out in the Evening

by Brian Morton
4.3 out of 5 stars (47)  $4.57
For Liberty and Glory: Washington, Lafayette, and Their Revolutions

For Liberty and Glory: Washington, Lafayette, and Their Revolutions

by James R. Gaines
4.5 out of 5 stars (8)  $5.93
Counterknowledge

Counterknowledge

by Damian Thompson
2.6 out of 5 stars (11)  $17.12
› Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this tartly written memoir recalling his 1998 kidnapping, Alpert, a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, describes his abduction and release, and the subsequent trial of the kidnappers, with an impressive amount of detail and only the occasional note of self-congratulation for how he handled the ordeal. On the night before his 38th birthday, Alpert was forced at gunpoint into a car near his Greenwich Village apartment, blindfolded, made to relinquish his ATM and PIN, and driven to Brooklyn, where he was kept in an apartment full of oddly personable, gun-wielding youths and teenage prostitutes. In between violent threats, the criminals solicited legal advice concerning past crimes and offered him pot and sexual favors in honor of his birthday. After 25 hours, they handed their hostage $20 cab money and left him in Prospect Park. Though the second part of the account, detailing the mechanics of the arrests and sentencing of the perpetrators, along with Alpert's return to normalcy, is relatively dry and slow, Alpert delivers an honest, vivid chronicle of the suspenseful event itself in the memoir's first half. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

The view from inside the trunk of a car is delivered in this harrowing, first-person account of kidnapping, robbery, and revenge. Alpert, who now heads his own law firm, worked for 13 years as an assistant U. S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. On January 21, 1988, the eve of Alpert's thirty-eighth birthday, he was snatched from a Greenwich Village sidewalk by a carful of thugs, blindfolded and held at gunpoint, and taken to a Brooklyn apartment where his captors tried to figure out how to profit from their big catch. This story is told in two parts, effectively giving a satisfying narrative arc to Alpert's complex ordeal: the first part is "Mouse," recounting Alpert's victimization; the second part is "Cat," in which Alpert pursues his former captors. A street-smart prosecutor, Alpert delivers an unflinching look at the humiliating, terrifying role of the victim, lacing his plight with commentary on contemporary crime and the creaking judicial system. The second part reads as compellingly as the first and with every bit as much suspense. An effective, one-two punch of a memoir. Connie Fletcher
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Putnam Adult; First Edition edition (January 18, 2007)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0399154027
  • ISBN-13: 978-0399154027
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (76 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #503,839 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

More About the Author

Stanley N. Alpert
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

› Visit Amazon's Stanley N. Alpert Page
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:
Inside This Book (learn more)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence:
In New York City, 1998, crime was down, but not out, as I was to learn the night before my thirty-eighth birthday. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
velour scarf, cash machine card
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, Bottom Line, Social Security, Wilbur Davis, Park Slope, Luis Ramos, Eastern Parkway, East River, East Village, Seventh Avenue, Linden Boulevard, West Village, Jimmy Glynn, Chase Bank, Kennedy Airport, Prospect Park, Attorney's Office, Thank God, Scott Daniels, Kings Plaza, William Glynn, Mobil Oil, Fifth Avenue, Sixth Precinct, Jersey City
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Search Inside This Book:

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(7)
(5)
(3)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(2)
(1)
(1)
(1)
Agree with these tags?
See all 20 tags...

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags
 

Customer Reviews

76 Reviews
5 star:
 (38)
4 star:
 (17)
3 star:
 (8)
2 star:
 (11)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (76 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
37 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars How to Save Your Own Life, January 20, 2007
By J Brown Room (A small town called Brooklyn) - See all my reviews
The writer was kidnapped by men with automatic weapons, forcing him into the backseat of a shiny new black Lexus. Money was stolen from the kidnap victim's bank account, and he was held at gunpoint, blindfolded for 26 hours. The writer survived a hellish living nightmare due to his own resourceful answers to kidnappers's questions. Reading his weighing of these answers is one of the MANY great parts of this book. Others are the vividness with which he portrays all the harrowing and terrifying and yes, comical moments of this crime. This is an unbelievable story (law enforcement did not even believe the story for a day or 2!) told unbelievably well.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars rate the book, not the story, not the morals, February 4, 2007
By Critical Reader (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
This is a great book! yes, the story itself pulls at your emotions and yes there are Lessons. But we are here to buy books --or at least find out which ones to demand that the libary get--and I'd like to stick on point: this is a great book. it tells its story with energy and even if you know the ending (dead men write no books) I for one was pulled in every second, wanting to know How it happened and Why it Happened. Stanley Alpert delivers.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
19 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Poorly written, February 20, 2007
By L. Feit (Santa Babara, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I ordered this book after reading a great review in the New York Times and hearing him interviewed on NPR. Both of those were vastly better than the book itself. For this I do not blame the author who is not a writer by trade. I blame the publisher and editors. They couldn't help him out and make it less like a high-school essay? Stream his interview, its a lot more entertaining!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars STAN THE MAN!!!
I watched an interview with Stanley Alpert on Dateline in which he described his "Birthday Party." I was so impressed with Mr. Read more
Published 17 days ago by Miss Picky!

5.0 out of 5 stars An Incredible Read!
As a judge and former prosecutor, I could hardly put this book down. I read it in just a little over a 24 hour period. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Brent M. Craig

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't miss the "party"!
Must-read about an average man -- maybe you or me -- who gets snatched off the streets by a bunch of lunatic hoodlums, who might rob him and leave him for dead.... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Joel Alpert

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome true tale!
Mr. Alpert's true tale of his kidnapping was entertainment at it's finest. Don't believe the naysayers, reading is a form of entertainment and just because it is in print it does... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Disciple of Poseidon

4.0 out of 5 stars Seriously comical
This book's subject matter is very serious, but the author's depiction of the events kept me laughing. He has told how to look danger in the eye and find humor in the situation.
Published 4 months ago by C. L. Martinez

2.0 out of 5 stars It's okay...
Wow, this guy REALLY likes to toot his own horn (about how successful he is, blah blah blah...)! The story's not bad - it's kind of interesting, but the victim has such an air of... Read more
Published 8 months ago by J. Wiglesworth

4.0 out of 5 stars Real Kidnapping; real police work
This book details the events and aftermath of the kidnapping of Stanley Alpert, a 38 year old U.S. Attorney in New York City. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Naor Wallach

5.0 out of 5 stars An Extraordinary Story, Remarkably Well Done
Stanley Alpert's *The Birthday Party* is a remarkably well done account of an extraordinary story. Of the thousands of books I've read in my life, this one is unique in that the... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Magic Book Guy

4.0 out of 5 stars The kidnappers never stood a chance
Crazy though it might seem, the kidnappers (armed with guns and no strangers to crime) never stood a chance against the arsenal of intelligence Alpert had going for him. Read more
Published 15 months ago by M. Zierler

3.0 out of 5 stars Maryland Mom
I found the Birthday Party to be a very entertaining book, although the other reviewers are correct in their assertions that the author is full of himself. Read more
Published 18 months ago by A Reader

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   

Listmania!


Create a Listmania! list

So You'd Like to...


Create a guide

Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)

Look for Similar Items by Category

Look for Similar Items by Subject

Search Books by subject:

















i.e., each book must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...
Ad
 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.