In January 1869, construction began on the Brooklyn Bridge. Obviously, work got underway in wintry conditions, but that was just the first of many challenges. That the bridge was built at all was remarkable, and credit goes … Read the article
Karin Tanabe’s A Woman of Intelligence is an exhilarating novel of post-war New York City, and one remarkable woman’s journey from the United Nations, to the cloistered drawing rooms of Manhattan society, to the secretive ranks of … Read the article
It’s always wonderful when a novel becomes a cheap excuse to do a deep dive into a subject near and dear to your heart. When researching Death of a Showman, the fourth Jane Prescott mystery, I was … Read the article
Hugh Ryan’s When Brooklyn Was Queer is a groundbreaking exploration of the LGBT history of Brooklyn, from the early days of Walt Whitman in the 1850s up through the queer women who worked at the Brooklyn Navy … Read the article
In 1904, at the apex of his career, Henry James came home from Europe for the first time in more than 20 years. He’d written many books—Daisy Miller, The Wings of the Dove, What Maisie Knew, Portrait … Read the article
Instead of deriving from folklore, or quaint colonial customs, or religion, the American emergence of Santa Claus was rooted in late-eighteenth-century politics, in the formation of clubs and societies based around ethnic or cultural groups, which came … Read the article
After four seasons at the Carlisle Indian School, Pop Warner was already considered one of the brightest and most innovative coaches in football. However, Pop made the dubious decision to take the field for one last … Read the article
A canal is just a ditch, right? Think again. Artificial rivers like the Erie Canal were dynamic systems that challenged engineers of the 1820s. Water continually flowed in and out … Read the article
When you think of the history of con artists, what images come to mind?
Perhaps it’s the dashing “sharpie in a fedora” stereotype that hearkens to the Roaring Twenties. Maybe it’s the juxtaposition of financial ruin with … Read the article
It’s no secret that FDNY firefighters are among the best in the world, but here’s a little-known fact about New York’s Bravest: a black woman was among the city’s earliest black firefighters. Her name … Read the article