Broadway: A History of New York City in Thirteen Miles

by Fran Leadon Narrated by Kevin Pariseau

Overview

Broadway takes us on a mile-by-mile journey that traces the gradual evolution of the seventeenth-century's Brede Wegh, a muddy cow path in a backwater Dutch settlement, to the twentieth century's Great White Way. We learn why one side of the street was once considered more fashionable than the other; witness construction of the Ansonia Apartments, Trinity Church, and the Flatiron Building and the burning of P. T. Barnum's American Museum; and discover that Columbia University was built on the site of an insane asylum. Along the way we meet Alexander Hamilton, Edgar Allan Poe, John James Audubon, Emma Goldman, "Bill the Butcher" Poole, "Texas" Guinan, and the assorted real estate speculators, impresarios, and politicians who helped turn Broadway into a living paradigm of American progress, at its best and worst. Broadway tells the vivid story of what is arguably the world's most famous thoroughfare.

Editorial Reviews

The New York Times Book Review - Clyde Haberman

Say "Broadway" and most people think of the dozen or so blocks that form the spine of the theater district and go far to define New York. But Broadway is a good deal more than that dazzling patch of neon and LED. It is a long, winding ribbon extending from Lower Manhattan through the Bronx and into the Westchester suburbs north of the city. Some blocks are graceful, many others far from it. Rarely, however, are they dull. In Broadway, his meticulously researched book, Fran Leadon, an architect steeped in New York's heritage, takes us on an invigorating historical stroll along the 13 miles that are the thoroughfare's Manhattan portion. Leadon offers textured snapshots of life as it once was, and sometimes still is, dividing his walk into 13 sections, one for each mile, from Bowling Green near the lower tip of the island to Marble Hill…Leadon is graced with a wry wit. Flashes of it are sprinkled throughout…

Publishers Weekly

01/01/2018
Architect Leadon, coauthor of the fifth edition of the AIA Guide to New York City, puts his background to good use in this entertaining look at how the growth and development of New York City’s most famous street paralleled that of Manhattan. Leadon’s method of organizing his rich source material makes the history more digestible; instead of a predictable chronological approach, he devotes a separate section to each single mile of the street, from its southernmost starting point in Bowling Green, north through 228th Street, after which it continues into the Bronx. As with the best popular histories, Leadon enlivens the past through memorable anecdotes, such as that of the accidental origin of the ticker-tape parade. Colorful individuals populate the narrative, including Alfred Ely Beach, who without anyone’s permission built the first subway under Broadway, and Martin Molenaor, a septuagenarian who spuriously claimed that he was the real owner of over 70 acres of prime real estate. Leadon covers other bits of essential ground, detailing the construction of noteworthy buildings, commenting on the role of mass transit in the life of Manhattan, and remarking on the changing nature of political protests in Union Square. This is a welcome complement to more daunting and encyclopedic volumes on New York’s history. Maps & illus. (Apr.)

Wall Street Journal

"Part lively social history, part architectural survey, here is the story of Broadway—from 17th-century cow path to Great White Way."

Kenneth T. Jackson

"Wonderful.… Engagingly written and full of vivid characters. I couldn’t put it down."

Shepherd Express - David Luhrssen

"Fran Leadon’s Broadway is only incidentally about the theaters that are the avenue’s famous feature, but is, as the subtitle promises, a witty and informed history of New York City—a travelogue through the past."

Booklist

"[Leadon's] knowledge is expansive…[Broadway] is engagingly written and supplemented by good, easy-to-follow maps at each milestone."

Bowery Boys blog

"Fran Leadon… is a perfect biographer for Broadway, a main character in the development of one of the world’s great cities. His book is dense, richly written and researched, loaded with a million fun anecdotes."

Bowling Green Daily News - Richard D. Weigel

"Well-written and very readable. I recommend it highly for anyone with an interest in New York City and its history. In following the journey up Broadway mile by mile, the reader can better understand a lot of American history and the trip is quite enjoyable."

The Guardian - David Taylor

"A new history of the street that tells the story of modern America."

John Lahr

"Fran Leadon’s Broadway uses the thirteen miles of the great New York avenue to tell the remarkable story of the city’s evolution—its landmarks and legends, its high-rollers and lowriders. Part architectural history, part social history, it’s a cornucopia of intellectual delights. Endlessly fascinating and full of fun."

Mike Davis

"A magical mystery tour of the street that invented American popular culture."

Clyde Haberman

"Meticulously researched…Leadon’s tale is a whirl of characters…It is a whirl, too, of events…graced with wry wit."

Kirkus Reviews

2018-01-22
Four hundred years in the life of a road the original Dutch settlers referred to as Brede Wegh (Broad Way).For a thoroughfare that, in the early 1600s, had such poor drainage that "the roadbed quickly became a foul stew of mud and horse manure," Broadway hasn't done too badly for itself over the ensuing centuries. In this opinionated work, architect Leadon (Architecture/City Univ. of New York) tells the story of Broadway in Manhattan, from Bowling Green in the south to the Bronx in the north. The book has 13 sections, one per mile, with stories behind the development of each neighborhood. The author gives space to everyone from the architects who designed Broadway's iron buildings to the theater world's stars and impresarios. Leadon calls the area's "lack of coherence" or development strategy "the urban planning equivalent of throwing dice." This is an impressively detailed history, sometimes overly so. Leadon is fond of long lists—e.g., items for sale in Constable's department store, "so comprehensively opulent, that it practically defined the Gilded Age"; the curios producer David Belasco kept in the studio above his theater; the diseases that killed New Yorkers in the early 19th century—and some readers may tire of repeated references to money: how much a property cost, the equivalent amount in today's dollars, etc. Still, Leadon offers plenty of entertaining anecdotes. George M. Cohan "insisted that his dressing room be decorated floor-to-ceiling with American flags," and Thomas Edison promoted his incandescent bulb in 1882 when he "mounted light bulbs on the heads of a contingent of militiamen and had them drag a steam engine and dynamo up Broadway." And the author has a way with a takedown: he notes that John Jacob Astor IV, pampered member of America's richest family in the 1890s, was known as "Jack Ass" and that his drowsy expression in photos made it seem "as if submitting to the lens was an hour of yachting lost forever."A lively history of one of the most famous streets in America.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171417826
Publisher:	HighBridge Company
Publication date:	04/17/2018
Edition description:	Unabridged

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