South Bronx Rising: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of an American City
35 years after this landmark of urban history captured the rise, fall, rebirth, and continuing struggles of some of New York's most storied neighborhoods—and some of its poorest—Jill Jonnes returns to a South Bronx that has arrived. The borough once world-famous for burning is globally renowned as the birthplace of hip-hop. A generation of volunteers has transformed parks and waterfronts once choked with a century's worth of refuse into oases welcoming back local wildlife. For better or worse, investors have noticed, building an emerging skyline of luxury residential towers. And after decades of neglect or worse by governments, institutions, and traditional media, the Bronx's own activists, artists, and opinion-makers have grabbed the mic to fight the crises of urban poverty that went unspoken-of for so long: gentrification, environmental justice, the carceral state, and income inequality.

Bringing the story up to date with the voices of Bronxites both familiar and new, Jonnes chronicles the generations of immigrants who have made their homes in the Bronx, from early urbanization through the devastation of the 1970s, the rebuilding and recovery of the 1990s, the developers' hunt for the next Williamsburg, and the COVID-19 pandemic. What's next for the Bronx in an era when developers vie with longtime residents for the soul of the neighborhood, when people-powered activists fight to upend politics as usual, and when the devastation of a pandemic gives way to unprecedented but fragile investment by state and federal authorities? There's no question: The Bronx on the rise. But who gets to rise with it?

"1118138854"
South Bronx Rising: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of an American City
35 years after this landmark of urban history captured the rise, fall, rebirth, and continuing struggles of some of New York's most storied neighborhoods—and some of its poorest—Jill Jonnes returns to a South Bronx that has arrived. The borough once world-famous for burning is globally renowned as the birthplace of hip-hop. A generation of volunteers has transformed parks and waterfronts once choked with a century's worth of refuse into oases welcoming back local wildlife. For better or worse, investors have noticed, building an emerging skyline of luxury residential towers. And after decades of neglect or worse by governments, institutions, and traditional media, the Bronx's own activists, artists, and opinion-makers have grabbed the mic to fight the crises of urban poverty that went unspoken-of for so long: gentrification, environmental justice, the carceral state, and income inequality.

Bringing the story up to date with the voices of Bronxites both familiar and new, Jonnes chronicles the generations of immigrants who have made their homes in the Bronx, from early urbanization through the devastation of the 1970s, the rebuilding and recovery of the 1990s, the developers' hunt for the next Williamsburg, and the COVID-19 pandemic. What's next for the Bronx in an era when developers vie with longtime residents for the soul of the neighborhood, when people-powered activists fight to upend politics as usual, and when the devastation of a pandemic gives way to unprecedented but fragile investment by state and federal authorities? There's no question: The Bronx on the rise. But who gets to rise with it?

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South Bronx Rising: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of an American City

South Bronx Rising: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of an American City

South Bronx Rising: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of an American City

South Bronx Rising: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of an American City

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Overview

35 years after this landmark of urban history captured the rise, fall, rebirth, and continuing struggles of some of New York's most storied neighborhoods—and some of its poorest—Jill Jonnes returns to a South Bronx that has arrived. The borough once world-famous for burning is globally renowned as the birthplace of hip-hop. A generation of volunteers has transformed parks and waterfronts once choked with a century's worth of refuse into oases welcoming back local wildlife. For better or worse, investors have noticed, building an emerging skyline of luxury residential towers. And after decades of neglect or worse by governments, institutions, and traditional media, the Bronx's own activists, artists, and opinion-makers have grabbed the mic to fight the crises of urban poverty that went unspoken-of for so long: gentrification, environmental justice, the carceral state, and income inequality.

Bringing the story up to date with the voices of Bronxites both familiar and new, Jonnes chronicles the generations of immigrants who have made their homes in the Bronx, from early urbanization through the devastation of the 1970s, the rebuilding and recovery of the 1990s, the developers' hunt for the next Williamsburg, and the COVID-19 pandemic. What's next for the Bronx in an era when developers vie with longtime residents for the soul of the neighborhood, when people-powered activists fight to upend politics as usual, and when the devastation of a pandemic gives way to unprecedented but fragile investment by state and federal authorities? There's no question: The Bronx on the rise. But who gets to rise with it?


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781531501211
Publisher: Fordham University Press
Publication date: 10/04/2022
Pages: 608
Sales rank: 235,139
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Jill Jonnes is an American writer and historian with an M.S. from Columbia Journalism School and a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of Empires of Light: Edison, Tesla, Westinghouse and the Race to Electrify the World; Conquering Gotham: Building Penn Station and Its Tunnels; Eiffel’s Tower: The Thrilling Story Behind Paris’s Beloved Monument and The Extraordinary World’s Fair That Introduced It; and Urban Forests: A Natural History of Trees and People in the American Cityscape.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Third Edition ix

Foreword Nilka Martell xv

Introduction: Do Not Give Way to Evil 3

1 "It Is a Veritable Paradise," 1639-1900 11

2 The First Boom, 1900-1922 27

3 Boss Flynn, 1922 41

4 "The Bronx Is a Great City," 1923-1929 51

5 "Hard Hit by the Depression," 1929-1932 65

6 The New Deal Years, 1933-1939 78

7 War Fever, 1939-1945 85

8 The Diaspora after the War, 1946-1953 91

9 "There Was No Standing Still," 1952-1953 105

10 "Moses Thinks He's God," 1954-1959 117

11 The New Boss, 1959-1963 127

12 "Horse Was the New Thing," 1960 137

13 The New "Other Half," 1962-1966 144

14 The Pondiac's Last Hurrah, 1961-1967 153

15 The Puerto Rican and the Priest, 1962-1967 164

16 Mau-mauing the City, 1967 175

17 Who Will Be Caudillo?, 1968-1969 182

18 "The Whole Place Was Caving In," 1969-1970 199

19 Interlude: Sweet Days on Charlotte Street, 1925-1951 205

20 Charlotte Street: It Was Not a "Good" Neighborhood, 1951-1961 219

21 Charlotte Street: "What a Madhouse It Was," 1961-1968 225

22 Charlotte Street: The Fires, 1969-1973 231

23 Charlotte Street: The Gangs, 1970-1975 236

24 Charlotte Street: The Collapse, 1973-1975 249

25 The Grand Concourse, 1965-1969 268

26 The Hotel and the Concourse, 1969-1976 281

27 Roosevelt Gardens, 1974-1975 288

28 The Grass Roots, 1974-1977 300

29 The President's Magic Visit, 1977-1978 311

30 Disenchantment, 1979-1980 324

31 Charlotte Street and National Politics, 1980 333

32 "The Next Part of the South Bronx," 1972-1978 345

33 "We're Still Here," 1978-1982 363

34 White Picket Fences, 1984 376

35 "South Bronx Rising," 1985-2002 389

36 Still the Poorest Urban Congressional District in America, 2003-Mid-March 2020 441

Covid Afterword 515

Acknowledgments for the Third Edition 547

Notes 551

Bibliography 569

Third Edition Bibliography 579

Index 581

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