Paradise Bronx

July 1, 2024
A thorough examination of the history of the Bronx from colonial times up to the present. Readers expecting a comic tone from New Yorker writer Frazier, author of Gone to New York, Travels in Siberia, and other acclaimed books, won't find it here. It's not entirely clear why he devotes a massive volume to the Bronx, aside from the fact that the author, who lives in a New Jersey suburb of New York, decided at some point about 15 years ago that he would walk a cumulative 1,000 miles in the borough. Frazier chronicles his deliberate pacing through the years, documenting what is known about the Native Americans who moved through the area before the Dutch settlers arrived, reflecting on the enslaved people who lived there in colonial times, and analyzing the impact of Revolutionary War battles on the area. Tangents abound: Frazier spends many pages, for example, on the life, travels to France, and mistresses of politician and occasional Bronx resident Gouverneur Morris, who was at least in part responsible for the preamble to the U.S. Constitution and who gave his name to the Bronx's Morrisania neighborhood. Using mainly secondary sources, the author traces a narrative arc that leads up to the "paradise" era in the 1930s and '40s, when children of Jewish immigrants played stickball in the streets; down to the lows of the 1970s, when fires seemed to sweep continually through the neighborhoods; through the rise of hip-hop and on to today, including the effects of gentrification. As he approaches the present, Frazier further inserts himself into the story, adding anecdotes about people he met on his walks or summarizing interviews with those who have had an impact on the community. A dense appreciation of a unique area that will appeal to those who have had enough tales of Manhattan.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from July 1, 2024
Ardent explorer and longtime New Yorker writer Frazier (Cranial Fracking, 2021) "set out to walk a thousand miles in the Bronx" while also conducting extensive archival journeys to create a profound portrait of this storied place, reaching back to the glaciers and its first people and forward to today. Vivid profiles of historical figures, including Anna Hutchinson (enshrined in the Hutchinson River) and the nearly forgotten Founding Father, Gouverneur Morris, alternate with the stories of individuals Frazier meets on his meanderings. As he treks through space and time, the Bronx rises, falls, and resurrects. Manors are built by enslaved people. The Revolutionary War brings pitched battles and wanton everyday violence. The railroads are constructed, and Manhattanites flock to the still-bucolic Bronx. The arrival of diverse immigrants, factories, the subways, and affordable housing coalesce into an integrated people's paradise inspiring homegrown jazz, Latin music, and legendary careers on many fronts. But the powers-that-be allowed the now infamous Robert Moses to mastermind the destruction of thriving neighborhoods to make way for the Cross Bronx Expressway. This catastrophic devastation instigated the infamous burning Bronx of the 1970s, followed by the phoenix-from-the-ashes creation of hip-hop and the determination of community activists who rescued the borough. The culmination of many years of passionate inquiry, Frazier's deep history--grandly detailed, vibrant, and caring--does right by the resilient, ever-morphing Bronx.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.