Canarsie: The Jews and Italians of Brooklyn Against Liberalism

by Jonathan Rieder

What accounts for the precarious state of liberalism in the mid 1980s? Why was the Republican Party able to steal away so many ethnic Democrats of modest means in recent presidential elections? Jonathan Rieder explores these questions in his powerful study of the Jews and Italians of Canarsie, a middle-income community that was once the scene of a wild insurgency against racial busing. Proud bootstrappers, the children of immigrants, Canarsians may speak with piquant New York accents, but their story has a more universal appeal. Canarsie is Middle America, Brooklyn-style.

Genres: Politics, History, Sociology, New York, American History, Nonfiction

306 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Daniel Weaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read on how the lower middle classes reacted against government intervention in their neighborhood, esp busing. Gives too much voice to the most radical in the various communities

[Murciaspain]

great book about my old place.