Gramercy Park: An American Bloomsbury

by Carole Klein

New York's Gramercy Park was the Bloomsbury of America. Here Samuel Ruggles, who created Gramercy Park, hosted a grand ball for the visiting celebrity Charles Dickens and his "fat little wife." Here Walt Whitman gratefully accepted from Richard Watson Gilder a rare invitation to a party at a time when few found the poet of Leaves of Grass socially acceptable. Edwin Booth, paralyzed by remorse over his brother's assassination of the president, here sat silently behind drawn curtains. And here O. Henry searched the faces of New York's first underground travelers for the tales he would write about the city he called "Bagdad on the Subway." Gramercy Park brings to life a place and time of dazzling intellectual achievement. Walk with Henry James, Edith Wharton, Herman Melville, George Bellows, and scores of others in an intimate tour of the extraordinary place that helped shape the literary and artistic values of modern America.

Genres: Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

Reviews

[Judith Cartisano · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. It wasn't what I expected. I was given a copy and thought it would be about the development of Gramercy Park. Instead it was a fascinating account of the lives of artists, writers and others who called the Gramercy Park neighborhood their home from 1822 to 1939. Highly recommended.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wonderful portrait of an amazing neighborhood! This illuminating multibiography of the amazing personalities that have hung their hat in this historic New York neighborhood will keep you reading for hours. Highly recommended for its lively description of literary and artistic stars. This book is a guaranteed to please if you enjoy historical nonfiction.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember exactly when I got this book - while in summer school at NYU in 1999. It's been on my shelf ever since, waiting to be read. I had a vague idea that it was some sort of late nineteenth century work of american lit. That was completely wrong - it's actually a non-fiction history of the neighborhood in New York City. It's surprisingly compelling. The author essentially strings together a series of mini-biographies of famous New Yorkers who were in some way affiliated with the neighborhood. Definitely not for everyone, but I really enjoyed it.

[Jeri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apparently a "sleeper", its a description of the development of Gramercy Park, NYC, from 1822-1939. Fascinating historical depiction of the area and the times.