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Columbia History of Urban Life
The Bronx
Home to the New York Yankees, the Bronx Zoo, and the Grand Concourse, the Bronx was at one time a haven for upwardly mobile second-generation immigrants eager to leave the crowded tenements of Manhattan in pursuit of the American dream. Once hailed as a "wonder borough" of beautiful homes, parks, and universities, the Bronx became -- during the 1960s and 1970s -- a national symbol of urban deterioration. Thriving neighborhoods that had long been home to generations of families dissolved under waves of arson, crime, and housing abandonment, turning blocks of apartment buildings into gutted, graffiti-covered shells and empty, trash-filled lots. In this revealing history of the Bronx, Evelyn Gonzalez describes how the once-infamous New York City borough underwent one of the most successful and inspiring community revivals in American history.
From its earliest beginnings as a loose cluster of commuter villages to its current status as a densely populated home for New York's growing and increasingly more diverse African American and Hispanic populations, this book shows how the Bronx interacted with and was affected by the rest of New York City as it grew from a small colony on the tip of Manhattan into a sprawling metropolis. This is the story of the clattering of elevated subways and the cacophony of crowded neighborhoods, the heady optimism of industrial progress and the despair of economic recession, and the vibrancy of ethnic cultures and the resilience of local grassroots coalitions crucial to the borough's rejuvenation. In recounting the varied and extreme transformations this remarkable community has undergone, Evelyn Gonzalez argues that it was not racial discrimination, rampant crime, postwar liberalism, or big government that was to blame for the urban crisis that assailed the Bronx during the late 1960s. Rather, the decline was inextricably connected to the same kinds of social initiatives, economic transactions, political decisions, and simple human choices that had once been central to the development and vitality of the borough. Although the history of the Bronx is unquestionably a success story, crime, poverty, and substandard housing still afflict the community today. Yet the process of building and rebuilding carries on, and the revitalization of neighborhoods and a resurgence of economic growth continue to offer hope for the future.
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 18, 2014
Picking this up to hopefully remove the taint brought about Anthony Bourdain's parts unknown.
September 4, 2018
This clearly written history of the Bronx is told from the point of real estate, which is the way New York continues to develop. Gonzalez clearly outlines the growth of the Bronx and how it went from farming communities to commuter communities to ethnic neighborhoods to slums in a century. The speed with which the changes happened is shocking, but many of us saw it happen. Gonzalez explains in good part how it happened.
She also describes how the Bronx is turning around. If you are interested in New York or urban planning, you'll want to read this short book.
She also describes how the Bronx is turning around. If you are interested in New York or urban planning, you'll want to read this short book.
October 22, 2014
In the 1970s, the South Bronx became a national symbol of urban decay. Neighborhoods such as Hunts Point and Morrisiana lost over half their population in the 1970s alone, as landlords burned low-rent buildings in order to cash in on insurance policies. This book seeks to answer the question: what went wrong?
To start off, the South Bronx was already a working-class industrial neighborhood even in the 1940s. Thus, it was the sort of neighborhood that people were not eager to live in if they could live somewhere else. Gonzalez seems to think that these areas simply were not suburban enough; she implies that when they were built in the late 19th century, South Bronx neighborhoods were already too dense, too renter-oriented, and too mixed-use to satisfy some consumers' tastes for larger dwellings and more suburb-like places. But her theory begs the question- why were so many urban neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Manhattan more successful than the South Bronx?
Gonzalez also points out that government investments accelerated the South Bronx's decline. She notes that even before the 1950s, subway extensions opened up the northern Bronx for development, shifting middle-class commuters away from the South Bronx. In later decades, expressway construction both opened up suburbs for development and caused the destruction of much of the South Bronx's housing stock, while public housing construction in both Harlem and the Bronx destroyed even more housing, causing poor people to switch neighborhoods and making their new neighborhoods less appealing to the working and middle classes. At the same time, government subsidized middle-class housing projects in the east Bronx, creating another avenue of middle-class flight. All of this makes sense- but again, a comparative perspective would have added depth to her discussion. Did the South Bronx suffer more than other working-class neighborhoods in other cities? Why or why not?
Finally, Gonzalez discusses the stabilization of the South Bronx over the last thirty years. Rather than building housing projects itself, government subsidized housing built by nonprofits in a variety of ways- an experiment that, at least in the South Bronx, appears to have been successful. But the South Bronx has been stabilized in part due to Hispanic immigration to New York City. It is not clear whether the government subsidies would have mattered in a declining city with less immigration, or whether poor neighborhoods in other immigrant-heavy growing cities have stabilized without as much government support for housing. Again, a comparative perspective would have made this good book better.
To start off, the South Bronx was already a working-class industrial neighborhood even in the 1940s. Thus, it was the sort of neighborhood that people were not eager to live in if they could live somewhere else. Gonzalez seems to think that these areas simply were not suburban enough; she implies that when they were built in the late 19th century, South Bronx neighborhoods were already too dense, too renter-oriented, and too mixed-use to satisfy some consumers' tastes for larger dwellings and more suburb-like places. But her theory begs the question- why were so many urban neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Manhattan more successful than the South Bronx?
Gonzalez also points out that government investments accelerated the South Bronx's decline. She notes that even before the 1950s, subway extensions opened up the northern Bronx for development, shifting middle-class commuters away from the South Bronx. In later decades, expressway construction both opened up suburbs for development and caused the destruction of much of the South Bronx's housing stock, while public housing construction in both Harlem and the Bronx destroyed even more housing, causing poor people to switch neighborhoods and making their new neighborhoods less appealing to the working and middle classes. At the same time, government subsidized middle-class housing projects in the east Bronx, creating another avenue of middle-class flight. All of this makes sense- but again, a comparative perspective would have added depth to her discussion. Did the South Bronx suffer more than other working-class neighborhoods in other cities? Why or why not?
Finally, Gonzalez discusses the stabilization of the South Bronx over the last thirty years. Rather than building housing projects itself, government subsidized housing built by nonprofits in a variety of ways- an experiment that, at least in the South Bronx, appears to have been successful. But the South Bronx has been stabilized in part due to Hispanic immigration to New York City. It is not clear whether the government subsidies would have mattered in a declining city with less immigration, or whether poor neighborhoods in other immigrant-heavy growing cities have stabilized without as much government support for housing. Again, a comparative perspective would have made this good book better.
January 20, 2012
A fairly thorough source of history from 1700's until the construction of the subway and the following development in the early twentieth century. After that, this book is nearly useless, with a very cursory depiction of the borough in the 1960's and onward. Very dry reading to boot, without the intellectual arguments that sometimes merit a less entertaining tone. I am very surprised after reading this book that it was put out on Columbia University Press. Read the book only if you are interested in the Bronx's early history.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews