CCB: The Life and Century of Charles C. Burlingham, New York's First Citizen, 1858-1959

by George W. Martin

"Though he held no elected or appointed office and courted no constituency at the polls, the New York City lawyer Charles C. Burlingham had great influence with those who did, and he used it in unusual ways. George Martin's biography of this irrepressible, extraordinary man shows how one citizen, working quietly behind the scenes, could effect tremendous improvements in public affairs and, like a benign power broker, help to transform America's civic character for the better." "Growing up after the Civil War, CCB - as everyone called him - was enthralled by the dynamism of his city, but he was shocked by the social costs of modernization, and he deplored the endemic corruption of city politics. Eventually he let his admiralty law practice take a backseat to civil reform work, his first love, and this second career in "meddling," as he called it, made him even more famous than his defense of the White Star Line had during the Titanic litigation." Martin's narrative of this talented lawyer includes not only an account of his relationships with Mayor La Guardia and others, but also details about Burlingham's private life - his eccentric wife; his tragically afflicted son; and his daughter-in-law Dorothy Tiffany Burlingham, who took CCB's grandchildren off to Vienna, where she was analyzed by Sigmund Freud, and her children by Anna Freud.

704 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 2005