Description
Book SynopsisThirty-five years after this landmark of urban history first captured the rise, fall, and rebirth of a once-thriving New York City borough—ravaged in the 1970s and ’80s by disinvestment and fires, then heroically revived and rebuilt in the 1990s by community activists—Jill Jonnes returns to chronicle the ongoing revival of the South Bronx. Though now globally renowned as the birthplace of hip-hop, the South Bronx remains America’s poorest urban congressional district. In this new edition, we meet the present generation of activists who are transforming their communities with the arts and greening, notably the restoration of the Bronx River. For better or worse, real estate investors have noticed, setting off new gentrification struggles.
Table of ContentsPreface to the Third Edition | ix
Foreword by Nilka Martell | xv
Introduction: Do Not Give Way to Evil | 3
1. “It Is a Veritable Paradise,” 1639–1900 | 11
2. The First Boom, 1900–1922 | 27
3. Boss Flynn, 1922 | 41
4. “The Bronx Is a Great City,” 1923–1929 | 51
5. “Hard Hit by the Depression,” 1929–1932 | 65
6. The New Deal Years, 1933–1939 | 78
7. War Fever, 1939–1945 | 85
8. The Diaspora after the War, 1946–1953 | 91
9. “There Was No Standing Still,” 1952–1953 | 105
10. “Moses Thinks He’s God,” 1954–1959 | 117
11. The New Boss, 1959–1963 | 127
12. “Horse Was the New Thing,” 1960 | 137
13. The New “Other Half,” 1962–1966 | 144
14. The Pondiac’s Last Hurrah, 1961–1967 | 153
15. The Puerto Rican and the Priest, 1962–1967 | 164
16. Mau-mauing the City, 1967 | 175
17. Who Will Be Caudillo?, 1968–1969 | 182
18. “The Whole Place Was Caving In,” 1969–1970 | 199
19. Interlude: Sweet Days on Charlotte Street, 1925–1951 | 205
20. Charlotte Street: It Was Not a “Good” Neighborhood, 1951–1961 | 219
21. Charlotte Street: “What a Madhouse It Was,” 1961–1968 | 225
22. Charlotte Street: The Fires, 1969–1973 | 231
23. Charlotte Street: The Gangs, 1970–1975 | 236
24. Charlotte Street: The Collapse, 1973–1975 | 249
25. The Grand Concourse, 1965–1969 | 268
26. The Hotel and the Concourse, 1969–1976 | 281
27. Roosevelt Gardens, 1974–1975 | 288
28. The Grass Roots, 1974–1977 | 300
29. The President’s Magic Visit, 1977–1978 | 311
30. Disenchantment, 1979–1980 | 324
31. Charlotte Street and National Politics, 1980 | 333
32. “The Next Part of the South Bronx,” 1972–1978 | 345
33. “We’re Still Here,” 1978–1982 | 363
34. White Picket Fences, 1984 | 376
35. “South Bronx Rising,” 1985–2002 | 389
36. Still the Poorest Urban Congressional
District in America, 2003–Mid-March 2020 | 441
Covid Afterword | 515
Acknowledgments for the Third Edition | 547
Notes | 551
Bibliography | 569
Third Edition Bibliography | 579
Index | 581
