Steven H. Jaffe

A fine historical overview of wartime in New York, but once you get to the Civil War Draft Riots and beyond, most of it will likely be familiar. It's a neat concept to have this all in one place, but there isn't a lot of new insight going on. Some of the most novel findings in this are the depictions of early Nieuw-Amsterdam, when the burghers back home refused Peter Stuyvesant enough funding to adequately garrison and fortify the fledgling colony.

That said, the overall thesis - New York as simultaneous melting pot, refuge, and cauldron of ethnic tensions - is certainly proven true by both history and contemporary events. The book covers 9/11 briefly and ends not long after 2010's attempted Times Square bombing. But we are all still certainly living in its era.… (plus d'informations)

"New York at War" by Steven Jaffe spans the years from 1609 to 2001, the colonial wars to 9/11. It is crammed with information but reads more like an extended news article than a book and this raises concerns for me (as a researching writer) if it is not based on first-hand account documentation. It is sometimes short on references and detail, but long on interesting facts and factoids. I do appreciate the effort to make "man on the street" reporting more interesting, but wonder how the author can always know the mood of the public or of individuals. If the author knows, he does not always elaborate on it (ex- "as evidenced by his letter to his wife..." etc.) but I like the details when he does know, and gives us these enlightening tidbits. I am always concerned when an author takes it upon her or himself to modernize records, since the danger exists of changing the meaning of the information written by the eye-witness, but it seems to have worked well enough in this book.
There is a great variation in lengths of the chapters, not dependent on the length of time or number of years in the conflicts. I sense that the writer took on too large a project, having more interest in some conflicts than others, and borrowed heavily from other books that were researched from original documents.
"A Strange and Alien Land" by Henry and Barbara Van Der Zee is the source for much of the material in the first chapters, stands on its own merits, but using this book removes the writing of the events of this time to "third-hand" information, not from viewed primary source documents.
This is not a fast-read-over-the-weekend type of book, but one more suited to a leisurely and gradual reading over weeks, or even months, more like reading the New York Times from cover to cover on your day off than grazing through the magazines while waiting for your turn in line at the supermarket or in a dentist's office. I am a "fact" kind of person and the first century (I call it our forgotten century), mostly in New Amsterdam and before The City, Lat. 40.71448, Long. -74.00598, was called New York, is of special interest to me.
These observations should definitely not stop anyone from reading this super book since it is well worth investing our time; Steven Jaffe took his time and efforts to explore the details about people and places that we should, as Americans, be much more familiar with. People like Calvin Coolidge, (does everyone even know who he was?) are reduced to less than a sentence in most school history books and their role in shaping our history has been greatly underestimated.

The author points out the divisions in groups, political and ethnic, and the occasionally bloody battles fought on the streets and in posh hotels over whether or not to join in a conflict and even which side to take. He has enlightened us to the reality that decisions on our participation in war were not at all simple in the "old days" and that there have always been great extremes of viewpoints, especially in this great city of perpetual newcomers that occupies this tiny corner of the world.
Don't let your own personal geographical coordinates or time constraints hold you back: Get a a copy for yourself, take your time and take a look back at the decisions that were made in the city of powerbrokers that could, and did, start conflicts or enter us into ongoing wars, dragging in the rest of our country and the rest of the world, in fact shaping the destiny of our planet and our future.… (plus d'informations)

I think this book is a lovely critique and analysis of the ways history has been presented and using these to uncover facts that are often left behind in American history. Jaffe roughly redefines who has shaped this country. I love that he discusses people of color and women in this book and the important and vital roles both played in creating necessary change. Often, people of color and women are forgotten in the classroom, specifically in American history (hence Black History MONTH), and bringing them to the forefront changes the context for which we learn and adapt. Jaffe's book is wonderfully honest. I would recommend this book for upper elementary students.… (plus d'informations)