Book Recommendation: Absolutely Relevant To NYC RE

I just finished a fascinating book called "The Fires" by Joe Flood. It dispels the myth (which even I who consider myself a student of NYC history in addition to having lived through the period albeit as an adolescent) that the fires which consumed great portions of the South Bronx and other low income areas were largely the fault of criminal/careless residents and/or greedy landlords with... [more]

I just finished a fascinating book called "The Fires" by Joe Flood. It dispels the myth (which even I who consider myself a student of NYC history in addition to having lived through the period albeit as an adolescent) that the fires which consumed great portions of the South Bronx and other low income areas were largely the fault of criminal/careless residents and/or greedy landlords with arsonist associates. Yes, there was some of both...but much of the burning was the result of deliberate policy decisions made by so called "experts" much in the way "the best and the brightest" led us to the cluster fuck called Vietnam. There's a lot to take issue with in the book, the author tries to put many issues and situations in 21st century context (he's young) when they really need to be examined within the ancient times they happened. Nor do I think the prose is especially excellent. But overall its really good history and as the city faces another budget crisis, important learning for the present as well. I also have to give Mr Flood props for taking the position (not the main point of his book but a key take away) that Tammany Hall was not the totally Evil Empire its popularly portrayed as. That would have be the subject of my thesis if I had had any interest in going to grad school (Not academically oriented doesn't even begin to describe me) [less]