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What to Read Before Visiting Brooklyn?

4/23/2024

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People sometimes ask me: what books are good preparation for a trip to Brooklyn?

The answer: there's no single definitive volume of non-fiction, much less fiction. And some books are centered in particular neighborhoods.

Here's are a couple of preliminary lists, which I will update.

NON-FICTION
Fodor's Brooklyn. Dated but somewhat useful neighborhood guidebook. Out of print; available used.
Brooklyn: The Once and Future City, Thomas Campanella. Great tales of less-heralded Brooklyn, but ends before the present day.
The Great Bridge, David McCullough. The definitive history of the Brooklyn Bridge.
A Covenant with Color: Race and Social Power in Brooklyn, Craig Steven Wilder. A definitive--as of its 2001 publication date--study of inequitable development. Could use an update.
The Boys of Summer, Roger Kahn. On the Brooklyn Dodgers.
When Brooklyn Was the World, 1920-1957, Elliot Willensky. The best on nostalgia.
An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn, Francis Morrone. Great on neighborhoods, but 2001 publication date means it could use an update, especially regarding Downtown Brooklyn.
The New Brooklyn: What It Takes to Bring a City Back, Kay Hymowitz. A useful but incomplete (and sometimes contestable) account of Brooklyn's recent fate and future.
Coney Island Lost and Found, by Charles Denson. The best history of Coney.
A Walker in the City, Alfred Kazin. Working-class Jewish striving, from Brownsville.

FICTION (past)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith. An unlucky but plucky girl in Williamsburg, early 1900s.
The Chosen, Chaim Potok. 1940s Williamsburg, Modern Orthodox and Hasidic Jews.
Brown Girl, Brownstones, Paule Marshall. Barbadian family in Bed-Stuy, in the 1950s.

FICTION (more recent)
The Fortress of Solitude, Jonathan Lethem. Gentrification's early days, when Gowanus became Boerum Hill.
Pineapple Street, Jenny Jackson. Rich people problems in Brooklyn Heights.
Brooklyn, Colm Toibin. An Irish immigrant young woman in the 1950s.
Another Brooklyn, Jacqueline Woodson. Black Bushwick in the 1970s.
Dreamland, Kevin Baker. Old Coney Island, a very unusual place.
Prospect Park West, Amy Sohn. Not-quite-rich people problems in Park Slope.

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New York Like A Native: Energetic, eclectic tours of Brooklyn & beyond. Experienced guide. Personal service.
  • Home
  • Brooklyn tours
    • Brooklyn 101 tour >
      • Brooklyn 202 tour
    • North & west of Prospect Park >
      • Fort Greene & Clinton Hill tour
      • DUMBO, Fulton Ferry, Brooklyn Heights tour
      • Park Slope tour
      • Viewing (and Walking) Brooklyn Bridge (+ More)
      • Atlantic Avenue & Downtown Brooklyn
      • Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens tour
      • Red Hook tour
    • Williamsburg & north Brooklyn >
      • Williamsburg tour
      • Greenpoint tour
      • Bushwick and East Williamsburg tour
    • Central Brooklyn >
      • Bedford-Stuyvesant tour
      • Crown Heights tour
      • (Not Just) Victorian Flatbush tour
      • Sunset Park tour
      • Green-Wood Cemetery tour
    • Coney Island and southern Brooklyn >
      • Coney Island Webinar, Virtual Tour, & Resources
      • Coney Island (& Brighton Beach) tour
      • Bensonhurst tour
      • Bay Ridge tour
    • Jewish, food, and Xmas lights tours >
      • Jewish Neighborhood Tours
      • Food, dessert, ice cream tours
      • Dyker Heights Christmas Lights tour
    • Moving to Brooklyn/layover tours >
      • Moving to/Studying in/Retiring in Brooklyn
      • Airport/Cruise/Layover tours in Brooklyn
    • Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park/Barclays Center
  • Beyond Brooklyn
    • East Village tour
    • Jackson Heights tour
    • Lower East Side tour
    • Long Island City tour
    • Ridgewood tour
    • Sunnyside & LIC East
  • About your guide
  • Fees/Schedule/FAQ
    • Fees for private tours
    • Schedule
    • FAQ
    • Vehicle and custom tours
    • Tours for classes
    • Resources on Brooklyn
    • How to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge
    • Picking a Hotel in Brooklyn
    • Picking an AirBnB in Brooklyn
  • Contact me/Book
  • Blog