{"product_id":"a-block-in-time-a-new-york-city-history-at-the-corner-of-fifth-avenue-and-twenty-third-street-9781632867421","title":"A Block in Time: A New York City History at the Corner of Fifth Avenue and Twenty-Third Street","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eGotham\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e meets \u003ci\u003eThe Island at the Center of the World\u003c\/i\u003e in this dazzling history of a single block in Manhattan from the Age of Exploration to the present. \u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis is the story of New York City, told through the prism of one block, bordered by Twenty-third Street to the south, Twenty-fourth Street to the north, Fifth Avenue and Broadway to the east, and Sixth Avenue to the west. It's a story of forest and cement, bird cries and taxi horns, theaters and factories, gambling dens and gourmet foods. It's also the story of high life and low life, immigrants and tourists, farmers and aristocrats, crooked cops and moral reformers, toy stores and social climbers--from Solomon Pieters, a former slave who was the first owner of the block, to Alexander \"Clubber\" Williams, the notorious police officer of the 1870s who accepted bribes and wielded his club with equal impunity, to Marietta Stevens, whose Sunday-night socials and scheming became the stuff of legend. Greed and generosity, guilt and innocence, extravagance and degradation--all have flourished on this one Manhattan block, emblematic of the city as a whole. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eVenturing from the opulent halls of the Fifth Avenue Hotel to grimy Sixth Avenue brothels, from the era of the Lenape to that of the Dutch, from the Gilded Age to the twentieth century, when the block and the city were transformed into something closely resembling the Manhattan we know today, \u003ci\u003eA Block in Time\u003c\/i\u003e takes us on a dynamic, exhilarating tour of history. Welcome to New York, past and present, and hear all the sordid and edifying stories this small patch of land has to tell.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eChristiane Bird\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eSultan's Shadow\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eA Thousand Sighs, a Thousand Revolts\u003c\/i\u003e; and \u003ci\u003eNeither East Nor West\u003c\/i\u003e, among other titles. She has worked on staff for the \u003ci\u003eNew York\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eDaily News\u003c\/i\u003e and has written for the \u003ci\u003eWall Street Journal\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eMiami Herald\u003c\/i\u003e, among other publications. She holds a BA in literature from Yale University and an MALS in American Studies from Columbia University. She lives in New York City with her family.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Bloomsbury Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50525641113874,"sku":"9781632867421","price":20.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_bcc0356f-060e-45ad-9114-e94fcfc9892e.jpg?v=1731229802","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/a-block-in-time-a-new-york-city-history-at-the-corner-of-fifth-avenue-and-twenty-third-street-9781632867421","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}