Rating: 
Summary: Brutally Violent and violently honest
Review: "America was born in the streets," was the logo that adorned all the posters advertising Martin Scorcese's magisterial work, "Gangs of New York." Kevin Baker's book does not have the revisionist aspirations that film-it does not maintain that the draft riots were the place where a clannish America began its descent into the abyss-but it is more lucid, lurid and much more faithful to the history of nineteenth century New York City than Scorcese's film, great as it is, is capable of being. The city that Baker describes is as violent and brutal as any town in medieval Europe, and the behavior of the enraged, drunken, and rioting rabble makes the Klan and more modern gun thugs look like amateurs.
The backdrop of the novel is quite obviously civil war New York City. Some characters have escaped slavery in the South and proved unable to find work in the city, survived the potato blight in Ireland and passage to New York that ranks with the slaves' "middle passage" to the Americas in brutality. Other characters have become connected with the politics of the city, or have gone south to fight in the Union Army leaving loved ones behind to agonize over their fortunes on the battlefield. The way that the war split the city along class and ethnic lines-with Tammany ward heelers talking as revolutionary reds and leading well organized flying squadrons against all symbols of Republican rule in the city-is both enlightening and frightening.
The wonderfully drawn descriptions of violence done to all symbols of any type of power or property are frightening. Watching a strike force organized by the powers that be to end the draft degenerate into a group of wild savages is one the most interesting fictional portrayals of crowd behavior that I have come across in literature. The recklessly brave actions by the overwhelmingly outgunned New York police in defense law, order and human life is enough to inspire nostalgia from even the most violent critics of their more modern behavior towards people who are decidedly not criminals. Also well done are the descriptions of the behavior of the volunteer fire companies that were responsible for the protecting the city from disaster by flame-if you have ever wondered why New York has no volunteer fire companies you will not after this book. Frankly, with the behavior of those companies that Baker describes, the fact that the city never suffered a massive fire like the one that virtually annihilated Chicago at the end of the nineteenth century an absolute miracle.
As a beginning primer for the history of New York City, this novel is a nonpareil. The smell of dogs, pigs, filth, excrement, sweat, sex, industry, and gun powder coupled with a combination of violent passions inspired by race, class, civil war, and the ambitions of all the men and women struggling to define, and redefine the meaning of the word "American," makes for an incredibly combustible situation, and an absolutely wonderful novel, well worth the time it takes to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Frog n' Toe out of Control
Review: "Frog N' Toe" was the nickname for Manhattan before we came up with the "Big Apple." Kevin Baker gives us a great saga, heaped in historical fact, set against the background of the tumultuous events of the great draft riot. The horror of those five days are unfathomable, yet Baker puts it all in a human light. The characters sucking the reader into their world, their very dark and dangerous world. He gives incredibly accurate descriptions of a broad range of history's shames - from the potato famine in Ireland, the slaughter of the American Civil War, to the filthy existence of working class people in New York City. Fortunately I have a Hagstrom street map of Manhattan, so I could follow along geographically. I would have thought that a book this impeccably researched would have included a map, for those who are not so familiar with NYC. Through it all, even through some repititous ramblings, Baker remains incredibly historically accurate. I did some research on my own and found that every detail of the actual riot is factual. Even two, at least, of his fictional characters, are based on true stories. This is a story of social and racial inequality, and of class differences and the frusration and bitterness that they all bring in one momentous moment. But it's also a story of love and hope and courage. It left me wondering what I would do if I was there. That's the best kind of book, the kind that brings it back to you.
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Summary: Magnificent epic evocation of New York in the 1860s
Review: Although Kevin Baker's "Paradise Alley" and Herbert Asbury's "Gangs of New York" both focus on the same group of people during the same period in New York City's history, Baker's book, a work of fiction, has a much stronger ring of authenticity than does Asbury's, even though the latter was a newspaper writer and claimed to have based his book on interviews, court records and other primary sources. Baker sets his story during the first three days of the New York Draft Riots, a week-long period of civil disorder rooted in multiple and complex causes including class differences (any draftee who could pay $300 could buy a substitute), economic hardship (the poor, who lived in squalid circumstances had little hope of improving themselves beyond a life of crime), ethnic rivalries (particularly those between the immigrant Irish and free black people), and lack of support for the war. Baker makes clear for the reader that freedom from slavery did not guarantee freedom from prejudice, even in the liberal North. Using a series of flashbacks (and flashbacks within flashbacks), and telling the story from multiple viewpoints, Baker illuminates the complexity of those issues that led to a week of rioting, lynching, and pillaging. Beyond evoking the historical sights, sounds and scents of New York - particularly the tenements and Paradise Alley, which was in the vicinity of the notorious Five Points - Baker's book is a superb piece of fiction, well-crafted with sympathetic and multi-faceted characters. By using several viewpoints - including Ruth, the Irish immigrant, Billy Dove, her husband who is an escaped slave, Johnny Dolan, Ruth's former lover, Dierdre, his proud sister, and Herbert Robinson, a writer for the New York Tribune (and the only person who speaks in the first person) - Baker lets the reader revisit the same event several times, but seen through the eyes of a different person. The interwoven threads of the story strengthen the dramatic thrust as the various characters weave in and out of each other's lives, sometimes knowingly, sometimes not. The most fascinating relationship, is that between Robinson and Dierdre, whose paths continually cross and whom we come to see as alter egos(much like Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway and Septimus Warren Smith). Robinson now owns the house where Dierdre once worked as cook, and keeps a mistress (Maddy Boyle) in Paradise Alley where Dierdre now lives with her respectable husband in the cleanest, most well-furnished house. Dierdre picked her husband over all of her would-be suitors because she knew she could mold him into the man she wanted, but in the process, she chained him so tightly that he welcomes the war as a way to get away from her. Maddy, thinking that Robinson has chosen her because he can mold her into the woman he wants, tries to play the role, including a dangerously suggestive game they play, based upon a famous sculpture of the time - the White Captive. Ultimately, one relationship grows stronger, the other falls apart. As the dust-jacket picture suggests, New Yorks volunteer fire companies appear often throughout the book, both at their most glorious and their most shameful. Baker is at his best and most original in describing the fire companies and fires, the rivalries among them (which often are more important that putting out a fire), their usefulness to the city bosses, their ethnic loyalty, their exclusiveness, and ultimately, their mob-mentality (and duplicity) during the Draft Riots. In all probability, Baker did not set out to write the northern equivalent of "Gone With the Wind"; however, several episodes (notably a prolonged birth scene and poignant death scene for a character who bears more than passing resemblance to the long-suffering Melanie Hamilton Wilkes) and characters (especially Maddy Boyle who is Belle Watling's poor northern cousin and Dierdre whose resemblance to the proud and unbending Scarlett is much deeper than their shared Irish background) pay homage to Margaret Mitchell's Civil War classic. In its epic sweep, "Paradise Alley" matches "GWTW" and would provide excellent material for a film. Alas, Martin Scorsese has just released "Gangs of New York," based loosely on Asbury's turgid prose, so it does not seem likely that "Paradise Alley" will reach the screen in the near future. All the more reason to read it.
Rating:
Summary: New York City Draft Riots, 1863
Review: Anyone who saw the movie "Gangs of New York" will recall the scenes of the draft riots taking place. Of course, in the movie the riots were just a small part of the plot, and you really didn't get the full horror of them, or the human toll they took on the City's inhabitants. This excellent book gives the reader the "up close and personal" view of the Draft Roits, by focusing on the lives of several people caught up in them in one way or another. The writing is profoundly moving, and every scene is poignant, particularly the ones that occur in Ireland during the Great Famine. The characters are all finely drawn, and the research that went into this book is clearly evident on every page. It's a very good way to get your American history lesson about the Riots while absorbing a very human drama of strife and tragedy. This is a book I highly recommend!
Rating:
Summary: Haunting Fictional Account of Civil War Draft Riots
Review: Baker gives a wonderful description of the draft riots by putting you in the shoes of several NYC residents, each with their own story. He gives a wrenching description of the potato famine that drove many Irish folks to NYC, and touches on many facets of the Civil War while graphically describing life in NYC during this difficult period. A vivid and compelling historical fiction. Not for those with a weak stomach.
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Summary: See "Gangs of New York" after reading this
Review: Coincidentally (or maybe not), this book describes MANY of the things shown in Gangs of New York. I watched the movie, nodding each time I saw the wild pigs in the street, or the riots, or the fire engine companies and so on, and so on. It felt like the book turned into an instant movie, though of course, the plot was different. Actually the book was much better. The movie was great, except for the plot. If you like this book, see the movie just to get "visuals" of the books descriptions. That said, the book thrusts you into a wretched, mad time period and we're so lucky to live NOW instead of then. Very hodge-podge and random. You don't realize how much history you're learning (though it doesn't get deep into government issues), while you're following the lives of the main characters. Being a "history idiot", after reading this book, I walked into the Gangs movie with my husband, and felt smug explaining this little known fact of the civil war draft, the living conditions, and the riots. And I felt smart! What a fun way to learn about history. I still am thinking about this book more than a week after finishing it. Which says a lot for Kevin Baker. Thank you for reading my review.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read!
Review: First of all, let me say that I would give this four and one half stars, if that were an option. In my opinion, this novel falls a bit short in historical fiction, not fully enlightening the reader on what New York City was like in the 1860's, and a bit short as to why the Civil War draft protests occurred, and their impact. That said, what this novel does provide, is an excellent plot, with a host of well developed and interesting characters. The writer's style goes from current events, and then throughout the novel, back in time, often character by character, to learn how these characters came to their current situation. The author does an outstanding job of this, which I found rather unique. What I found most entertaining is the various subplots the story delves into - overcoming poverty and adversity, racial and ethnic prejudice, love & sex, crime and violence, and some suspense.
Rating:
Summary: The Worst New York Event Pre 9/11
Review: I am a native New Yorker. The 1863 Draft Riot was the worst event in the city's history before Sept. 11, 2001. Kevin Baker has written a riveting, painful piece of historic fiction that is well researched. For more about New York (then only Manhattan) slum life, read Jacob Riis How The Other Half Lives. Almost all of New York's inhabitants in 1863 lived between the Battery and about 14th Street. The city was crowded and sordid. As horrific as the violence was, you can see why the city's poor Irish finally exploded. In their eyes, they were being sent off to the war, to free people who would then take their jobs. In other words, to use modern corporatespeak, lose/lose. This does not excuse what happen, but explains the context. The author shows you how the violence was so bad, the police couldn't cope and regiments from Gettysburg had to be brought in to stop it. Also read Herbert Asbury's the Gangs of New York to get an idea of what it was like. It was the worst of times, and Kevin Baker showed us how and why.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous Book...
Review: I bought a copy of Paradise Alley at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. This book was amazing, historical fiction at its finest. The descriptions of conditions during the Famine, on the ship to America, and the slums of NY were so vivid, I felt so much emotion for the characters. Very well done.
Rating:
Summary: history at its best
Review: I found this historical novel to be well-written and carefully researched. The characters were interesting, and their intertwined stories very gripping. There were so many details that I had never been aware of from this time in history. I still can't believe that the people of New York City, even 140 years ago, lived in such horrific conditions. Baker pulls you into the city, and the story, by giving you a complete vision of the time period. For any person who has an interest in history, and a good story, this is the novel for you.
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