The Great Mayor: Fiorello La Guardia and the Making of the City of New York

Rating:
Summary: An Above Average Biography
Review: Alyn Brodsky's "The Great Mayor" seems ambivalent about the life and career of Fiorello La Guardia. Brodsky at times leans too favorably upon the often irratic behavior of the Little Flower in the consular service, in Congress, and in City Hall. Nevertheless, his portrayal of Fiorello's decline both politically and personally is quite frank and adds dimension to this well-researched and well-documented work.
A real treat that Brodsky's book offers is a perceptive political history of the City of New York and its characters. Tammany Hall receives a drubbing, as does Robert Moses, the venerated creator of the New York parks system.
Unfortunately, the book is poorly edited and suffers from a generous sprinkling of obvious syntax errors. A truly magnificent biography would not have seen such missteps. In the end, "The Great Mayor" remains a noteworthy contribution to the body of works about New York's history. It deserves to be read - and will be read moderately quickly - by fans of the Big Apple.

Rating:
Summary: Thorough and entertaining
Review: I have never been to New York and confess that I don't know as much as I should about the history of that great city. I was very pleased to find that Alyn Brodsky's book was not only educational but entertaining. I admit there were some parts that probably would appeal more to scholars and historians than to an average reader, but overall the book was fascinating. Mr. Brodsky did an excellent job presenting not only the huge number of facts and figures, but also the human, personal sides of the mayor and his people.

Rating:
Summary: Thorough and entertaining
Review: I have never been to New York and confess that I don't know as much as I should about the history of that great city. I was very pleased to find that Alyn Brodsky's book was not only educational but entertaining. I admit there were some parts that probably would appeal more to scholars and historians than to an average reader, but overall the book was fascinating. Mr. Brodsky did an excellent job presenting not only the huge number of facts and figures, but also the human, personal sides of the mayor and his people.

Rating:
Summary: It better get better.
Review: I'm truly stunned by this book. I can't believe how bad it is. I've only read 30 pages and I'm not sure that I can continue. I have read a fair number of books that I didn't like hoping all the while that they would get better but I have almost no hope of even making that claim for this book. It has all the stylistic flair of a high school essay and many of the problems typical of that quality of writing. Twice in the 30 pages that I have read I almost threw the book down in disgust. The degree of difference between the reviews and my opinion is so large that I wonder about my sanity. Could these reviews really be that far off base? It seems to me that they are.

Rating:
Summary: It better get better.
Review: I'm truly stunned by this book. I can't believe how bad it is. I've only read 30 pages and I'm not sure that I can continue. I have read a fair number of books that I didn't like hoping all the while that they would get better but I have almost no hope of even making that claim for this book. It has all the stylistic flair of a high school essay and many of the problems typical of that quality of writing. Twice in the 30 pages that I have read I almost threw the book down in disgust. The degree of difference between the reviews and my opinion is so large that I wonder about my sanity. Could these reviews really be that far off base? It seems to me that they are.

Rating:
Summary: Guy from Katonah is a moron
Review: That guy from Katonah must be a moron. Maybe he can't read at all. The book is an excellent, well-researched biography and an easy read. Brodsky does a wonderful job of bringing to life a man who was a real character and who defined NYC as we know it. He stands out all the more as a man of principle when compared to the kind of creeps we see today in politics. Admittedly FLG seemed to change into a bit of a megalomaniac toward the end of his career, but he still accomplished a great deal both for NYC and for the people of the US, whom he saw as his constituency. This is a first-class book. I highly recommend it.