Broadway Boogie Woogie: Damon Runyon and the Making of New York City Culture

Rating:
Summary: Lifestyles of the shadowy and desperate
Review: "Broadway Boogie Woogie" is a fascinating read, both for anyone who finds New York City a fascinating city and for anyone with an interest in the origins of today's debate about how American journalism does and should shape the popular imagination. In "Broadway," Schwarz convincingly and vividly portrays an early-twentieth-century urban world of celebrity journalists and criminals, those who set the stage for that part of today's popular culture embodied in the celebrity cult phenomenon.
At the same time, he paints the true American Dream story of Damon Runyon, a man who used words--from his newspaper articles to his short stories--to pull himself out of humble beginnings to attain wealth and fame. But while Runyon took full advantage of the elevated status he reached in early 20th century society--somewhat in the tradition of William Randolph Heart--he never forgot where he came from: his highly entertaining stories about humble men and women were suffused with a great deal of sympathy and sometimes even glorified shadowy and desperate lives. Anyone who ever loved "Guys and Dolls" and "West Side Story" should read this book.

Rating:
Summary: Wiseguy World
Review: BROADWAY BOOGIE WOOGIE situates Runyon's stories and reportage in their New York, circa 1929-1946, context and tells us why Runyon's work still matters. The seriousness and skill that Schwarz used in earlier books to examine the writings of High Modernism (Conrad, Joyce, Woolf, Wallace Stevens) he uses here to illuminate the "wiseguy" world of BROADWAY BOOGIE WOOGIE. With insight and compassion Schwarz re-visits this world of gamblers, gangsters, swindlers, womanizers, and cheats and looks at America's ever present yearning to "take a walk on the wild side." The book should appeal to not only students and scholars in American Studies, 20th Century American History, Urban and Immigration History, Working-Class Studies, and American Literature, but also to anyone who simply loves New York.

Rating:
Summary: Where Guys and Dolls Came From
Review: Schwarz has written a fine book that captures the energy and excitment of high life and low life in Manhattan in the first half of the twenthieth century. He discusses Damon Runyon's many short stories--including those that were incorporated in the musical "Guys and Dolls"--setting them in their historical context and drawing our attention to Runyon's gift for conveying speech in writing. He also discusses Runyon's life and his work as a reporter who covered many of the major events of the day, especially showcase trials like the Lindberg trial. If you liked -Seabiscuit- you will like this book: as with -Seabiscuit-, you will come away from Schwarz's book feeling that you have vacationed in the twenties and thirties and have been enriched by the experience.

Rating:
Summary: Where Guys and Dolls Came From
Review: Schwarz has written a fine book that captures the energy and excitment of high life and low life in Manhattan in the first half of the twentieth century. He discusses Damon Runyon's many short stories--including those that were incorporated in the musical "Guys and Dolls"--setting them in their historical context and drawing our attention to Runyon's gift for conveying speech in writing. Schwarz also discusses Runyon's life and his work as a reporter who covered many of the major events of the day, especially showcase trials like the Lindberg trial. If you liked "Seabiscuit," you; will like this book: as with "Seabiscuit," you will come away from Schwarz's book feeling that you have vacationed in the twenties and thirties and have been enriched by the experience.