Blackout

Rating:
Summary: Time machine
Review: Anyone who has experienced last summer's blackout and is old enough to remember the previous Big One - 1977 - ought to read "Blackout" just to transport himself back into the era: How different things were!
Those who aren't old enough or weren't there should do the same for educational reasons. We are frequently blinded by today's events and forget how things got the way they are.
James Goodman does a great job reminding us of the many good and bad parts in our fairly recent past - and you don't have to be a New Yorker to appreciate the story he tells.

Rating:
Summary: A compelling look back at the tragic events of July 13, 1977
Review: It has been more than a quarter century since that fateful night. Most folks have long since forgotten all about it. But the New York City blackout of 1977 is an event worth remembering. Who or what was the real cause of the blackout? And what prompted some people in a number of neighborhoods around the city to engage in looting, vandalism and arson that would in the end destroy over 2000 stores citywide?
As author James Goodman points out, these were not the best of times in the City of New York. Crime was out of control, unemployment was high, and confidence in the political leadership of the city was extremely low. And to make matters much worse the city was suffering the effects of debilitating heat wave. The blackout it seems came at just the wrong time.
Using an interesting and at times dizzying writing style, Goodman has a dozen or more storylines going at any one time. He presents the story from all sides. What was the Mayor saying and doing about this crisis? And the suits at Con Edison....how were they responding? What motivated those doing the looting? And how did store owners try to protect their property? How did the police respond and were the measures they took correct and appropriate? And when it was all over what was reaction of community leaders, the media and the politicians? So many questions.
James Goodman has given us a remarkable and thought provoking book. I certainly enjoyed it and if you are a student of history I suspect you will as well.

Rating:
Summary: A compelling look back at the tragic events of July 13, 1977
Review: It has been more than a quarter century since that fateful night. Most folks have long since forgotten all about it. But the New York City blackout of 1977 is an event worth remembering. Who or what was the real cause of the blackout? And what prompted some people in a number of neighborhoods around the city to engage in looting, vandalism and arson that would in the end destroy over 2000 stores citywide?
As author James Goodman points out, these were not the best of times in the City of New York. Crime was out of control, unemployment was high, and confidence in the political leadership of the city was extremely low. And to make matters much worse the city was suffering the effects of debilitating heat wave. The blackout it seems came at just the wrong time.
Using an interesting and at times dizzying writing style, Goodman has a dozen or more storylines going at any one time. He presents the story from all sides. What was the Mayor saying and doing about this crisis? And the suits at Con Edison....how were they responding? What motivated those doing the looting? And how did store owners try to protect their property? How did the police respond and were the measures they took correct and appropriate? And when it was all over what was reaction of community leaders, the media and the politicians? So many questions.
James Goodman has given us a remarkable and thought provoking book. I certainly enjoyed it and if you are a student of history I suspect you will as well.

Rating:
Summary: This book of parsed snippets just doesn't flow.
Review: This is a book of 225 pages and over 53 mini-chapters of "patched" newspaper quotations and resident & looter observations of the NYC Blackout of Summer 1977.
I was hoping for a nice, concise summary of what I had experienced and remembered as a teenager that summer. Regrettably, however, this book brought back only limited memories and explanation.
To author Goodman, it's always "the director of Con Ed said...", or "the president of that group said...". Don't they have names? An entire book with significant emphasis on the pertinent electric utility provider and not one name. Why? It's "the mayor" and hardly ever "Mayor Beame". For non-New Yorkers, and even us, I viewed this as annoying and obfuscating.
Keep the story simple, yeah. But when even I as an engineer after reading Blackout am still uncertain as to the actual cause because the author was just jumping too much and never focused, ...nah.
This book never has any live current running through any of its pages.