The Other Islands of New York City: A History and Guide (Second Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Decent Reference, But Oddly Detached
Review: "The Other Islands of New York" is a decent reference book, but it felt as if Seitz and Miller feared getting a little muddy or messing up their hair. One never sense that the two clambered up to investigate the smaller islands, but rather conducted phone interviews with local historians. This may not be true, but it reads that way.

Imagine reading about an animal, say a horse, only in terms of who owned it and when. You'd get no sense of the character of the horse as a being -- a creature with temperament, quirks, coloring, musculature, a particular scent and stride. That's how the descriptions of many islands in this book came across to me as a kayaker of New York Harbor. We get so little sense of the natural beauty and surprises of this city's intricate archipelago - the seals that gather at Swinburne Island in winter aren't mentioned, and neither is the beautiful little cove at the northern end of key-shaped Mill Rock. That island is also home, in spring, to nests full of gorgeously speckled seagull eggs and pure white goose eggs. There are, of course, many other examples.

Sometimes the tone the authors take when writing about working people come across as condescending, in some sense as if these people provide color but little else. At the same time, the authors shy away from some topics with the squeamishness of an eastern liberal (which, I suppose I am too). The East River islets near Hell Gate, for example, are named but conspicuously absent are Negro Head and Little Negro Head. When I researched the history of these islets (and Negro Point, at the southern point of Randalls Island) for a New York Times article, what surprised me was that contrary to current lore, the islands never bore names reflecting the more derogatory term. The names seem to have been chosen to describe rounded rocks that had a surface texture reminiscent of an afro. Negro Point, however, is tougher to explain. While Randalls Island did have a cotton processing plant on it, there wasn't a slave population. One theory holds that a strange specter, taking the form of a man with African features and a tricorner hat, rows a boat back and forth across Hell Gate. But after I interviewed Henry Stern, then New York City Park Commissioner, about the name, he moved to change it to Skylla Point, a bookend to Charybdis Playground across the water in Astoria.

Another frustrating aspect of this book is that you'd think that the islands' histories began with European colonization. Here and there we read that such-and-such was "bought from Native Americans," but we never learn who these original residents were and what life was like in these places. It's almost as if the Lenape Algonquin, Munsee, and Canarsie people were simply killing time waiting for white people to arrive so the story of these islands could begin. No word about the wampum manufacturing on Roosevelt Island, or the sacred nut groves on Governors Island. Again, this seems to stem from relying on convenient newspaper microfilm and interviews with a narrow band of experts.

The final point that annoyed me is the self-congratulatory voice in which much of the book's information is delivered. The authors present the islands as discoveries, and often islands are categorized as "forgotten" when in fact they're merely small. Most have always been little noted. Also, far more people frequently visit these islands - often by kayak - than the authors seem to realize.

But, over all, this book is a useful resource because it stands alone. Of course, other books have covered the topic but in diluted forms, but no one else has compiled information exclusively on this topic, New York's smaller islands. It's worth having on your shelf to read through before heading out on the water.

Rating:
Summary: Decent Reference, But Oddly Detached
Review: "The Other Islands of New York" is a decent reference book, but it felt as if Seitz and Miller feared getting a little muddy or messing up their hair. One never sense that the two clambered up to investigate the smaller islands, but rather conducted phone interviews with local historians. This may not be true, but it reads that way.

Imagine reading about an animal, say a horse, only in terms of who owned it and when. You'd get no sense of the character of the horse as a being -- a creature with temperament, quirks, coloring, musculature, a particular scent and stride. That's how the descriptions of many islands in this book came across to me as a kayaker of New York Harbor. We get so little sense of the natural beauty and surprises of this city's intricate archipelago - the seals that gather at Swinburne Island in winter aren't mentioned, and neither is the beautiful little cove at the northern end of key-shaped Mill Rock. That island is also home, in spring, to nests full of gorgeously speckled seagull eggs and pure white goose eggs. There are, of course, many other examples.

Sometimes the tone the authors take when writing about working people come across as condescending, in some sense as if these people provide color but little else. At the same time, the authors shy away from some topics with the squeamishness of an eastern liberal (which, I suppose I am too). The East River islets near Hell Gate, for example, are named but conspicuously absent are Negro Head and Little Negro Head. When I researched the history of these islets (and Negro Point, at the southern point of Randalls Island) for a New York Times article, what surprised me was that contrary to current lore, the islands never bore names reflecting the more derogatory term. The names seem to have been chosen to describe rounded rocks that had a surface texture reminiscent of an afro. Negro Point, however, is tougher to explain. While Randalls Island did have a cotton processing plant on it, there wasn't a slave population. One theory holds that a strange specter, taking the form of a man with African features and a tricorner hat, rows a boat back and forth across Hell Gate. But after I interviewed Henry Stern, then New York City Park Commissioner, about the name, he moved to change it to Skylla Point, a bookend to Charybdis Playground across the water in Astoria.

Another frustrating aspect of this book is that you'd think that the islands' histories began with European colonization. Here and there we read that such-and-such was "bought from Native Americans," but we never learn who these original residents were and what life was like in these places. It's almost as if the Lenape Algonquin, Munsee, and Canarsie people were simply killing time waiting for white people to arrive so the story of these islands could begin. No word about the wampum manufacturing on Roosevelt Island, or the sacred nut groves on Governors Island. Again, this seems to stem from relying on convenient newspaper microfilm and interviews with a narrow band of experts.

The final point that annoyed me is the self-congratulatory voice in which much of the book's information is delivered. The authors present the islands as discoveries, and often islands are categorized as "forgotten" when in fact they're merely small. Most have always been little noted. Also, far more people frequently visit these islands - often by kayak - than the authors seem to realize.

But, over all, this book is a useful resource because it stands alone. Of course, other books have covered the topic but in diluted forms, but no one else has compiled information exclusively on this topic, New York's smaller islands. It's worth having on your shelf to read through before heading out on the water.

Rating:
Summary: Decent Reference, But Oddly Detached
Review: "The Other Islands of New York" is a decent reference book, but it felt as if Seitz and Miller feared getting a little muddy or messing up their hair. One never sense that the two clambered up to investigate the smaller islands, but rather conducted phone interviews with local historians. This may not be true, but it reads that way.

Imagine reading about an animal, say a horse, only in terms of who owned it and when. You'd get no sense of the character of the horse as a being -- a creature with temperament, quirks, coloring, musculature, a particular scent and stride. That's how the descriptions of many islands in this book came across to me as a kayaker of New York Harbor. We get so little sense of the natural beauty and surprises of this city's intricate archipelago - the seals that gather at Swinburne Island in winter aren't mentioned, and neither is the beautiful little cove at the northern end of key-shaped Mill Rock. That island is also home, in spring, to nests full of gorgeously speckled seagull eggs and pure white goose eggs. There are, of course, many other examples.

Sometimes the tone the authors take when writing about working people come across as condescending, in some sense as if these people provide color but little else. At the same time, the authors shy away from some topics with the squeamishness of an eastern liberal (which, I suppose I am too). The East River islets near Hell Gate, for example, are named but conspicuously absent are Negro Head and Little Negro Head. When I researched the history of these islets (and Negro Point, at the southern point of Randalls Island) for a New York Times article, what surprised me was that contrary to current lore, the islands never bore names reflecting the more derogatory term. The names seem to have been chosen to describe rounded rocks that had a surface texture reminiscent of an afro. Negro Point, however, is tougher to explain. While Randalls Island did have a cotton processing plant on it, there wasn't a slave population. One theory holds that a strange specter, taking the form of a man with African features and a tricorner hat, rows a boat back and forth across Hell Gate. But after I interviewed Henry Stern, then New York City Park Commissioner, about the name, he moved to change it to Skylla Point, a bookend to Charybdis Playground across the water in Astoria.

Another frustrating aspect of this book is that you'd think that the islands' histories began with European colonization. Here and there we read that such-and-such was "bought from Native Americans," but we never learn who these original residents were and what life was like in these places. It's almost as if the Lenape Algonquin, Munsee, and Canarsie people were simply killing time waiting for white people to arrive so the story of these islands could begin. No word about the wampum manufacturing on Roosevelt Island, or the sacred nut groves on Governors Island. Again, this seems to stem from relying on convenient newspaper microfilm and interviews with a narrow band of experts.

The final point that annoyed me is the self-congratulatory voice in which much of the book's information is delivered. The authors present the islands as discoveries, and often islands are categorized as "forgotten" when in fact they're merely small. Most have always been little noted. Also, far more people frequently visit these islands - often by kayak - than the authors seem to realize.

But, over all, this book is a useful resource because it stands alone. Of course, other books have covered the topic but in diluted forms, but no one else has compiled information exclusively on this topic, New York's smaller islands. It's worth having on your shelf to read through before heading out on the water.

Rating:
Summary: New York City Rediscovered!
Review: As a native New Yorker, I heard of many islands that occupied the waters that surround the five boroughs of the city. As I flew back into LaGuardia and JFK airports I even began to notice them from above. Obtaining information about these islands was very difficult, even from local libraries, and therefore when I found this book at a local bookstore, I was delighted that someone came up with the idea of publishing such a book.

From Roosevelt Island to Cuban Ledge, the authors give a very thorough and well researched book on the many islands inhabiting the New York archipelago. Many islands which were once islands, but have long since been connected to the boroughs by artificial landfills are also covered here (e.g. Coney Island-Brooklyn, Hunter Island-Bronx, Battery Park area-Manhattan, etc..) are also covered here.

If you live in the city or plan on visiting, please make sure to pick up a copy of this guide, and make sure to visit the many hidden treasures found in this city.It makes an excellent companion book while aboard a plane or even in the subway.

Rating:
Summary: Author's response to misleading review
Review: NOTE: This is not a review. We are the book's authors and are writing in response to the careless and misleading comments made by reviewer "erikbaard."

"erikbaard" seems to think we should have written a narrowly focused book catering to his personal interest as a kayaker, describing such minutiae as seagull eggs. But our book is intended as a history and guide book, an approach we believed would entertain, intrigue and inform a far broader audience. So while we did detail the natural beauty-from the garnet and feldspar on Twin Islands to the towering hickory trees of Hunter Island--we gave far greater focus to the tales of colorful people (Nellie Bly and Mae West) and momentous events (the General Slocum fire and the building of the Statue of Liberty) as well as the marvelous attractions that those islands accessible to the public hold.

"erikbaard" also attacks us for a "self-congratulatory" tone because we dubbed a handful of islands as being "forgotten." How can they be forgotten, he asks, if he and other kayakers know of them. While kayaking is growing in popularity in New York, it's a safe bet that a small percentage of the 7 million New Yorkers are out there paddling. And having spoken with thousands of New Yorkers about the islands since this book was first published in 1996 we are equally certain that the vast majority of people coming to this book know little or nothing about most of these islands, even those that we didn't call "Forgotten"-islands like North Brother Island or Swinburne Island. We are not self-congratulatory, simply enthusiastic about sharing all we learned in our research.
(But "Erikbaard" is quite self-congratulatory, and mistakenly so. He boasts several times about visiting these islands in his kayak. However, many of these islands-including Swinburne Island, which he mentions-are part of the Harbor Heron Project and if he visits without permission he may be doing irreversible damage to an important bird refuge through his adventurism.)

In addition, he implies that we didn't visit the islands and instead relied on interviews with historians. He also criticizes our tone toward working class residents as condescending. We did visit the islands-we even watched them bury the dead in the Potter's Field on Hart Island and Sharon went into the jails at Rikers Island-and did several years worth of historical research but we also talked to ordinary citizens, residents of the islands or people whose lives were touched by them, like Adella Wotherspoon, the last survivor of the General Slocum disaster. And if you ask them-as we have-- they will say not that the tone is condescending but that we accurately captured life on their islands in a way that few other journalists ever have.

The reviewer also condemns us as squeamish and too liberal because we didn't mention islets-barely more than rocks, actually-that had the word Negro in them. In point of fact, those islets don't exist anymore and we make passing mention of just five of the many such islets that once existed there, picking just a few of the most colorful names like "Bald Headed Billy" and "Bread and Cheese." It seems that "erikbaard" brings this point up solely to glorify a short article he once wrote and to relive his glory days when he got to interview a city parks commissioner.

Then comes a blatant inaccuracy when the reviewer accuses us of ignoring Native Americans. In fact, they are mentioned throughout the book, where appropriate-however, the reality is that they rarely lived on these islands and used them only occasionally so there is minimal recorded history related to them. If he was not so intent on trashing our book, however, he would have noted our chapter on Bergen and Mill Islands that delves into the Canarsie Indians, the wampum they produced and how they defended themselves from the Mohawks and later traded with the settlers.

All in all, we were quite dismayed by the combative approach of this reviewer. If you are interested in a book on kayaking around New York, then maybe he will write one for you. In the meantime, if you want stories about Typhoid Mary, the invention of the hot dog at Coney Island, the inspiring presence of herons and egrets in New York, and the development of the tight-knit community of Broad Channel, then we hope you take some time to explore "The Other Islands of New York City."