Paradise Alley

A film treatment of this book would make a much better movie than Gangs of New York -- provided you had the right screenwriters, Director and cast.

Paradise Alley is set during the New York draft riots of July 1863. Well...sort of. As he did in the brilliant "Dreamland" Baker follows a host of fascinating characters telling their stories in full in the bargain. That means tracing characters back to what brought them to this moment in history whether it was the Irish potato famine, escaping North from slavery or joining the Union army.This is a long book because Baker is so careful about fully developing each character's story. Among those inhabiting "Paradise Alley" are a journalist, prostitute, free black, and Union solider.This is an unfliching look at life in New York in 1863 and the ghastly mob action of the draft riots, picking up where the film "Gangs of New York" left off. It is not for the faint hearted but IS for the intellectually curious.In addition to the care he takes with this characters, Baker is careful with history. "Paradise Alley" is well-researched and provides a great history lesson as well as a througoughly fascinating read. With engaging characters coming together for a stirring climactic scene."Paradise Alley" does a brilliant job at looking how people react to extreme circumstances, the good the bad and the ugly. This book and Baker's "Dreamland" (set in New York in 1912) are highly recommened.

This is a great story and is very well writtten. The gist of all the action is New York city during the days of the Civil War draft riots. However at the beginning of the book, the author frequently flashes back in time, and across the Atlantic to Ireland during the darkest days of the potato famine. It is in these chapters we learn about the early years of some of the characters who later found themselves together in New York City. At first, I thought this style to be annoying. But as the book unfolds, and the tension builds, the time, place, and characters become more and more focused on Paradise Alley, in the midst of the violence.The description of the starvation and suffering during the famine is gruesome. And the account of the hatred, and violent atrocities during the riot is graphic and brutal.A major source of suspense in the book is Dangerous Johnny Dolan, and his effort to get revenge on those he believes ruined his life. Johnny is as evil a villain as there could be!Hard to believe this was NYC (and America) only 140 years ago - pigs roaming the street freely, most people without any real employment or hope for the future, and a government that consisted mostly of corrupt, local thugs. The author seems to have done very thorough research and gives an excellent feel for what life was like at the time. You can even learn a little bit about how Central Park came to be, and the early days of the NYC water supply. There is even a glossary of terms at the end. The only criticism I can make is that there should have been a simple map of what NYC looked like at the time.This is great historical fiction and I truly enjoyed it.

This is an excellent book, which not only covers a little-known facet of 19th century history but has definite literary credentials.In the summer of 1863, poor, mostly Irish, workers in New York resent the mounting Civil War casualties, and hate the recently instituted draft. When the government tries to impose the draft, riots erupt that affect the lives of a vivid cast of characters. Baker writes in a literary but not pretentious style. This is Kantor-type historical fiction: following many characters and giving details of each person's past. Some readers will probably find this hard to get through; for me, it was effective, giving each character depth and ratcheting up the tension as I had to wait to find out what was happening to each person in the "now" plotline. The portrayals of 1863 New York and Famine Ireland are definitely gritty, not to say grotesque, but one gets the feeling that vast and accurate research has been done. Baker's overall grip of battles and soldier mentality seems strong--Fredericksburg is excellent and the mob scenes are powerful--but the most interesting part is really the fire-fighting scene, with the details of the engines and the crews. He writes well about members of several ethnic minorities, presenting them as individuals and giving a vivid cultural picture without resorting to condescension or political correctness. The character of Billy Dove, escaped slave and shipwright, is especially well portrayed.

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.

Kevin Baker, whose "Dreamland" made its strong and haunting appearance several years ago, follows up with another excitingly researched and characterized novel. Set during the five hot days of the New York City draft riots of 1863, "Paradise Alley" traces the lives of three women living on that street waiting for terror and anarchy to reach their doors.Ruth, Dierdre, and Maddy are all Irish, struggling in a hard city that is nonetheless better than what they left. Dierdre and her family are the closest to achieving a form of middle class stability, yet she is the one who brings hell to her own door. Her former sister-in-law Ruth is a ragpicker. Now married to a runaway slave, Ruth came to New York with Dierdre's psychotic brother, whom they hear has been released from prison and is on his way back to town. Maddy, once the mistress of the journalist who tells part of the story, now opens her bedroom to all comers.Baker fills "Paradise Alley" with rich details about the lives of mid-19th century Irish immigrants-their social clubs, their pride in their firefighting teams, the gangs, the church, and the backbreaking work. This is all wonderful stuff, especially his descriptions of the fire teams with their traditions and colorful names. This is a nice big book, packed with compelling characters, intriguing historical detail, and plenty of suspense. Baker orchestrates his novel masterfully, keeping all the themes twisting and twining until the novel reaches its climax. This is one of the best evocations of Civil War-era New York I have read, and it joins Peter Quinn's "Banished Children of Eve" as an outstanding fictionalization of five terrible days in U.S. history.