This list contains citations for books that could be used as a basis for Essay 2, with short descriptions for each book. It is neither complete nor comprehensive.
| BOOKS | DESCRIPTIONS |
|---|---|
| Abrams, Linsey. Our History in New York: A Novel. New York, NY: Global City Press, 1995. ISBN: 9780964129207. | A novel about gay and lesbian community in the city. |
| Baldwin, James. Go Tell It on the Mountain. New York, NY: Dial Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780385334570. | A novel depicting life in Harlem at mid-century. |
| Barolini, Helen. Umbertina: A Novel. New York, NY: Feminist Press at CUNY, 1998. ISBN: 9781558612051. | A classic novel that traces the experiences of immigrant women from Italy to New York City and across generations. |
| Bonanno, Joseph. A Man of Honor: The Autobiography of Joseph Bonanno. New York, NY: St. Martin’s, 2003. ISBN: 9780312979232. | The story of one of the nation’s most notorious gangsters. |
| Brown, Claude. Manchild in the Promised Land. New York, NY: Touchstone, 1999. ISBN: 9780684864181. | The story of a young man’s rise from the streets of Harlem. |
| Hodgson Burnett, Frances. Little Lord Fauntleroy. New York, NY: Scribner’s, 1886. | A fictional account of the life of a Brooklyn boy, which contrasts the poverty of New York City with the grandeur of England’s aristocracy. |
| Cahan, Abraham. The Rise of David Levinsky. New York, NY: Harper & Brothers, 1917. | The fictionalized story of a Russian Jewish immigrant who finds wealth but loses his religious and moral footing). |
| Chang, Leonard. The Fruit ‘n Food. Seattle, WA: Black Heron Press, 2010. ISBN: 9780930773793. | A novel that boldly addresses the Korean immigrant experience and racial conflict in New York City. |
| Cohen, Rose. Out of the Shadow: A Russian Jewish Girlhood on the Lower East Side. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1995. ISBN: 9780801482687. [Originally published by George H. Doran Co., 1918.] | The story of a Russian Jewish girl living in the Lower East Side. |
| di Donato, Pietro. Christ in Concrete. New York, NY: New American Library, 2004. ISBN: 9780451214218. [Originally published by Bobbs-Merrill, 1939.] | An immigrant narrative about Italian workers in Depression-era Lower Manhattan. |
| DiMarco, Damon. Tower Stories: The Autobiography of September 11. Santa Monica, CA: Santa Monica Press, 2007. ISBN: 9781595800213. | A compilation of reactions and experiences from a fairly broad demographic. |
| Fink, Mitchell. Never Forget: An Oral History of September 11, 2001. New York, NY: Regan Books, 2002. ISBN: 9780060514334. | A journalist compiles interviews with survivors and other victims of the three attacks. |
| Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. | A fictional account of a tragic romance that uses the early suburban-urban divide as a backdrop. |
| Helprin, Mark. Ellis Island & Other Stories. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, 2005. ISBN: 9780156030601. | Short stories that include poignant glimpses of the Jewish immigration experience. |
| Jones, Allen. The Rat that Got Away: A Bronx Memoir. New York, NY: Fordham University Press, 2009. ISBN: 9780823231027. | A teenager’s journey from despair to a life he could never have imagined. |
| Kim, Suki. The Interpreter: A Novel. New York, NY: Picador, 2004. ISBN: 9780312422240. | The dramatic story of a Korean American court interpreter who accidentally discovers her family’s hidden and mysterious past. |
| Lorde, Audre. Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, A Biomythography. Freedom, CA: Crossing Press, 1982. ISBN: 9780895941220. | The coming of age of the famed poet and author, examining her political, educational, sexual, and other identities. |
| Marshall, Paule. Brown Girl, Brownstones. New York, NY: Feminist Press at CUNY, 2006. ISBN: 9781558614987. | An autobiographical novel about a Barbadian family’s turmoil in mid-century Brooklyn as told through the eyes of the daughter. |
| Mazzucco, Melania. Vita: A Novel. New York, NY: Picador, 2006. ISBN: 9780312425869. | The powerful story of two Italian youths who meet at Ellis Island in 1903 and survive a harsh introduction to the United States in New York’s Little Italy. |
| McCourt, Frank. ‘Tis: A Memoir. New York, NY: Scribner, 2000. ISBN: 9780684865744. | An autobiographical account of the author’s return to the United States in October 1949, and the long, difficult road from unskilled immigrant to Stuyvesant High School teacher to acclaimed author. |
| Mohr, Nicholasa. El Bronx Remembered. New York, NY: HarperTrophy, 1993. ISBN: 9780064471008. | A collection of stories capturing the explosion of Puerto Rican culture in the mid-century South Bronx. |
| Ng, Mei. Eating Chinese Food Naked: A Novel. New York, NY: Scribner, 1998. ISBN: 9780671011451. | A young Chinese American woman works through questions of identity and belonging after graduating college and returning to her family’s Queens laundry business. |
| Rodriguez, Abraham, Jr. The Boy without a Flag: Tales of the South Bronx. Minneapolis, MN: Milkweed Editions, 1999. ISBN: 9781571310286. | A story of children growing up in the inner-city. |
| Santiago, Esmerelda. When I was Puerto Rican. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo, 2006. ISBN: 9780306814525. | The autobiographical story of a young Latina’s life in the city. |
| Santiago, Silviano. Stella Manhattan. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1994. ISBN: 9780822314981. | The provocative fictional account of a young, gay Brazilian working through the politics of the exile community and the subculture of homosexuality. |
| Smith, Dennis. Report from Engine Co. 82. New York, NY: Grand Central Publishing, 1999. ISBN: 9780446675529. | The autobiographical account of a white fireman in the 1970s South Bronx. |
| Thomas, Piri. Down These Mean Streets. New York, NY: Vintage, 1997. ISBN: 9780679781424. | A Puerto Rican coming of age story with painful twists and departures from the model. |
| Van Vechten, Carl. Nigger Heaven. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2000. ISBN: 9780252068607. [Originally published by Alfred A. Knopf, 1926.] | A voyeuristic account of black life from a white fellow-traveler of the Harlem Renaissance. |
| Wiesel, Elie. The Fifth Son. New York, NY: Schocken Books, 1998. ISBN: 9780805210835. | The fictional account of a young American-born, Jewish man who learns the frightening secrets of his father’s Holocaust experiences. |
