This book goes right back into the middle of 19th-century New York City. When people think of the Civil War, I don’t think they think of it as affecting the northern cities, really—you always think of the big fields, and soldiers lined up on either side of a meadow. This book is about a guy who was a sharpshooter in the war who then returns to the city; it’s a good complement to E B White’s book, because it takes place 100 years earlier, and it’s fiction, but in a way it’s the same kind of thing. (What’s also interesting is that the protagonist lives in Five Points, which is the neighbourhood that’s very prominent in Low Life—it’s a crime-ridden, gang-infested neighbourhood in lower Manhattan.) It’s a very weird story. The guy is disfigured and he’s a war survivor. He meets Herman Melville as the story goes along… There’s a lot about the city’s literary heritage.
The best books on New York City recommended by Ben Greenman