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By early 1977, the metropolis was in the grip of hysteria caused by a murderer dubbed "Son of Sam." And on a sweltering night in July, a citywide power outage touched off an orgy of looting and arson that led to the largest mass arrest in New York's history. As the turbulent year wore on, the city became absorbed in two epic battles: the fight between Yankee slugger Reggie Jackson and team manager Billy Martin, and the battle between Ed Koch and Mario Cuomo for the city's mayoralty. Buried beneath these parallel conflicts, one for the soul of baseball, the other for the soul of the city, was the subtext of race. The brash and confident Jackson took every black myth and threw it back in white America's face. Meanwhile, Koch and Cuomo ran bitterly negative campaigns that played upon urbanites' fears of soaring crime and falling municipal budgets. These braided stories tell the history of a year that saw the opening of Studio 54, the evolution of punk rock, and the dawning of modern SoHo. As the pragmatist Koch defeated the visionary Cuomo and as Reggie Jackson finally rescued a team racked with dissension,1977 became a year of survival but also of hope. -- Publishers description.… (more)
User reviews
If you don't remember any of that, you may be wondering if there's anything in The Bronx is Burning for you. I was only 13 in 1977, too wrapped up in 8th grade to notice much of what was going on. From the opposite coast where I lived, New York City was a place to be avoided, too dangerous to ever consider visiting, an object lesson in what could go wrong. New York City was a punchline. Maybe having no solid preconceptions about New York in '77 is one reason why I liked The Bronx is Burning as much as I did; there's no reason for me to take exception to anything Mr. Mahler says one way or another.
Mr. Mahler says in his introduction that he set out to write a book about baseball, about the 1977 Yankees and Billy Martin's struggle with Reggie Jackson, maybe Reggie Jackson's struggle with Billy Martin. However, it soon became apparent to Mr. Mahler that he could not tell the story of the '77 Yankees without telling the larger story of New York City and those who lived there. The result is a fascinating look at a particular place at a particular time. The Bronx is Burning remains at heart a book about baseball, but it's a hybrid sort of book--a baseball, politics, true-crime piece of non-fiction that never ceases to entertain as it informs.
However, at its core, The Bronx is Burning is too conflicted to be a complete success. While Mr. Mahler tries to make his book an all encompassing portrait of New York City, one gets the sense that he really wants to write about baseball. The mayoral race is fascinating, judging from what is in The Bronx is Burning the 1977 race may have been one of the most interesting races in American politics, but it plays second fiddle to the on-going conflict between Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin. Between the two of them and team owner George Steinbrenner there is enough drama to fill the entire book which makes the inclusion of the Son of Sam investigation and Rupert Murdoch's takeover of the New York Post along with much of the story of the city's overall decline during the 1970's seem a bit of a footnote. In the end, I felt Mr. Mahler should have written two books, one about baseball and one about all the rest, so if I were still giving out stars, The Bronx is Burning would get four out of five.
In other words, Mahler has plenty of material to cover! And so he does, in the form of 67 brief, breezy, detail-filled chapters, replete with authentic eyewitness accounts and seeped in ‘70s “vibe”. Indeed, the narrative is so engaging and readable, I ended up enjoying parts of this I expected merely to endure. (Accounts of political campaigns and labor strikes not being my usually my cup of tea.)
Like many folks my age, I’ve spent much of my life trying to forget that I lived through this turbulent decade in America’s history. Yes, Mahler’s narrative serves as an unstinting, unapologetic reminder of everything that was awful about the 70s. But it also forced me to appreciate the remarkable adaptability and resiliency of American culture. Sure, we’ve faced challenges as a nation – poverty, racism, bigotry, violence, really bad music – but even in the depths of despair, our hope never completely fails, our empathy never entirely falters, our ingenuity endures, and we keeping finding ways to triumph over the forces of greed, intolerance, and general boorishness. A lesson I’m trying to take to heart as our country once against finds itself struggling to rise above our old, familiar demons.
Excellent writing, and limited author bias.