2019: Books of the Month

March 25, 2019

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Check out the Tenement Museum’s featured books for each month of 2019. Don’t forget to use Your Member Discount Code TENEMENT!

February

A Nation of Immigrants

by John F. Kennedy
Forward by Johnathan Greenblatt, CEO of ADL
Introduction by Congressman Joe Kennedy III
Format: Paperback

Timeless and timely, this book is an accessible guide to the ongoing immigration debate.  In 1958, John F. Kennedy published this book as part of the Anti-Defamation League’s series “The One Nation Library.” It has been continually updated and was reissued in October 2018 to reflect major federal immigration policies through May 2018.  It features a new forward, a chronology of American Immigration beginning in 1607, major policy developments after 1963, and celebrates the richness immigrants have and continue to contribute to who we are as citizens of the United States of America.

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March

America’s Women

by Gail Collins
Format: Paperback

In her introduction, Gail Collins describes this book best, “The history of American woman is about the fight for freedom, but it’s less a war against men than a struggle to straighten out the perpetually mixed message about women’s role that was accepted by almost everybody of both genders.” Wity, pithy, and informative, this page-turner is imbedded with humor as it outlines the stories, struggles, tragedies, and triumphs of American women you know and those you don’t. At the Tenement Museum, numerous themes thread through recreated apartments and curated stories. Predominant are the stories of Woman; their choices, how they respond to them and how work, paid and unpaid, is essential to each of their households.

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May

97 Orchard Street: An Edible History of Five Families in One New York Tenement

By Jane Ziegelman
Format: Paperback

The delicious saga of how immigrant food became American food, following European immigrants on a remarkable journey from the Ellis Island dining hall to tiny tenement kitchens, from Lower East Side pushcart markets and delicatessens out into the wider world of American cuisine.

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June

Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag

by Rob Sanders
illustrated by Steven Salerno
Format: Hardcover

 

Beautifully written and illustrated, Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and The Rainbow Flag, tells the story of Harvey Milk and Gilbert Baker’s collaboration to create a symbol of pride for the gay community.  This story is an inspiring representation of equality and inclusion and will be treasured for years to come by young readers.

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July

The Bowery Boys: Adventures in Old New York: An Unconventional Exploration of Manhattan’s Historic Neighborhoods, Secret Spots and Colorful Characters

by Greg Young & Tom Meyers
Format: Paperback

The Bowery Boys podcast is a phenomenon, thrilling audiences each month with one amazing story after the next and filled with fascinating NYC facts. Now, in their first-ever book, the duo gives you an exclusive personal tour through New York’s old cobblestone streets and gas-lit back alleyways. Featuring fascinating guides to: Hell’s Kitchen and Columbus Circle, The Bowery and Astor Place, Tribeca and Foley Square, Chinatown and Little Italy and all the rest of New York!

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August

500 Hidden Secrets of NY

by Michiel Vos & Ellen Swandiak
Format: Paperback

What are the 5 most beautiful buildings? Where can you find the best places to eat oysters? Which are the 5 best bars in Brooklyn? The 500 Hidden Secrets of New York reveals these good-to-know addresses and many more (including the Tenement Museum!!).

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September

The Works: Anatomy of a City

by Kate Ascher
Format: Paperback

A fascinating guided tour of the ways things work in a modern city

Have you ever wondered how the water in your faucet gets there? Where your garbage goes? What the pipes under city streets do? How bananas from Ecuador get to your local market? Why radiators in apartment buildings clang? Using New York City as its point of reference, The Works takes readers down manholes and behind the scenes to explain exactly how an urban infrastructure operates. Deftly weaving text and graphics, author Kate Ascher explores the systems that manage water, traffic, sewage and garbage, subways, electricity, mail, and much more. Full of fascinating facts and anecdotes, The Works gives readers a unique glimpse at what lies behind and beneath urban life in the twenty-first century.

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October

Flapper

by Joshua Zeitz
Format: Paperback

Flapper is a dazzling look at the women who heralded a radical change in American culture and launched the first truly modern decade. The New Woman of the 1920s puffed cigarettes, snuck gin, hiked her hemlines, danced the Charleston, and necked in roadsters. More important, she earned her own keep, controlled her own destiny, and secured liberties that modern women take for granted.

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