New York Sawed in Half: An Urban Historical - Hardcover

Rose, Joel

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1582340986 ISBN 13: 9781582340982

Publisher: Bloomsbury Pub Plc USA, 2001

Synopsis

In 1824, the inhabitants of New York City were just returning from the wilds of Greenwich Village after having fled a yellow fever epidemic that threatened to devastate the population of 150,000. The recent economic depression forced many of the city's laborers out of work. It was a time of extreme gullibility, a time when newspapers began to realize that sensation sold, truth or lies, giving way to a rash of hoaxes.

So when two men of supposed high reputation began a rumor that Manhattan was sinking into the harbor because of overdevelopment on its southern tip, everyone listened closely. The men had been sent, they claimed, to save Manhattan from inevitable doom. Their idea: to saw New York in half, drag it out to sea, turn it around and reattach it to the mainland at Kingsbridge. Far fetched? Not at the time when a river was being forged through the mountains to create the Erie Canal. The wonders of engineering made anything possible. And so begins the story of the greatest hoax ever played on the people of New York City.

About this title

About the Author:

Joel Rose is the editor of the Urban Historicals series. He is the author of the novels Kill the Poor and Kill Kill Faster Faster. He is the founder of the now legendary literary magazine Between C&D, and the editor of two literary anthologies. He edited and contributed to several anthologies, among them, The Paradox Press Big Book of Thugs.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Pub Plc USA
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 1582340986
• ISBN 13: 9781582340982
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 152