| South Street Contributor(s): Mensch, Barbara (Author), Lopate, Philip (Introduction by) |
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ISBN: 0231139322 ISBN-13: 9780231139328 Publisher: Columbia University Press OUR PRICE: $35.96 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: April 2007 Annotation: "South Street" is an evocative, visual tribute to the Lower East Side's Fulton Fish Market with photographs and rich oral testimonies that capture the unique personality and fierce secrecy of a vibrant working-class culture. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Photography | Photoessays & Documentaries - Photography | Subjects & Themes - Regional (see Also Travel - Pictorials) - History | United States - State & Local - Middle Atlantic (dc, De, Md, Nj, Ny, Pa) |
| Dewey: 974.710 |
| LCCN: 2006018750 |
| Physical Information: 0.85" H x 9.13" W x 10.1" (1.97 lbs) 192 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Mid-Atlantic - Cultural Region - Northeast U.S. - Geographic Orientation - New York - Locality - New York, N.Y. |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: South Street is Barbara G. Mensch's evocative tribute to the lost world of Lower Manhattan's Fulton Fish Market. For more than a century, a colorful, tightly knit community of fishmongers, many of them recent immigrants and children of immigrants, thrived under the base of the Brooklyn Bridge. Resistant to government regulations and corporate encroachment, these men lived in a closed, internally policed world that was deeply hostile to outsiders. As a young photographer in the early 1980s, Mensch bonded with this particular group of "authentic New Yorkers," becoming a confidante for their life stories, which were often filled with hardship, mystery, and misadventures. These striking photographs capture the unique personality and fierce secrecy of their vibrant working-class culture. Combined with lively commentary--reminiscent of Studs Terkel's riveting oral histories--the images offer a rare peek inside a society described by Philip Lopate as "a precious last vestige of historic Gotham." Mensch's story ends with the closure of the docks and the opening of the Seaport mall, a symbolic victory of corporate interests over more than a century of mob rule. Her visual essay recounts the driving forces and the effects of this urban transformation on the entrenched community of fishmongers, creating an enduring historical document. Though the Fulton Fish Market no longer resides below the Brooklyn Bridge, the history and energy of this cherished New York City landmark are beautifully preserved in this book. |
