This is not a Coolgrove book. It is being promoted here because it is critically informative about NYC politics during the Civil War years. The book is richly illuminated with a wide variety of who’s who and what influencers. It highlights progressives and reactionaries that were operating here. What were they thinking, what were they doing during that fraught period? Politicians, artists, men, women— what was it like? What have we inherited from that time?
City of Sedition satisfies greatly on that front, especially for us now. I have lived here continuously since 1969. Despite that, I did not really understand the context of Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of NY before I read this book. The book helped me comprehend ‘the riots.’ It also helped me understand old movies about the tribal/political turf wars between Wasps, Irish, Italian and other immigrants. It also shed light on the shrinking plight of free Black villages amidst the build-up to the declaration of war. Many in the business communities and Wall Street strongly advocated for the institution of slavery. They also supported the Atlantic Slave Trade. Both were growing exponentially after the invention of cotton ginneries. Factories up the Hudson were exporting huge amount of cotton to the old world.
The City of Sedition by it’s author JOHN STRAUSBAUGH in person.
Here in his own words:
My “City of Sedition” Zoom course for the Gotham Center, about New York City during the Civil War. My take on a fraught period in history that resonates in surprising ways with what’s happening today. Four Wednesday evenings starting September 6. All recorded, so if you miss any you can watch at your convenience. It’s based on my book of the same name, described by a reviewer as “A RICH FEAST OF OUTRAGEOUS INCIDENTS, LARGER-THAN-LIFE CHARACTERS, AND OFTEN ASTONISHING REVELATIONS.”
