South Bronx Rising

The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of an American City

Jill Jonnes

• Publisher: Empire State Editions
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN:
  9781531501211
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781531501228
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Urban Planning & Landscaping
• Index: History

Thirty-five years after this landmark of urban history first captured the rise, fall, and rebirth of a once-thriving New York City borough—ravaged in the 1970s and '80s by disinvestment and fires, then heroically revived and rebuilt in the 1990s by community activists—Jill Jonnes returns to chronicle the ongoing revival of the South Bronx. Though now globally renowned as the birthplace of hip-hop, the South Bronx remains America's poorest urban congressional district. In this new edition, we meet the present generation of activists who are transforming their communities with the arts and greening, notably the restoration of the Bronx River. For better or worse, real estate investors have noticed, setting off new gentrification struggles.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface to the Third Edition
• Foreword by Nilka Martell
• Introduction: Do Not Give Way to Evil
• 1. “It Is a Veritable Paradise,” 1639–1900
• 2. The First Boom, 1900–1922
• 3. Boss Flynn, 1922
• 4. “The Bronx Is a Great City,” 1923–1929
• 5. “Hard Hit by the Depression,” 1929–1932
• 6. The New Deal Years, 1933–1939
• 7. War Fever, 1939–1945
• 8. The Diaspora after the War, 1946–1953
• 9. “There Was No Standing Still,” 1952–1953
• 10. “Moses Thinks He’s God,” 1954–1959
• 11. The New Boss, 1959–1963
• 12. “Horse Was the New Thing,” 1960
• 13. The New “Other Half,” 1962–1966
• 14. The Pondiac’s Last Hurrah, 1961–1967
• 15. The Puerto Rican and the Priest, 1962–1967
• 16. Mau-mauing the City, 1967
• 17. Who Will Be Caudillo?, 1968–1969
• 18. “The Whole Place Was Caving In,” 1969–1970
• 19. Interlude: Sweet Days on Charlotte Street, 1925–1951
• 20. Charlotte Street: It Was Not a “Good” Neighborhood, 1951–1961
• 21. Charlotte Street: “What a Madhouse It Was,” 1961–1968
• 22. Charlotte Street: The Fires, 1969–1973
• 23. Charlotte Street: The Gangs, 1970–1975
• 24. Charlotte Street: The Collapse, 1973–1975
• 25. The Grand Concourse, 1965–1969
• 26. The Hotel and the Concourse, 1969–1976
• 27. Roosevelt Gardens, 1974–1975
• 28. The Grass Roots, 1974–1977
• 29. The President’s Magic Visit, 1977–1978
• 30. Disenchantment, 1979–1980
• 31. Charlotte Street and National Politics, 1980
• 32. “The Next Part of the South Bronx,” 1972–1978
• 33. “We’re Still Here,” 1978–1982
• 34. White Picket Fences, 1984
• 35. “South Bronx Rising,” 1985–2002
• 36. Still the Poorest Urban Congressional District in America, 2003–Mid-March 2020
• Covid Afterword
• Acknowledgments for the Third Edition
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Third Edition Bibliography
• Index
• About the Authors