by William B. Helmreich (Author)
A one-of-a-kind walking guide to Brooklyn, from the man who walked every block in New York City
Bill Helmreich walked every block of New York City--6,000 miles in all--to write the award-winning The New York Nobody Knows. Later, he re-walked Brooklyn--some 816 miles--to write this one-of-a-kind walking guide to the city's hottest borough. Drawing on hundreds of conversations he had with residents during his block-by-block journeys, The Brooklyn Nobody Knows captures the heart and soul of a diverse, booming, and constantly changing borough that defines cool around the world. The guide covers every one of Brooklyn's forty-four neighborhoods, from Greenpoint to Coney Island, providing a colorful portrait of each section's most interesting, unusual, and unknown people, places, and things. Along the way you will learn about a Greenpoint park devoted to plants and trees that produce materials used in industry; a hornsmith who practices his craft in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens; a collection of 1,140 stuffed animals hanging from a tree in Bergen Beach; a five-story Brownsville mural that depicts Zionist leader Theodor Herzl--and that was the brainchild of black teenagers; Brooklyn's most private--yet public--beach in Manhattan Beach; and much, much more. An unforgettably vivid chronicle of today's Brooklyn, the book can also be enjoyed without ever leaving home--but it's almost guaranteed to inspire you to get out and explore one of the most fascinating urban areas anywhere.- Covers every one of Brooklyn's 44 neighborhoods, providing a colorful portrait of their most interesting, unusual, and unknown people, places, and things
- Each neighborhood section features a brief overview and history; a detailed, user-friendly map keyed to the text; and a lively guided walking tour
- Draws on the author's 816-mile walk through every Brooklyn neighborhood
- Includes insights from conversations with hundreds of residents
Back Jacket
"The Brooklyn Nobody Knows is a unique ground-level travel guide that opens up the human sides of New York's most dynamic borough, introducing the reader to the Brooklynites that bring life to its streets and neighborhoods."--Richard Alba, CUNY Graduate Center
"A superb guide to New York's most fascinating, endlessly changing borough. Written by a master ethnographer, The Brooklyn Nobody Knows will provide both the urbanist and the tourist with the sociological insight and street-level detail sure to make their wanderings through Brooklyn satisfying and pleasurable."--Roger Waldinger, UCLA
"This guidebook is a delight to read and it's going to be a big hit with Brooklynites and anyone else who is curious about the borough. Far more than the usual travel guide, it is just filled with insight. It makes me want to jump on the subway and head over to Brooklyn. I want to see all the idiosyncratic things it describes, from the City Reliquary, to the resurgence of the Syrian Jewish community, to the outlandish McMansions."--Harvey Molotch, New York University
Author Biography
William B. Helmreich (1945-2020) was the author of many books, including The Manhattan Nobody Knows, The Queens Nobody Knows, and The New York Nobody Knows: Walking 6,000 Miles in the City, which won the Guides Association of New York Award for Outstanding Achievement in Book Writing. He was Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the City College of New York's Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership and at CUNY Graduate Center.