Review by Booklist Review
The word Manhattan is the Dutch corruption of the Delaware people's (the first settlers) name for the island, Manahatouh. How about that! Facts like these could easily be lost in a traditional history text, but in this magnificently illustrated work, historical happenings and intriguing offshoots are showcased like stars on Broadway. This volume of the Through Time series does what the other volumes have done so well: present historical events and daily life in painstakingly illustrated double-page spreads, each one devoted to one year or one signal event (as in Henry Hudson's landing in 1609, the World's Fair of 1939, or Ground Zero). The illustrations, many of them from far overhead, do a great job detailing what people of the time did, along with illustrated insets of further information. The collaborators use the Cotton Club in 1930s Harlem especially well, showing both the inequities of the Depression and the segregation still rampant. A wealth of information in an engaging format.--Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Horn Book Review
Platt presents a chronological overview of New York City's history (mostly focused on Manhattan) from 1600 to the present. The narrative just barely scratches the surface but does get across the city's triumphs and travails. Each spread is crammed with text and drawings featuring minuscules that are great fun to explore. Timeline. Glos., ind. (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The level of information in Platt's narrative may be superficial, but the large trim size, cutaways of Ellis Island and other landmarks and intricate aerial views of Manhattan in this Through Time series entry capture a sense of the scale and bustling energy of "the city that never sleeps." Cappon's spread-spanning views open with a Lenape settlement, ca. 1600, close with a modern view looking south from Central Park and in between depict such watershed events as the British takeover (1664), a half-built Brooklyn Bridge (1882), the World's Fair (1939) and 9/11. Easily digestible blocks of present-tense narration tucked into the corners supply a broadly brushed historical background, supplemented by pithy commentssome of them wrong, such as a reference to Brooklyn Bridge workers "crippled by a sickness called 'decompression'" and a claim that the 1969 ticker-tape parade for the Apollo 11 astronauts extended into Queensattached to selected details. Not a guide that will be particularly useful to tourists but an adequate introduction for general interests. (Nonfiction. 9-11) ]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
