The grandest Madison Square Garden Art, scandal, and architecture in Gilded Age New York

Hinman ought to be in collections devoted to New York City, the Gilded Age, architecture, art, and entertainment history, because her book contains much data useful for research and lectures. However, the strategy of weaving multiple stories inevitably let some threads slip. The narrative solidly interlaces the construction and demolition of the Madison Square Garden that stood near its namesake park from 1891 to 1925, the creation of the Diana that graced its weathervane, the relationship between architect Stanford White and artist Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and the Garden's success hosting elite entertainment. Admittedly, it's hard to handle the sexual activity that may have led to White's murder, but that task needed to be tackled, because Hinman's dramatic summary of evidence for a homosexual angle in that murder comes as an implausible McGuffin. Also, the narrative's denouement is White's murder, while Madison Square Garden's life continued. The result is a thread left hanging: the Garden's contribution to mass, rather than elite, entertainment. Perhaps the Garden's last hurrah in Hinman's narrative could have been the 1924 slugfest pitting Al Smith against Charles W. Bryan for the Democratic presidential nomination. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Mary Elizabeth Brown, Marymount Manhattan College

Art historian Hinman tells the story of New York City's second Madison Square Garden entertainment complex, which opened in 1890. Her central figures are architect Stanford White (1854-1906) and sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907), with White's trendsetting firm of McKim, Mead & White designing the Italian Renaissance-style "pleasure palace," its arena, exhibition hall, theater, concert hall, and restaurant boasting the world's largest indoor space and the city's tallest tower. To crown the tower dome, Saint-Gaudens produced a weather vane in the form of the gilded goddess Diana. The narrative delves into contemporary art, architecture, construction, and show business, depicting White and Saint-Gaudens as talented, influential, and controversial. Hinman reports that though both were married with children, they allegedly participated in a bisexual demimonde that included the exploitation of young models. White was famously shot dead at the Garden by an aggrieved husband of one of those models. The venue, though well-established as a landmark and cultural hub, consistently lost money and was demolished in 1925. VERDICT Hinman observes the complex lives of her subjects with assurance in this accessible study that will appeal to readers interested in late 19th-century American architecture and sculpture, New York City, and LGBTQ history.-David R. Conn, formerly with Surrey Libs., BC © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.