THOUGH EVERY TV SET IN THE WORLD WAS TUNED TO THE WORLD TRADE CENTER ON SEPT 11, those trapped in the North Tower had no idea that the South Tower had collapsed. And we who watched from our rooftops (see the Recharger banner) had no idea what was happening to them. Jim Dwyer and Kevin Flynn’s 102 Minutes – a detailed account of what went on inside the towers from the first crash to the final implosion – clears some [...]
Posted in Books/Films/Media, The City on February 10th, 2007 | 
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Jim Dwyer Kevin Flynn non-fiction reviews
Dear Mr. Young,
I too was a New York loser-journalist guiltily-smitten with celebrity, though I worked at the Village Voice, and my celebrities were not as Brad Pittish as yours.
The Voice is not Vanity Fair, but the high-school cliques were the same. Most everyone at the Voice was younger than me (I was around 40 at the time), so I didn’t get invited out to lunch much (ever, in fact). Also, I was married and had a kid; that was a [...]
Posted in The City on June 25th, 2006 | 1 Comment »
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non-fiction reviews Toby Young Vanity Fair
To: Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, authors, Freakonomics.
Dear Steven and Stephen,
Having read Malcolm Gladwell’s rave, having understood and loved the book’s premise—that hidden statistics we don’t want to look at tell the real story—we expected a lot from your bestseller, Freakonomics.
We were not completely disappointed. Freakanomics is always thought-provoking, and scores a number of bull eyes. For example, your attack on the theories of why crime plunged in the 90s (and, indirectly, the Giuliani myth) is pure fun [...]
Posted in Books/Films/Media on June 6th, 2006 | 1 Comment »
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freakonomics non-fiction reviews Stephen J. Dubner Steven D. Levitt
Son of Sam.
The Blackout
Reggie’s 3 for 3
Bella, Mario, Ed, Abe
Arguably the freakiest summer in New York history.
Yet…the book is oddly, frustratingly flat.
Posted in Books/Films/Media, The City on May 23rd, 2006 | 1 Comment »
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Jonathan Mahler non-fiction reviews the Bronx
May 21, 2006
Legs McNeile and Gillian McCain
New York, NY
Dear Sir and Madam:
Just finished your magnificent book, Please Kill Me, and although I found it a fascinating, disturbing, ultimately-depressing page-turner, I have two problems:
First, you never explain how The Sex Pistols, a group, as I understand it, made up kids who had almost zilch musical training and craft, recorded Never Mind the Bollocks, arguably the greatest rock and roll album ever. Compared to Bollocks, Marquee Moon is pretentious and flat. That [...]
Posted in Books/Films/Media on May 21st, 2006 | No Comments »
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Gillian McCain Legs McNeile non-fiction punk rock reviews
