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Paradise Alley

by Kevin Baker (Goodreads Author)

4.02 of 5 stars 4.02 · rating details · 684 ratings · 91 reviews

At the height of the Civil War, what begins with strong words and a few broken bottles will, over the course of five days, escalate into the worst urban conflagration in American history. Hundreds of thousands of poor Irish immigrants smolder with resentment against a war and a president that have cost them so many of their young men. When word spreads throughout New York'...more At the height of the Civil War, what begins with strong words and a few broken bottles will, over the course of five days, escalate into the worst urban conflagration in American history. Hundreds of thousands of poor Irish immigrants smolder with resentment against a war and a president that have cost them so many of their young men. When word spreads throughout New York's immigrant wards that a military draft is about to be implemented -- a draft from which any rich man's son with $300 can buy an exemption -- trouble begins to spill into the streets.

Down in the waterfront slum of Paradise Alley, three women -- Deirdre Dolan O'Kane, Ruth Dove, and Maddy Boyle -- struggle with their private fears as they wait for the storm to descend on them. Deirdre, whose lace-curtain sensibilities have always kept her at arm's length from her neighbors, is devastated by the discovery that her husband, Tom, has been wounded at Gettysburg. In her desperation, Deirdre must turn for aid and comfort to Ruth, a woman she has always judged as morally depraved.

Ruth, too, has been cut off from her husband, Billy Dove, an ex-slave. At dawn he set out for the Colored Orphans' Asylum uptown, to collect his last wages. But he has not returned by day's end, or by the next morning. In the meantime, Ruth has learned that dozens of black men and women have been lynched or beaten by rioters.

She begins to fear the worst, not just for Billy, but for herself and their children, too -- because she now knows that he is coming. He is Dangerous Johnny Dolan, Deirdre's estranged brother, who after fourteen years' exile has returned to New York. Years before, it was Johnny who saved Ruth from the famine in Ireland, who arranged for her steerage passage from Dublin to New York -- and who beat her mercilessly until she arranged to have him sent away for murder.

Even as the riot builds toward its violent climax, Dolan searches relentlessly for Ruth and Deirdre, carried along by the unruly mob. In the end, these remarkable women have nothing but one another to rely on as they seek to protect their homes and families from the brutality of a city -- and a nation -- gone mad. Paradise Alley a story of race and hatred, of love and war, of risk and dauntless courage.(less)

Hardcover, 688 pages

Published October 1st 2002 by Harper (first published 2002)

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Jan 08, 2008 Jody rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I ran across this book by accident, and I am very glad that I did. Kevin Baker does an amazing job of bringing historical fiction to life. This novel takes place during the Civil War draft riots in the 19th century, and examines the events from a variety of perspectives. There are numerous storylines which intertwine at different point, and there are numerous characters that are developed. My only criticism was that it was difficult to follow the many different characters at first, but after a f...more

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Dec 11, 2008 Bérénice rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If it was not for the length of the book i would give it 4 stars, but not more. The book is overall about 7 characters, 3 of them who originally came to ireland, who live in NYC during the 1863 draft riots.

The first 400 pages of the book are about Ruth, an irish girl, who came over to the US with Dolan (a brute she met over in ireland and who saved her life). His entire family died during the potato famine of the 40s and he's going to NYC where his Sister Deirdre lives. She is married to Tom wh...more If it was not for the length of the book i would give it 4 stars, but not more. The book is overall about 7 characters, 3 of them who originally came to ireland, who live in NYC during the 1863 draft riots.

The first 400 pages of the book are about Ruth, an irish girl, who came over to the US with Dolan (a brute she met over in ireland and who saved her life). His entire family died during the potato famine of the 40s and he's going to NYC where his Sister Deirdre lives. She is married to Tom who ends up going to war on her request. All those characters live on the same street, Paradise Alley. Because Dolan beats Ruth constantly, she finds a lover who cares for her, his name is billy dove and is black, which makes the affair all the more secret. On paradise alley also lives Maddy, a prostitute whose favorite customer is Herbert, a reporter for the NY tribune.

So these are the main characters, and their lives are told for 400 pages, i'm not going to give any more details because they are boring, just like the first 400 pages are. It drags on and on and has nothing to do with the riot. It is indeed important to know the past of characters to understand why they behave certain ways, but 400 pages was way too much, 50 would have been enough.

The author uses each chapter to talk about the lives of each characters. That's not a bad idea, some of the events are told several times through the eyes of different people. However, there is no chronology, the author keeps going back and forth in time constantly for no reason. When there is a chapter that actually gets exciting and suspensefull, the author stops it just as something is about to happen and comes back to it 300+ pages later. That's not a good way to build suspense, it's frustratin more than anything else.

If it was not for the last 200 pages, this book would get 1 star. The last 200 pages are wonderfull. They describe the riots in great details, through the eyes of a journalist and also through the eyes of Billy Dove, a black man in the city trying to escape white's people's rage against his race. The details can be very gruesome and disturbing, the author spending several pages describing the torture of an irish soldier among other horrible events. It will make you sick to your stomach.

While i was ready to stop reading the book after page 400, i'm glad i kept going. You wont' be able to put the book down until the end after then. Along with the description of the riots, you witness what happens to the main characters as their stories all come together in a terrible fight between neighbors.

If you don't mind long readings or just love to read anything about life during the mid 1800's, this book is for you. If not, read a summary of the first 400 pages, and read the last part.
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Jan 20, 2013 Anna Engel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed "Dreamland," but thought "Paradise Alley" was better. His research into the time period was thorough and fascinating. For those who gave up or are thinking of giving up on "Paradise Alley": Be patient. It's a large, heavy book, but it's worth the time and energy.

Organized by character (similar to Game of Thrones, but actually Irish rather than pseudo-Irish), each chapter follows a particular person over the course of the 1863 draft riots. The stories are overlapping and interwoven, som...more

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May 15, 2012 Carl Brush rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hot with fervor over Kevin Baker’s Dreamland I moved on to Paradise Alley. Even though much of Dreamland revolves around Coney Island, Baker’s attention is never far from the Lower East Side. And it is on the lower east side that Paradise Alley is located, though we’re moved back in time thirty or forty years for this one--the 1863 New York riots in response to the Civil War draft.
Paradise Alley is a small street populated by a mix of economic and racial folks. We’re concerned with three househ...more Hot with fervor over Kevin Baker’s Dreamland I moved on to Paradise Alley. Even though much of Dreamland revolves around Coney Island, Baker’s attention is never far from the Lower East Side. And it is on the lower east side that Paradise Alley is located, though we’re moved back in time thirty or forty years for this one--the 1863 New York riots in response to the Civil War draft.
Paradise Alley is a small street populated by a mix of economic and racial folks. We’re concerned with three households: 1) Dierdre and Tom O’Kane, she an Irish immigrant (nee Dolan) who escaped the famine somehow, he a native of wastrel ways rescued from such by his devout wife.
2) Ruth Dove an Irish immigrant who did not escape the potato famine (“Year of Slaughter” is what Baker entitles the chapters set there). In fact the back story of her meeting her cruel and criminal “husband” (Dangerous Johnny Dolan, Dierdre’s brother) and wandering through the devastated countryside. has the feel of a science fiction post-apocalyptic novel. The brutal Dolan is later replaced at Ruth’s side by her true husband and father of her children, escaped slave Billy Dove. and 3) Maddy Boyle, a not-quite-all there prostitute kept in her house by her “gentleman,” Herbert Willis Robinson, a reporter for Horace Greeley’s Tribune and sometime “paperback writer” of lurid tracts and tales.

O’Kane is in the army, recovering from a Gettysburg wound when the riots begin, leaving his family vulnerable to the marauders. Ruth and her mixed race children are natural targets, also left unprotected when husband Billy is trapped uptown as the violence begins. She is also threatened by the rumored return of her violent lover of yore, come back for revenge from an exile Ruth helped arrange. Maddy is naturally in the crosshairs of the faux-moralists of the neighborhood, but the moreso because she includes black men in her clientele. Thus, the riots become an excuse for the violent expression of hostilities that would otherwise be contained, and which have nothing to do the ostensible issue of the draft. Thus does Baker create a great lesson in how to draw the reader into the personal side of a political issue.

Baker ranges far and wide in both geography and time in the nearly seven-hundred pages of Paradise Alley, and we are treated to almost separate novels on each of these characters. As in Dreamland, we see seemingly disparate stories eventually merge, and it’s a marvelous bit of tale-telling Baker creates as we turn page after page wondering when and how these characters will connect.

Wonderful, too, is the depth of history. I knew a bit about all this before I started. Or thought so. As it turns out, I didn’t know anything much. I didn’t know the depth or intensity of the racism that lay behind the riots. I knew you could buy your way out of the draft for $300. I didn’t know that one of the mottos of the rioters was “Sell a white man for three hundred, a nigger (price of a slave) for a thousand.” I knew nothing about the intense competition among the early fire-fighting companies and how they formed the social, economic, and political core of the Irish community. I knew nothing about the literally underground communities that inhabited the NYC sewers. Probably, they still do. Remember Ellison’s Invisible Man? I knew nothing about Seneca Village, the small black community that was among the real estate entities torn down to make way for Central Park. I knew nothing about the exhibit of plaster dinosaurs that dominated much of the early park. And, as the commercial says, much much more. All of which Baker weaves into the story without the slightest feeling of textbook information dumping.

What keeps me from giving Paradise Alley the ringing endorsement I accorded Dreamland is its bulk. Although much of the backstory is fascinating, much of it interrupts the flow of the immediate problem--those riots. Who will to escape the random ire of the mobs and who won’t and how? It’s only Baker’s extraordinary skill that keeps the present from getting completely swamped by the past. Furthermore, I have a disagreement about the ending. There’s a logic to it that my head wouldn’t argue with, but my heart is with characters other than those to whom Baker directs our last gaze. So, in the end, I put Paradise Alley on a high plane. But if you have to choose, go to Dreamland.

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Aug 01, 2011 Jo-Ann Murphy added it

Brilliant! Mr. Baker weaves a compelling story I found hard to put down. His descriptions of the potato famine in Ireland and hte poorest of the poor who came to this country to live in the slums of New York city are truly wrenching. I think this book is very relevant today and all those who wish to do away with our government should see what it was like when chalk could be sold to the poor as milk because there was no government regulation. A time when there was no help for soldier's families s...more

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Nov 12, 2009 Christina added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 10th-grade-advisory

Total pages:676 By: Kevin Baker

Paradise Alley by Kevin Baker takes place during the civil war. The setting of this story is in New York. The news has spread that a military draft is coming there way. As the military draft comes we follow the lives of three different women and their will to survive in such a hectic time. All three of their husbands are in the military and they all have children to protect and take care of so they are all worried about the safety of their husbands and the safety...more

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Jul 24, 2012 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I decided to reread Paradise Alley after reading Striver's Row earlier this summer; one of the main characters in Striver's Row is the grandson of major characters in Paradise Alley so I wanted to refresh my memory of the earlier book. I'm glad I did, because I now have a wonderful vision in my mind of Baker's panorama of human migration, and the many ways it shaped the city I know and love. The story of two great waves of European immigration (Irish in the 1840s and '50s; Jewish between the 188...more

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Sep 20, 2009 Sandie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

Bakers diligent research, and writing prowess brings an intricate narrative weaving of truth and imagination that completely immerses the reader in the fight for survival in 19th century New York City.

While there are an infinite array of threads to this story, the major character focus is on the three women of the saga, all residents of the waterfront slum called Paradise Alley. Having survived everything from the Irish famine to slavery and prostitution, they find themselves once again struggl...more

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May 15, 2010 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

It's hard to describe how much I enjoyed this novel, as well as how shocked I was to have done so. There are many elements of the book's paratext I found off-putting. It comes with a cast of characters and a glossary of potentially unfamiliar terms. It is historical fiction, a genre I rarely gravitate towards. Yet despite such "shortcomings," this books was so compelling and masterful I found myself fully engrossed in its massive 665 pages from very early on (much to the detriment of other thing...more

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Jun 10, 2009 Erin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Baker does a fine job capturing various character perspectives of this historical (fictional) account of the 1863 urban conflagration during the unrest of the Civil War. The horror of a mob is captured completely as one watches people who are benign most of the time, suddenly become terrors without any sort of regret. And just as quickly, upon dissipation of the mob, these same people can go back to being incredibly humane.

Basically, the novel takes place over the course of a few days although...more

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Sep 18, 2009 Dick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have had this book in my stack to read for many months. It belongs to my daughter Lisa.

Finally got to that part of the stack and read the book. Boy am I glad I did. Excellent read. Fiction, but historically based relative to the draft riots in NYC in 1863 - when President Lincoln announced a new draft to fight the war.

Lots of details regarding sites in NYC, pretty good development of a number of characters, too.

It was really a good read.

I learned that there were - indeed - some Irish that foug...more

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Sep 17, 2008 Kate rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I knew nothing about the draft riots before I read this book. It was amazing that this part of our history isn't something we learn in school. This novel is an exciting, fast paced, engrossing read.

I also LOVED the description of the Irish famine, it was horrible and vividly real.

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Aug 13, 2007 Jason rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

One of my all-time great "accidental discoveries" when I worked in a bookshop. A fabulously readable story of Irish immigrants, freed slaves, and working class New Yorkers struggling to survive in the chaos of the city amid the violence of the Civil War Draft Riots of 1863.

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Oct 01, 2009 Tom rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A fictional account of the dreadful July 1863 draft riots in New York. The book tells the story of Ruth, whose family died in Ireland, and who is taken in by Johnny Dolan (Dangerous Johnny Dolan), not out of kindness, but because he needs a housekeeper and sex partner. Dolan brings Ruth to "Amerikay," where she meets Billy Dove a black freedman and falls in love with him. When Johnny Dolan kills an old man for his gold-headed cane, Ruth, Billy, and Johnny's sister Deidre have him shanghaied and...more

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Sep 05, 2010 Liz rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love me some good sagas, and this was interesting enough to read in its entirety on two plane rides, forgoing such enthralling film selections as "Valentine's Day" in the process. However, I'm not sure why so many top-level newspapers rated it a best book of the year. Perhaps it's the level of detail presented about low-income life in New York City leading up to and during the Civil War, which is certainly rich (and the NYC of the mid-19th century sounds much worse off than every city I've eve...more

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Jan 15, 2009 Joe rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Great story about the New York City draft riots.

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Mar 15, 2010 Becca rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history, historical-fiction

This was a very enjoyable, compelling read. I love historical novels and this was so well-written that I felt almost like I was there watching the events, rather than reading about them. It was very hard to put the book down until I was finished. The character development is strong and the description of major historical events is thorough. Anyone familiar with NYC history will recognize certain names and places. The best part of this book is that Kevin Baker illustrates three different places:...more

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Oct 23, 2009 Kathy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found this historical novel to be well-written and carefully researched. The characters were interesting, and their intertwined stories very gripping. There were so many details that I had never been aware of from this time in history. I still can't believe that the people of New York City, even 140 years ago, lived in such horrific conditions. Baker pulls you into the city, and the story, by giving you a complete vision of the time period. For any person who has an interest in history, and a...more

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Sep 30, 2012 Nicole rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is on my top five list of best books I've ever read. I will never forget Ruth and Billy Dove. So many pieces of this sometimes disturbing book stay with me. Baker is a phenomenal historical fiction writer or should I just say writer. I have read all three books in the New York trilogy and passed the along to others. They are gritty, honest, painful, heartbreaking, exciting, and educational. I wish he would write more.

After reading Rutherfurd's extremely ambitious historical fiction book "Ne...more

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Mar 10, 2013 Vassilios Bayiokos rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The best book out the the city of fire trilogy, Paradise Alley had an amazing focus in regards to events surrounding the draft riots of the 1800s. Well paced and excellent use of complex characters. Not as many characters as "Dreamland" which is a good thing. It helped with connecting. Because some of these real life characters that were used were so obscure, the author was really able to have his way and interpret in how they would behave. You can tell he had fun with this.

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Nov 06, 2012 Ruth rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

This is the second of the 'City of Fire' Trilogy, and I have to say it didn't meet my high expectations. Where Dreamland drew me in right away and I was sucked into the story, I just couldn't hook into any of the story lines of Paradise Alley in the same way. The book is quite long and I was aware of its length every step of the way. It is impressive, however, how closely Baker is able to mirror the fiction to real life events; it must be a huge undertaking research-wise.

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Mar 11, 2013 Kathryn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Unforgettable and suspenseful chronicle of a handful of contrasting, separate, but overlapping lives of NYC residents set around the Civil War, Irish immigration, political corruption, and draft riots. I read this years ago but the characters and their stories are still vivid. Way better than Gangs of New York but same time frame. It's one of the best historical novels I've ever read.

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May 19, 2010 Anne Bryant rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really loved reading this book. I liked the way each chapter was told from a different character's perspective and the way the stories wove together. I learned new things about the history of our country and it made me want to read more, particularly about Irish immigration. It was a long book 600+ pages and only covered 3 days in time but it never felt tedious or drawn out.

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Nov 29, 2010 Kathy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was okay: started slow, got much more exciting, and ended leaving some storylines dangling, although it summarized the period philisophically. The historical detail was captivating and the characters were complex; as the tale moved along, I changed my views about two of the characters (Robinson- went from liking him to hating him and Dangerous Johnny Dolan - went from hating him to pity). Sometimes the story seemed a little wordy; it was much better when there was some action, or when...more

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Jun 11, 2009 Amanda rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was my third attempt at reading this book. I finally choked down the first few chapters and got into reading the actual story. It was interesting and had several good plot lines but never really pulled together to be noteworthy. It could have been better if whole portions were discarded and Baker had used more focus.

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Sep 02, 2012 Scott Stadum rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A compelling work of historical fiction, painting a riveting tale of New York City during the Civil War. The perspective of the Irish immigrant, the runaway slave and a city and nation in turmoil, telling the story of the New York City Draft Riots in a manner I had not been exposed to previously.

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Jan 03, 2011 Jessica North-white rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I just finished this book last night. I read it in one day-it was all day long but it was good. For anyone who likes history it's a great indside look at the five points riots during the civil war draft of 1863. You get the backstory and point of view of about 7 different intertwined characters.

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Aug 13, 2007 Stephanie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Kevin Baker is my new favorite writer of historical fiction. Paradise Alley draws heavily on the events of the Irish famine in the mid-19th century; the creation of Central Park, which wiped out poor and African-American communities in that area (most notably, Seneca Village); and the draft riots of 1863. The book's narrative is largely set over the three days of the draft riots, with reflections/flashbacks by many of the main characters, on their personal histories that brought them to this poi...more

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Aug 15, 2010 Tom rated it 2 of 5 stars

I struggled with getting into the story. I developed a good appreciation of the NY Irish life in the Civil War period. It was blund and brutal in parts - maybe another time I would have a different feeling on the book.

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Jan 11, 2013 Howard rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

After reading Kevin Baker's Dreamland (which was great) I wanted to read the second in his series, Paradise Alley. If you are a fan of historical fiction, NYC history, or both, these are must reads (I haven't read the third in the series yet).

While I really enjoyed the book it felt a couple hundred pages too long. That said, it was a enjoyable read. The description of the Irish Famine was fascinating, as was the Civil War battlefield descriptions and the gory details of the riots itself. The la...more

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