New York is Indeed a Helluva Town

In reading Richard Goldstein's wonderful new book "Helluva Town" about New York City during the years of World War II, I was struck by the strange irony that despite the devastating horror of that bloodbath, the Big Apple had its worst incident by enemy combatants more than sixty years later.

Compared to the barbaric violence of the twin towers tragedy, life in New York City was practically a cakewalk during World War II and Goldstein, with journalistic panache describes the events of that...