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The Bottom of the Harbor
On the centennial of Joseph Mitchell's birth, here is a new edition of the classic collection containing his most celebrated pieces about New York City. Fifty years after its original publication, The Bottom of the Harbor is still considered a fundamental New York book. Every story Mitchell tells, every person he introduces, every scene he describes is illuminated by his passion for the eccentrics and eccentricities of his beloved adopted city.
All of the pieces here are connected in one way or another--some directly, some with a kind of mysterious circuitousness--to New York's fabled waterfront, the terrain that Mitchell brilliantly made his own. They tell of a life that has passed--of vacant hotel rooms, deserted communities, once-thriving fishing areas that are now polluted and studded with wrecks. Included are "Up in the Old Hotel," a portrait of Louis Morino, the proprietor of a restaurant called (to his disgust) Sloppy Louie's; "The Rats on the Waterfront," which has inspired countless writers to attempt portraits of these most demonized New Yorkers; and "Mr. Hunter's Grave," widely considered to be the finest single piece of nonfiction to have ever appeared in the pages of The New Yorker.
Here is the essential work of a legendary writer.
All of the pieces here are connected in one way or another--some directly, some with a kind of mysterious circuitousness--to New York's fabled waterfront, the terrain that Mitchell brilliantly made his own. They tell of a life that has passed--of vacant hotel rooms, deserted communities, once-thriving fishing areas that are now polluted and studded with wrecks. Included are "Up in the Old Hotel," a portrait of Louis Morino, the proprietor of a restaurant called (to his disgust) Sloppy Louie's; "The Rats on the Waterfront," which has inspired countless writers to attempt portraits of these most demonized New Yorkers; and "Mr. Hunter's Grave," widely considered to be the finest single piece of nonfiction to have ever appeared in the pages of The New Yorker.
Here is the essential work of a legendary writer.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1959
About the author
Joseph Mitchell
154 books209 followersThere is more than one author with this name
Joseph Mitchell was an American writer who wrote for The New Yorker. He is known for his carefully written portraits of eccentrics and people on the fringes of society, especially in and around New York City.
-Wikipedia
Joseph Mitchell was an American writer who wrote for The New Yorker. He is known for his carefully written portraits of eccentrics and people on the fringes of society, especially in and around New York City.
-Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
April 1, 2017
The inimitable Mr. Joe Mitchell gives voice to people who have never been listened to, and in so doing reaches the pulse of the city, explores lives that are so common yet unforgettable, and leaves a lasting record of a bygone way of life. Mr Hunter's grave, for example, has become a legendary place for Mitchell aficionados - and it would not be pompous for me to say that should I get a chance to visit the United States, I would love to stuff a wild-flower book and some sandwiches in my pockets and visit the site so lovingly described by him! He affirms the fact that every life is interesting. You just need to learn to listen.
In an arresting piece published in the New Yorker, titled Joe Mitchell's Secret, Mark Singer (himself a Mitchell fan), tries to profile the great profiler and comes up with beautiful observations, like this one: "Without playing dumb, he had the country fellow's deadly ability to sniff out pretentiousness three avenues away. And he possessed extraordinary courtesy and patience as a listener, an aptitude nurtured during a childhood spent among folk who never tired of telling stories about themselves." Not a bad aptitude to cultivate should one chooses to be a writer!
His reward was that, Singer informs us, to the end of his life, people wanted to talk to him. Mitchell was ever so curious to render the contents and the cadences of the "variegated New York vernacular". Like Joyce's Dublin, Mitchell's New York is a very curious place, found only in the pages of his books, and it must have inspired many to seek their own New York, or any city for that matter.
He mysteriously stopped writing in early 60s, and never published anything till his death, and that's thirty years of silence. Funny thing is that he would visit the New Yorker office regularly, and file the jottings he had made on loose papers. Colleagues thought he was working on a big fat piece, but it never came out. How he spent those thirty years? By meeting more people, by taking initiatives to preserve old buildings, by being member of various organizations..."When he came upon an old building in early stages of demolition, he would wander inside - a natty gent in a well-pressed business suit, usually carrying a shopping bag - and drag out whatever he could carry that looked interesting: bricks, shards of marble cornices, elevator pulleys". He was a hoarder of old hotel spoons, brass hinges, and other odd treasures, and had innumerable glass jars filled with them. "As long as he stayed attached to these relics, it meant that he hadn't stopped trying".
There are speculations that he was working on a personal piece, a grand memoir of the city, a life work, and one can only imagine how it would have turned out. When I read this book with that knowledge in my mind, a quiet remark from "Mr Hunter's Grave" (an extraordinary piece) gave me some idea of the work in progress, or I only think so:
"For some reason I don't know and don't want to know, after I have spent an hour or so in these cemeteries, looking at gravestone designs and reading inscriptions and identifying wild flowers and scaring rabbits out of the weeds and reflecting on the end that awaits me and awaits us all, my spirits lift, I become quite cheerful, and then I go for a long walk."
In an arresting piece published in the New Yorker, titled Joe Mitchell's Secret, Mark Singer (himself a Mitchell fan), tries to profile the great profiler and comes up with beautiful observations, like this one: "Without playing dumb, he had the country fellow's deadly ability to sniff out pretentiousness three avenues away. And he possessed extraordinary courtesy and patience as a listener, an aptitude nurtured during a childhood spent among folk who never tired of telling stories about themselves." Not a bad aptitude to cultivate should one chooses to be a writer!
His reward was that, Singer informs us, to the end of his life, people wanted to talk to him. Mitchell was ever so curious to render the contents and the cadences of the "variegated New York vernacular". Like Joyce's Dublin, Mitchell's New York is a very curious place, found only in the pages of his books, and it must have inspired many to seek their own New York, or any city for that matter.
He mysteriously stopped writing in early 60s, and never published anything till his death, and that's thirty years of silence. Funny thing is that he would visit the New Yorker office regularly, and file the jottings he had made on loose papers. Colleagues thought he was working on a big fat piece, but it never came out. How he spent those thirty years? By meeting more people, by taking initiatives to preserve old buildings, by being member of various organizations..."When he came upon an old building in early stages of demolition, he would wander inside - a natty gent in a well-pressed business suit, usually carrying a shopping bag - and drag out whatever he could carry that looked interesting: bricks, shards of marble cornices, elevator pulleys". He was a hoarder of old hotel spoons, brass hinges, and other odd treasures, and had innumerable glass jars filled with them. "As long as he stayed attached to these relics, it meant that he hadn't stopped trying".
There are speculations that he was working on a personal piece, a grand memoir of the city, a life work, and one can only imagine how it would have turned out. When I read this book with that knowledge in my mind, a quiet remark from "Mr Hunter's Grave" (an extraordinary piece) gave me some idea of the work in progress, or I only think so:
"For some reason I don't know and don't want to know, after I have spent an hour or so in these cemeteries, looking at gravestone designs and reading inscriptions and identifying wild flowers and scaring rabbits out of the weeds and reflecting on the end that awaits me and awaits us all, my spirits lift, I become quite cheerful, and then I go for a long walk."
July 28, 2026
LOVED IT!!! So beautiful and romantic and nostalgic! Sometimes slowed a little bit during descriptions of fish migrations etc. but 5 stars because I heart NY
October 13, 2012
This is one of North Carolinian Joseph Mitchell's love letters to the people and places of a New York that has now disappeared. In "The Bottom of the Harbor", Mitchell takes up the waters around New York, and the people and animals who lived in and around it. The book hits its stride midway through -- "Up in the Old Hotel" can be found elsewhere, and, while Mitchell's take on rats has his usual melodious accumulation of unending detail, it is when Mitchell found a natural storyteller that he was at his best. The moment where the book takes off is when Mitchell meets the caretaker of a cemetery in a little-known community of black oystermen on South Staten Island--in a place that has no doubt been paved by now. Mitchell had perhaps the best ear of any American journalist. Here is Mr. Brown, who the caretaker, Mr. Hunter, meets on the way to the cemetery: "I stay to myself. I was never one to go to people's houses. They talk and talk, and you listen, you bound to listen, and half of it ain't true, and the next time they tell it, they say you said it." Mr. Hunter is followed by Ellery Thompson, part-time bugler, painter, amateur oceanographer, fishing boat captain and full time character. The end of that piece, stories of the old community on isolated Block Island that lived off wrecks (and allegedly caused some), is worth the price of the book. "The Bottom of the Harbor" ends with a piece on the small municipality of Edgewater, which lies on the Hudson River on the New Jersey side below the Palisades, and the philosophical exchange between men who make their living off the water. The fact that Mitchell suffered a legendary writer's block from the sixties onward is attributed by some by his work with Joe Gould, the streetcorner philosopher who spoke at such length of his imaginary book. I wonder if it was not more because the New York that Mitchell loved, the place he came to inhabit during the Depression and chronicled with such apparent ease (no doubt after endless listening sessions), was disappearing, and his faith in his talent and the kind of journalism he taught himself to master, was going with it.
August 22, 2009
A classic New York book. Mitchell has an amazing knack for describing the people and places along the old waterfront-- whether he's writing about the old Fulton Fish Market or the specifics of fishing in the lower harbor, you can see every detail like it was right there in front of you. Most of these essays come from the late 40s and very early 50s, when the death of the waterfront from pollution and gentrification was just a few years away. This feeling of an age coming to an end permeates the book, and gives it a deep, soulful melancholy that's hard to shake after you finish reading.
December 18, 2021
I've read this book more than once, probably 3or 4 times. The first time was back in the late 70's. I always enjoy the way Joseph tells a story. When he is finished, you know the area, you know the people and you understand the ways they work. He retells great stories that have been told to him by the characters in them. He is a great historian.
i-get-the-picture
September 6, 2018What an astonishing writer! A writer’s writer, as they say.
November 24, 2015
These unhurried stories hardly seem like writing. It's as if Mitchell is a friend who is filling you in about something from the past without really trying to make a point. He seems to be just chatting to fill the time but I found myself enjoying the leisurely tempo. There is space in the narrative add your own internal images of the people and places so that you feel as though they are now your memories too.
October 3, 2007
love much of mitchells' writing. histories of new york waterways, ocean floors, harbors, abandoned seaport buildings, etc. throughout i wished i could have lived similar experiences first hand, but also nice to get an older local perspective from a new york journalist that liked to wander. however, a couple of the essays drag enough to make you look up how many pages you have yet to go...
October 7, 2007
It's ok. The first piece, about a hotel that time forgot, rises to a good story. And the piece about super sized harbor rats is creepily entertaining. There is something to be said for Mitchell capturing a disappeared bayfront culture. But the rest bogged down in the snooze-inducing detail of overly long New Yorker non-fiction: everything you wanted to know about clams.
August 16, 2026
The six pieces in this book were originally published in The New Yorker between 1944 and 1959, and all of them have something to do with various maritime industries in and around New York. As Lucy Sante notes in her foreword, these pieces were published at a time when "the harbor and its many trades were an integral part of the city's daily fabric". I love how Sante describes Mitchell and his writing and his subjects: she notes that his "favorite device was the list, and his favorite conjunction was "and"," and that he "was drawn to the harbor first of all because he was interested in people, in process, in specialized skills, in accreted time, in individual reckonings with tradition, in the annexes and alcoves and side rooms left out of the broader historical account." I love lists and New York and the waterfront, so I was expecting to thoroughly enjoy this book, and I was not disappointed. Every piece has some interesting information and some great sentences and transported me to a version of New York that was disappearing or had disappeared decades before I was born, though traces of it were still here when I got here, and traces of it are still here even now.
The first piece, about a restaurant across from the old Fulton Fish Market, made me think of my own one-time early-morning visit to the fish market when it was still in Manhattan. (My visit was in the early 2000s, when I took Kenneth T. Jackson's great class about the history of the city of New York; the class ended in an all-night bike ride that started at Columbia's campus and ended at the Brooklyn Bridge, with a pre-dawn stop at the fish market. I didn't experience the "smoky riverbank dawn" that Mitchell writes about, but I remember the bustle of the market, and I can imagine what it must have been like in 1952, when Mitchell wrote Up in the Old Hotel.) My other favorite pieces were Mr. Hunter's Grave—in which Mitchell learns the history of Sandy Ground, a community in Staten Island started before the Civil War by free Black people who worked in the Prince's Bay oyster industry (which I learned about this year thanks to one of Nathan Kensinger's great NYCH2O walks) and The Rivermen, which is about shad fishing in the Hudson River and also contains great descriptions of Edgewater and how it was in 1959 and what its history was over the hundreds of years since it was first settled. (I've done a decent amount of walking up and down River Road but I didn't know about the old Edgewater Cemetery, which used to be nestled among the buildings of an aluminum factory and now sits next to Sojo Spa, and I was amused by a snippet of conversation that features a local complaining about the traffic on River Road all those decades ago.)
Probably my favorite sentences in the book come from The Rivermen: I love this part where Mitchell is describing the factories by the river in Edgewater: "Among them are an Aluminum Company of America factory, a coffee-roasting plant, a factory that makes roofing materials, a factory that makes sulphuric acid, and a factory that makes a shortening named Spry. On the roof of the Spry factory is an enormous electric sign; the sign looms over the river, and on rainy, foggy nights its pulsating, endlessly repeated message, “SPRY FOR BAKING,” “SPRY FOR BAKING,” “SPRY FOR BAKING,” seems to be a cryptic warning of some kind that New Jersey is desperately trying to get across to New York."
The first piece, about a restaurant across from the old Fulton Fish Market, made me think of my own one-time early-morning visit to the fish market when it was still in Manhattan. (My visit was in the early 2000s, when I took Kenneth T. Jackson's great class about the history of the city of New York; the class ended in an all-night bike ride that started at Columbia's campus and ended at the Brooklyn Bridge, with a pre-dawn stop at the fish market. I didn't experience the "smoky riverbank dawn" that Mitchell writes about, but I remember the bustle of the market, and I can imagine what it must have been like in 1952, when Mitchell wrote Up in the Old Hotel.) My other favorite pieces were Mr. Hunter's Grave—in which Mitchell learns the history of Sandy Ground, a community in Staten Island started before the Civil War by free Black people who worked in the Prince's Bay oyster industry (which I learned about this year thanks to one of Nathan Kensinger's great NYCH2O walks) and The Rivermen, which is about shad fishing in the Hudson River and also contains great descriptions of Edgewater and how it was in 1959 and what its history was over the hundreds of years since it was first settled. (I've done a decent amount of walking up and down River Road but I didn't know about the old Edgewater Cemetery, which used to be nestled among the buildings of an aluminum factory and now sits next to Sojo Spa, and I was amused by a snippet of conversation that features a local complaining about the traffic on River Road all those decades ago.)
Probably my favorite sentences in the book come from The Rivermen: I love this part where Mitchell is describing the factories by the river in Edgewater: "Among them are an Aluminum Company of America factory, a coffee-roasting plant, a factory that makes roofing materials, a factory that makes sulphuric acid, and a factory that makes a shortening named Spry. On the roof of the Spry factory is an enormous electric sign; the sign looms over the river, and on rainy, foggy nights its pulsating, endlessly repeated message, “SPRY FOR BAKING,” “SPRY FOR BAKING,” “SPRY FOR BAKING,” seems to be a cryptic warning of some kind that New Jersey is desperately trying to get across to New York."
July 9, 2026
Joseph Mitchell (1908-1996) was one of the great "New Yorker" magazine writers. He didn't publish much., five books made up of his magazine articles from 1938 to 1965. From then until his death in 1996 he went to his office at the "New Yorker" every day and never produced another story. It is one of the great writer's blocks in history.
What he did write is grand. This is a 1959 collection of stories about the people working on or near the water in New York City Harbor. He writes gorgeous sentences about anything.
Two examples;
"The rats of New York are quicker witted than those on the farm, and they can outthink any man who has not made a study of their habits. Even so, they spend most of their lives in extreme anxiety, the black rats dreading the brown and both species dreading human beings"
or
"At the head of a salty creek in one of the loneliest marshes, there is an old rickamarack of a dock that was built by rumrunners during prohibition."
He finds mostly old guys who have stories to tell. Louis Morino is the owner of a waterfront fish joint named "Sloppy Joe's". Marino hates the name, but it is too popular to change.
George Hunter, 87 years old, is a black man who has lived most of his life in an isolated black village on the outside of Staten Island. They have been a fishing village for all those years and now it is dying because the harbor is so polluted.
Ellery Franklin Thompson is a Connecticut fishing boat captain out of Stonington, Connecticut. He is the most well-respected captain in the harbor. Late in life he starts doing paintings of ships, which become very popular. Later in life he teams up with scientist who are trying to protect the stock of fish. He never graduated from High School.
Mitchell unravels these stories slowly. He meets George Hunter because he is studying wildflowers in an abandoned cemetery.
Mithchell is best known for his book "Joe Gould's Secret". Gould was a New York eccentric who was well known in Greenwich Village for the huge novel he was writing, which no one ever saw. There was a 2000 movie based on the book. The historian Jill Lepore wrote a book, "Joe Gould's Teeth", which tried to get to the bottom of the story. "Joe Gould's Secret" is a wonderful book, but it is a shame that because of all the attention on it, Mitchell's other books are not as well known.
"Up in the Old Hotel" is a very good collection of most of his writings. It is still in print. It is a perfect book to dip into when you want beautiful writing telling fascinating stories in a calm, slightly bemused tone.
What he did write is grand. This is a 1959 collection of stories about the people working on or near the water in New York City Harbor. He writes gorgeous sentences about anything.
Two examples;
"The rats of New York are quicker witted than those on the farm, and they can outthink any man who has not made a study of their habits. Even so, they spend most of their lives in extreme anxiety, the black rats dreading the brown and both species dreading human beings"
or
"At the head of a salty creek in one of the loneliest marshes, there is an old rickamarack of a dock that was built by rumrunners during prohibition."
He finds mostly old guys who have stories to tell. Louis Morino is the owner of a waterfront fish joint named "Sloppy Joe's". Marino hates the name, but it is too popular to change.
George Hunter, 87 years old, is a black man who has lived most of his life in an isolated black village on the outside of Staten Island. They have been a fishing village for all those years and now it is dying because the harbor is so polluted.
Ellery Franklin Thompson is a Connecticut fishing boat captain out of Stonington, Connecticut. He is the most well-respected captain in the harbor. Late in life he starts doing paintings of ships, which become very popular. Later in life he teams up with scientist who are trying to protect the stock of fish. He never graduated from High School.
Mitchell unravels these stories slowly. He meets George Hunter because he is studying wildflowers in an abandoned cemetery.
Mithchell is best known for his book "Joe Gould's Secret". Gould was a New York eccentric who was well known in Greenwich Village for the huge novel he was writing, which no one ever saw. There was a 2000 movie based on the book. The historian Jill Lepore wrote a book, "Joe Gould's Teeth", which tried to get to the bottom of the story. "Joe Gould's Secret" is a wonderful book, but it is a shame that because of all the attention on it, Mitchell's other books are not as well known.
"Up in the Old Hotel" is a very good collection of most of his writings. It is still in print. It is a perfect book to dip into when you want beautiful writing telling fascinating stories in a calm, slightly bemused tone.
May 20, 2026
A very cozy read! Despite having an aversion to fish, I’m very glad I picked up this book. I learned so much about the economic and social dynamics of waterside communities that I had not ever heard of. I kept wishing that there existed a 2026 update giving the current status of the draggermen and rivermen. And the rats! I learned so much about them as well. I feel so much closer to New York City having read this book! I really admired Mitchell’s openness, curiousity, and the way he teaches the reader about the worlds that his writing subjects exist in. There are so many wonderful characters in this book and I’ve found myself lighting up seeing things in the city that still exist today that relate to parts of the book. The more I think about it, the more I am in awe of how many untold stories make up this city and I am so grateful to Mitchell for bringing some of them to my attention. The drawings added such a lovely element to the book (in addition to helping visualize things that would otherwise have been very hard to understand, like fyke nets lol). I will say, the last story reallllly drags, but until then I was having a lot of fun!!
July 7, 2018
This book was one of many that came from the library of a friend who passed away. I don't know why it caught my eye, but it looked intriguing. The dust jacket promused a look at New York City and its harbor as it used to be and a chance to enjoy really good writing. It definitely delivered. I found it an enjoyable read, with captivating prose, even though I don't know that I would have cared about the subject matter one way or another if I ran across it somewhere else. It was in many ways a soothing escape. Even the piece about rats.
I think my favorite entry was Mr. Hunter's Grave, although Dragger Captain was also quite good. I don't know enough about New York City to know for sure that all of these pockets of life are long gone, but I think they must be. The stories feel timeless in some ways, but very ancient in others, and evoke the idea of a simpler time and way of life in one of the most complicated places on earth.
I think my favorite entry was Mr. Hunter's Grave, although Dragger Captain was also quite good. I don't know enough about New York City to know for sure that all of these pockets of life are long gone, but I think they must be. The stories feel timeless in some ways, but very ancient in others, and evoke the idea of a simpler time and way of life in one of the most complicated places on earth.
November 15, 2024
The Bottom of the Harbor by Joseph Mitchell is a collection of essays that paints a vivid portrait of New York City’s waterfront and its people during the mid-20th century. Through detailed and lyrical prose, Mitchell captures the sights, sounds, and stories of the harbor, from fishermen and oystermen to longshoremen and the changing urban landscape. The essays evoke a sense of nostalgia for a bygone era, offering a rich glimpse into the lives of the people who worked and thrived by the water.
The Bottom of the Harbor transported me to a time and place we can’t travel back to, but Joseph Mitchell’s writing made the experience feel real and tangible. His visual and beautiful descriptions of the harbor brought the past to life, allowing me to see the beauty and the grit of the waterfront. It was a captivating read that made me appreciate the harbor’s history and the stories of the people who lived there.
The Bottom of the Harbor transported me to a time and place we can’t travel back to, but Joseph Mitchell’s writing made the experience feel real and tangible. His visual and beautiful descriptions of the harbor brought the past to life, allowing me to see the beauty and the grit of the waterfront. It was a captivating read that made me appreciate the harbor’s history and the stories of the people who lived there.
May 14, 2025
“ In St Luke's cemetery there is a huge old apple tree that drops a sprinkling of small, wormy, lopsided apples on the graves beneath it every September, and in the Woodrow Methodist cemetery there is a patch of wild strawberries.
Invariably, for some reason I don't know and don't want to know, after I have spent an hour or so in one of these cemeteries, looking at gravestone designs and reading inscriptions and identifying wild flowers and scaring rabbits out of the weeds and reflecting on the end that awaits me and awaits us all, my spirits lift, I become quite cheerful, and then I go for a long walk.”
Invariably, for some reason I don't know and don't want to know, after I have spent an hour or so in one of these cemeteries, looking at gravestone designs and reading inscriptions and identifying wild flowers and scaring rabbits out of the weeds and reflecting on the end that awaits me and awaits us all, my spirits lift, I become quite cheerful, and then I go for a long walk.”
December 28, 2025
“La gent corrent és tan important com vostè, sigui qui sigui vostè”, deia Joseph Mitchell, un elegant cronista que es va dedicar a caminar i parlar amb tot de gent de Nova York i el seu entorn, d’on va saber trobar històries de personatges reals més fascinants que els famosos o inventats. Gent tan entranyable com l’Ellery, un pescador que tocava vells himnes amb la seva trompeta. Un dia el seu germà va sortir a pescar amb molt mala mar (necessitava posar un plat a taula de la seva família) i acabar caient per la borda. L’Ellery va sortir amb el seu pare amb la barca a trobar-lo, tot i el mal temps. Tres dies després van recollir el seu cos amb la xarxa de pescar.
August 24, 2023
Another lovely book by Mitchell, who again depicts a New York that was already vanishing in his time and has now been gone for more than 50 years. I’m particularly fond of “The Rivermen”, about shad fishermen in Edgewater, New Jersey, a long, narrow town across the Hudson from NYC that is wedged between the river and the bluffs of the Palisades. Once working class and industrial, it’s the latest victim of gentrification in what is now known as the Jersey Gold Coast. Though most if not all of the old Edgewater is gone, it’s wonderful to read how it was.
November 7, 2022
Oh boy, I found this to be an amazing read! I know MANY people will find the subjects boring and would think Mitchell offers way too much information but I didn't. I thoroughly enjoyed learning so many things about fishing and all the creatures in the harbors in and around NYC in the past. The character studies of the people in the Fulton Fish Market and the characters all around the area back in the day were absolutely fascinating.
November 7, 2019
Absolutely stunning. Masterful prose from a keen and generous observer of the human condition. As a New Yorker in exile, I found Mitchell’s vignettes of the city’s previous lives to be a brilliant way of discussing the passing of time in general. The closing discussion, among aging fishermen, of the meaning of life is really an earnest and beautiful summation of the collection's central theme.
September 6, 2020
I picked this up because it was mentioned as an example of great writing in the book Writing Well. The chapters were originally articles for a monthly. The subject matter is varied but all connected to New York Harbor area and history. Mitchell was able to write about subjects I normally wouldn't be interested in and yet it kept my interest.
July 7, 2023
Es un libro de crónicas del puerto de New York, las historias de reportajes son muy descriptivas, la descripción logra a uno meterlo en ese mundo de pescadores y algunas especies de peces que uno desconoce. Son historias muy humanas de un mundo que muy pocos conocen donde se habla de pestes, ratas y marinos que siempre han vivido junto al río y el mar
June 9, 2018
5/5
Joseph Mitchell was a journalist for the prestigious New Yorker for the majority of his career. He always wrote on the side but he never believed in his own texts. This is a collection of short chronicles on his New York. The harbor, the fishermen, the rats, the restaurants, a picture of a place that's long gone. He pictures it with such tenderness and care, it is truly fascinating. New York in the 1950's is not yet for bankers and billionaires, it is still full of strange corners and little mysteries.
All the anecdotes the author shares with us through his recounting of his conversations with locals, all the tiny details and descriptions of another world... Sometimes quite dark and eerie, quaint and run down, it is also a picture of change, of things that used to be but no longer exist or are starting to fade. It's beautiful and powerful in a quiet, careful way.
Joseph Mitchell was a journalist for the prestigious New Yorker for the majority of his career. He always wrote on the side but he never believed in his own texts. This is a collection of short chronicles on his New York. The harbor, the fishermen, the rats, the restaurants, a picture of a place that's long gone. He pictures it with such tenderness and care, it is truly fascinating. New York in the 1950's is not yet for bankers and billionaires, it is still full of strange corners and little mysteries.
All the anecdotes the author shares with us through his recounting of his conversations with locals, all the tiny details and descriptions of another world... Sometimes quite dark and eerie, quaint and run down, it is also a picture of change, of things that used to be but no longer exist or are starting to fade. It's beautiful and powerful in a quiet, careful way.
November 23, 2017
I rated this book as excellent. It was passed on to Dave. S. to give to his daughter Anna who was living in NYC at the time.
November 23, 2020
The last chapter killed it for me. Mitchell was a wonderful writer. Then he got writer’s block for about the last 30 years of his life. Strange.
July 4, 2021
Easily my favorite Joseph Mitchell collection so far, they transport me to a real and surreal NYC that it’s hard to believe ever existed
July 29, 2023
Great book!!
January 8, 2024
Thoroughly goated
June 29, 2024
4 1/2 ☆
June 23, 2026
Whimsical, creative, important
July 7, 2026
Beautiful writing about people and life in old New York City.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews