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On the Town: One Hundred Years of Spectacle in Times Square

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Described as ‘a continuous carnival’ and ‘the crossroads of the world,’ Times Square is a singular the spot where imagination and veracity intersect. To Marshall Berman, it is also the flashing, teeming, and strangely beautiful nexus of his life. In this remarkable book, Berman takes us on a thrilling illustrated tour of Times Square, revealing a landscape both mythic and real. Interleafing his own recollections with social commentary, he reveals how movies, graphic arts, literature, popular music, television, and, of course, the Broadway theater have reflected Times Square’s voluminous light to illuminate a vast spectrum of themes and vignettes. Part love letter, part revelatory semiotic exposition of a place known to all, On the Town is a nonstop excursion to the heart of American civilization, written by one of our keenest, most entertaining cultural observers.

304 pages, Paperback

First published February 7, 2006

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About the author

Marshall Berman

21 books127 followers
Marshall Berman (born 1940, The Bronx, New York City) is an American philosopher and Marxist Humanist writer. He is currently Distinguished Professor of Political Science at The City College of New York and at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, teaching Political Philosophy and Urbanism.

An alumnus of Columbia University, Berman completed his Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1968. He is on the editorial board of Dissent and a regular contributor to The Nation, The New York Times Book Review, Bennington Review, New Left Review, New Politics and the Village Voice Literary Supplement.

His major work is All That Is Solid Melts Into Air: The Experience Of Modernity. His most recent publication is the anthology, New York Calling: From Blackout To Bloomberg, for which he was co-editor, with Brian Berger, and also wrote the introductory essay. In Adventures in Marxism, Berman tells of how while a Columbia University student in 1959, the chance discovery of Karl Marx's Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 proved a revelation and inspiration, and became the foundation for all his future work. This personal tone pervades his work, linking historical trends with individual observations and inflections from the situation.


Bibliography

* The Politics of Authenticity: Radical Individualism and the Emergence of Modern Society (1970)

* All That Is Solid Melts Into Air: The Experience of Modernity (1982)

* Adventures in Marxism (1999)

* On the Town: One Hundred Years of Spectacle in Times Square (2006)

* New York Calling: From Blackout to Bloomberg (2007), edited by Marshall Berman and Brian Berger.

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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
Profile Image for Anthony.
63 reviews12 followers
June 6, 2012
I can remember as recently as two years ago telling people how much I disliked going anywhere near Times Square. I've lived in NYC for over a decade now and the appeal of flashing lights and overpriced novelty restaurants has waned for me. Marshall Berman's poignant elegy (and eulogy) to the Times Square that was hasn't changed my mind about going there more often but rather made me think about how we take public spaces for granted.

Times Square always had an element of danger and seediness to it (even before the heyday of the 1970s, 80s porn underworld that overtook it) but at the same time, as Berman argues, one could walk in Times Square and believe that it truly belonged to everyone. We all could take a "bath of light" along the "Great White Way." Berman chooses to write a cultural history of Times Square as an idea and this perhaps takes the book to theoretical territory. Normally this would be a weakness but Berman is such a wonderful storyteller that you forgive his sometimes thin historical analysis.

Compared to his other books, however, Berman is less critical this time around and he pulls his punches regarding Times Square's "miraculous" turn around. I won't. Berman is hardly an apologist for the hypocrisy and prudish character of the Giuliani years but in an effort to not fall for the nostalgia trap that sometimes happens with these cultural histories he seems to let Rudy as well as the overzealous urban developers, moralizers and brutish tactics of the NYPD off the hook.

Now there is no denying that Times Square could be a rough and even, at times, dangerous place, especially for young women. The peep shows and porn theaters that enveloped 42nd St often attracted unsavory characters. Berman recounts having to walk his female students to the subway after evening classes. But sometimes the danger was perceived and not always realized. Times Square still housed a vital community even in its darkest years. Some of my older friends have told me that it wasn't uncommon to see entire families spend an afternoon at the local cheap (non-porn) theaters to catch a B movie. Local teens could also hang out at the 24 hour book shops and pinball arcades. One could argue that Times Square was already "family friendly" in its own bizarre Roger Corman way.

Too often these efforts to "clean up" cities and communities prove to be ways for the affluent and middle classes to police the poor and low income, the "degenerates" and the "riff-raff," and reform their alleged moral failings. Should porn theaters make a triumphant return? Not exactly. But should the giant Disney store, plastic Italian food at the Olive Garden, and tastefully bland Naked Cowboy be viewed as a victory for public decency? Or is it a victory for suburbanites and tourists already jaded by their distrust of NYC and big cities in general? With the corporatization of Times Square, local authentic character, albeit a sometimes rough character, has fallen by the wayside in favor of the self-assured panacea that is "family friendly" (there's that word again) entertainment.

Urban planning seems to go into extremes. Can't there be some middle ground where all can enjoy the public square again? Berman doesn't really answer this question but it's one that should be considered while reading this book. Highly recommended for urban historians, cultural critics, sociologists of deviance as well as artists, dancers and Broadway fans.
Profile Image for Zak Yudhishthu.
71 reviews
May 3, 2025
Nobody does humanism like Berman, which is how you can get a whole book describing how Times Square is actually the peak of modern popular culture. It’s a wonderful collection of loosely ordered essays, largely focused on reading Times Square through plays, movies, and music that feature the square.

Sometimes the references got a bit obscure, and it could be difficult at times to read extended passages on random dance performances from the 1930s. I am not sure how Berman has even heard of some of these cultural texts.

Nevertheless, Berman’s awesome willingness to embrace the Square’s many contradictions, guided by his very pure love of all people and all modern life, make this book an excellent read.
Profile Image for Amy Stoltman.
251 reviews
March 11, 2019
It barely talked about Times Square. It was more about Broadway and the history of the city. It does talk about the history of the square though in the beginning of the century though. I wish the book talked more about the history of Times Square though. That was the most interesting part
7 reviews1 follower
July 6, 2020
Some interesting history but overall very boring and hard to follow.
58 reviews
March 5, 2022
Looking back on Time Square history, very interesting.
Profile Image for Bob Reutenauer.
72 reviews8 followers
October 25, 2014
Berman's cultural history of Times Square has been on my to-read list for several years. Glad I finally got to it.
A review soon after publication, in The Nation I believe, intrigued me to find out how he understood 100 years of Times Square to have been both a place that evoked mass nostalgia and mass revulsion at the same time! "We need to clean it up".. it changes... "It was really great when..". The latest massive transformation "cleanup" of Times Square, what many experience as a combination of Disneyfication and the end of history, (what can possibly happen next?) is challenged by the ever optimistic, generous, urbanist in Berman. Look closer, it is still the spectacular, hyper reality, of light and life, he says.
Profile Image for Alan Moore.
Author 11 books3 followers
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January 16, 2021
A really interesting book by the author of "All That Is Solid". It's a psychogeographical read on the terrain and culture of Times Square, the district near where Berman taught most of his career. Close and revealing analysis of Broadway plays and movies.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews

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