We're Still Here: The Rise, Fall and Resurrection of the South Bronx - Hardcover

After Moynihan's perceptive foreword, freelance journalist Jonnes launches into a history of New York City's northernmost borough, starting with the arrival there in 1639 of Jonas Bronck and his wife. She details the expansion of the Bronx in the first half of the 20th century, as it lured many, especially Jews, from the ghettos of Manhattan and as its political leader, Ed Flynn, became instrumental in putting Franklin Roosevelt in the White House. Jonnes then focuses on the South Bronx of the 1950s, the beginning of the borough's declinein which, she asserts, city planner Robert Moses, white middle-class fears of blacks and Puerto Ricans, venal landlords and bumbling bureaucrats all played a roleuntil the South Bronx's Charlotte Street became a symbol of urban decay. Finally, the author shows how the area is being resurrected, largely through the efforts of the Catholic Church. An impressive and readable study. Photos. February 10
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The South Bronx epitomizes the Amer ican urban slum. How and why it be came that way is the subject of this book by a freelance journalist. Starting in the late 1950s, the white middle and working class began to leave. They were replaced by poorer blacks and Hispanics. In little more than a decade whole neighborhoods were destroyed. As Jonnes says, "In a frenzy of arson, greed, and destruction, many willingly reaped the gains . . . as a citizenry annihilated its own city for profit." The author spares no one: landlords, city government, tenants, financial institu tions, and the welfare bureaucracy. The final chapters deal with grassroots efforts to halt the destruction and re store the area. Though too loosely orga nized and lacking maps, this journalis tic examination of one of America's most famous eyesores is recommended for most public libraries. Kevin M. Rosswurm, Mt. Vernon P.L., N.Y.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.