Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning

1977, Baseball, Politics, and the Battle for the Soul of a City

De: Jonathan Mahler

Narrado por: Kyle Tait

By early 1977, New York City was in the grip of hysteria caused by a murderer dubbed "Son of Sam". And on a sweltering night in July, a citywide power outage touched off an orgy of looting and arson that led to the largest mass arrest in the city's history. As the turbulent year wore on, the city became absorbed in two epic battles: the fight between Yankee slugger Reggie Jackson and team manager Billy Martin, and the battle between Ed Koch and Mario Cuomo for the city's mayoralty.

Buried beneath these parallel conflicts - one for the soul of baseball, the other for the soul of the city - was the subtext of race. The brash and confident Jackson took every Black myth and threw it back in White America's face. Meanwhile, Koch and Cuomo ran bitterly negative campaigns that played upon urbanites' fears of soaring crime and falling municipal budgets.

These braided stories tell the history of a year that saw the opening of Studio 54, the evolution of punk rock, and the dawning of modern SoHo. As the pragmatist Koch defeated the visionary Cuomo and as Reggie Jackson finally rescued a team racked with dissension, 1977 became a year of survival but also of hope.

©2005 Jonathan Mahler (P)2021 Tantor

Can’t get past the narration

I’m just 4 chapters in, and I have to stop. It looks like I’m in the minority here but this narrator is ruining it for me. It sounds very monotone and almost AI-generated. Takes away from a fascinating story that I will now read, not listen to.

Good story, but dull, boring narration

A good story — I remember living through it at a 17 year old high schooler, And had forgotten just how many different, big things were intertwined around this period of NYC’s history. But the narrator’s reading of the audiobook is really flat and boring.

Outstanding

Great insight on NYC overall, not just baseball. The pictures are paint as such that you see it all in your mind while listening.

Captivating (even to a non-baseball fan)

I didn’t know what to expect, but I adored it. I know nothing about baseball, however, that didn’t matter at all . I loved it. I recommend it fully.

Good Trip Back to NYC Circa 77

This book recaptures the politics and events backgrounding the Reggies, Billy and George Yankees of 77. The narrator sounds like a computer. But story is a good one.

Good snapshot of NYC in 1977

It is a good, well explained, comprehensive history of NYC in and around 1977. The narration is a little flat, almost computer-generated sounding.

Burn Baby Burn

As someone who detests New York City, I found this story interweaving the politics, newspapers, baseball and crime of the Bronx area in 1977 to be a mixed bag.

It was entertaining to listen to the narrative of the drunk manager Billy Martin, the egomaniacal slugger Reggie Jackson, the thin-skinned catcher Thurman Munson and the megalomaniacal owner George Steinbrenner battle during the Yankees World Series run.

Less entertaining were the portrayals of the New York's liberal Democrat mayoral candidates....Bella Abzug, Abe Beame, Ed Koch and Mario Cuomo...jockeying for the title of least likable character in the book. The winner: Abzug. A fat, communist hag who comes across as a bully and grandstander. But actually, they were all pretty detestable.

Some time is spent going into the Son of Sam investigation, and how it affected the newspapers of the time. And by some time, I mean not much at all. There is no real examination of Berkowitz, which is okay. You can listen to a book about Berkowitz for that.

Quite a few pages are spent detailing the blackouts that marred the city during July of 1977. A portrait of depravity and despicable behavior on the part of residents, massive amounts of crime and atrocious activity. The author reports this matter of factly, without much condemnation. Not that much needs to be said about such horrendous actions on the part of reprehensible humans. Oh hey, the power is out. Time to rob and pillage. Really, what decent human being thinks this? I don't care how poor you are. Stealing is stealing.

My favorite part of the book was actually the beginning, when the incident where Gerald Ford appears unsympathetic to the financial plight of NYC and New Yorkers, who have actually been put in such a precarious position by the actions of the crooks running their city for decades. Ford to City: Drop Dead was a fantastic headline. This was not a fantastic book, but I think most of the country can relate to that attitude.

The narrator is really good. Easy, smooth reading style and I didn't notice many, if any, words glaringly mispronounced. Great job!

A dive into the glitz and grime of 70s NYC

At times, Ladies and Gentlemen The Bronx is Burning feels like 5 books stitched together. Jumping from the NYC mayoral race, the fall and rise of neighborhoods, the Son of Sam, Disco, newspaper takeovers, the infamous blackout, and all bookended by the the saga of Reggie Jackson and the ‘77 Yankees. In this way it mirrors the city it chronicles, 5 distinct boroughs that make up the city that never sleeps. It’s a story of the death of the New York that was and its rebirth as the New York that is. If you have interest in baseball, New York in the 70s, or just good storytelling, this book is worth a listen.

Excellent

The book does a great job weaving together NYC history and the story of the 1977 Yankees. Really good read.

Covered a lot, but easy to follow

Narration was good. The book was structured well between everything going on in the city that year. The transitions between each event were easy to follow. Really captured the behind the scenes stuff well.