Downtown Audiobook By Pete Hamill cover art

Downtown

My Manhattan

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Downtown

By: Pete Hamill
Narrated by: Pete Hamill
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In Downtown, Hamill leads us on an unforgettable journey through the city he loves, from the island's southern tip to 42nd Street, combining a moving memoir of his days and nights in New York with a passionate history of its most enduring places and people. From the Battery's traces of the early port to Washington Square's ghosts of executed convicts and well-heeled Knickerbockers; from the Five Points, once the most dangerous and squalid slum in America, to the mansions of the robber barons on "the Fifth Avenue"; from the Bowery of the 1860s, the vibrant heart of the city's theater world, to the Village of the 1960s, with its festival-like street life, this is downtown as we've never seen it before. Hamill weaves his own memories of Manhattan with the liveliest moments from its past, and points out the hints of that past living on in the city of today, fueling the ever-present nostalgia of its inhabitants.

Hamill introduces us to the New Yorkers who have left indelible marks: Peter Stuyvesant and John Jacob Astor, Stanford White and George Templeton Strong, Edith Wharton and Henry James, Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, W. H. Auden and Allen Ginsberg, Boss Tweed and Fiorello La Guardia, Jimi Hendrix and Thelonious Monk, and scores of others. And he takes us to the eateries, saloons, theaters, movie houses, bookstores, and street corners they, and he, once frequented, whether still standing or existing only in memory.

Through the city's transformations, the pulse of Pete Hamill's brilliant voice melds with the pulse that drives New York, that mixture of daring, greed, anger, rebellion, hope, entrepreneurialism, and longing that never fades. Written by native son who has lived through some of New York City's most historic moments, Downtown is an extraordinary celebration of the magnificent, haunted place that Hamill continues to call home, and that people from all over the country and the world have come to call their own.

©2004 Deidre Enterprises, Inc. (P)2004 Time Warner AudioBooks Americas North America State & Local Travel Writing & Commentary United States Haunted New York

Critic reviews

"Marvelous....Written with insight, humor, and, most of all, a deep love of the Big Apple." (Publishers Weekly)
"A delightfully personal, robustly informative portrait of New York....A marvelous read for anyone who has a hometown." (Booklist)
All stars
Most relevant  
This book makes you fall in love with your city again. Hamill reminds you of why it's so amazing.

Reconnect with NYC

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Loved this book. He did midtown justice and at the same time gave me the sort of look at the heart of NYC I have long desired. Thanks, jerry mcginn

Great stories, easy style, & enduring quality

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Pete Hamill's Downton is part memoir, part history of New York, and all love letter to the city inwhich he was born and lived and worked. I'm so glad he chose to read this book because his rich, gravely voice is perfect. This book is a treasure, as surely as Pete Hamill himself.

An absolute treasure.

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Enjoyed and will look at his other books now! Hoping covid can get tamed so I can again visit “oz”

Loved it. Wish it were longer

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Incredible, one of the best perspectives on NYC by one of the best authors of our time.

One of the best books of our time

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Would you listen to Downtown again? Why?

I am on my second listening of the book, it is so rich in history.

Any additional comments?

Superb writing. Poignant in parts, enlightening in many other ways. Stories of his family, and so many other key characters. Buildings and newspapers are also "characters" in Pete Hamill's book, and perhaps that's also part of why I love this book.

Absolutely superb.

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Hamill reads his book and you are suddenly sent to that century and that part of town. You get to meet the individuals that made NY.

Required for all those that love NY

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His gravel voice and warmth towards his native city shine through in a quiet and meditative book about the evolution of the greatest city in the world. It’s a comfort and a gift to hear his memories, observations and insights. As ever, the soul of a street poet who is sorely missed. Bravo.

There’s Nobody like Pete Hamill

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The book was frustrating to me due to the author's disjointed style and lack of specifics. The fact that Mr. Hamill loves Manhattan is clear, but so is his past history as a writer for a newspaper tabloid. This feels like a quick newspaper article, extended ad-nauseum. There seems to be no clear structure to the book, be it by location, theme, time or date. Thoughts seem to have appeared on paper through stream of conciousness. I was further frustrated in my desire to learn about the history of Manhattan by the dearth of specific anectodes or data to support generalities in the book. The non-New Yorker can learn a little bit about the Island of Manhattan, but it takes a lot of patience.

A frustrating read

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This is a boring review of a fantastic city. The author manages to take an interesting topic like Downtown Manhattan and make it uninteresting. The author jumps all over the place from history, architecture, geography, etc.. without bringing the whole story together. This book was a waste of time listening to basic facts about NYC most people already know!

Jumps all over the place

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