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BROOKLYN GUIDE

By Neil Sloane
The Brooklyn Paper

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Around here we call it the bible.

When a Brooklyn Papers reporter or editor isn’t sure what neighborhood a particular block is located in, we reach for "the neighborhoods book," or, to be precise, "The Neighborhoods of Brooklyn" ($19.95, Citizens for NYC/Yale University Press) edited by New York City historian Kenneth Jackson and Brooklyn historian John Manbeck.

First published in 1998, "NOB" has been slightly updated for a brand-new second edition, this one in paperback. The book provides a detailed geographic and brief historical-sociological look at more than 90 Brooklyn neighborhoods and sub-neighborhoods, in alphabetical order.

New for this edition is a handy appendix providing 2000 Census information for each of the neighborhoods. As in the previous edition, Jackson, a Columbia University professor and former president of the New York Historical Society, and Manbeck, the Brooklyn Borough Historian from 1993 to 2001, provide not only block-by-block maps detailing the boundaries of each neighborhood, but also historical photographs and fascinating local lore. You can find everything from the bus and subway lines that run through a neighborhood to the local police precinct.

And while this editor believes that a future edition should separate the neighborhoods of DUMBO and Vinegar Hill from the all-inclusive "Downtown Brooklyn" section, "The Neighborhoods of Brooklyn" remains both an invaluable tool and an immensely enjoyable, entertaining read.


©2004 Community Newspaper Group

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