It Happened in Brooklyn: An Oral History of Growing Up in the Borough in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s (Excelsior Editions)

Over one hundred voices recall, chronicle, and celebrate the Brooklyn of legend.

It Happened in Brooklyn tells the story of mid-century Brooklyn, home of the famed Brooklyn Dodgers, Nathan’s franks, stoop-ball, stickball, and some of the best high schools in America. In this spirited recollection, more than one hundred voices chronicle and celebrate, in tones both humorous and poignant, the borough as it once was: a largely working- and lower-middle-class environment bathed in the optimistic glow of the postwar years. Illustrated with period photographs.

“Throbs with life and affection.” — Publishers Weekly

“Has the genuine flavor of Brooklyn.” — Newsday

“All of us need this beautiful book.” — New York Daily News

“Despite the emphasis on good-time memories—Jackie Robinson, stickball, Coney Island amusements—accounts of red-lining and block-busting close this absorbing evocation.” — Library Journal