Jefferson Avenue: Stories from a Brooklyn Boyhood 1941-1958

Criminologist James M. O’Kane traces his lifelong fascination with the urban world to the gypsies, gangsters, and priests of his boyhood in post-World War II Brooklyn. In this vivid memoir he details what his Irish immigrant family faced and what kept them strong. Jefferson Avenue evokes an important era in the American story and points to what was lost in the move to the suburbs.