Paradise Alley: A Novel

Written by Kevin Baker

Narrated by Kevin Baker

At the height of the Civil War, word spreads through the poorest quarters of New York City that a military draft is about to be implemented -- a draft from which any rich man's son can buy an exemption. The outrage this inspires escalates into the worst urban conflagration in American history.

Down in the waterfront slum of Paradise Alley, three women -- Deirdre Dolan O'Kane, Ruth Dove, and Maddy Boyle -- struggle with their private fears as they wait for the storm to descend upon them. Deirdre, devastated by the news that her husband, Tom, has been wounded in Gettysburg, must turn for comfort and aid to two women she has always judged as morally depraved -- Ruth, married to an ex-slave, and Maddy, a hard-living prostitute.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Apr 4, 2006
• ISBN: 9780060889326

Kevin Baker

Kevin Baker is the bestselling author of the novels Dreamland, Paradise Alley, and Sometimes You See It Coming. He is a columnist for American Heritage magazine and a regular contributor to the New York Times, Harper's, and other periodicals. He lives in New York City with his wife, the writer Ellen Abrams, and their cat, Stella.

Reviews for Paradise Alley

[maryreinert · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The details of life in NYC during this time are amazing - one can almost smell the air (thankfully, we can't). After seeing "Gangs of New York" I was impressed with how the details from the book and the details in movie held true. Baker has done a marvelous job of creating characters who are from different backgrounds and putting them into circumstances beyond their control. The short chapters told from the different view points is particularly effective. Anyone who loves NYC should read this book.

[rochellejewelshapiro · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

How did Kevin Baker manage to weave all that research on the Civil War, the famine in Ireland, slavery, the draft riots in the Five Points in Mew York City and seven voices into such a powerful and urgent tale of love, loss, what it means to be free vs. enslaved, redemption and revenge? The language is poetry really. "The city is a picked skull, but the maggots are still in the streets." I'm so sorry I finished it, because I'm afraid I'll never find a book I love as much. This is, I think, a masterpiece, and should rank with Grapes of Wrath. I hope this review helps to keep it alive with readers.

[chucknorton · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Baker provides a richly detailed and harrowing account of the New York City draft riots of 1863, told through the fictional lives of Irish immigrants, an escaped slave and a jaded journalist. With his customary attention to historical accuracy and his ear for dialect, this novel creates a world that is both fascinating and horrifying- and true to one of the most dramatic and searing episodes in American history.

[gairid · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

'Paradise Alley' is a fascinating glimpse into American History and the evolution of New York City. Mr. Baker has a way with description that goes above and beyond most writers of historical novels; 'Paradise Alley' paints a picture of American life in New York City and the politics therein, the trenches of the battlefields of the Civil War, the origins of the FDNY and the desperate landscape of the terrible potato famine 1846-1848 in Ireland. The telling of the tale of the Draft Riots is daunting indeed; Kevin Baker brings that time vibrantly and hauntingly alive by showing us the events through the eyes of people that very well could have lived through it.

[pghdragonman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Chronologically, this book predates Baker's previous book about early New York City, "Dreamland". This time the action takes place in Civil War era New York City and leads up to one of the greatest urban riots, the New Your Draft Riot. Baker highlights the early Irish immigrant population of the City, the influx of African Americans, some freed people and others escaped slaves and the interactions of these two groups.Baker once again shows us the ugly underside of this often romanticized City and probes the history of prejudice and race relations in America. Fascinating in its own right as a story, it also leave you wondering just how far we've come in accepting one another.

[jeffrey414 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Paradise Alley is a particularly disturbing chapter in American history not unlike civil unrest around the world and genocides in Africa. Kevin Baker's tale takes place near the end of the Civil War. I was unaware and uneducated on this sordid tale of our own history. Another chink in my particularly ignorant personal ethnocentrism thanks to the watered down social studies curriculum in the public schools. From another reviewer, "It was one of the ugliest moments in American history and chances are very good you never heard of it, no matter how well you paid attention in high school history class." I enjoyed this story of early times in Manhattan although the story could have been about any city from that time as unrecognizable as New York City was to me in this novel. The filth and depravity were as real thought "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt was depressing. This story of man's inhumanity to man was both shocking and eye-opening. I could sense Johnny Dolan coming around the corner and feel the slime in the streets and the foul scents in the air from Baker's writing which almost brought them to life. And as our current returning President, Ron Eaton, often reminds us, some times fiction has more fact than non-fiction!

[jamie638 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an excellent historical novel which is set at the time of the infamous draft riots that took place ten days after the battle of Gettysburg in NYC. Several things I learned after reading this book were: the enormous level of racism and pro-Southern sentiment that existed in NYC at the time, the appalling living conditions of the poor, and how the city was almost destoyed by the violence.