… a rich personal reminiscence of growing up in the predominantly Jewish southeast Bronx from 1916 to 1926. – The New York Times
To read this book is to immerse yourself in a bygone era, in the wake of the First World War, where there were no computers, smart phones or Internet. Instead, there was an iceman, a milkman, an “I cash clothes man” and an organ grinder with a small, red-capped monkey on a long chain. There were trolley cars for public transportation, but still some horses, pulling all kinds of carts–including a flatbed with a merry-go-round. – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Back then the streets and stoops of low-rise tenements and apartments and homes were teeming with people: the Jews, including the Orthodox, the Italians, and others who shared a neighborhood in relative peace and harmony—no gang wars in that community at least. – The Miami Herald
There was stickball and stoopball and marbles, and everyone’s mother leaning out the window screaming for their sons and daughters to come in for dinner. – The Boston Globe
For those of a certain age, this book will bring back vivid memories. The book is especially worth reading for the descriptions of life on the street and for its detailed profiles of several specific families. For some of us, this memoir also offers a nostalgic return to the all-important candy store, where you could linger with your nose pressed up against the glass case, clutching a few pennies, and taking your time with that all important decision of whether to buy the rolls of sugar dots on paper, the liquid in wax, or the minuscule ice cream cones made of colored marshmallow. Another era indeed! – The Sacramento Bee