Coney Island: A Postcard Journey to the City of Fire

by Richard Snow

Book Overview

Paperback Publisher: Brightwaters Pr (June 1989) Language: English ISBN-10: 0918305012 ISBN-13: 978-0918305015 Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 9.1 x 0.5 inches This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0918305012
• ISBN13: 9780918305015
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Brightwaters Pr
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.

Customer Reviews

City of Fire Breathes Life Into Coney Island's Past

Steeplechase Park's founder George C. Tilyou once said "If Paris is France, then Coney Island, between June and September, is the World". Richard Snow's charming history of the fabled "Sodom by the Sea" is a imaginative look at the formation of the most popular seaside resort of all time. Snow's own collection of period postcards are used to illustrate the rise of Coney from a mere seaside cluster of chowder stands and bathhouses to the pre-eminent American amusement park of it's time. The book focuses not only on the development of island's three great parks, Steeplechase Park, Luna Park and Dreamland, but on the creation of the rollercoaster, carousel, and the plethora of wonders and weirdness that established Coney Island as the most fabulous and free-wheeling destination in a straitlaced world. The author discusses the effects of this atmosphere of freedom on the society of the period and how it provided an outlet for the masses who flocked there during the summer months. The history of each