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There has always been a symbiotic relationship between New York
City and the people who have settled there. This study traces the
major developments on Manhattan Island, which began as a base for
privateering, as it evolved into one of the world's great cities.
At the same time, the author also describes the background, the
adjustments that had to be made to the New World, and the
contributions of the millions who chose to settle there. There are
six chronological chapters, each discussing the groups who came in
the years as covered by that chapter, the city as it was when they
arrived, what they added to the city, and how life in New York
enabled most to improve their lives. The Irish laborers who came in
the middle of the 19th century, for example, contributed enormously
to the building of a clean water system. The wages earned from this
work allowed them to feed, house and clothe their families while
enabling the city to avoid the frequent cholera epidemics that had
devastated the city in earlier years.
This book is a comparative study of similar people in different
environments at the same point in time. The six chapters discuss
why eastern European Jews came to London and New York, the
differences and similarities in the settlement process, the schools
they found and the use they made of them, and the mobility they
achieved. The study concludes that individual and societal
conditions made it impossible for more than a small proportion of
the generation that grew to maturity before the first world war to
use schooling as a road to the middle class. In general, the
Russian and Polish Jews who came to New York reached the middle
class sooner than those who remained in London and thus can be said
to have made the better choice.
This book is a case study of a unique educational institution. For
130 years, the growth and development of Baruch College has
paralleled and reflected changes in New York City. Berrol shows how
the school, which was started in 1847 as a Free Academy to provide
training for the clerks and professionals needed in a growing
mercantile city, survived through several stages of development to
emerge as an independent college in 1968. She contends that this
survival is due, in no small measure, to the college's ability to
meet the needs of New York City as it grew from mid-19th century
commercial prominence to its current position as this nation's
corporate and financial headquarters. Most of the book is devoted
to the twentieth century, when the school fought for recognition
from its parent--the City College of New York. In large part
precipitated by the demands of Blacks and Hispanics for increased
educational opportunity, it was separated from City in 1968 and
renamed Baruch College. By using data and insights from urban and
ethnic studies, Berrol demonstrates how Baruch College mirrored the
changing ethnicity and economy of New York City and fulfilled its
role as the gatekeeper to the middle class. Additionally, the book
provides a window through which to view the history of New York
City as a whole. Getting Down to Business will be a useful adjunct
for courses in urban and business history and the history of higher
education.
There has always been a symbiotic relationship between New York
City and the people who have settled there. This study traces the
major developments on Manhattan Island, which began as a base for
privateering, as it evolved into one of the world's great cities.
At the same time, the author also describes the background, the
adjustments that had to be made to the New World, and the
contributions of the millions who chose to settle there. There are
six chronological chapters, each discussing the groups who came in
the years as covered by that chapter, the city as it was when they
arrived, what they added to the city, and how life in New York
enabled most to improve their lives. The Irish laborers who came in
the middle of the 19th century, for example, contributed enormously
to the building of a clean water system. The wages earned from this
work allowed them to feed, house and clothe their families while
enabling the city to avoid the frequent cholera epidemics that had
devastated the city in earlier years.
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