Russell Shorto tells the story beautifully, and makes a compelling case for its enduring importance ...
It is hard to love the city and to recognize its horrors. But it is possible; there is proof; Russell Shorto has done it.
Mr. Shorto’s method is to tell backstories in vivid and sometimes creative detail ... More compellingly, the author’s creative license renders Stuyvesant three-dimensional, very much in contrast to the Dutch leader’s historical reputation as a severe Calvinist and despot.
Leaving room for those who were dispossessed and enslaved, he performs a complex dance with historical revisionism too, offering new perspectives and ideas space to blossom.
One of the most captivating aspects of Taking Manhattan is how it reflects the city’s diverse population by telling stories of many different lives: freed slaves; farmers; traders; politicians; soldiers; men and women; English, Dutch and Native Americans ... But there are problems here, too ... While this is an informative and thought-provoking history, in places it shades towards romance and vilification.
It works just as well as its beloved predecessor ... Shorto narrates it all in equal parts well-placed color commentary and periodic pauses for breath ... Shorto excels at intensely-concentrated asides that serve wonderfully to propel the story forward ... Deftly-placed bits of droll humor.
Underscore[s] Shorto’s understanding of history’s human dimension and the historian’s moral responsibility to penetrate facts and figures, dates and details to present the ugly underbelly of our nation’s growth.
Lively, well-written, and well-researched ... Shorto deftly and vividly focuses on a conflict between Peter Stuyvesant, Dutch colonial governor of New Amsterdam, and Richard Nicolls, sent to take New Netherland by King Charles II.
A bracing narrative of the international standoff that birthed America’s biggest city ... A masterful account ... Shorto crafts a narrative packed with intrigue and fascinating subplots.
Revelatory ... Shorto’s storytelling is wry and accomplished, transforming a campaign of letter-writing and procedural legerdemain into a brisk and amusing saga. Readers will be wowed.
