A History of New York

Posted on by Washington Irving Elizabeth L. Bradley
A History of New York In New Yorkers were buzzing about a series of classified ads concerning the whereabouts of Dutch historian Diedrich Knickerbocker They were unaware that Washington Irving had invented the man en

In 1809, New Yorkers were buzzing about a series of classified ads concerning the whereabouts of Dutch historian Diedrich Knickerbocker They were unaware that Washington Irving had invented the man entirely and placed the ads himself Knickerbocker s purported manuscript, A History of New York, was Irving s own Told from Knickerbocker s point of view, A History of New YoIn 1809, New Yorkers were buzzing about a series of classified ads concerning the whereabouts of Dutch historian Diedrich Knickerbocker They were unaware that Washington Irving had invented the man entirely and placed the ads himself Knickerbocker s purported manuscript, A History of New York, was Irving s own Told from Knickerbocker s point of view, A History of New York is a chronicle of New York s fifty years under Dutch rule in the 1600s that plays fast and loose with the facts, to uproarious effect A History of New York propelled Irving to the heights of literary stardom.

  • ☆ A History of New York ☆ Washington Irving Elizabeth L. Bradley
    132 Washington Irving Elizabeth L. Bradley
A History of New York

  1. Washington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century He began his literary career at the age of nineteen by writing newspaper articles under the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle In 1809, he published The History of New York under his most well known public persona, Diedrich Knickerbocker Irving is best known for his short stories The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle, both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent which he published in 1819 Irving s historical works include a five volume biography of George Washington after whom he was named as well as biographies of Oliver Goldsmith, Muhammad, and several histories of 15th century Spain dealing with subjects such as Christopher Columbus, the Moors, and the Alhambra Irving felt a strong connection to Spain and was appointed by President John Tyler to serve as the first Spanish speaking U.S minister to Spain from 1842 to 1846.

385 Reply to “A History of New York”

  1. In every reader s life there are a few books which seem to come out of nowhere at just the right moment to surprise and delight and affirm your hope that there are still treasures lurking in the double stacked shelves This was that sort of book for me Published in 1809, the young Irving s book is a satirical novel history of the Dutch New Netherlands, ostensibly written by a crotchety old fellow named Diedrich Knickerbocker and printed by his former landlord after the author mysteriously disappe [...]

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  2. La prosa sat rica del siglo XIX tiene un buen ejemplo en este libro de Washington Irving Elabora una mitolog a sobre la historia de la dominaci n holandesa de Manhattan Divertida a ratos, en otros un esteticismo excesivo hace que el avance de la narraci n se atasque.En todo caso, es interesante y entretenido.

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  3. This book is incredibly funny I hadn t read any Washington Irving in years but clearly, it s time to revisit his work.

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  4. Dude, this is totally where Dave Eggers got his table of contents format for Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius

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  5. A HISTORY OF NEW YORK, from the world to the end of the Dutch dynasty 1809 Washington IrvingI remember making an attempt to read this book when I was in high school, 55 years ago I didn t get very far into it before I had to put it down There were lots of reasons why I did that, some of which are valid to this day It is an exhaustive work of both fiction and non fiction by Irving that chronicles the history of New York City under its various names while under Dutch rule and administration I m no [...]

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  6. This is the 1927 Harcourt, Brace And Company, Inc edition this verbatim restoration of the 1809 text includes all appendices up to the final AUTHOR S APOLOGY appendix from the revised edition, xi xiv, of 1848 What a treat to thumb and chuckle over by the family fireside.

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  8. This was the first book I had ever heard on Librivox that outlined what the 18th century people may have believed about the near annihilation of American Indians One can t imagine the shock and judgment I started spewing Until I realized that this book was supposed to be a parody I found it hard to get over the startling parodied prejudice.

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  9. I appreciate that this is my failings rather than the book s, but I just didn t get it at all and was massively disappointed There was little humour and it covered an irrelevant period of time.That said, there was the odd passage with talk of society that still rings true however many years later

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  11. If you re looking for a real history of New Amsterdam, look elsewhere I d recommend Russell Shorto s The Island at the Center of the World However if you have enjoyed Irving s gently humorous tales of Rip Van Winkle and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow and are looking for in the same vein, then you ll enjoy his apocryphal History of New York The work is not only a broad satire of the Dutch era in New York foggily understood in Irving s day but also of the overblown style of many historians contempor [...]

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  12. Via Librivox, perhaps the greatest internet resource Wholly entertaining satire from the first great American humorist, the book that made Irving justly famous is funny, erudite, and far progressive in its views than I expected it to be Contemporary comparisons to Swift are, to my mind, inadequate because Irving s satire is a good deal less snide than the Dean s, lacking the sneer and the sense of a self identified superior intellect looking down on insects The match with Lawrence Sterne is clo [...]

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  13. This was the most entertaining book I have read in a long time Washington Irving writes an abundantly clever and creative history of the city to parody a work done by the newly formed NewYorkHistoricalSociety He chooses as a narrator, Diedrich Knickerbocker, who sees Dutch NY as a whimsical age with heroes befitting an epic Knickerbocker, himself, is an archetypal character that Stephen Colbert in all his genius can only aspire to mimic Somehow Irving s satire is a commentary of NYers lack of hi [...]

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  14. During the first two books I was close to giving up on it completely, and ripping it apart in my review, but once he gets past the history of the world and down to the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam, the book becomes enjoyable, and at times even entertaining True, the antiquated style is not its best feature, still the book offers an interesting view on the early settlement of New York, and its Dutch populace.

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  15. I know this book deserves five stars , every page of it deserves five stars I just got tired of laughing, had to stop and go to another book many times just as meaningful today as 100 years ago I must have highlighted 100 lines in it Will be interesting to see if I ever go back to any of them.

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  16. This book is a hoot Stylistically, it is a terrific satire of overblown 19th century prose It is also generously salted with the author s caustic observations on politics, society, and the early European settlers of the Eastern Seaboard A neglected gem.

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  17. Hoped for Not as good as I d hoped I was looking forward to a in depth history full of folksie details What material he had to work with Disappointing.

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  19. Fun, fun, fun, and funny reading Laughed all the way through And never mind the comparisons to our modern political system Great read Book 3 on my 52 books a year in 2014.

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  23. Satire which is still quite applicable to today s politics, religion, and military maneuverings Interesting that none of this has changed in the last 200 years.

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