“Kevin Baker is quickly altering the landscape of American historical fiction. His first novel, Dreamland, burst into flames three years ago — a hypnotic portrayal of Coney Island designed to parallel the chaotic city of New York in 1911. His latest, Paradise Alley, stays on Manhattan, but it moves back to the Civil War, rescuing from national amnesia the worst riot in US history…Baker’s descriptions of New York City could be more pungent only with scratch ‘n’ sniff inserts.…The enormous story burns for just three days, but it generates so much heat that I expected the pages to disintegrate into ash as I turned them.…Baker is a master at charting the conflicting political, social, and religious currents as they course through the city.…Once again, [Baker has] lit a fire under American history and made it burn with a roar.”

—Ron Charles