Kevin Baker is perhaps the most ambitious American novelist working today. –Darin Strauss, author of Chang and Eng and The Real McCoy Read More
NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW of Paradise Alley
Extraordinary…Rich in color and drama…Successful… ambitious…[Baker is] a skilled ringmaster —Geoffrey Ward Read More
LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK REVIEW of Paradise Alley
Ambitious…Vivid…forceful…Baker has carried out his research with extraordinary dedication, familiarizing himself with every imaginable aspect of the Draft Riots…—Adam Bresnick Read More
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR Review of Paradise Alley
Kevin Baker is quickly altering the landscape of American historical fiction. —Ron Charles Read More
TIME OUT NEW YORK Review of Paradise Alley
Vivid…[Baker] gives us the stench of the slaughterhouses, the claustrophobia of the tenements and the menace of the dingy saloons…—Soren Larson Read More
Read An Excerpt From Paradise Alley
The New York City draft riot was the worst civic disturbance America has ever experienced. Set off by the first military draft in our history, it raged up and down the length of Manhattan for five, terrifying days in July, 1863. Before it was over, it had come close to destroying the city, causing untold millions in property damage and leaving at least 119 people dead. The riot is the natural climax to my novel, for it was incited mostly by Irish-Americans, and suppressed by the same, and Paradise Alley is above all the story of the Irish in America—of Read More
