"Topics include the lives of Brooklynites, the history of fountains, and the shaping of New York City's urban environment. For those on the hunt for a volume that will appeal to the urban design or history lover on their gift list, we've rounded up a collection of books that offer some deep dives into topics that impact the borough and the city."
"Historian Prithi Kanakamedala delves into the lives of the free Black community that shaped the early history of Brooklyn and pushed for social justice. The experiences of four families are used to explore the larger cultural and social history of the time. The book, published in 2024, was a finalist for the 2025 Gotham Book Prize and was on the nonfiction longlist for the 2025 Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize."
"The eccentric journey of Brooklyn-born George Demmerle's life from factory worker to 1960s radical with a secret life as an FBI information gets an in-depth look in this 2024 volume by Jonathan Butler, the founder of Brownstoner. Butler contextualizes Demmerle's transformation with a dive into the politics, protests, and alliances of the era. The book is illustrated with ephemera and candid photographs from radical groups of the time."
Six volumes published in 2024 and 2025 examine Brooklyn's people, built environment, and civic culture. One study traces the free Black community that shaped early Brooklyn and its campaigns for social justice through the experiences of four families, earning recognition from regional literary prizes. Another profile follows a Brooklyn-born factory worker who became a 1960s radical and secretly reported to the FBI, situating his life within the era's politics, protests, and alliances and illustrated with ephemera and candid photographs. Collected 1880s columns map rambles through Downtown Brooklyn and surrounding neighborhoods, revealing period perspectives and racialized viewpoints.
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