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This is a densely researched and comprehensive examination of the deep history of the region from the time of European settlement to the present day. Taking an expansive approach to local history, it examines how the broad channels of the American narrative played out in the development of an iconic region that became a prototype for suburban living.
The first modern narrative history of the county, Westchester places its colorful characters and larger-than-life personas within the context of their changing times, recounting the county’s social and economic history in compelling, biographic detail. Drawn from letters, court records, archives, oral histories and newspaper accounts, the book uncovers a rich, complex and often surprising past that contradicts a popular belief that the suburbs are somehow less compelling subjects of historical inquiry than their big-city neighbors.
Forgotten or never-told stories of silent film stars, gangland violence, Jim Crow segregation, immigration, political riots, slavery, anti-Semitism, industry, cultural pioneers, eccentric millionaires, suffragettes, aviation, drugs, jailbreaks, man-made disasters and assassinations are recounted in depth. Through four hundred years of history, the book chronicles the men and women who faced countless struggles at home-and the global conflicts that changed them and the local landscape forever. Their stories reveal the layered past of New York City’s archetypal suburb and how it looks to the future.
