Up in the Old Hotel
Saloon-keepers and street preachers, gypsies and steel-walking Mohawks, a bearded lady and a 93-year-old “seafoodetarian” who believes his specialized diet will keep him alive for another two decades. These are among the people that Joseph Mitchell immortalized in his reportage for The New Yorker and in four books—McSorley's Wonderful Saloon, Old Mr. Flood, The Bottom of the Harbor, and Joe Gould's Secret—that are still renowned for their precise, respectful observation, their graveyard humor, and their offhand perfection of style. These masterpieces (along with several previously uncollected stories) are available in one volume, which presents an indelible collective portrait of an unsuspected New York and its odder citizens—as depicted by one of the…
$29.99
June 1, 1993Joseph Mitchell (1908-1996) came to New York City on October 25, 1929, from the swamp country of southeastern North Carolina. He worked as a reporter and feature writer for The World, The Herald Tribune, and The World-Telegram for eight years, and then went to The New Yorker, where he remained until his death. Mitchell's interests included the waterfront and architecture of New York City, commercial fishing, Southern agriculture, and Irish literature.