(From back cover): Originally part of a Lenape trail running the entire length of Manhattan Island, the Bowery has become one of the most notorious thoroughfares in America. Developed in stages by the Dutch, British and then Americans, this stretch of street has continually risen from its own ashes, interminably experiencing periods of popularity, poverty and prosperity.
It has been celebrated as a haven of counterculture, entertainment and theater and denigrated as New York's "Skid Row." Home to bums, bohemians, criminals, artists, performers and the rich and poor alike, the Bowery has attracted the most diverse population of any place in all of New York City's history. Travel down the Bowery with New York City author and researcher Eric Ferrara as he explores its rich, fascinating and at times troubling past.