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Subject: [NYCORTLA] Re: Irving's Knickerbocker book
Date: Tue, 29 May 2001 21:49:24 EDT

Tim, "Knickerbocker History" is a great piece of early 19th-century American
literature, but it isn't history. Think of history as it would have been
written by Mark Twain or by the crew at Saturday Night Live, and you'll have
an idea of how reliable "Knickerbocker History" would be as a textbook. It
tells the story of New Amsterdam as a series of adventures and parodies and
satires and tall tales. It must have been funnier to Irving's contemporaries
than it is to us, because they would have been familiar with the history and
dialects that Irving stretched and twisted. I think most of us would find it
very hard reading -- perhaps interesting in its way but hardly worth the
effort if you're more interested in straight history than in regional
literature.

I wonder if list members have suggestions for histories of New York that are
more likely to be of interest to most of us?

Ardis Parshall
looking for descendants of James JONES and Mariah WOOD in Cortland Co.

This thread:

• [NYCORTLA] Irving's Knickerbocker book by Tim Stowell <>

  • [NYCORTLA] Re: Irving's Knickerbocker book by

  • RE: [NYCORTLA] Re: Irving's Knickerbocker book by Vicki Titus <>