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City of Fire

This epic saga unfolds in a vibrant, turn-of-the-century New York, following the intertwined destinies of diverse characters from petty criminals to hopeful immigrants. Against a backdrop of rapid technological advancement and the dazzling allure of 'Dreamland,' the narrative explores profound themes of rise and fall, love and loss, and the quest for redemption. It's a captivating journey into the heart of the American Dream, capturing the raw energy and complex realities of a city forging its future.

Dreamland
Paradise Alley
Strivers Row

Recommended Reading Order

  1. 1

    A literary tour de force, a magnificent chronicle of a remarkable era and a place of dreams In a stunning work of imagination and memory, author Kevin Baker brings to mesmerizing life a vibrant, colorful, thrilling, and dangerous New York City in the earliest years of the twentieth century. A novel breathtaking in its scope and ambition, it is the epic saga of newcomers drawn to the promise of America—gangsters and laborers, hucksters and politicians, radicals, reformers, murderers, and sideshow oddities—whose stories of love, revenge, and tragedy interweave and shine in the artificial electric dazzle of a wondrous place called Dreamland.

    Dreamland
  2. 2

    They came by boat from a starving land—and by the Underground Railroad from Southern chains—seeking refuge in a crowded, filthy corner of hell at the bottom of a great metropolis. But in the terrible July of 1863, the poor and desperate of Paradise Alley would face a new catastrophe—as flames from the war that was tearing America in two reached out to set their city on fire.

    Paradise Alley
  3. 3

    Strivers Row

    • 592 pages
    • 21 hours of reading
    3.7(272)Add rating

    Struggling with feelings of inadequacy, Rev. Jonah Dove grapples with his legacy as the son of a prominent Harlem minister while confronting his own troubled past of "passing" as white. Simultaneously, the narrative introduces Malcolm Little, a teenage hustler navigating his ambitions and identity in a racially charged environment. Both characters face the challenges of their identities and the societal pressures of a changing world, highlighting themes of race, self-worth, and the search for purpose.

    Strivers Row