We're Still Here: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of the South Bronx

After Moynihan's perceptive foreword, freelance journalist Jonnes launches into a history of New York City's northernmost borough, starting with the arrival there in 1639 of Jonas Bronck and his wife. She details the expansion of the Bronx in the first half of the 20th century, as it lured many, especially Jews, from the ghettos of Manhattan and as its political leader, Ed Flynn, became instrumental in putting Franklin Roosevelt in the White House. Jonnes then focuses on the South Bronx of the 1950s, the beginning of the borough's declinein which, she asserts, city planner Robert Moses, white middle-class fears of blacks and Puerto Ricans, venal landlords and bumbling bureaucrats all played a roleuntil the South Bronx's Charlotte Street became a symbol of urban decay. Finally, the author shows how the area is being resurrected, largely through the efforts of the Catholic Church. An impressive and readable study. Photos. February 10