If you want to take a trip down memory lane, this book is for you. Full of humor, wisdom and frank talk, award-winning* Yorkville Twins is an endearing collection of stories involving immigrants, survival, growing up, coming of age, and learning what it is to be an American. More than a memoir of a 1950s working-class neighborhood, it’s an experience, a love story of family, friends, neighbors, and the Yorkville of yore, recounting daily life from a historical, social and cultural perspective.

“In the 1940s and 1950s . . . most people lived in a four- or five-story, walk-up tenement building. Often their apartments had no toilet. Families would share a common toilet in the hallway. There were no showers. The only bathtub in many cases was a washtub located in the kitchen, a tub so small the best a full-grown person could do was sit on the edge and put his or her feet in the water. . . . There was little or no privacy in the railroad-style rooms.

The time Joe and John Gindele reminisce about is post-war America in a large city. It was a time when news reports, politicians and leaders were believable in the public’s mind. It was a time when teachers, priests, and the police were never challenged. It was a time before TV. Some people had telephones. Most didn’t. Radio programs which sparked the imagination of children and adults alike were the daily fare.”

[So writes Anthony Lofaso, a Yorkvilleger and who grew up during this time period. Lofaso is author of Origins and History of the Village of Yorkville in the City of New York, Second Edition 2014. He wrote the Foreword to Yorkville Twins.]

Supported by 100+ period photographs, richly annotated resources, and a multilingual glossary, the book is nostalgic, inspiring, and ‘laugh-out-loud’ entertaining. Twins Joe and John describe what the city was like then and how it changed. They and their family succeeded in living the American dream! It’s an American tale full of adventures and misadventures, laughs, sweet memories and sad moments. How did their family ever survive living with these guys who share special bonds and predictive abilities?

Dimensions: 6x0.05x9.5