Knickerbocker: The Myth behind New York - Elizabeth Bradley 2009

KnickerbockerThe Myth Behind New York\nAuthor(s): Elizabeth L. Bradley\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Rutgers University Press, United States\nImprint: Rivergate Books\nISBN-13: 9780813545165, 978-0813545165\nSynopsis\nDeep within New York's compelling, sprawling history lives an odd, ornery Manhattan native named Diedrich Knickerbocker. The name may be familiar today: his story gave rise to generations of popular tributes-from a beer brand to a basketball team and more-but Knickerbocker himself has been forgotten. In fact, he was New York's first truly homegrown chronicler, and as a descendant of the Dutch settlers, he singlehandedly tried to reclaim the city for the Dutch. Almost singlehandedly, that is. Diedrich Knickerbocker was created in 1809 by a young Washington Irving, who used the character to narrate his classic satire, A History of New York. According to Irving's partisan narrator, everything good and distinctive, proud and powerful, about New York City-from the doughnuts ""