{"product_id":"gowanus-crossing-vincent-coppola-9781250904126","title":"Gowanus Crossing: A Brooklyn Boyhood","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBrooklyn is a mythic place\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003ea\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003end the Gowanus Canal, p\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eestilent and fertile, i\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003es its Nile. \"Yous stay outta t\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ehat f*cking water,\" Uncle \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eHoney used to warn us.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWe never listened.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMid-century Gowanus: Decades before the Whole Foods went up and the lofts were refurbished, a raucous, unruly, proudly Italian American enclave clings to the banks of the noxious canal. The Mafia and the Catholic Church--two centuries-old, rigidly hierarchical institutions defined by oppressive codes of silence--dominate the neighborhood. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eGowanus Crossing\u003c\/i\u003e, Vincent Coppola brings the world of his childhood ferociously to life. A second-generation Italian American, Coppola grew up in old Gowanus, a bookish kid for whom Park Slope, to say nothing of Central Park, might as well have been the moon. His journey through and eventually out of the neighborhood is harrowing, hilarious, and populated with a cast of characters who burst off the page: a four-foot-tall wiseguy who walks a lion on a leash, a predatory priest, mobbed-up undertakers, Coppola's three wayward brothers, and a host of assorted schemers, scammers, mobsters, bookies, gamblers, and certifiable crazies. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eCombining Frank McCourt's gimlet eye with the exuberant menace of a Scorsese movie, \u003ci\u003eGowanus Crossing\u003c\/i\u003e captures a lost world in all its glory.","brand":"Henry Holt \u0026 Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50060036341953,"sku":"9781250904126","price":27.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0781\/5512\/0833\/files\/9781250904126.jpg?v=1773777115","url":"https:\/\/www.porchlightbooks.com\/products\/gowanus-crossing-vincent-coppola-9781250904126","provider":"Porchlight Book Company","version":"1.0","type":"link"}