Synopses & Reviews
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.
Review
"Dreamland is a fascinating and compelling novel. The real star, perhaps, is the city itself, which Mr. Baker depicts in all its garish, squalid, exuberant, frightening magnificence through his intricate patchwork of bizarre and finely drawn characters." Iain Pears, author of The Instance of the Fingerpost
Review
"Dreamland is an astonishment an irresistable epic made up of equal parts persuasive history and richly satisfying fantasy. With this remarkable novel, Kevin Baker establishes himself as a master of the form." Geoffrey C. Ward, author of The Civil War: An Illustrated History
Review
"[A] populist masterpiece...A powerful, deeply moving epic, an earthier, rowdier, more inclusive Ragtime that rings beautiful changes on the familiar themes of the immigrant experience and the unfulfilled promise of the American Dream...Amazingly vivid...grandly entertaining." Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Review
"More than anything, Dreamland is a novel about love love and kindness, generosity and endurance, in spite of it all. Dickensian in scope and intellectual breadth, Kevin Baker's masterpiece is Ragtime but without the sprawling misanthropy; Tom Wolfe but with characters that are human, not merely theoretical; Dreiser but superbly written; Sinclair Lewis but with a mystic's heart. It's just what we were waiting for: the return of the political novel. [This] galloping, grandiose epic is a virtuoso performance. Dreamland's conclusion is inevitable, of course, and when, with a puff of smoke, it ends, it's as if a magic trick has happened. And a miracle has materialized right before our eyes." Esquire
Review
"Compelling...Dreamland is a wild ride...paced like a police thriller." USA Today
Review
"At once instructive and great good fun to read. A high-spirited and knowing saga of...an extravagant and surreal age." The Boston Globe
Synopsis
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.
About the Author
Kevin Baker is the bestselling author of the novels Dreamland, Paradise Alley, and Sometimes You See It Coming. He is a columnist for American Heritage magazine and a regular contributor to the New York Times, Harper's, and other periodicals. He lives in New York City with his wife, the writer Ellen Abrams, and their cat, Stella.