Book on the Edge

Edit note: a previous version of this post incorrectly stated the book’s title as “Book on the Edge.” Mark Goldman’s book is titled, “City on the Edge.” This blog post is titled, “Book on the Edge.” We apologize for any suffering this may have caused anyone.  It’s still a great book!

Buffalo businessman and all-around impresario Mark Goldman has written a very telling book of our dear city and all its encumbered roots in the industrial and social climates.  “City on the Edge,” published in March, is not Goldman’s first book about Buffalo, but it does take a historian’s gander at the post-industrial struggles and challenges that have pushed us so close to the proverbial edge.

It’s the kind of book you can pick apart and use as reference or read as linear literature.  It’s a layered and engaging way to hear the same old, same old runaround of Buffalo’s mistakes—architectural masterpieces left to ruin, post-industrial turmoil, sports team disappointments—as well as its (hidden) gems—Allentown’s beatnik past, Richmond Avenue’s illustrious treescape, not to mention a pleasingly modest account of development on Chippewa and downtown that was a direct result of his own efforts in the restaurant and bar industry.

This is a beautiful read, one that will fuel your desire to reconnect to a city that perhaps has abandoned your mindful, preservationist attitudes.  (Cynics and optimists will equally revel in these tales, I promise you.) And also one that serves to serve as a solid foundation for business owners and social activists to engage in what will inevitably be written in this book’s forthcoming epilogues.

You can find City on the Edge at Talking Leaves as well as all those chain stores you know about.  Here is the book’s listing on Amazon.

Posted by on 10/03 at 10:24 AM