The Raritan Bayshore region of central New Jersey is an area that encompasses communities in Monmouth and Middlesex Counties on the northernmost part of the Jersey Shore--a place rich in history, nature, and recreation. The region has played a significant role throughout history, dating back to its earliest indigenous inhabitants and later European arrivals. Raritan Bayshore residents have been leaders in a number of fields, including politics, technology, architecture, the arts, and sports. Home to multiple national historic landmarks, the region has long been a summer tourism hot spot because of its abundance of beaches, vacation homes, amusements, and resorts. The region's people have encountered their fair share of trials and proven time after time that when faced with adversity, they respond by coming together as a community--the memorials and monuments in the area are a testament to this.
The historic Raritan Bay stretches from Staten Island to Sandy Hook, including the beach communities of Monmouth County. With its proximity to New York City and Jersey shore attractions, the bay region has been the setting for compelling moments throughout American history. The native Lenapes harvested oysters and fished the waters along the bayshore generations before Dutch and English colonists reached their coasts. Local slave Titus Cornelius, or Colonel Tye, escaped from bondage and led Loyalist forces in raids to destabilize the area during the Revolutionary War. Steamships traversed the bay carrying hordes of vacationers from New York to newly established resorts along the "Riviera of New Jersey" in the early twentieth century. Climb aboard as author John Schneider takes readers on a historical journey across Raritan Bay.
The book is full of detailed and useful information on traditional fishing techniques woven into a narrative that is interesting in its own right. MacKenzie concludes his book with descriptions of trips he has taken with contemporary fishermen in which he vividly relates the day-to-day existence of the people who still pursue their livelihood on the water.
"Halcyon Days from the Jersey Shore to Freehold. With desirable beach communities and nearby commuter-friendly towns, Monmouth County continues to attract new residents, while nostalgic memories of bygone landmarks, forgotten businesses and more remain in the hearts of many.... New Jersey historian Randall Gabrielan takes readers on a journey of lost Monmouth County."--Back cover.
One man was tongue-tied and awkward around women, in many ways a mama's boy at heart, although his reputation for thuggery was well earned. The other was a playboy, full of easy charm and ready jokes, his appetite for high living a matter of public record. One man tolerated gangsters and bootleggers as long as they paid their dues to his organization. The other was effectively a gangster himself, so crooked that he hosted a national gathering of America's most ruthless killers. One man never drank alcohol. The other, from all evidence, seldom drank anything else. American Dictators is the dual biography of two of America’s greatest political bosses: Frank Hague and Enoch “Nucky” Johnson. Packed with compelling information and written in an informal, sometimes humorous style, the book shows Hague and Johnson at the peak of their power and the strength of their political machines during the years of Prohibition and the Great Depression. Steven Hart compares how both men used their influence to benefit and punish the local citizenry, amass huge personal fortunes, and sometimes collaborate to trounce their enemies. Similar in their ruthlessness, both men were very different in appearance and temperament. Hague, the mayor of Jersey City, intimidated presidents and wielded unchallenged power for three decades. He never drank and was happily married to his wife for decades. He also allowed gangsters to run bootlegging and illegal gambling operations as long as they paid protection money. Johnson, the political boss of Atlantic City, and the inspiration for the hit HBO series Boardwalk Empire, presided over corruption as well, but for a shorter period of time. He was notorious for his decadent lifestyle. Essentially a gangster himself, Johnson hosted the infamous Atlantic City conference that fostered the growth of organized crime. Both Hague and Johnson shrewdly integrated otherwise disenfranchised groups into their machines and gave them a stake in political power. Yet each failed to adapt to changing demographics and circumstances. In American Dictators, Hart paints a balanced portrait of their accomplishments and their failures.
