Preview
  • Coney Island

  • The History of New York City's Most Famous Amusement Park Resort
  • By: Charles River Editors
  • Narrated by: Jim D. Johnston
  • Length: 1 hr and 16 mins
  • 3.3 out of 5 stars (4 ratings)

Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Coney Island

By: Charles River Editors
Narrated by: Jim D. Johnston
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $6.95

Buy for $6.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

There are few places on Earth that have as much hustle and bustle as New York City, so it's no surprise that people nearby flock to some sort of escape. For many, that escape comes in the form of Brooklyn's Coney Island, which has been one of the area's most popular seaside resorts and amusement park areas since the late 19th century. People may come for different things, such as the festivities held there on July 4th (most notably the hot dog eating contest), the newest rollercoaster, or a minor league baseball game, but just about everyone is sure to have a good time.

Like so much of New York's development, the manner in which Coney Island has become what it is over the past 130 years is full of surprise and controversy. For most of its history, Coney Island was virtually uninhabited, even when the native Lenape lived in the region before European explorers arrived, yet that very aspect made the place attractive for vacationers looking to escape city life during the summer. In fact, New York City's leaders tried to prevent development on the island in hopes of establishing it as a giant natural park, only for wealthy resorts to ultimately pop up along beachfront property. Far from it, Coney Island spent the last few decades of the 19th century operating like Las Vegas, with every kind of vice helping keep things running.

In time, Coney Island became America's biggest and most visited amusement park resort, with Dreamland, Steeplechase Park, and Luna Park all becoming some of the nation's most famous and historic parks. Although Coney Island's heyday has long since passed and those three parks have all closed, Coney Island remains best known for amusement parks today. The first rides were built on Coney Island in the 1870s, and there are now multiple parks on Coney Island, which has actually since become a peninsula thanks to the addition of landfill over the course of its development.

©2016 Charles River Editors (P)2017 Charles River Editors
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about Coney Island

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    0
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    3
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 3 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    0
  • 4 Stars
    1
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    0
  • 4 Stars
    2
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Short and poetic

Interesting thesis full of poetics, old photos, and references. It focuses on the very early days and early twentieth century with only a skimming of the surface of the decline into vagueness of various aspects of the once necessary yet scandalous park. It is unusually short.
The audio is narrated by Jim D Johnston who really knows how to present a thesis.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!