Brooklyn Before
Photographs, 1971–1983
by Larry Racioppo
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
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Pub Date Sep 15 2018 | Archive Date Sep 15 2018
Cornell University Press / Three Hills | Three Hills
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Description
Before Brooklyn rose to international fame there existed a vibrant borough of neighborhoods rich with connections and traditions. During the 1970s and 1980s, photographer Larry Racioppo, a South Brooklynite with roots three generations deep, recorded Brooklyn on the cusp of being the trendy borough we know today.
In Brooklyn Before Racioppo lets us see the vitality of his native Brooklyn, stretching from historic Park Slope to the beginnings of Windsor Terrace and Sunset Park. His black and white photographs pull us deep into the community, stretching our memories back more than forty years and teasing out the long-lost recollections of life on the streets and in apartment homes. Racioppo has the fascinating ability to tell a story in one photograph and, because of his native bona fides, he depicts an intriguing set of true Brooklyn stories from the inside, in ways that an outsider simply cannot. On the pages of, Brooklyn Before the intimacy and roughness of life in a working-class community of Irish American, Italian American, and Puerto Rican families is shown with honesty and insight.
Racioppo’s 128 photographs are paired with essays from journalist Tom Robbins and art critic and curator Julia Van Haaften. Taken together, the images and words of Brooklyn Before return us to pre-gentrification Brooklyn and immerse us in a community defined by work, family, and ethnic ties.
Advance Praise
"Brooklyn Before is a delight. I see visual threads from many of Larry Racioppo’s projects intersecting these photographs: the car fins, the plaid pants, the boom box. The effect is to convey an urban grittiness that was authentic working-class reality in this patch of Brooklyn. Fantastic!"
- Jan Ramirez, Chief Curator, National September 11 Memorial & Museum
"Brooklyn Before offers a glimpse of a forgotten Brooklyn and captures the grit, diversity, and community of South Slope in the 1970s, before the influx of boutique coffee shops and multi-million-dollar rehabbed brownstones. Larry Racioppo’s images focus on working class families and communities during a challenging historical moment for New York City."
- Natiba Guy-Clement, Manager of Special Collections–Brooklyn Collection, Brooklyn Public Library
"If you’re born and raised in Brooklyn like me, the rhythms and attitudes within Larry Racioppo’s photographs are like voices of old friends: They return you to your truest self. If you’re not, these images invite you into inscrutably odd and cool neighborhoods. Walking the same turf Racioppo mapped out, as I do each day, reveals scant evidence of what his camera captured. Before these streets became hip to hipsters and real to realtors—before Brooklyn became a brand—they contained worlds now nearly vanished. When I open this book, these worlds spring defiantly back to life. "
- Larry Blumenfeld, Jazz critic and culture reporter
"In this eye-popping jewel of a book Larry Racioppo immortalizes the Park Slope Brooklyn where I was raised before it lost its unique character when it lost its unique characters. Brooklyn Before is as close as we can get to saving what was once a glorious working class Brooklyn."
- Denis Hamill, former Daily News columnist and author of Fork in the Road
"The streets shown here take me back to when I first lived in Brooklyn in the 1970s and 1980s, and it is wonderful to revisit that vibrant ethnic urban life in Larry Racioppo’s amazing photographs. As I pored over the pages, I was once again impressed how this wonderful borough has always been a place for immigrants, the home of aspiring working-class and middle-class families. Before Brooklyn shows us the past and holds lessons for the future."
- Tupper W. Thomas, founding President of the Prospect Park Alliance
Available Editions
| EDITION | Other Format |
| ISBN | 9781501725876 |
| PRICE | $34.95 (USD) |
Links
Featured Reviews
Teresa N, Reviewer
Brooklyn Before is one mans version of Brooklyn in the 1970's and early 80's. He tells about things going on around Brooklyn during that time period but even better he shows us through his photographs taken during the time. He basically goes street by street telling us his memories of the day, with some amazing photos. There are children playing in streets, friends watching tv, pictures of mailboxes and views of the city. This book is great for anyone who lived in Brooklyn, or if you just want to know what the town used to be like when it was just a small town. Over the years Brooklyn has grown into a major City gone are the mom and pop shops, and small town living. This book really is a blast form the past.
I received this book from the Author or Publisher via Netgalley.com to read and review.
JC S, Educator
South Brooklyn between 1971 and 1983 is the subject of Larry Racioppo's wonderful black and white photos. For anyone who has lived in this area or visited it will give a huge insight into how it used to be. Divided into seven sections including two commentaries, from Tom Robbins and Julia Van Haaften, this book gives an extraordinary insight into everyday life for people and their surroundings at that time. A history book in pictures!
Thank you to Net Galley for an ARC.
Aslyn L, Reviewer
Like most photo books, Brooklyn Before opens with essays about the contents you're about to cross. In this case, Brooklyn in the 70's before gentrification. Even myself, having never been to New York, "knows" New York wasn't exactly nice then, and is still skeptical, even now. HOWEVER.
These essays, the Preface, Before the Gold Rush, and A Solitary Walk in Brooklyn will tell you that while there were events, there was life. Vibrant, happy, real life. It reinforces that, like every other situation known to human kind, real life doesn't make good news. So don't skip these essays. A lot of people tend to think of the photographs as the number one and skip everything else, but I'm a firm believer that these words were paired with the photos for a reason.
The photos following these essays are brilliant. This is NOT a collection of a couple great photos surrounded by a filling of subpar photos. Every. Single. Photo. In this book deserves to be there. There are SO MANY photos in here that I would purchase as giant prints to hang at home. A boy in a Halloween Mask, barber photos, and the very last photo before the Acknowledgements are just incredible.
All of these photos are printed beautifully. The contrast is stark between vivid whites and inky blacks and as a heavily multi-cultural book, each skin tone is treated with an honest representation. Brooklyn Before is mostly portrait work, but the images without people in them re beautiful. Not beautifully haunting, not beautifully desolate, but beautifully lived in. They show so much life.
This is a photo book I'm going to own. As you probably know, photo books come with a hefty price tag most of the time, even second hand, so I take buying one seriously. But this one is worth every cent. In fact, Three Hills Publishing, I'd probably pay even more than the current price tag, but being that it's not outrageously priced, I can also go buy Larry's other book, Halloween. Larry is a phenomenal street photographer and this book, Brooklyn Before, showcases what I feel is the best of his work all in one spot.
Julie W, Reviewer
I gave this book a 5 out of 5 star review. It was an enjoyable and I would recommend. to others. Generously provided to me through NetGalley
Jess L, Reviewer
A truly fascinating collection of photographs authentically capturing Brooklyn life before gentrification, spanning the 1970s into the early 80s, it's personal, raw, and informative. A time i never got to experience. A Brooklyn I have never known, An affordable, blue collar, diverse ,yet family oriented Brooklyn, that somewhat reminded me of my home. South Philly
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