BROWDERBOOKS
Silas and me selling books at BookCon 2017.
Me on the left.
All my books, nonfiction and fiction alike, relate to the wild, maddening, and infinitely creative city of New York, where I have lived for decades in Greenwich Village high above the Magnolia Bakery of “Sex and the City” fame.
My nonfiction titles are derived from posts in my blog, “No Place for Normal: New York,” which is about anything and everything New York.
New York as a subject is inexhaustible. I am in love with its people, its history, and its happenings. It’s unique, far-out, free, busy, crazy, intense. I like to put it in an equation:
intensity + diversity = creativity = New York
I couldn’t live anywhere else. It’s the most exciting city in the world.
All my Metropolis series of historical novels are set in nineteenth-century New York.
My interest in that period was first inspired by background research for my two published biographies, The Money Game in Old New York: Daniel Drew and HisTimes, and The Wickedest Woman in New York: Madame Restell, the Abortionist (both now out of print).
My novels are thoroughly researched, using primary sources whenever possible. There are times when that period seems more alive for me than my own.
So here are my books, nonfiction and then fiction, the most recent ones first.
NONFICTION
3. New Yorkers: A Feisty People Who Will Unsettle, Madden, Amuse and Astonish You
Finalist in the 14th National Indie Excellence Awards, 2020, Regional Nonfiction: Northeast.
Listed among the Best Independent Books in the September 3 and 10, 2020, issues of the LibraryBub newsletter, and included in a LibraryBub press release picked up by NBC and CBS.
A quirky memoir by a longtime resident who loves his crazy but profoundly creative city, with glances at that city’s fascinating history, and weird facts to surprise visitors and residents alike.
A fun book, with a few grim moments. Life and death in The City That Never Sleeps. Readers will learn
- How New Yorkers live and die
- Whose funeral caused an all-day riot
- Why a famous old cemetery offers whiskey tastings
- How many witches there are in the city (you’d be surprised)
- Which flashy modern hotel would-be suicides should avoid at all costs, and why
- How the author had an affair with a Broadway chorus boy (if the Cardinal Archbishop of New York could it, so could he).
For those who love (or hate) New York, have lived there or would like to, or are just plain curious about the city and its residents, past and present.
Available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Reviews
Tourists and those new to the city will most appreciate this light, entertaining look at the Big Apple. -- Publishers Weekly.
New York is the most exciting city in the world. It's unique and reading "New Yorkers" is the next best thing to actually living there! While especially and unreservedly recommended for community and academic library Contemporary American Biography collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that it is also readily available in an inexpensive digital book format. -- Midwest Book Review.
Adapted and expanded from the author’s No Place for Normal: New York blog posts, this immersive exploration of the city and its denizens etches a vivid portrait of “what it is to be a New Yorker, who we are, how we live, what we do, our past and present glories and horrors.” — Kirkus Reviews
Author Clifford Browder has crafted a loving and modern master work on the Big Apple, one which is both an entertaining read in itself and an essential piece of informative travel guide work. I'd highly recommend New Yorkers to any reader seeking an accomplished written snapshot of such a complex and wonderful city. -- Editorial review for Readers' Favorite by K.C. Finn.
I enjoyed reading New Yorkers. Author Clifford Browder gave a fascinating insiders tour of New York. Part biography, part historical dive and part travel guide, this work offers a tantalizing vision of an exciting city overflowing with diversity in all respects. This was a worthwhile read which I do recommend. -- Editorial review for Bestsellersworld by Lisa Brown-Gilbert.
A heartfelt memoir of a man and the city he lives, loves, survives and works in. The narrative keeps you rapt in its pages with a winning combination of information gleaned from Mr. Browder’s unique standpoint, research, and experiences from his many years as a resident. -- Four-star reader review for Goodreads by Mochalove.
Reminiscing that warms you! Like two good friends spending an afternoon together; guaranteed to part with a smile written upon your heart. -- Three-star Reedsy Discovery review by Jennie Louwes.
2. Fascinating New Yorkers: Power Freaks, Mobsters, Liberated Women, Creators, Queers and Crazies
Biographical sketches of colorful people, some remembered and some forgotten, who lived or died in New York.
- A prostitute’s daughter who got to know two ex-kings and a future emperor;
- a cardinal archbishop known in certain circles as “Franny”; J.P. Morgan and his nose;
- Andy Warhol and his sex life (if there was any);
- Polly Adler, Queen of Tarts;
- a serial killer who terrorized the city;
- and many more.
A good read for anyone who wants to know more about the hustlers, manipulators, artists, celebrities, and crooks that have frequented The City That Never Sleeps. You may be shocked or angered, but you won’t be bored.
See also post #353, "Fascinating New Yorkers: Why and How I Wrote It."
Readers will enjoy Clifford Browder’s lively, descriptive writing. Fans of non-fiction and more recent history will really appreciate the research that he put into these pages. His writing will definitely captivate your interest as it did mine. Fascinating New Yorkers is a pleasure to read and I look forward to reading more works by this author. — Editorial review for Reader Views by Paige Lovitt.
Each biography essentially chronicles the rise and fall of its subject matter and divulges a juicy secret or two. There’s something for everyone here in this collection of profiles, and it serves as a source of inspiration for readers who love NYC. — Editorial review for U.S. Review of Books by Gabriella Tutino.
I felt like I was gossiping with a friend when reading this, as the author wrote about New Yorkers who are unique in one way or another. I am hoping for another book featuring more New Yorkers, as I couldn't put this down and read it in one sitting! — Five-star editorial review for NetGalley by Cristie Underwood.
Unputdownable. — Reader review by Dipali Sen, retired librarian.
Winner for regional nonfiction in the Tenth Annual National Indie Excellence Awards, 2016.
First place for Travel in the Reader Views Literary Awards for 2015-2016.
Finalist in the Eric Hoffer Book Awards for 2016.
No Place for Normal: New York is a combination of memoir, history, and travel book all rolled into one.
Its stories include
- alcoholics, abortionists, grave robbers,
- the Gay Pride parade,
- peyote visions,
- the author’s mugging in Central Park,
- an artist who makes art of a blood-filled squirt gun and a blackened human toe.
If you love (or hate) New York — its people, its doings, its craziness — this is the book for you.
Available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Reviews
I thoroughly enjoyed No Place for Normal: New York by Clifford Browder and highly recommend it to all fans of entertaining short stories and lovers of New York City. It would also make an interesting travel guide for people who just want to learn more about the city that never sleeps! — Editorial review for Reader Views Literary Awards by Sheri Hoyte.
To read No Place for Normal: New York is to enter into Cliff Browder’s rich and engaging sixty years of adult life in New York…. He embraces every corner of this diverse and fathomless city. Right down to its lovely final chapter that takes the reader to the edge of the abyss, No Place for Normal gives the reader something both life-affirming and deserving of further contemplation.— Reader review by Michael P. Hartnett.
If you want wonderful inside tales about New York, this is the book for you. Cliff Browder has a way with his writing that makes the city I lived in for 40 plus years come alive in a new and delightful way. A refreshing view on NYC that will not disappoint. — Reader review by Bill L.
FICTION
4. The Eye That Never Sleeps
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The fourth title in the Metropolis series of historical novels set in nineteenth-century New York.
Hired by the city’s bankers to track down and apprehend the thief who is plundering their banks, private detective Sheldon Minick develops a friendship with his chief suspect, Nicholas Hale.
An elegant young man-about-town, Hale is in every way the sober Methodist detective’s opposite.
Detectiveand suspect agree to a truce and undertake each to show the other the city that he knows and values.
Further adventures follow, including a tour of the docks, a slaughterhouse, a cancan, and a visit to a whorehouse with leap-frogging whores.
But when the truce ends, the inevitable finale comes in the dark midnight vaults of a bank.
For readers who like well-researched historical fiction, and who love a fast-paced detective story set in turbulent nineteenth-century New York.
Available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Reviews
A classically told detective novel that creates a web of intrigue, while giving the reader a tour of a bygone era of America through the filter of New York City. – Editorial review by Sublime Book Review.
The Eye That Never Sleeps is a great midnight mystery to enjoy and I highly recommended to all crime and mystery-loving fans. – Four-star editorial review for Readers’ Favorite by Tiffany Ferrell.
Enter the seamier haunts of mid-nineteenth century NYC. One man is married, short, honorable, a master of disguising himself as various working men, all for good and in his chosen profession and a devoted admirer of Alan Pinkerton's agency. The other is a player, fairly tall, pretty much amoral, an adept planner of felonies, and sneakily vindictive. Follow them around for a while and you decide which one bests the other in a dangerous game. — Five-star editorial review for NetGalley by Jan Tangen.
3. Dark Knowledge
The third title in the Metropolis series of historical novels set in nineteenth-century New York.
When young Chris Harmony learns that members of his family may have been involved in the illegal pre-Civil War slave trade, taking slaves from Africa to Cuba, he is appalled.
Determined to learn the truth, Chris begins an investigation that takes him into a dingy waterfront saloon, musty old maritime records that yield startling secrets, and elegant brownstone parlors that may have been furnished by the trade.
Since those once involved dread exposure, Chris meets denials and evasions, then threats, and a key witness is murdered.
Chris has vivid fantasies of the suffering slaves on the ships and their savage revolts.
How could seemingly respectable people be involved in so abhorrent a trade, and how did they avoid exposure? And what price must Chris pay to learn the painful truth and proclaim it?
For lovers of historical fiction who like a fast-paced mystery combined with a coming-of-age story.
Reviews
This work of fiction does a decent job at addressing and acknowledging a disgraceful period in New York history, and may even inspire readers to do some research on their own. — Editorial review for the US Review of Books by Gabiella Tutino.
I enjoyed reading Dark Knowledge and Clifford Browder definitely managed to recreate the vibe and feel of that era so that I could almost smell the salty sea air and feel myself transported to that period. This is great read! — Five-star editorial review for Readers’ Favorite by Gisela Dixon.
Thoroughly enjoyed this historical book! I recommend to read! Facts accurate! — Five-star reader review for Goodreads by LisaMarie.
Overall this novel is worth reading and I highly recommend it. — Five-star reader review for Barnes & Noble by ladynicolai.
2. Bill Hope: His Story
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The second title in the Metropolis series of historical novels set in nineteenth-century New York.
From his cell in the gloomy prison known as the Tombs, young Bill Hope spills out in a torrent of words the story of his career as a pickpocket.
Bill tells about
- his scorn for snitches and bullies;
- his brutal treatment at Sing Sing and escape from another prison in a coffin;
- his forays into brownstones and polite society;
- and his sojourn among the “loonies” in a madhouse, from which he emerges to face betrayal and death threats, and possible involvement in a murder.
Driving him throughout is a fierce desire for better, a yearning to leave the crooked life behind, and a persistent and undying hope.
The dramatic story of a likable street kid who, armed with street smarts and hope, fights his way out of crime and squalor toward something that he thinks will be better.
Reviews
A real yarn of a story about a lovable pickpocket who gets into trouble and has a great adventure. A must read. — Five-star reader review for Amazon by Nicole W. Brown.
Despite the story is told in a sort of flash language it's an easy read — and very enjoyable! — Four-star review for LibraryThing Early Reviewers by viennamax.
1. The Pleasuring of Men
The first title in the Metropolis series of historical novels set in nineteenth-century New York.
Tom Vaughan, a respectably raised young man, chooses to become a male prostitute servicing the city's affluent elite, then falls in love with his most difficult client.
The story unfolds in the clandestine and precarious gay underworld of the time, which is vividly created.
Through a series of encounters -- some exhilarating, some painful, some mysterious -- Tom matures, until an unexpected act of violence provokes a final resolution.
Gay romance, historical.
For anyone interested in the imagined gay underworld of late 1860s New York. Historical gay romance, but women have read and reviewed it. (The cover illustration doesn’t hurt.)
For an imaginary interview with Tom and other characters, see post #320 in my blog: “Interview: A Male Prostitute and His Clients.”
Available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Reviews
The novel is deftly drawn with rich descriptions, a rhythmic balance of action, dialogue, and exposition, and a nicely understated plot. The Pleasuring of Men is both engaging and provocative. — Barnes & Noble editorial review by Sean Moran.
The detail Browder brings to this glimpse into history is only equaled by his writing of credible and interesting characters. Highly recommended. — Five-star Goodreads review by Nan Hawthorne.
Altogether this is a tale encompassing both sophisticated wit and humour, and yet the subject matter is the grotty underbelly of society as enacted by its leading citizens — including the Reverend Timothy Blythe, D.D. Indeed, as I followed Tom's sexual romp through the streets of New York, I couldn't get the image of that other Tom out of my mind i.e. "Tom Jones.” It is absolutely delightful. Five Bees. — Gerry Burnie's Reviews.
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