American Moderns: Bohemian New York and the Creation of a New Century Book

I was excited when I first saw this book on my reading list... the title reminded me of a book I read Nights out: Life in cosmopolitan London (which came out after American Moderns). I was expecting a similar book, but set in NY. While the book was very interesting, particularly the section on "The Human Sex," it did not make my favorites' list. I was not expecting a book filled with mini-biographies on individuals and found it difficult at first to keep track of all the characters. I found the individual character's stories to be distracting from the overall influence bohemians as a group had on American culture.

However, the book was an intersting piece on society in the late 18th - early 19th century NY (particularly in the area called Greenwhich Village) and how bohemian influences on society contributed to the modernization of America.