Catskill Culture: A Mountain Rat's Memories of the Great Jewish Resort Area Book

Rule #1: If I'm going to murder a half dozen people somewhere, I better understand that place. So, given that I'm working on an upcoming book set in a bungalow colony, I picked this one up.

The Jewish Catskills were an interesting phenomena where New York Jews settled the mountains and filled them with summer resorts. That's pretty useful if a lot of the existing places put "NO HEBREWS" on their brochures. The author did a lot of work in his younger years in the area, so he's got a feel for the history, culture, and atmosphere.

It wasn't entirely what I needed, but I don't fault Brown for that. His youth was spent in the hotels, and detail on them peppered with funny anecdotes make up the majority of the book. One chapter focused on the bungalow colonies, weird little clusters of cabins rented for months on end. Still, I got what I needed.

I admit, this is a pretty niche slice of history, but if you need a book on it, this one was funny and extremely well-researched. I'm going to try "Borscht Belt Bungalows" next; it seems to have some more of the seedy side of things.

Then I'm going to sit down at the word processor and kill about a half-dozen teenagers in the woods over a knish. Good times.