I reviewed the book Quiet Street: On American Privilege, by Nick McDonell, in the new issue of the East Hampton Star. As the book's subhead suggests, McDonell was born into privilege--his father is the magazine and publishing titan Terry McDonell. He writes of growing up in Manhattan, going to private school, attending Harvard and Oxford, and having a very successful writing career develop thereafter.
His latest book's title comes from a nickname for 124th Street in Harlem dating back to his time at the Buckley School in Manhattan. A bus would transport the Buckley boys down 124th Street, en route to the ball fields on Randalls Island. Years before, a student yelled a racial slur out the window, and Nick and his fellow students were then required to remain silent for as long as the bus drove down 124th Street.
Just 117 pages, Quiet Street is a fast read. McDonell writes deftly, but shares a few too many examples of his considerable privilege, while a solution or two regarding wealth inequality in NYC and beyond might've done us a bit more good.
