The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City | Jennifer Toth

The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City | Jennifer Toth | stays with you

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The Mole People: L...

	The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City Jennifer Toth Chicago Review Press, 1995 - 280 pages average customer review:based on 113 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

This book is about the thousands of people who live in the subway, railroad, and sewage tunnels of New York City.

love this book, my #1 recommendation for friends

I loved this book. My daughter lives in NYC and everytime I'm there riding the subways I think of this book, it's so interesting. I always recommend this book to friends. It's an easy read for any age. Even my son, who hates reading, enjoyed this book.

stays with you

I just came across this title in my Amazon recommendations. I read it about 15 years ago and I STILL think about it and recommend it. Absolutely fascinating. I would love to see a follow up to this story.

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The Mole People - Great Book!

The Mole People was recommended to me while visiting NYC. I really enjoyed it and thought it was very well written. It is pretty amazing to learn what really is below the subways of New York. On my next visit I definitely will look more carefully when taking the subways to see if I can see any of these tunnels and passageways. I would recommend this book for anyone who loves NYC or enjoys reading about how some people really do exist underground.

"Mole People don't exist beneath the surface of NYC, but people do."

Written back in 1993, 'The Mole People' might be a little dated, but I'm certain that the underground communities still not only exist but flourish beneath NYC and other cities. Jennifer Toth has written of the colorful background of the "under-city" and the colorful people who live there. Her study is literally peppered with stories straight from the mouths of those who live below, telling in their own way of their fears, their lives, their creed, their reasons, and most of all their humanity.

The tunnels are everywhere: Port Authority Station, Grand Central Station, Penn Station, Amtrak tunnels along the Hudson River in upper Manhattan, Amtrak tunnel under Hell's Kitchen along the West Side, under City Hall, below the theater district on Broadway, Lafayette Street Station, the Bowery tunnels, the Lexington Line, and more. Toth went into all of them, studying the societies as far down as seven levels underground.

She found loners, families, communities (like Bernard Issac's under Riverside Park), some complete with appointed "mayors". There's the "Condos", a natural underground cavern where two hundred people live. There's an old waiting room, complete with crystal chandelier and grand piano. A ninety-two foot merchant sailing ship was found under Front Street, as part of the landfill. Toth uncovers many mysteries in the deep.

Ranging from holes littered with needles and feces to vast chambers with stolen electricity, wallpaper, carpet, TV's and VCR's, kitchen utensils and food supplies, the "mole people" are a diverse people. Many suffer from mental illness and drug abuse, others range from illegal aliens to those who have Master's Degrees from "upstairs". All seem dispossessed in one way or another, whatever the reason for their decent into the tunnels.

Toth talks about the organizations to assist the tunnel people, like ADAPT and HELP, while Bernard talks about the same organizations as having their own, separate, job-saving, money-making agendas that go against what the tunnel people want or need.

The book contains black-and-white photos (though not enough), footnotes, bibliography, and an index. While Toth's study is well done and documented, I liked the fact that she let the people speak for themselves, dedicating a great portion of the book to their own words. This study is interesting, especially if you are fascinated by subcultures or just like "underground stories". I liked the book and recommend it. Enjoy!

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