Leonard Benardo is a former weekly columnist for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Jennifer Weiss has written for New York Newsday and The Washington Post and is co-editor of Eldercare in New York: A Consumer's Guide to Long-Term Health Care. The authors live together in Brooklyn.
Information is well presented and well illustrated-both factors making this guide easy on the eye. Hardly a location is left unexplored in this fascinating, indispensable guide to a borough undeservedly in Manhattan's shadow. -Booklist Witty, occasionally irreverent and always engaging, Brooklyn by Name takes readers from the six independent towns that once comprised Breuckelen to the modern metropolis. Weiss and Benardo have uncovered surprising data and have woven a compulsively readable narrative. Pick it up, rifle through, and find out about-or be reminded of-the underpinnings of our borough's heritage. -The Brooklyn Rail Fascinating morsels of Brooklyn history... An entertaining, breezy compilation for the NYU Press, perfect for reading down at Coney, up on tar beach, or out on your shady front stoop this summer... So if you wanna know how Dead Horse Bay, Sheepshead Bay, Floyd Bennett Field, Smith St. Carroll Gardens, Junior's Restaurant, Green-Wood Cemetery, Gilmore Court or the Riegelmann Boardwalk got their names, grab a copy of Brooklyn by Name. -New York Daily News This book is an essential companion for anyone teaching about Brooklyn, for anyone writing about the borough, and for tour guide people. Benardo and Weiss have to be pleased with their product, and clearly should be congratulated. -Brooklyn Daily Eagle Brooklyn streets, parks and sites are dripping with history, and husband-and-wife team Leonard Benardo and Jennifer Weiss have hung them all out to dry in their dictionary of street smarts, Brooklyn By Name. -Brooklyn Papers