Dreamland — Kevin Baker

From the crowded decks of the steamships carrying European immigrants to America to the dazzling lights of Coney Island, Dreamland follows the exploits of a young stowaway who lands on the squalid streets of Manhattan's Lower East Side, is redeemed by love, and becomes involved in the battle between the nascent labor unions and corrupt Tammany Hall. Meticulously researched and breathtakingly lyrical, Dreamland captures perfectly the emotional and psychological essence of the American experience at the dawn of the modern age.