Cross Bronx
A Writing Life
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In his inimitable prose, master storyteller Peter Quinn chronicles his odyssey from the Irish Catholic precincts of the Bronx to the arena of big-league politics and corporate hardball.
Cross Bronx is Peter Quinn’s one-of-a-kind account of his adventures as ad man, archivist, teacher, Wall Street messenger, court officer, political speechwriter, corporate scribe, and award-winning novelist. Like Pete Hamill, Quinn is a New Yorker through and through. His evolution from a childhood in a now-vanished Bronx, to his exploits in the halls of Albany and swish corporate offices, to then walking away from it all, is evocative and entertaining and enlightening from first page to last. Cross Bronx is bursting with witty, captivating stories.
Quinn is best known for his novels (all recently reissued by Fordham University Press under its New York ReLit imprint), most notably his American Book Award–winning novel Banished Children of Eve. Colum McCann has summed up Quinn’s trilogy of historical detective novels as “generous and agile and profound.” Quinn has now seized the time and inspiration afforded by “the strange interlude of the pandemic” to give his up-close-and-personal accounts of working as a speechwriter in political backrooms and corporate boardrooms:
“In a moment of upended expectations and fear-prone uncertainty, the tolling of John Donne’s bells becomes perhaps not as faint as it once seemed. Before judgment is pronounced and sentence carried out, I want my chance to speak from the dock. Let no man write my epitaph. In the end, this is the best I could do.” (from the Prologue)
From 1979 to 1985 Quinn worked as chief speechwriter for New York Governors Hugh Carey and Mario Cuomo, helping craft Cuomo’s landmark speech at the 1984 Democratic Convention and his address on religion and politics at Notre Dame University. Quinn then joined Time Inc. as chief speechwriter and retired as corporate editorial director for Time Warner at the end of 2007. As eyewitness and participant, he survived elections, mega-mergers, and urban ruin. In Cross Bronx he provides his insider’s view of high-powered politics and high-stakes corporate intrigue.
Incapable of writing a dull sentence, the award-winning author grabs our attention and keeps us enthralled from start to finish. Never have his skills as a storyteller been on better display than in this revealing, gripping memoir.
"A ripping good story . . . Political junkies will delight."—The Wall Street Journal
A book to ponder, savor, and learn from, Cross Bronx is a notable contribution to New York's immigration history. It will stay with readers long after they put it down.—Irish Central
If, as Peter Quinn contends, citizens of the Bronx are funny, earthy, 'in your face truth tellers' graced with an underlying dignity, then this delightful memoir is proof positive of Quinn's credentials as a native son. Cross Bronx is a wry, eloquent and relentlessly compassionate story of one Irish American life—which means, of course, it's about us all.—Alice McDermott
Master storyteller Peter Quinn takes readers on a beautifully told journey through Bronx byways, political backrooms and corporate boardrooms. Along the way you’ll meet characters you won’t soon forget, from governors to CEOs to a charming young woman who beguiled Peter just as surely as this lovely book will beguile you.—Terry Golway, historian, author, and journalist
Funny and entertaining on every page, Cross Bronx: A Writing Life is a witty tap dance from the streets of the Irish Bronx to the suites of corporate and government chieftains. Along the way, Peter Quinn makes important contributions to the historical record.—Paul Moses author of An Unlikely Union: The Love-Hate Story of New York's Irish and Italians
Moving easily back and forth over his upbringing in the Bronx, his career as a court officer, teacher, novelist, and political and corporate speechwriter, slipping in a subtle joke here and a well-deserved jab there, Quinn has a perfect ear and an unfaltering human sympathy. Cross Bronx is a delight.—Kevin Baker, author of The Fall of a Great American City: New York and the Urban Crisis of Affluence
Peter Quinn is one of our finest storytellers. He sits at the fireside of the American imagination. Cross Bronx is generous and agile and profound.—Colum McCann, National Book Award Winner, author of Let the Great World Spin
The personal is the historical. Peter Quinn's memoir proves that. In his beautiful and jaunty style, this marvelous storyteller leads us through the second half of the twentieth century, taking us from an Irish Catholic enclave in the Bronx to the big world of politics and journalism. Quinn's own story charts the opportunities of post-World War II America.—Hasia Diner, New York University
Foreword by Dan Barry | ix
Prologue | xiii
1. The Bronx, Yes Thonx | 1
2. The Capital Years | 83
3. Killing Time | 147
Epilogue | 201
An Interview: Tap Dancing into Reality | 205
Index | 219
Photographs follow page 102
