"Coney Island is the most famous seaside resort the world had ever known. Its amusements have been a magical attraction for millions of New Yorkers, and are only an easy subway ride away." "In this book, Brian J. Cudahy tells a different kind of Coney Island story - about how just getting to its glittering amusements on the far shore of Brooklyn gave birth to the modern transportation network that made modern Brooklyn and New York City possible.".

"Combining vivid social history with a skilled, detailed account of new transportation technologies, Cudahy surveys more than 150 years of Brooklyn life, starting with horse-powered street railways such as the Coney Island and Brooklyn Railroad that first linked the city of Brooklyn to the undeveloped beachfront of 1862.

He takes us through the parallel histories of street-cars, steamboats (Manhattan to Coney Island in 1880 in only an hour and a half), excursion railways, and elevated lines."--BOOK JACKET.