Dec 30, 2009

The Prisoner of Second Avenue | Historical Context

New York City in the Early 1970s
Sheridan Morley, in his review of the play for Spectator, writes that The Prisoner of Second Avenue “deals with a moment in history when not only the central character but Manhattan itself was on the brink of a total nervous collapse.” The events that occurred in 1971, the probable year in which the action of the play takes place, illustrate this pervasive deterioration. City police went on strike along with eight thousand state, county, and municipal employees and local members of the Communications Workers of...