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Check out the Latest Media Coverage of powerHouse Books !!
Updated: january 2003
NEW YORK MASJID: THE MOSQUES OF NEW YORK CITY Selected as Best Architecture Book of 2002 "The more than 100 houses of worship in New York's big and ethnically diverse Muslim community remain largely invisible to nonbelievers, and in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks this may suit the local followers of the Prophet Muhammad just fine. Throughout the city, most mosques have been established in converted houses, storefronts, lofts, and theaters that tend to blend into their neighborhoods, save for the newly applied motifs like stylized Islamic arches, domes, and minarets. In this timely survey, Jerrilynn D. Dodds, an architectural historian at City College, and the photographer Edward Grazda—both of them with extensive worknig experience in Islamic cultures—examine the varity of ways in which the local Muslim communities satisfy the basic religious requirements of mosques." —Martin Filler for The New York Times Book Review, Best Architecture Book of 2002 "Edward Grazda, a New York photographer, and Jerrilynn D. Dodds, a professor of architecture of City College, spent nearly a decade visiting mosques in the five boroughs built by New York's diverse Muslim communities, from Albanians to Afghanis to African-Americans....The research gave the pair an understanding of the role and importance of the New York mosque." —The New York Times, "The City," half-page photo excerpt "...New York Masjid: The Mosques of New York City...chronicled the life and role of 103 mosques in the city, twenty eight of them in Queens. The photos revealed a wide variety of architectural styles from storefronts to domed landmarks." —Daily News "...a work nine years in the making. In response to public maligning of the Islamic faith after the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, Grazda and Dodds joined together to document the practice of Islam in New York City and surrounding boroughs. Through Dodds's informative essay, and Grazda's images of Islamic practice in modest apartment rooms and basements, neighborhood streets, and in formal mosques themselves. New York Masjid forms a vibrant and explanatory picture not just of New York's Muslims, but of the healthy spirit of diversity within a complex urban center." —DoubleTake "There are over 100 mosques in the five boroughs of New York City, of which no more than half a dozen can be said to have been designed a mosques from the outset. the rest are lofts, stores, warehouses or private homes that have been converted to mosques. Scholar Jerrilynn D. Dodds and photographer Edward Grazda document the Islamic presence in New York in their book New York Masjid....Between 600 and 800,000 Muslims of New York, whether prosperous or poor, assimilated or insular, are participating inactively in the rebuilding of the city's urban fabric. At this moment, in fact, we are all part of the collaborative expansion of a vision that continues the creation of our city; of the dynamic transformation of our urban setting which takes into account visual identities which are both American and Muslim." —WNYC.org, 8 page online photo gallery "The collection isolates builings that may not receive more than a passing, unsuspecting glance from the average pedestrian. New York Masjid directs the gaze to the most inconspicuous storefront mosque in the far reaches of Queens, as well as more flamboyant structures, which import the dome of Islamic architectural tradition to the skyline of Gotham.... Grazda's photographs and Dodds' commentary combines for a riveting portrait." —Black Issues Book Review "The publisher, a highbrow, photography-oriented house, plays Grazda's black-and-white photos superbly. Like the text, the pictures are not so much about buildings as they are about how people use them, and thus his photos are mostly of people in and around the mosques....Grazda helps identify [city's mosques and people within them] as the integrated part of the urban fabric that they are, albeit often too little noticed and still less understood. This book will help change that." —Saudi Aramco World Bonus Broadcast Appearance !! More Press Coverage !! |
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