AROUND THE WORLD IN NEW YORK

New York Times, Oct. 1924
“Mr. Bercovici opens his book of intimate glimpses that can be had of nearly every race in New York City with a rather ambitious essay, rumbling with violent comparisons and profound thought, etched with fine feeling... Written with a particularly engaging gusto, peculiarly his own... Filled with personal glimpses, anecdotes a plenty, snatches of conversation remarkable in reality; little tales of actions that reveal sharp flashes of character. Somehow, despite the realization that he is reading fact, the reader is constantly obsessed with the idea that he is reading something that is fiction.”

THE STORY OF THE GYPSIES

New York Times, Oct. 1928
“...satisfies both the picaresque and the romantic longing that is within us all... Mr. Bercovici, whose penchant for spirited writing compels the reader to follow him with zest, writes vividly of the gypsies’ advent... He is to be taken as authority on a subject so elusive that he stands practically alone, a monopolist of learning. Mr. Bercovici has written a book for future reference as well as immediate pleasure.

MURDO

New York Times, April, 1923
“For the big public who must be content with its romance and its passion by proxy, Murdo will find a welcome. For poetry, romance and passion form its very essence.”

MURDO / GHITZA

New York Times, Nov. 27, 1921
“...should be read by every lover of the best in the short-story form... Will bring the utmost pleasure to every reader who has red blood in his veins.”

IT’S THE GYPSY IN ME

New York Times, Dec. 1941
“Konrad Bercovici writes with gusto of his lively career and of the colorful people he has known... Here is an autobiography full of punches, none of them pulled. The gypsy in Konrad Bercovici makes him write with great gusto. There is a devil-may-care, take-it-or-leave-it attitude about the book. There are glimpses of many famous and infamous people... And we have the author’s emotional reactions to all of them.”

ILIANA

Ring Lardner, October, 1924
“...in my opinion, they are beautifully written...I like Iliana a lot.”

MANHATTAN SIDE-SHOW

New York Times, Nov. 1931
“New York City is Konrad Bercovici’s best beloved hobby... In his opening chapter he claims New York by right of love through twenty pages of eloquent and colorful prose... A sort of moving picture in colors of life in the little-known regions of New York, he tells skillfully about each an interesting human story that brings in its own colorful setting.”

PEASANTS

New York Times, March 4, 1928
“By means of a few deft strokes the author succeeds in making unusual situations real and depicting with reserve and yet with power the sweep and play of primitive impulses and desires.”

THAT ROYAL LOVER

New York Times, May 1931
“...an array of political intrigue, amorous escapade and financial corruption spiced with plot, counterplot and dark hints of suicide... Mr. Bercovici lays on his colors with a lavish brush. And he drives his narrative forward at a rapid pace... There is enough to satisfy the most avid collector of backstairs gossip.”

THE EXODUS

New York Times, May 1947
“Konrad Bercovici’s kaleidoscopic narrative, written in the cadences of the Old Testament, presented in a series of colorful, stylized scenes, in which the effect is almost that of ideograms carved on a tower or on a temple wall... expanded (especially in regard to the personal life of Moses) to bring increased humanity to individuals... Mr. Bercovici has been especially successful with his accounts of Egypt under the pharaohs and Moses’ place therein, Moses’ marriage and the settlement of Mount Horeb.

AGAINST THE SKY

New York Times, March 4, 1928
“... offers limitless possibilities for the revelation of gypsy customs psychology. Here the author is in his element. He has made his gypsies live.”

GHITZA

The Nation, Nov. 30 1921
“... superb gypsy tales...The psychology of his characters is both subtle and convincing. Truth and nature are married to both legend and beauty and the result is one of the most charming and stirring of all recent books.”

ON NEW SHORES

New York Times, Dec. 1925
“With such a wealth of incident as Mr. Bercovici offers, quotation once begun would find no end.”

THE MARRIAGE GUEST

Time Magazine, Nov. 16, 1925
“A powerful fresco on the walls of Manhattan and of life.
Significance: Here is art on a major scale. As characters, these Germans stand in their own right. As a human document, that is, emotionally, the book is unwaveringly valid. It is also a sound social contribution, bringing progress and tradition into violent conflict. Historically it is significant that Manhattan has been chronicled by one of her stoutest-hearted inhabitants.”

”... He wrote on sociological questions from the vantage of an educated man, an immigrant to one of the most complex and multicolored cities on earth--New York. The completeness with which he assimilated the flavors, forces and antecedents of his new surroundings testifies to his large capacity for social feeling.”