New York City is in a financial bind to say the least. The city is in turmoil because there are very few jobs to go around and everyone wants to find a way to make money in order to stay afloat with their bills and basic necessities. It’s not easy to live in one of the most expensive cities in the world without having a job. Prices keep going up and jobs seem to keep diminishing. Budgets get cut meaning people keep losing jobs and no one knows how the city will come back to life.

            In the late 60’s and early 70’s New York City was in a similar situation. When The Garden Was Eden, written by Harvey Araton, retells the insanity going on at the time and how the New York Knicks helped the city overcome and distract New Yorkers for a long while. “The late 1960’s and early 1970’s, in New York City and America at large, were years marked by political tumult, social unrest- and the best professional basketball ever played. Paradise for better or worse, was a hardwood court in Midtown Manhattan” (When The Garden Was Eden).

            New York City is the capital of basketball. Many great players are produced in the metropolitan area and ascend rapidly in the NBA because they possess the skills to succeed. New York loves their Knicks because they represent them through their play by being hard workers, tough, persistent, and unflappable. The last ten years the Knicks have not represented the city very well but they have resurged this year with the emergence of Lin and they are reminding New Yorkers of those good old Knicks, the ones that took New York to the promise land. “When The Garden Was Eden is the definitive account of how the New York Knickerbockers won their first championships, and in the process provided the nation no small escape from the Vietnam War, the tragedy at Kent State, and the last vestiges of Jim Crow. The Knicks were more than a team; they were a symbol of harmony, the sublimation of individual personalities for the greater collective good” (When The Garden Was Eden).

            The Garden is once again rocking and the Knicks are reminding us of those heroes we cheered for so enthusiastically almost 50 years ago. They are once again becoming our favorite pastime by watching them win and watching them evolve into the team we have waited so long to celebrate. Reading When The Garden Was Eden will help you relive those wonderful moments in New York when the whole city felt like champions.