Do you recall the Pushcart War? A seminal event in the history of New York City, it pitted the pushcart vendors against the large and obstreperous trucks in a turf war. Despite the conflict sending people (at worst) to a hospital instead of the morgue, it would have far-reaching consequences. By the ceasefire, we had a better understanding of how conflicts develop and grow, how they distort, shape, and are shaped by public discourse, and how they might be resolved.

The principal weapons of the Pushcart Vendors are pin-filled pea-shooters-- and storytelling.

Jean Merrill wrote the book; her partner, Ronni Solbert, provided illustrations. In addition to conventional narrative, we read digressions about historical sources and encounter letters and documents. It's a great gateway to satire, speculative fiction, historiography, and metafiction.

First published in 1964, the short children's novel presents a quaint near-future based on the view from Merrill's Greenwich Village apartment. Pushcart vendors roam the streets. Characters speak with distinct New York and Yiddish voices. Business bosses smoke cigars while newsprint and Hollywood dominate the media. Despite its oddities, the limited scale of the conflict and simplified but engaging characters create a readable story for kids.

Originally, the war occurred in 1976; the historian looks back from the 1980s. Later editions changed the dates. The one I read, a 1987 edition, takes place in 1986, as seen from 1997. Since we're clearly in an alternate New York, I prefer to imagine the Pushcart War occurred in the alt-1980s, and the popular songs mentioned, originally modelled on 1960s folk, are in fact 80s pop in the style of Tears for Fears or New Order.

Imagine it how you will. The Pushcart War holds up remarkably well as an intelligent tale that hopes to entertain and illuminate young readers.

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