Based on real-life events, Port City unfolds in 1946, as New York becomes the latest city to feel the impact of mass strikes sweeping across America in the face of defense factory closures, job shortages, worker frustration, and rampant postwar inflation.
Feisty, streetwise Benny Logan has risen in the union ranks as a product of his gutsy persona and willingness to break from corrupt, old-guard leaders who have victimized the city’s tugboat workers for decades. Seeking allies in his crusade to reform the labor union, Benny recruits his younger brother Jack, newly returned from the war, as a deckhand on Jupiter, the flagship of tugboat magnate Henry McFarland, the leader of a tugboat owners’ coalition working in concert with city officials, mob associates, and others to preserve a moneymaking status quo. Fueled by obstinance, anger and bitterness, McFarland will stop at nothing to crush the union and protect the interests of the city’s corporate elite, even as the strike he provokes ravages the tugboat-dependent city.
As forces collide, Jack plays an unexpected role in finding a new way forward for labor-management relations, even as he and his wife, a pregnant British war bride, attempt to recover from the emotional trauma of the war.
Praise for PORT CITY
Eliot Sefrin does a particularly good job of capturing New York City’s social and political changes in a bygone era, the “science of the harbor” and those who interact with its processes and businesses, and, especially, the insights of those who navigate its murky waters.
Vivid descriptions explore what goes on beneath the surface of many local issues and events, bringing New York City and its interests to life in a way that will prove absolutely compelling, even to readers with little prior familiarity with New York’s history. Discussions of labor disputes and opposing sides assume a compelling countenance. This will power book club discussions, whether among general-interest audiences or those with a particular interest in New York dock history or labor issues. Port City sifts through layers of legal, social, and political history, resting its findings on strong characters whose disparate viewpoints drive home a series of points about change, adaptation, and growth.
Libraries seeking historical fiction that sizzles with interpersonal and group encounters and perspectives will welcome Port City into their collections. Quite simply, it’s a supercharged saga of transformation that will entertain while immersing readers in situations that reflect how people grow—sometimes, against all odds.
— MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
Port City by Eliot Sefrin plunges readers into post-World War II New York, where a ferocious tugboat workers’ strike becomes a battleground of labor versus corporate interests. The backdrop of a jubilant yet tumultuous America teeters between promise and upheaval as workers, long subjugated to wage freezes and corruption, rise against their beleaguered leadership. Key characters, including ambitious tugboat owner Henry McFarland, fiery union leader Benny Logan, and conflicted ex-GI Jack Logan, intertwine their fates in a gripping tale highlighting the struggle for justice, dignity, and economic survival.
Sefrin’s conflict handling is visceral and relevant; the narrative deftly examines class struggle and power dynamics. McFarland emerges as a caricature of corporate greed, using manipulation and oppression to maintain his firm’s dominance. At the same time, Benny becomes the voice of a new generation ready to confront systemic injustice. The tension escalates as the stubbornness of both sides leads to severe repercussions for the city. The setting of New York Harbor, a hub of economic activity and immigration, is a mesmerizing backdrop and character in the story. The tugboats, lifelines of the bustling city, mirror the workers’ struggles, a brilliant portrait of a fragile balance between progress and the brink of chaos. The author skillfully employs vivid imagery to evoke the harsh winter landscape against the social fractures that become apparent under the strike.
Characterization in Port City is richly layered. Henry’s ruthlessness contrasts sharply with Benny’s passion and idealism. At the same time, Jack’s journey—between familial loyalty and personal aspirations—offers a humanizing perspective that allows readers to experience the emotional turmoil underpinning the labor dispute. Sefrin crafts a narrative that is both a historical recounting and a captivating commentary on the complex nature of labor relations, making Port City a must-read for anyone interested in the struggle for social justice. It is deft and well-balanced. This author delights readers with exquisite writing, terrific descriptions, and fascinating characters.
— THE BOOK COMMENTARY
From Park Avenue to the tenements of Williamsburg, from the Waldorf Astoria to the Automat, captains of industry and captains of towboats, immigrant dock workers and their families, police, politicians . . . . all have a part in this engrossing tale of greed, ambition, and redemption set in post-World War II New York during the punishing tugboat strike that paralyzed the city in the winter of 1946. The narrative is vivid and cinematic, and riveting—even while, as in all historical fiction, the outcome is known from the distance of decades. Sefrin has drawn his characters, even the least sympathetic, with an empathy that rises from careful research and an understanding of the forces that buffet the barges of history. The struggles echo like foghorns warning of shoals still dangerous almost a century later.
— MARIE HARRIS, FORMER POET LAUREATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE