The Voice’s heyday was well before I was a fully-formed human being and I’m not enough of a student of journalism to recognize most of the writers whose voices Tricia Romano has captured for this lengthy history. Still, it was fun enough to read, and there was enough media theory in this 600+ page tome to keep me turning the pages. The paper’s substantive demise in 2017 is a depressing tale of tech and finance bros gutting the critical voice the Voice facilitated for decades. I have a romantic idea of Greenwich Village and the bulk of the book provided enough hints that rose-coloured glasses are appropriate for the 50s, 60s and even 70s. By the 1980s, though, gentrification and the plasticizing effect of the Reagan years were becoming clear not just at the Voice, but across culture. The Voice gives voice to the stories of that devolution.
