SOURCE: "The City's Dockside," in The New York Times Book Review, April 24, 1960, pp. 3, 36.

In the following essay, Atkinson praises The Bottom of the Harbor as both literature and as a travel guide.

Since Joseph Mitchell is an unselfconscious writer, readers of The Bottom of the Harbor are never distracted from the subject matter of his book. He is discussing and describing the natural phenomena of the waters around New York—fish, clams, oysters and lobsters, and the natives who are equally indigenous.

Occasionally Mr. Mitchell, author of McSorley's Wonderful Saloon and other books, appears in his pages as the man talked to or the man who went somewhere to meet a riverman or waterman. His function is that of a guide. Under his guidance you learn a good deal about Louis Morino, temperamental proprietor of Sloppy Louie's restaurant at 92 South Street; George H. Hunter, 87, chairman of the board...