OFF DUTY.(The Talk of the Town)(Book Review)

A book party with no cocktails: ouch. In fairness to the folks at the New Press, which helped organize such a dreaded event recently, at a restaurant on West Twenty-ninth Street, there were a few limiting circumstances. For one thing, almost all of the invited guests were driving. Also, most of them were Muslims and, more to the point, among the city's best experts on the consequences of excessive social drinking. They were cabbies. The book being celebrated was "Taxi! Cabs and Capitalism in New York City," by Biju Mathew, a business professor at Rider University, and a founding member of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, a fast-growing labor union.

Compounding the problem was the fact that the party didn't begin until 1 a.m.--the start of the slow period for drivers working the night shift. Many of the cabbies, at least, would likely have been in the neighborhood anyway. The stretch of the upper Twenties bounded by Lexington and Broadway is their sanctuary--featuring not only the union's headquarters but also free and plentiful late-night parking, a popular mosque, and several subcontinental restaurants, including Lasani, where the party took place.

For nearly an hour, the author, who was wearing a kurta and jeans, greeted incoming guests and answered apologetic phone calls from those who were still en route. Early arrivals sat at tables in the front, drinking water from plastic cups and reading the Pakistan Post. On the wall, a makeshift poster was affixed with old newspaper clippings: "cabbie cheats death," "hack stabbed." Unlike, say, "The New York City Cab Driver's Book of Dirty Jokes," which was honored with a party of its own several days later, at the National Arts Club, "Taxi!" is an earnest political tract, and the mood at Lasani reflected the mission. Obligatory author remarks and testimonials were accompanied by readings about the "neoliberal economy" ("Arguably, the taxi industry as it was formed in the 1980s reflected the globalized world of finance capital"), and by a call to protest the Taxi and Limousine Commission's planned installation of Global Positioning Systems. ("It's very clear that this is coming down from Homeland Security," Bhairavi Desai, the alliance's executive director, announced.)

Discordant cell-phone rings punctuated the proceedings. Eventually, it was time to eat, and the throngs lined up for curry and naan. Exactly what the full ...