The Apple and the Shady Tree is Gold­berg’s mem­oir about her dys­func­tion­al fam­i­ly and the dev­as­tat­ing effects of gen­er­a­tional men­tal ill­ness. Their issues were exac­er­bat­ed by her father’s role as the mon­ey-mak­er for the Gen­ovese crime fam­i­ly. Using chrono­log­i­cal vignettes, both humor­ous and pro­found­ly sad, Gold­berg explores her com­plex love-hate rela­tion­ship with her father and her life­long bat­tle with anx­i­ety. Along the way, she takes read­ers to 1960s Brook­lyn and Long Island and the mob-infused worlds of New York City’s gar­ment cen­ter, the pre-MTV record indus­try, and old Las Vegas and Atlantic City.