 | By: Ric Burns James Sanders Lisa Ades Binding: Paperback Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf ISBN: 0375710329 ISBN-13: 9780375710322 Released: 20 Sep 2003 RRP: Average Rating:  |
To keep it interesting, the book also goes out of its way to provide little known factoids. For example, Manhattan was probably purchased for cash rather than trinkets & the value of the cash was closer to $600 than the famed $24 we alll have heard so much about (someone used the wrong currency exchange rate in the past). There's a nice story about the origins of Typhoid Mary, who inadvertently poisoned those she cooked for. You will also learn that disease was once so rampant that 1 in 25 adults died each year. Without immigrants, the city would not have grown.
Those who are descended from those who immigrated through Ellis Island into one of the ethnic neighborhoods will find many photos to remind them of their heritage. There are also excellent photographic perspectives on the development of the African American community beginning from the Dutch slaveholding days.
The development of the major bridges is one of the visual pleasures of the book. The building of Central Park is a close second. The water piping pictures are quite remarkable, as well.
The book will delight those who do not know much about New York City, but would like to know more. Coming from California, New York City did not get much attention in the history books after the Revolutionary War except when financial markets crumbled. So much of this was new to me.
The book will probably be even more of a delight to those who are from New York City. This is almost like a family album.
I got a lot of pleasure from seeing how areas in the city that I know well have changed over the years. In many cases, you get to see an intersection as a farm, then as a tenement, then as a skyscraper, & sometimes even as a second (more famous) skyscraper.
There is also a lot that is missing. You will find little about higher education (except the building of Columbia in Morningside Heights), museums, libraries, & the magnificent interior art in New York. Performing arts are almost excluded except for Vaudeville & Broadway. The development of air transportation & television are also little developed. But one volume cannot do everything.
When you are done, ask yourself, "What are the irresistible forces about a great city that must be taken advantage of?" That can be a useful guide to ordinary citizens as well as those who provide services in such metropolises.
Have a great visit to New York City!
Anyone who has seen Ric Burns'televison work (eg American Civil War) will know what to expect. This is a meticulously researched book but moves along with the pace of a best-seller. The picture selection is amazing too. What I found particularly good is the inclusion of short essays from a number of top=notch US historians - often providing contrasting viewpoints on key issues to those expressed by Burns.
This book should be compulsory reading for anyone visiting New York. It precisely outlines the cpaitalist-democratic dynamic that makes Gotham what it is.
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