New York City: History, politics and society
Herbert Asbury The Gangs of New York (Thunder's Mouth Press, US). First published in 1928, this fascinating account of the seamier side of New York is essential reading. Full of historical detail, anecdotes and character sketches of crooks, the book describes New York mischief in all its incarnations and locales.Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 (Oxford UP). Enormous and encyclopedic in its detail, this is a serious history of the development of New York, with chapters on everything from its role in the Revolution to reform movements to its racial make-up in the 1820s.
Robert A. Caro The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York (Random House, US). Despite its imposing length, this brilliant and searing critique of New York City's most powerful twentieth-century figure is one of the most important books ever written about the city and its environs. Caro's book brings to light the megalomania and manipulation responsible for the creation of the nation's largest urban infrastructure.
Kenneth T. Jackson (ed) The Enyclopedia of New York (Yale UP). Massive, engrossing and utterly comprehensive guide to just about everything in the city. Much dry detail, but packed with incidental wonders.
Luc Sante Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York (Vintage, US). This chronicle of the seamy side between 1840 and 1919 is a pioneering work. Full of outrageous details usually left out of conventional history, it reconstructs the day-to-day life of the urban poor, criminals and prostitutes with a shocking clarity. Sante's prose is poetic and nuanced, his evocations of the seedier neighborhoods, their dives and pleasure-palaces, quite vivid.
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