This book, about the radical transformation of New York in the early 20th century, makes you exclaim of the result, “Nothing’s changed!” For today’s New Yorkers, the names of the main players in that metamorphosis are part of daily life, if only because of Rockefeller Center and Carnegie Hall, not to mention J.P. Morgan Chase banks everywhere. Less obviously but more consequentially, New Yorkers of Morgan’s class and era invented the American corporation and engendered the structures of government that support its power. The primary reason the boroughs were consolidated into New York City—the celebration of which, in 1898, opens the book—was essentially so that these robber barons could have more efficient hegemony over their means of shipping (the harbor in particular), much as they had amalgamated myriad companies in order to centralize and control their copper, sugar, steel, or railroad businesses.
This volume, a sequel to the Pulitzer Prize—winning Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, which covered 375 years, uses nearly as many pages for its 21. The book’s many sections range in topic from commercial-political finagling to the changes in planning and building type that resulted, as well as to public transportation, including bridges and tunnels; zoning; housing; factories; retail; and cultural centers from libraries to opera houses. Greater Gotham also goes into popular culture, crime, and the organization of labor. Reformers, radicals, and feminists are not neglected either. It ends with the aftereffects of World War I.
You have 0 complimentary articles remaining.
Unlimited access + premium benefits for as low as $1.99/month.