Book review: "American Metropolis: A History of New York City" by George J. Lankevich

Link: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/3655614b-c678-4a59-a8e2-de82989faad4

If you're looking for a book about the Harlem Renaissance, the Algonquin Round Table or about the famous heroes and villains who made the Big Apple their own --this ain't it. Rather, Lankevich presents a fairly dry political and economic history of the city, from its modest New Amsterdam beginnings all the way to... 1998. Yes, this book came out before 9/11, quite possibly the most important event in the city's history, which is why the Twin Towers still feature so prominently on the cover.

When I say "fairly dry," bear in mind that this is still New York. There's plenty of juicy stuff, like the city's initial hesitance to take sides in the Civil War, or the rise and fall of a number of "bosses," as the mobsters slash politicians ruling the city for a good century or so are called, working out of Tammany Hall. Another fascinating factoid is that around 1900, the Lower East Side was the most densely populated place on earth, with more than a quarter of a million people per square mile. And then there's Fiorello La Guardia, arguably New York's most famous mayor, who I never realized ran as a Republican. 

When we arrive in the post-WW2 era, the tone of the book turns grim, with the author depicting the 1970s and 1980s as the low point in the city's history. As Lankevich argues, the bosses of the 19th century may have been corrupt on a massive scale, but at the same time, they also delivered actual improvements to the city, especially when it came to health, sanitation and other practical problems that needed urgent solutions. By contrast, the year 1975 brought the city to the brink of bankruptcy and turned it into a lawless, dangerous and miserable metropolis, marked by white flight and urban decay.

No wonder that the author speaks relatively positively about the brusque but effective mayor at the end of his book, one Rudolph Giuliani. It's especially quaint to read a quote by Giuliani from his address to the U.N. General Assembly (as only the second NYC mayor to do so):

You can't be a New Yorker -- you can't be part of this city -- and deny the contributions of immigrants. Our nation owes its existence to the hard work, determination and vision of immigrants, and in the end I am confident that support for immigration will prevail over this latest advent of suspicion.

Oh, Rudy. You clearly didn't realize back then who you'd need to hitch your wagon to.