Old New York in Early Photographs


Book Description

New York City as it was 1853-1901, through 196 wonderful photographs: great blizzard, Lincoln's funeral procession, great buildings, much more.




Historic Photos of New York State


Book Description

This book, with 200 fascinating images from the past, covers more than a hundred years of New York State history. It starts with a daguerreotype of a doomed man clinging to a jammed log near the brink of Niagara Falls and ends with a race riot in Harlem in the 1960s. In between there is a kaleidoscopic review of New York State’s incredibly diverse and captivating history. New York was born from a Dutch colony, grew up with English settlement, achieved independence at adolescence, and realized an adulthood of wealth and power after building the longest canal in the world. With the development of photography, the myriad experiences of New York State were recorded, and the best of these pictures have been selected and reproduced here to tell an engaging story. Subjects depicted include the Civil War, launch of the automobile, age of the industrialists, massive European immigration, the Pan-American Exposition, Prohibition, the Great Depression, the 1939 World’s Fair, the world wars, and much more. Many famous New York photographers captured the special pictures that make the collection in this book outstanding. They include Mathew Brady, John Collier, Carl Dietz, Arnold Genthe, Lewis Wickes Hine, Lisette Model, Arthur Rothstein, Alfred Stieglitz, and others. It is rare to see a collection of historic images of such breadth and high quality. All of the photos are accompanied by informative text to enhance the experience.




Historic Photos of Broadway


Book Description

The history of theater in New York is captured in the images of the Billy Rose Theatre Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. From this valuable archive, author Leonard Jacobs spotlights the evolution of the world's most storied dramatic community. Reaching from the 1850s to the recent past, these images give insight into the passion and character of the theaters, the performers, and the performances that have made Broadway the iconic cultural capital of theater. With hundreds of images, many never before published, Historic Photos of Broadway provides an intriguing look behind the scenes at the Booths and the Barrymores and every subject from the Alvin Theatre to the Ziegfeld Follies, giving those passionate about theater an irreplaceable glimpse into its humble beginnings and rise to greatness over the last two centuries.




The History and Stories of the Best Bars of New York


Book Description

This book was just announced as the WINNER of the USABookNews 2006 History: Media/Entertainment category!Everything important that has ever happened in New York began or ended in the City's best bars. From the deep mahogany of downtown to the polished brass of uptown, THE HISTORY AND STORIES OF THE BEST BARS OF NEW YORK recounts the drama, character and stories of the City's most important meeting places. Nearly fifty profiles containing vignettes of famous lore and little-known history are accented by stunning duotone images sure to intrigue both long-time New Yorkers and visitors to The City. THE HISTORY AND STORIES OF THE BEST BARS OF NEW YORK is a unique and necessary work, long overdue.




New York


Book Description

An expanded edition of the only comprehensive illustrated history of New York—with more than 600 ravishing photographs and illustrations—that tells the remarkable 400-year-long story of the city from its beginning in 1624 up to the current moment. The companion volume to the acclaimed PBS series. This landmark book traces the spectacular growth of New York from its initial settlement on the tip of Manhattan through the destruction wrought by the Revolutionary War to its rise as the nation’s premier commercial capital and industrial center and as a magnet for immigrant hopes and dreams in the 19th century to its standing as a beacon of modern culture in the 20th century and as a worldwide symbol of resilience in the 21st century. The story continues here with new chapters delivering a sweeping portrait of New York at the dawn of the 21st century, when it emerged after decades of decline to assert its place at the very center of a new globalized culture. Here is a city challenged—indeed, sometimes shaken to its core—by a series of profound crises: the aftermath of 9/11, the continual struggle with racial injustice, the financial crisis of 2008, the devastation of Superstorm Sandy, the still unfolding cataclysm of the COVID-19 pandemic—whose earliest and deadliest urban epicenter was New York itself. Here too is a lively portrait of the city’s vibrant street life and culture: the birth of hip-hop in the South Bronx, Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s Gates in Central Park, the musicals of Broadway, the explosion in location filmmaking in every borough, the pivotal rise of the tech industry, and so much more. The history of this city—especially in the tumultuous and transformative two decades detailed in the new chapters—is an epic story of rebirth and growth, an astonishing transfiguration, still in progress, of the world’s first modern city into a model and prototype for the global city of the future.




New York Noir


Book Description

Capturing the faces of the century's most notorious criminals and their shocking handiwork, "New York Noir" showcases 40 years of crime with over 130 stunning photos from the archives of New York's "Daily News."




A History of New York in 27 Buildings


Book Description

From the urban affairs correspondent of the New York Times--the story of a city through twenty-seven structures that define it. As New York is poised to celebrate its four hundredth anniversary, New York Times correspondent Sam Roberts tells the story of the city through bricks, glass, wood, and mortar, revealing why and how it evolved into the nation's biggest and most influential. From the seven hundred thousand or so buildings in New York, Roberts selects twenty-seven that, in the past four centuries, have been the most emblematic of the city's economic, social, and political evolution. He describes not only the buildings and how they came to be, but also their enduring impact on the city and its people and how the consequences of the construction often reverberated around the world. A few structures, such as the Empire State Building, are architectural icons, but Roberts goes beyond the familiar with intriguing stories of the personalities and exploits behind the unrivaled skyscraper's construction. Some stretch the definition of buildings, to include the city's oldest bridge and the landmark Coney Island Boardwalk. Others offer surprises: where the United Nations General Assembly first met; a hidden hub of global internet traffic; a nondescript factory that produced billions of dollars of currency in the poorest neighborhood in the country; and the buildings that triggered the Depression and launched the New Deal. With his deep knowledge of the city and penchant for fascinating facts, Roberts brings to light the brilliant architecture, remarkable history, and bright future of the greatest city in the world.




The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910


Book Description

The drama, expansion, mansions and wealth of New York City's transformative Gilded Age era, from 1870 to 1910, captured in a magnificently illustrated hardcover. In forty short years, New York City suddenly became a city of skyscrapers, subways, streetlights, and Central Park, as well as sprawling bridges that connected the once-distant boroughs. In Manhattan, more than a million poor immigrants crammed into tenements, while the half of the millionaires in the entire country lined Fifth Avenue with their opulent mansions. The Gilded Age in New York captures what is was like to live in Gotham then, to be a daily witness to the city's rapid evolution. Newspapers, autobiographies, and personal diaries offer fascinating glimpses into daily life among the rich, the poor, and the surprisingly large middle class. The use of photography and illustrated periodicals provides astonishing images that document the bigness of New York: the construction of the Statue of Liberty; the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge; the shimmering lights of Luna Park in Coney Island; the mansions of Millionaire's Row. Sidebars detail smaller, fleeting moments: Alice Vanderbilt posing proudly in her "Electric Light" ball gown at a society-changing masquerade ball; immigrants stepping off the boat at Ellis Island; a young Theodore Roosevelt witnessing Abraham Lincoln's funeral. The Gilded Age in New York is a rare illustrated look at this amazing time in both the city and the country as a whole. Author Esther Crain, the go-to authority on the era, weaves first-hand accounts and fascinating details into a vivid tapestry of American society at the turn of the century. Praise for New-York Historical Society New York City in 3D In The Gilded Age, also by Esther Crain: "Vividly captures the transformation from cityscape of horse carriages and gas lamps 'bursting with beauty, power and possibilities' as it staggered into a skyscraping Imperial City." -- Sam Roberts, The New York Times "Get a glimpse of Edith Wharton's world." -- Entertainment Weekly Must List "What better way to revisit this rich period . . ?" -- Library Journal




How the Other Half Lives


Book Description