A Brief Description Of New York

Special reprinted edition of Ausburn Towner's Chemung County, NY history book, complete with index. Early local history includes the Battle of Newtown in the Revolutionary War, Arnot Ogden Hospital, early restaurants and inns, churches, the Chemung Canal, the Elmira Reformatory, the Civil War, the Elmira Prison Camp, the railroads, early settlers, Elmira Free Academy, Matthias Hollenback, Mark Twain, and Quarry Farm.

The history of New York City’s urban development often centers on titanic municipal figures like Robert Moses and on prominent inner Manhattan sites like Central Park. New York Recentered boldly shifts the focus to the city’s geographic edges—the coastlines and waterways—and to the small-time unelected locals who quietly shaped the modern city. Kara Murphy Schlichting details how the vernacular planning done by small businessmen and real estate operators, performed independently of large scale governmental efforts, refigured marginal locales like Flushing Meadows and the shores of Long Island Sound and the East River in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The result is a synthesis of planning history, environmental history, and urban history that recasts the story of New York as we know it.

An exploration into what America was, is, and can become through the lens of the rapidly changing American metropolis From its origins as a primitive Dutch outpost to the sprawling urban complex it is today, the defining characteristic of New York has been constant, dramatic, and rapid change. Formerly published as An American Metropolis, this new edition features a new preface in which Lankevich discusses the impact of the events of September 11 on the city, as well as an updated final chapter on the Giuliani administration. By understanding the history of New York, we obtain a vital sense of what America was, is, and can become.

The vibrant story of America’s great metropolis, told through 101 distinctive objects that span the history of New York, all reproduced in luscious, full color. A wooden water barrel and an elevator brake. A Checker taxicab and a conductor’s baton. An oyster and a mastodon tusk. Inspired by A History of the World in 100 Objects, The New York Times’ Sam Roberts chose fifty objects that embody the narrative of New York for a feature article in the paper. Many more suggestions came from readers, and so Roberts has expanded the list to 101. Here are just a few of what this keepsake volume offers: · The Flushing Remonstrance, a 1657 petition for religious freedom that was a precursor to the First Amendment to the Constitution. · Beads from the African Burial Ground, 1700s. Slavery was legal in New York until 1827, although many free blacks lived in the city. The African Burial Ground closed in 1792 and was only recently rediscovered. · The bagel, early 1900s. The quintessential and undisputed New York food (excepting perhaps the pizza). · The Automat vending machine, 1912. Put a nickel in the slot and get a cup of coffee or a piece of pie. It was the early twentieth century version of fast food. · The “I Love NY” logo designed by Milton Glaser in 1977 for a campaign to increase tourism. Along with Saul Steinberg’s famous New Yorker cover depicting a New Yorker’s view of the world, it was perhaps the most famous and most frequently reproduced graphic symbol of the time. Unique, sometimes whimsical, always important, A History of New York in 101 Objects is a beautiful chronicle of the remarkable history of the Big Apple that will enrich your mind and rekindle memories.