New York 400: A Visual History of America’s Greatest City with Images from The Museum of the City of New York
New York 400: A Visual History of America’s Greatest City with Images from The Museum of the City of New York
The year 2009 is a landmark in the history of New York, and America. It’s the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s arrival along the river that bears his name. With public initiatives and media attention on commemorative events and exhibits at a fever pitch throughout the year, the stage is set for New York 400, a one-of-a-kind celebration of the greatest city in America.With unprecedented access to the Museum of the City of New York’s vast archive, this is a visual history of the city of New York like none other, focusing not merely on landmarks but also on everyday life in the city over the past four centuries. The people, arts, culture, politics, and drama unfold through hundreds of rarely seen photographs and a fascinating profile
List Price: $ 40.00
Price: $ 13.00
Desert1,
The panorama of light and life contained within these pages is extensive. The images portrayed whether maps, sketches, prints, paintings, or photographs take one into the heart and soul of New York City. Having lived there a good part of my life many images were familiar from first hand experience or from the extensive history of New York that every student takes growing up in that school system. However, there are images never seen outside the Museum of the City of New York that tell a dramatic story anyone can not only simply enjoy but stand in awe of. The soul of the city, created as it absorbed so many cultures and people over the years, stands center stage. Time has simply stopped in may photos and one anxiously waits for the people, frozen motionless in ordinary acts of living, to simply start moving again where they left off over one hundred years ago. The excitement of life captured in the 1898 photo of Orchard Street, looking South from Hester Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan is worth the price of the book alone. We are also introduced to many previously existing photographic studies, essays, and the artists who created them all within this one book. There is great drama here to be visited again and again each time the covers are opened.
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|Great photos, good narrative,
This is a large format “coffee table book” published by the museum to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the founding of NYC. The book is an absolutely wonderful collection of photos and other illustrations from the incredible archive of the Museum of the City of New York and covers the city’s history over the last 400 years.
The book is organized into 16 chapters, each covering a specific period of history such as the Dutch founding of the city, or the Gilded Age, or the Great Depression. Each chapter is fronted with an essay, from a historian specializing in that period, about NYC and that period of history. After the essay there are a dozen or so pages of captioned photos, maps, engravings and other illustrations depicting the city during the period. The images focus mostly on the everyday life of the people actually living in the city, rather than depicting the lives of the rich and famous.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest or affection for the City.
One caveat, the books really isn’t a general history of NYC. If you’re looking for one of those, I’d suggest either Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 by Burrows and Wallace or New York: An Illustrated History by Ric Burns
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|A Real Treasure of a Book,
I found this book at first in a gift shop (at the full price of $40) and knew I could purchase it for less through amazon.com. I was right. The price I paid was unbelievably low and though used was in excellent condition. This is a wonderful book for anyone interested in the history of New York. It traces New York from the 17th century to the present with great drawings, photos and articles from the past. It is a wonderful addition to anyone’s library.
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