New York. Portrait of a City. XL

English edition. This book presents the epic story of New York in almost 600 pages of exciting and suggestive photographs, from the mid-19th century to the present day. Completing this treasure of images are over one hundred quotations and references from essential books, films, shows, and songs. The alternating fortunes of the city are all represented, from the wild nights of the jazz age to the hedonistic disco era, from the dark days of the Depression to the devastation of September 11 and its consequences, while its citizens with broken but indomitable hearts took up the challenge piece by piece. The extraordinary rise, reinvention, and growth of New York are not only the story of a city but the story of a nation, from the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge to immigrants arriving at Ellis Island; from the slums of the Lower East Side to the magnificent art déco skyscrapers. The urban beach of Coney Island and the squalid Times Square; the views of Central Park and the crowd on Fifth Avenue. The streets, sidewalks, chaos, energy, ethnic diversity, culture, fashion, architecture, anger, and complexity of the city are all presented in this kaleidoscopic book. After all, this is the largest city in the world and great are its extremes, contradictions, and attitudes.