Customer Reviews

New York, New York: A History of the World's Most Exhilarating and Challenging City

5 star:		(3)
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After finishing Allen's book, I found I knew little about the city I've lived in for 32 years. This book is chock full of interesting facts about the city's history from Dutch control in the 1600's, to British colonization in the 1700's, and independence through the 1800's and 1900's. The author skillfully brings to life many of the colorful characters, both good and bad, who have stirred the mixture that makes NY so exciting. Men like Stuyvesant, Boss Tweed, JP Morgan, Lindsay, and LaGuardia, are all given the attention they deserve for shaping the city of today. This a terrific overview and will push me to a more detailed study of particular aspects of this unique city.

Oliver E. Allen's "New York New York" is an outstanding account of the growth and development of New York City from the small Dutch settlement of the 1600's to the international powerhouse of the 1980's. All major influences, people, and incidents that played roles in the shaping of the metropolis are describe with compelling and cohesive clarity. Factual and scholarly research that reads like a page turner. A must for any historian, urban politician, or literate New Yorker. Should be a required text for New York Colleges or elite High Schools, as well as the private libraries of politically involved urbanites of any city. Even as a jaded New Yorker I give it Five stars.

First let me preface my review by stating that this is thefirst book I've read on New York, so I am by no means an expert on thecity's history. Therefore, I found this book to be a good introduction for the beginner(me), because it encompasses much of the overall development of the city while not getting bogged down in unneccesary details, which keeps the book moving fluidly throughout. The book covers over three hundred years of material, ranging from Dutch settlement in the 1600's through English colonization in the 1700's and up to the present day 1990's, and does so in a way that most people will find interesting. Now that I've read Allen's book I'm stirred to read more on the city's wonderful history, something I've been neglecting even though I've lived here for 32 years.