Picturing New York (Hardcover)

by Gloria Deak (Author) "Nowadays countries are always being discovered that were never in the old geography books," sighed Sir Thomas More as he prepared the introductory pages, in..." (more)
Key Phrases: multiethnic population, New York, New World, Staten Island (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
De k, an independent scholar of American art and cultural affairs, has written an engaging history of New York City filled with prints, paintings, and vintage photographs that greatly enhance the text. While admitting that the city defies any single effort to take its measure, she has nevertheless succeeded in presenting a straightforward account of its progress from a scruffy Atlantic Coast trading post in the 17th century to a great metropolis at the turn of the millennium. Organized into 14 vignettes, as De k calls them, the book takes up the growth of the seaport, the development of manufacturing, and the expansion of banking, insurance, and stock trading. It depicts the city as the nation's center of the arts, theater, other popular entertainment, and publishing. Recommended for New York City collections in academic and larger public libraries.DHarry Frumerman, formerly with Hunter Coll., New York
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
Relying upon her unmatched command of the pictorial history of New York, Gloria Deak has crafted a graceful, illuminating, and fascinating synthetic narrative as a frame for an extraordinary selection of pictures, some familiar but many unfamiliar, even to specialists. -- Thomas Bender, University Professor of the Humanities Professor of History New York University and author of New York Intellect: A History of Intellectual Life in New York City, from 1750 to the Beginnings of Our Own Time

Relying upon her unmatched command of the pictorial history of New York, Gloria Deák has crafted a graceful, illuminating, and fascinating synthetic narrative as a frame for an extraordinary selection of pictures, some familiar but many unfamiliar, even to specialists. -- Review

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press (July 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231107285
• ISBN-13: 978-0231107280
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 9.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #949,372 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another excellent publication by Gloria Deák, September 20, 2000

By	Christopher W. Lane (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews

Here at The Philadelphia Print Shop, we have been eagerly awaiting Gloria Deák's Picturing New York. Known for her lively and insightful prose, Deák has produced some of the best publications on American prints and maps available to print dealers and collectors. The reader should not think that this handsome new publication is a print reference book like I.N. Phelps Stokes' Iconography of Manhattan Island (1915-36) or Deák's Picturing America (1988). Rather it is a very readable history of New York City where Deák's knowledge and understanding of graphic illustrations adds greatly to the prose narrative. The book is filled with images of prints, photographs, watercolors, drawings, maps, etc., and these images resonate strongly with the text. The city's history is not presented in the usual chronological manner, but instead Deák gives us a new slant on the story of New York by presenting the history in fourteen chapters each with a different theme. This includes considerations on the naming of New York, its religious, seafaring and mercantile history, different sections of the metropolis, its culture, sports, architecture, and so forth. Each chapter can be read as separate entity, but this is also a book that rewards a reading from cover to cover. Deák's style is vivacious, and the book's interesting format and the breadth and depth of Deák's knowledge ensures that this book will provide new insights for all readers. And though not really a print reference book, the publication does include an excellent bibliography and a scholarly documentary listing of all the illustrations used. This is a publication that belongs on the bookshelf of anyone interested in New York.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Apples and Orchards, September 6, 2000

By	Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Deak combines a wealth of photographs of New York City (a majority featuring Manhattan) with an an especially well-written narrative which traces 400 years of colorful history. She organizes the material within 14 chapters, focusing on such diverse subjects as Manhattan's origins, its "multireligious destiny", its emergence as a world-class seaport, its "merchant princes", its multi-ethnic demographics, the ascent of its rich and the struggles of its poor, the metamorphosis of Broadway, the settlement and development of the other four boroughs, its "politicians for all seasons" (ie insightful profiles of Peter Stuyvesant, Thomas Dongan, Fernando Wood, and Fiorello LaGuardia), its triumphs of architecture and urban engineering, its emerging role as a world-class center of the creative and performing arts, the national and international impact of its communications community, and its passion for competitive sports.

All of us have images of New York (most of them of Manhattan and many of them the result of films and television programs anchored there) and many of us know at least something about the city's colorful history. This book both enables us to experience New York in the hundreds of photographs and to learn more about its establishment and subsequent development. Although the volume may seem to be another "coffee table book", don't be misled. While being a window to our nation's most dynamic city, it is also a mirror of our nation's history. At least once a week, I take it in hand and feast upon its contents. So will you.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New York City seen whole, July 8, 2000

By A Customer

This is a wonderously enaging book that immerses the reader in the City's 400 year history by means of a related series of sparkling essays and a vivid fabric of images. Gloria Deak boldly engages the entire humanistic adventure that is New York in a way that has not been attempted since John Kouwenhoven's 1953 Historical Portrait.

Picturing New York will open up the City to readers interested in the personalities and events that made and continue to reinvent New York.