Description
In 1945, New York City stood at the pinnacle of its cultural and economic power. Never again would the city possess the unique mixture of innocence and sophistication, romance and formality, generosity and confidence which characterized it in this moment of triumph. In Manhattan '45, acclaimed travel writer and historian Jan Morris evokes the city in all its romantic grandeur. From its beguilingly idiosyncratic architectural style to its unmistakable slang, post-War New York springs to life through Morris's brisk, affectionate prose. Morris visits Wall Street, Harlem, Greenwich Village, Chinatown, and the Lower East Side. She rides the trollies, the El, the Hudson River ferries, and the Twentieth Century Limited. She dines at Schrafft's and Le Pavillon, drinks ale at McSorley's Saloon, sips Manhattans at the Manhattan Club, and spots celebrities at El Morocco. She meets Fiorello La Guardia, Robert Moses, Leo Durocher, I. B. Singer, and Dizzy Gillespie. And she tours the tenements of Hell's Kitchen and the Gashouse district, as well as the Foundling Hospital where the crushing realities of poverty belie the unchallenged exuberance of the age. Taking into account both Social Register and slum, Manhattan '45 celebrates New York's Golden Age as a place where, for one unrepeatable moment in history, anything seemed possible.
Author: Jan Morris
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 07/23/1998
Pages: 282
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.75lbs
Size: 8.21h x 5.57w x 0.69d
ISBN13: 9780801859571
ISBN10: 0801859573
BISAC Categories:
- History | United States | 20th Century
- Social Science | Sociology | Urban
- Travel | United States | General
About the Author
Jan Morris is a travel writer and historian. Her many books include Hong Kong: Epilogue to an Empire, The Venetian Empire: A Sea Voyage, Conundrum, and Among the Cities.