Monday, May 1, 2017

Magnetic New York: A Guide to the Greatest City in the World

In case you have been living on a deserted island for the past, let’s say, 40 years, you know that New York has been getting better in every category that makes a city great, despite many apparent setbacks along the way. More people want to live here than ever before; crime is at historic lows; the art and fashion worlds are booming here; movies and TV shows are being made here again; the foodie culture is rejoicing as restaurants are popping up in parts of town that no sane person would have even visited 25 years ago; and I’m sure we can list much more.

1873 Map of New York
This wondrous transformation is easier to see from the outside. New Yorkers are born with a deeply ingrained cynicism which can often make it hard to see the good that is all around them. Well, here is a book for them. Magnetic City: A Walking Companion to New York, by Justin Davidson, reveals the city’s current state in the greater context of its history and eternal cycles of decay, change, and renewal.

The book takes eight different areas: the Financial District, the Seaport and the Brooklyn waterfront, the World Trade Center, West Chelsea and the High Line, 42nd Street, the Upper West Side, upper Manhattan’s Sugar Hill and the South Bronx; and uses these to show New York’s remarkable ability to be reborn after decades of either crisis, catastrophe or simple irrelevance.

Davidson discusses the shocking comeback New York made after such unprecedented events as the September 11 attacks; Hurricane Sandy; the financial disaster of 2008; and other crazily significant events that did not destroy, but rather made New York better.

For anyone who loves New York City, this is a book that will validate and strengthen that love, and you’ll learn plenty along the way.