Gotham Rising: New York in the 1930s

Description

New York is often described as the greatest city in the world. Yet much of the iconic architecture and culture which so defines the city as we know it today from the Empire State Building to the Pastrami sandwich only came into being in the 1930s, in what was perhaps the most significant decade in the city's 400-year history. After the roaring twenties, the catastrophic Wall Street Crash and ensuing Depression seemed to spell disaster for the vibrant city. Yet, in this era, New York underwent an architectural, economic, social and creative renaissance under the leadership of the charismatic mayor Fiorello La Guardia. After seizing power, he declared war on the mafia mobs running vast swathes of the city, attacked political corruption and kick-started the economy through a variety of construction and infrastructure projects. In culture, this was the age of the Harlem Renaissance championed by writers like Langston Hughes, the jazz age with the advent of Tin-Pan Alley, the Cotton Club and immortals such as Duke Ellington making his name in the Big Apple. Weaving these stories together, Jules Stewart tells the story of an iconic city in a time of change." List of Illustrations Foreword by Amor Towles Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? 2. The Little Flower and Goliath 3. Trouble in the Streets 4. ‘I can’t figger what dis city is comin’ to’ 5. All That Jazz 6. Gotham Gets a Facelift 7. The Thing about Skyscrapers 8. Seventy-Seventh Floor, Please 9. Anything You Can Do 10. You’re the Top 11. They All Laughed at Rockefeller Center 12. Village Life 13. Huddled Masses Yearning to Breathe Free Notes Bibliography Images Section Index