As a long time New Yorker (who just made it back to the city after a quick detour) I devoured this recent history of the city I love. I can't get enough of books about my adopted home, but I do wonder how readers unfamiliar with the city will react to its inside baseball-ness. I happened to love it.

This book follows the history of NYC beginning in 1978 at a time when New York was at the bottom (or top) of a cycle of violence deterioration of the City's culture. This was the time when NYC was famous for the number of murders occurring and the 'tagging' of the Subway to the point where you couldn't see out of the window and criminality on the trains reached a peak.

What follows is a very detailed description as to the quotidian history of the City and how different parts of the City became 'no go' areas for even the Cops. As the State of New York took over the finances of the City and began to put it on a more solid basis, the Police began to invoke a type of policing (community) whereas the Cops concentrating on improving the "quality of life". As people saw that the streets were beginning to be safer, commercial and tourist businesses were expanding.

One of the major changes to the Police was the consolidation of all forces within the City (Housing and Subway) which made it easier to coordinate drug busts in the NYC Housing and the Subways. With the eradication of the inter-group problems the Police Force was able to create task forces that could cover interlocking criminal enterprises.

The rest of the book explains how neighborhoods were upgraded by the tearing down of derelict housing and the building of smaller city housing with lower density which made it easier to police and after many were privatized, the city had new neighborhoods where the middle class could afford to live.

It's very well written and easy to follow with a very linear style of writing.

I love anything New York, and this was no exception. I loved feeling immersed in the city, good, bad, ugly, and beautiful. I would not only recommend this book to those with an affinity for New York, but anyone with an interest in history will also enjoy it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the chance to read and enjoy this book.

While I found this book interesting, it is not for everyone. The author assumes that the reader is a New York City recent history aficionado as he talks about several different people, some of whom are well known and some only to those into New York City. The latter will leave some readers scratching their heads or constantly googling for more information on the individuals. My recommendation is that this book is for those who are really into New York City. If you are not, you will most likely not finish the book.

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher with the understanding that I would post a review on Net Galley, Goodreads, Amazon and my nonfiction book review blog. I also posted it to my Facebook page.

Having grown up in NY I appreciate the history and what happened during each new phase of the city changing. I can easily remember learning to drive through the burned out Bronx, and exploring the city on my own when I became old enough. Although NY has always been a city of vast transformations, and with Covid, and the migration out of the city it will change again. I enjoyed the authors writing and perspective. You don’t have to be a fan of the city to love this book.