This was a fun read. Having been born/raised and lived in the Bronx well into my adult life, I truly enjoyed this publication. The author, Robert Pigott, put together a well thought out reference about the more prominent names in our history (past and present) who have lived (and some shorter stays) in the city.

This isn't about New York City but about the more famous and notable figures. Included are brief stories on each, including where they resided. I found the information to be very accurate and very easy to follow. There are quite a few reference photos included in this book with its accompanying notable figure. You will probably be surprised at some of the names that pop up in this book, I know I was.

This is definitely one of those books every New Yorker needs in their home, it is a great conversation piece. I received an advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley, Columbia University Press and Robert Pigott. I have chosen to give an honest review as a thank you.

As the subtitle states, this is a series of brief (some a bit longer) narratives of various famous and infamous people who either started in New York City and left; briefly stayed in the City and those who transplanted to the City and then left. The author’s presentation was straight forward and somewhat uninteresting at times. The best part for a reader is that you can read about the people that interest you and skip over the others. This is a good book for anyone who enjoys reading about New York City.

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.

It bears repeating that some of the individuals in this book are unknown to the public outside of the USA. There isn’t enough context in their stories, which talks about their influence and presence enough to warrant a story. Going to Wikipedia or Googling them does get tiresome after awhile. Even a little footnote at the end would have been helpful.

That being said, I did enjoy reading the book, the anecdotal events of these imminent personalities — Greta Garbo, Lee Harvey Oswald, Sylvia Plath, Mari Curie, The Shah of Iran, Frank Llyod Wright and his architectural battle, Charles Linbergh, Alan Turing, Chagal and some of my fond chapters — Roommates, Tying the Knot.

It is the book for those weekends where you want to brush up on your cultural and historical knowledge because why not…

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Destination City.

New York is the greatest city in the world, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a born and bred New Yorker.

There's nowhere else like the Big Apple; it's unique, bizarre, weird, strange, unusual, and so very cool

It has its good side, not so good side, and it's just WTF-is-this side.

I love how the author is a local from Queens (like me!) and his perspective adds additional insight to the interesting and fascinating stories of historical figures you wouldn't associate with the Big Apple.

I can't imagine how difficult it was to decide what historical figures to include so this was no easy task.

I learned so much, including how the city transformed itself from the first capital of the newly formed United States to the bustling metropolitan city it is now

The historical figures' personal comments about NYC when they visited our fair city for the first time was both humorous, incisive, and honest. NYC isn't for everyone and some people realize that.

I did love how John Lennon wished he had been born a New Yorker. I can see where he's coming from.

NYC isn't for everyone but the famous saying is true; if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.

I started reading this book before my recent trip to NY, and resumed reading it while there and after.
I appreciated the concept of famous people’s different experiences of staying in NY and the pool was comprehensive and varied. It was a well-structured book, however I wish it had more focus on the “stories”.

Destination City offers a compilation of brief biographies of people who stayed in New York city for some time but did not live there. If focused on their time in the city, where they live and what they did there with an occasional quote or anecdote.
As a frequent visitor of New York city, I was eager to read this volume in hope to learn something new about a location that I adore. While I can warmly praise the research that was put into this volume, Destination city stays very factual but somewhat dry. You will learn briefly why an individual came to the town, where they stayed, how long and what they did there. Sometimes you will have a quote about what they thought of that time and then you will move one to the other entry.
What I missed was a certain feel of the city. Living in New York in the 19th century, in the 1920’s or the 1980’s was a very different experience. Unfortunately, we are missing that experience here. We sometimes have some short insights but Robert Pingott focused on the life he wished to present. I had the strange feeling that New York was missing in a book about New York.
That said, I will keep coming back to this book as a reference. Reading the entries of the people that I admire to add pins on my map for my next excursions, wondering what they felt as I walked the street they walked before.

Am a huge fan of anything to do with New York so was delighted to read this book. There were many different famous people from all walks of life,many I hadn't heard of and many I did know. I could visualise many of the streets mentioned and the book even brought a smile to my face when you read about how much things cost back in the day.
Some of the information about certain people was quite a surprise and felt I learnt a !ot. I would of given five stars but on every page there was random 0 and 1 and many disjointed paragraphs making it difficult to read.