Empire City

Rating:
Summary: New York's Biography
Review: Editors Kenneth Jackson and David Dunbar have amassed an enormous collection of essays, letters, diary entries, and poems about New York written by New Yorkers and visitors to the city from the dawn of the modern age (ca. 1600) to just after the ravages of 9/11. While an overwhelming majority of the pieces are pro-Gotham, I was glad that Messrs. Jackson and Dunbar had the wisdom and integrity to present some works that express anxiety and doubt about New York's status. The result is an extensive, celebratory, sometimes warts-and-all biography of the world's greatest city. As Mr. Jackson remarked in the 1999 Ric Burns New York Documentary, New York is not a stagnant, static thing: "New York is always becoming". He and Mr. Dunbar are to be congratulated for reminding us that New York's biography is long, and with a lot more greatness to come.

Rocco Dormarunno,
author of "The Five Points, A Novel"

Rating:
Summary: Empire City's Grand Review
Review: Empire City is about NEW YORK CITY, the capital of the world. If you are trying to figure out what New York is all about, read this book! New Yorkers young and old will be capivated by this masterpiece of literature. David Dunbar and Kenneth Jackson deliver one of the books that should be put onto your coffee table in your living room or next to the Bible on your bedstand. Simply put: this books is the BIBLE OF NEW YORK. It is where New York began, ended, and is now. David Dunbar delves into the depths of the burgeoning New York streets, while Kenneth Jackson puts together the pieces of history that have MADE New York. The pieces that these two worldly authors have put together makes even Gotham's Caped Crusader, Batman, sit back in an easy chair and take the night off from crime fighting to read this book. To put it simply, BUY THIS BOOK! It's great. CITYterm is proud, and so is a certain coach Ditka.

Rating:
Summary: Empire City's Grand Review
Review: Empire City is about NEW YORK CITY, the capital of the world. If you are trying to figure out what New York is all about, read this book! New Yorkers young and old will be capivated by this masterpiece of literature. David Dunbar and Kenneth Jackson deliver one of the books that should be put onto your coffee table in your living room or next to the Bible on your bedstand. Simply put: this books is the BIBLE OF NEW YORK. It is where New York began, ended, and is now. David Dunbar delves into the depths of the burgeoning New York streets, while Kenneth Jackson puts together the pieces of history that have MADE New York. The pieces that these two worldly authors have put together makes even Gotham's Caped Crusader, Batman, sit back in an easy chair and take the night off from crime fighting to read this book. To put it simply, BUY THIS BOOK! It's great. CITYterm is proud, and so is a certain coach Ditka.

Rating:
Summary: Before you do anything else, READ THIS BOOK
Review: I bought this book as soon as it was in stores because David Dunbar, my former teacher, wrote it and he is a GENIUS. Reading the essays and stories between the covers was an even greater experience than owning the work of a friend. It now sits on my coffeetable, waiting for my next trip to Dobbs Ferry, where I will ask David to inscribe the title page with his autograph. Each essay is packed with all the feeling and emotion to be found in the city, in all of its people and buildings and history. To read this book is not simply to follow words on a page...It is to experience the greatest city on Earth. From Joplin to New York and back again, this book, and CITYterm, have together been one of the most enlightening opportunities I have ever had.

Rating:
Summary: Before you do anything else, READ THIS BOOK
Review: I bought this book as soon as it was in stores because David Dunbar, my former teacher, wrote it and he is a GENIUS. Reading the essays and stories between the covers was an even greater experience than owning the work of a friend. It now sits on my coffeetable, waiting for my next trip to Dobbs Ferry, where I will ask David to inscribe the title page with his autograph. Each essay is packed with all the feeling and emotion to be found in the city, in all of its people and buildings and history. To read this book is not simply to follow words on a page...It is to experience the greatest city on Earth. From Joplin to New York and back again, this book, and CITYterm, have together been one of the most enlightening opportunities I have ever had.

Rating:
Summary: leaning into "empire city"
Review: this book is a masterpiece for anyone on the search. if you are one of those lower east side hipsters who thinks theres no success like failure, but failure's no success at all, then this book is for you. it leans into the kernel, and asks the right questions from beginning to end. get ready to strap on your conceptual goggles and prepare for some authors intention. from joan didion's "goodbye to all that" to walt whitman's "crossing brooklyn ferry" this book keeps the faith all the way.