by Lucy Sante
First published 1991
Lucy Sante excavates the forgotten Manhattan that existed beneath the gilded surface of America's most famous city. Rather than chronicling the well-documented tales of wealthy mansions and powerful robber barons, Sante focuses her lens on the violent, chaotic world of New York's slums. She traces how these impoverished neighborhoods developed alongside the city's more celebrated districts, revealing the murderous conflicts and desperate struggles that shaped urban life. The book exposes the brutal realities that most histories of Manhattan choose to ignore or gloss over. Sante's investigation into this darker side of the city provides readers with a complete picture of how New York truly grew, showing that the story of America's greatest metropolis cannot be understood without examining its most troubled corners.
Genres: history, 20th-century, crime, social-issues, non-fiction, american-history
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: gritty, social-commentary
Setting: Manhattan, New York
Period: 20th-century
414 pages · Hardcover · Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Content warnings: violence