5 Books That Get New York City Right

There is something about the grit and hustle of New York City that you only truly understand if you have lived there. The sounds of car horns blaring as everyday melodies fill your morning commute. The sweat and ache of long treks across the city on a hot summer’s day. The sound of street musicians and singers lining the subway.

New York City is a world of its own, separate from even that of the rest of New York state. There is something magical and mysterious about NYC that makes it unlike any other place in the world. Today, we are highlighting a few books that get NYC culture right and paint a picture that even Big Apple novices can appreciate.

1. “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” by Jane Jacobs

An assessment of vitality and sustainability of cities, author Jane Jacobs examines big picture ideas like human nature and urban planning, as well as the shortsightedness and arrogance of both. The most important part is that she conveys New York City in such an authentic way that it paints a picture of why people keep flocking to the city generation after generation.

2. “Greater Gotham” by Mike Wallace

A follow-up to the prequel “Gotham,” author Mike Wallace has written a “made for TV” novel about the gloom and misery of the two decades spanning from the consolidation of New York and Brooklyn to 1919, a year marked by social unrest, terrorist bombings, and worker strikes. Wallace eloquently paints a picture of the years following World War I when New York City moved from national to global prominence.

3. “The New York Nobody Knows: Walking 6,000 Miles in the City” by William B. Helmreich

Growing up in Manhattan, William B. Helmreich had a game that he loved to play with his father called “Final Stop.” They would pick a subway line and ride it to its final destination, where they would get off and explore the area. This love of exploration continued into adulthood as Helmreich made it his mission to explore every neighborhood in the five boroughs of New York.

A journey of 6,000 miles through New York City by foot, “The New York Nobody Knows” explores the diversity and complexity of the city. As Helmreich speaks to NYC residents along his route, he shares how the city’s inhabitants come from all walks of life, and while the city is a huge metropolitan, it is also composed of small, local neighborhoods.

4. “The Bowery Boys: Adventures in Old New York” by Greg Young and Tom Meyers

Known as “the Bowery Boys,” Greg Young and Tom Meyers take readers on a deep dive through the obscure and not so well known histories of New York City. The pair give New Yorkers and tourists alike a firsthand tour through the back alleys of the city that no one talks about, allowing you to see the beauty of the city from a new vantage point.

5. “The Best of Everything” by Rona Jaffe

A controversial text of its time, “The Best of Everything” is the 50s and 60s version of “Sex and the City.” In the novel, author Rona Jaffe tells the story of a group of five young women who were employees at a publishing company and the struggles they face as they try to make it in the city. A coming-of-age story about friendship, career, and finding identity, “The Best of Everything” is full of plot twists like abortion, stalking, and pre-marital sex that have kept generations of readers coming back for years.

6. “Open City” by Teju Cole

Author Teju Cole captures — the brilliant and the mundane, the shiny and the unglamorous — all that makes New York City what it is in his novel “Open City.” He writes from the perspective of an everyday stroller through the streets and alleyways of NYC. The protagonist is a young Nigerian doctor who reflects upon his past and present as he wanders the Big Apple while encountering people from different backgrounds who give him new perspectives along the way.

7. “Another Country” by James Baldwin

James Baldwin is a strategic and prolific writer, and this skill comes to life in “Another Country.” In the novel, he explores issues of race, class, and sexuality in 1950s New York City (specifically Greenwich Village), among other locales.

What books tell the story of New York City well? Is there a book that paints a city you love? Share them with us @meetcopper so we can continue to share them with our Copper Community.

Photo by Tetiana SHYSHKINA on Unsplash