Writing New York: A Literary Anthology: A Library of America Special Publication Paperback - 2008

First line

THE ISLAND of Manna-hata, Manhattoes, or as it is vulgarly called Manhattan, having been discovered, as was related in the last chapter; and being unanimously pronounced by the discoverers, the fairest spot in the known world, whereon to build a city, that should surpass all the emporiums of Europe, they immediately returned to Communipaw with the pleasing intelligence.

Media reviews

Newsday
'Like the city, Writing New York is huge in scale, intimate in detail, breathtaking, magic.'

The New York Times Book Review, Garrison Keillor
'In Phillip Lopate's excellent anthology, Writing New York, you get writers who love crowds and writers who hang out alone and brood, the diaries of businessmen and homages to the sweet slums of Bohemia and beatnikdom...' '

The New Yorker
'...as rich and varied as its subject, and suitably large... '

The Wall Street Journal
'Suggests that, although New York's past is to be found in the realm of...historical reality, it also lives on, vividly, in the realm of the imagination. '

Luc Sante
'This brilliantly chosen selection provides the deepest, broadest, most exhilarating portrait of New York City available anywhere. '

Wendy Wasserstein
'With a musical touch for theme and variation...this text...has all the rhythm, elegance, and grit of the city.'