New York. Portrait of a City - by Reuel Golden (Hardcover)

About the Book

From the wild nights of the Jazz Age to the devastation of 9/11 and its aftermath, New York's fluctuating fortunes are all represented in this collection that presents the epic story of the city through photographs, maps, and aerial views.

Book Synopsis

This book presents the epic story of New York on nearly 600 pages of emotional, atmospheric photographs, from the mid-19th century to the present day. Supplementing this treasure trove of images are over a hundred quotations and references from seminal books, movies, shows, and songs. The city's fluctuating fortunes are all represented, from the wild nights of the Jazz Age to the hedonistic disco era, from to the grim days of the Depression to the devastation of 9/11 and its aftermath, as its brokenhearted but unbowed citizens picked up the pieces.

New York's remarkable rise, reinvention, and growth are not just the tale of a city, but the story of a nation, From the building of the Brooklyn Bridge to the immigrants arriving at Ellis Island; from the slums of the Lower East Side to the magnificent art deco skyscrapers. The urban beach of Coney Island and the sleaze of Times Square; the vistas of Central Park and the crowds on Fifth Avenue. The streets, the sidewalks, the chaos, the energy, the ethnic diversity, the culture, the fashion, the architecture, the anger, and the complexity of the city are all laid out in this kaleidoscopic book. This is the greatest city in the world after all and great are its extremes, contradictions, and attitude.

More than just a remarkable tribute to the metropolis and its civic, social, and photographic heritage, New York: Portrait of a City pays homage to the indomitable spirit of those who call themselves New Yorkers: full of hope and strength, resolute in their determination to succeed among its glass and granite towers.

Features hundreds of iconic images, sourced from dozens of archives and private collections--many never before published--and the work of over 150 celebrated photographers, including Victor Prevost, Jacob Riis, Lewis Hine, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Berenice Abbott, Walker Evans, Weegee, Margaret Bourke-White, Saul Leiter, Esther Bubley, Arnold Newman, William Claxton, Ralph Gibson, Ryan McGinley, Mitch Epstein, Steve Schapiro, Marvin Newman, Joel Meyerowitz, Andreas Feininger, Charles Cushman, Joseph Rodriguez, Garry Winogrand, Larry Fink, Jamel Shabazz, Allan Tannenbaum, Bruce Davidson, Helen Levitt, Eugene de Salignac, Ruth Orkin, Joel Sternfeld, Keizo Kitajima, and many more.

Review Quotes

"A love letter to New York City, in all its historical, architectural, cultural, and humanist glory."-- "New York Post"

"The book that never stops giving for the city that never sleeps. Leave it to TASCHEN to produce this spectacular homage to an immensely photographic metropolis."-- "Globe and Mail"

About the Author

Reuel Golden graduated in politics from the University of Sussex, England. Formerly the editor of "British Journal of Photography" and executive editor at "Photo District News," he is the author of two books: "Masters of Photography "and "Witness: The World's Greatest News Photographers." He has lectured on photography in London, New York and Los Angeles, and judged numerous photography competitions. He lives in Brooklyn.