Over the years, I have curated a list of books about New York City history, most of which I have used as research and for writing. This list is suitable for anyone who is interested in learning more about New York City history, from the most seasoned scholars to anyone who is curious about these topics.
General NYC History
New York: An Illustrated History (Revised and Expanded) by Lisa Ades, Ric Burns, and James Sanders
City of Dreams: The 400-Year Epic History of Immigrant New York by Tyler Anbinder
The Works: Anatomy of a City by Kate Ascher
The Greatest Grid: The Master Plan of Manhattan, 1811-2021, edited by Hilary Ballon
Knickerbocker: The Myth behind New York by Elizabeth L. Bradley
Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 (The History of New York Series) by Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace
New York Diaries: 1609 to 2009, edited by Teresa Carpenter
The Epic of New York City: A Narrative History by Edward Robb Ellis
Automats, Taxicabs and Vaudeville: Excavating Manhattan’s Lost Places of Leisure by David Freeland
Branding New York: How a City in Crisis was Sold to the World by Miriam Greenberg
The Historical Atlas of New York City: A Visual Celebration of 400 Years of New York City’s History by Eric Homberger and Alice Hudson
The Encyclopedia of New York City by Kenneth T. Jackson, Lisa Keller, and Nancy Flood
Empire City: New York Through the Centuries by Kenneth T. Jackson and David S. Dunbar
Names of New York: Discovering the City’s Past, Present, and Future Through Its Place-Names by Joshua Jelly-Schapiro
City on a Grid: How New York Became New York by Gerard Koeppel
Fat of the Land: Garbage of New York: The Last Two Hundred Years by Benjamin Miller
Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City by Michelle Nevius and James Nevius
Footprints in New York: Tracing the Lives of Four Centuries of New Yorkers by Michelle Nevius and James Nevius
The Restless City: A Short History of New York from Colonial Times to the Present by Joanne Reitano
A History of New York in 27 Buildings: The 400-Year Untold Story of an American Metropolis by Sam Roberts
A History of New York in 101 Objects by Sam Roberts
Manhattan Street Names Past and Present by Don Rogerson
Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas by Rebecca Solnit and Joshua Jelly-Schapiro
Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America by Russell Shorto
Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City’s most Unwanted Inhabitants by Robert Sullivan
Greater Gotham: A History of New York City from 1898 to 1919 (The History of NYC Series Book 2) by Mike Wallace
Forgotten New York: Views of a Lost Metropolis by Kevin Walsh
Native History, New Amsterdam, and New Netherland
The Memory of All Ancient Customs: Native American Diplomacy in the Colonial Hudson Valley by Tom Arne Midtrød
Henry Hudson And The Rise And Fall Of New Amsterdam by Dirk Barreveld
Broken Chain: How the White and Indian Worlds Remembered Henry Hudson and the Dutch by Bill Greer
First Manhattans: A History of the Indians of Greater New York by Robert S. Grumet
The Colony of New Netherland: A Dutch Settlement in Seventeenth-Century America by Jaap Jacobs
The Archaeology of New Netherland: A World Built on Trade, edited by Craig Lukezic and John P. McCarthy
The Shame and the Sorrow: Dutch-Amerindian Encounters in New Netherland by Donna Merwick
Spaces of Enslavement: A History of Slavery and Resistance in Dutch New York by Andrea C. Mosterman
Henry Hudson and the Algonquins of New York: Native American Prophecy & European Discovery, 1609 by Evan T. Pritchard
Native New Yorkers: The Legacy of the Algonquian People of New York by Evan T. Pritchard
New Netherland Connections: Intimate Networks and Atlantic Ties in Seventeenth-Century America by Susanah Shaw Romney
The Worlds of the Seventeenth-Century Hudson Valley, edited by L. H. Roper and Jaap Jacobs
Food, Drink and Celebrations of the Hudson Valley Dutch by Peter Rose
The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony that Shaped America by Russell Shorto
Cookies, Coleslaw, and Stoops: The Influence of Dutch on the North American Languages by Nicoline van der Sijs
Colonial New York
New York City, 1664-1710: Conquest and Change by Thomas J. Archdeacon
A Factious People: Politics and Society in Colonial New York by Patricia U. Bonomi
John Morin Scott and Whig Politics in New York 1752-1769 by Harry Dunkak
Black and White Manhattan: The History of Racial Formation in Colonial New York City by Thelma Wills Foote
The Road to Mobocracy: Popular Disorder in New York City, 1763-1834 by Paul A. Gilje
The New York City Slave Revolt of 1712: The First Enslaved Insurrection in British North America by Ben Hughes
Before the Melting Pot: Society and Culture in Colonial New York City, 1664-1730 by Joyce D. Goodfriend
Who Should Rule at Home?: Confronting the Elite in British New York City by Joyce D. Goodfriend
New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery and Conspiracy in 18th Century Manhattan by Jill Lepore
From Privileges to Rights: Work and Politics in Colonial New York City by Simon Middleton
Inheritance and Family Life in Colonial New York City by David Narrett
The Duke’s Province: A Study of New York Politics and Society, 1664-1691 by Robert C. Ritchie
Defying Empire: Trading with the Enemy in Colonial New York by Thomas M. Truxes
Revolutionary War Era
Under the Guns: New York, 1775-1776 by Bruce Bliven
Unnatural Rebellion: Loyalists in New York City during the Revolution by Ruma Chopra
Revolution on the Hudson: New York City and the Hudson River Valley in the American War of Independence by George C. Daughan
Battle of Brooklyn 1776 by John J. Gallagher
The American Revolution in Long Island by Joanne S. Grasso
Divided Loyalties: How the American Revolution Came to New York by Richard M. Ketchum
Long Island City in 1776: The Revolution Comes to Queens by Richard Melnick
Unfriendly to Liberty: Loyalist Networks and the Coming of the American Revolution in New York City by Christopher F. Minty
The Maryland 400 in the Battle of Long Island, 1776 by Linda Davis Reno
The Battle for New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution by Barnet Schecter
Reluctant Revolutionaries: New York City and the Road to Independence, 1763–1776 by Joseph S. Tiedemann
Generous Enemies: Patriots and Loyalists in Revolutionary New York by Judith L. Van Buskirk
The Ghost Ship of Brooklyn: An Untold Story of the American Revolution by Robert P. Watson
Antebellum/Civil War Era
The New York City Draft Riots: Their Significance for American Society and Politics in the Age of the Civil War by Iver Bernstein
New York and the Lincoln Specials: The President’s Pre-Inaugural and Funeral Trains Cross the Empire State by Joseph D. Collea Jr.
The Armies of the Streets: The New York City Draft Riots of 1863 by Adrian Cook
Immigrant Life in New York City, 1825-1863 by Robert Ernst
Lincoln and New York by Harold Holzer
In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626-1863 by Leslie M. Harris
A Vast and Fiendish Plot: The Confederate Attack on New York City by Clint Johnson
Brooklyn and the Civil War by E.A. Livingston
The Most Fearful Ordeal: Original Coverage of the Civil War by Writers and Reporters of The New York Times by James M. McPherson
Secret Lives of the Underground Railroad in New York City: Sydney Howard Gay, Louis Napoleon and the Record of Fugitives by Don Papson and Tom Calarco
Gotham at War: New York City, 1860-1865 by Edward K. Spann
The Gilded Age
The Gold Ring: Jim Fisk, Jay Gould, and Black Friday, 1869 by Kenneth D. Ackerman
The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime that Scandalized a City and Sparked the Tabloid Wars by Paul Collins
The Gilded Age in New York, 1870-1910 by Esther Crain
When the Astors Owned New York: Blue Bloods and Grand Hotels in a Gilded Age by Justin Kaplan
Capital City: New York City and the Men Behind America’s Rise to Economic Dominance, 1860-1900 by Thomas Kessner
A Season of Splendor: The Court of Mrs. Astor in Gilded Age New York by Greg King
Rise of the New York Skyscraper: 1865-1913 by Sarah Bradford Landau and Carl W. Condit
Gilded New York: Design, Fashion, and Society by Phyllis Magidson and Susan Johnson
First Four Hundred: New York and the Gilded Age by Jerry E. Patterson
Diamonds and Deadlines: A Tale of Greed, Deceit, and a Female Tycoon in New York City’s Gilded Age by Betsy Prioleau
Second Founding: New York City, Reconstruction, and the Making of American Democracy by David Quigley
King of the Bowery: Big Tim Sullivan, Tammany Hall, and New York City from the Gilded Age to the Progressive Era by Richard F. Welch
Banquet at Delmonico’s: Great Minds, the Gilded Age, and the Triumph of Evolution in America by Barry Werth
Rediscovering Jacob Riis: Exposure Journalism and Photography in Turn-of-the-Century New York by Bonnie Yochelson and Daniel Czitrom
Island of Vice: Theodore Roosevelt’s Quest to Clean Up Sin-Loving New York by Richard Zacks
Early 20th Century
Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940 by George Chauncey
Damnation Island: Poor, Sick, Mad, and Criminal in 19th-Century New York by Stacy Horn
The Mob and the City: The Hidden History of How the Mafia Captured New York by C. Alexander Hortis
Smugglers, Bootleggers, and Scofflaws: Prohibition and New York City by Ellen NicKenzie Lawson
Supreme City: How Jazz Age Manhattan Gave Birth to Modern America by Donald L. Miller
Gangsterland: A Tour Through the Dark Heart of Jazz-Age New York City by David Pietrusza
Before Harlem: The Black Experience in New York City Before World War I by Marcy S. Sacks
The Devil’s Gentleman: Privilege, Poison, and the Trial That Ushered in the Twentieth Century by Harold Schechter
The Great Kosher Meat War of 1902: Immigrant Housewives and the Riots That Shook New York City by Scott D. Seligman
Triangle: The Fire that Changed America by David von Drehle
The World Wars and Prohibition
Trotsky in New York, 1917: A Radical on the Eve of Revolution by Kenneth D. Ackerman
Strike Up the Band: New York City in the Roaring Twenties by Helen Crisp and Jules Stewart
Over Here!: New York City During World War II by Lorraine B. Diehl
Art Music Activism: Aesthetics and Politics in 1930s New York City by Maria Cristina Fava
World War I New York: A Guide to the City’s Enduring Ties to the Great War by Kevin C Fitzpatrick
Duty, Honor, Privilege: New York’s Silk Stocking Regiment and the Breaking of the Hindenburg Line by Stephen L. Harris
Dry Manhattan: Prohibition in New York City by Michael A. Lerner
Prohibition New York City: Speakeasy Queen Texas Guinan, Blind Pigs, Drag Balls & More by David Rosen
Victory City: A History of New York and New Yorkers during World War II by John Strausbaugh
Gotham Rising: New York in the 1930s by Jules Stewart
City of Ambition: FDR, LaGuardia, and the Making of Modern New York by Mason B. Williams
Mid-20th Century and Beyond
Robert Moses and the Modern City: The Transformation of New York, edited by Hilary Ballon Ph.D. and Kenneth T. Jackson
In the Heat of the Summer: The New York Riots of 1964 and the War on Crime by Michael W. Flamm
The Harlem Uprising: Segregation and Inequality in Postwar New York City by Christopher Hayes
The Politics of Safety: The Black Struggle for Police Accountability in La Guardia’s New York by Shannon King
The Hardhat Riot: Nixon, New York City, and the Dawn of the White Working-Class Revolution by David Paul Kuhn
Life and Death on the New York Dance Floor, 1980–1983 by Tim Lawrence
Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 by Sarah Schulman
Ed Koch and the Rebuilding of New York City by Jonathan Soffer
The Bronx
Just Kids From the Bronx: Telling It the Way It Was, An Oral History by Arlene Alda
The Bronx River in History & Folklore by Stephen Paul Devillo
111 Places in the Bronx That You Must Not Miss by Kevin C. Fitzpatrick
Paradise Bronx: The Life and Times of New York’s Greatest Borough by Ian Frazier
The Bronx Nobody Knows: An Urban Walking Guide by William B. Helmreich
Bronx Faces and Voices: Sixteen Stories of Courage and Community, edited by Emita Brady Hill and Janet Butler Munch
South Bronx Rising: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of an American City by Jill Jonnes
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx is Burning: 1977, Baseball, Politics and the Battle for the Soul of a City by Jonathan Mahler
History in Asphalt: The Origin of Bronx Street and Place Names by John McNamara
Before the Fires: An Oral History of African American Life in the Bronx from the 1930s to the 1960s by Mark D. Naison and Bob Gumbs
Boulevard of Dreams: Heady Times, Heartbreak and Hope along the Grand Concourse in the Bronx by Constance Rosenblum
Freedomland: Co-op City and the Story of New York by Annemarie H. Sammartino
Little Italy of the Bronx Book: Belmont & Arthur Avenue, compiled by Steven M. Samtur
Fordham, A History of the Jesuit University of New York: 1841-2003 by Thomas J. Shelley
The Northern Borough: A History of the Bronx by Lloyd Ultan
The Birth of the Bronx, 1609-1900 by Lloyd Ultan and Gary Hermalyn
The Bronx: The Ultimate Guide to New York City’s Beautiful Borough by Lloyd Ultan and Shelley Olson
Bronx Accent: A Literary and Pictorial History of the Borough by Lloyd Ultan and Barbara Unger
Freedomland U.S.A.: The Definitive History by Michael R. Virgintino
Wild Lives: A History of People & Animals of the Bronx Zoo by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
Brooklyn
The Brooklyn Parrots FAQ: All about the wild monk parakeets of Brooklyn, NY by Stephen C. Baldwin
Brooklyn by Name: How the Neighborhoods, Streets, Parks, Bridges and More Got Their Names by Leonard Bernado and Jennifer Weiss
The 14th Brooklyn Regiment in the Civil War: A History and Roster by Frank Callenda
Brooklyn: The Once and Future City by Thomas J. Campanella
Bizarre Brooklyn: Stories of the Tragic, Macabre and Ghostly by Allison Huntington Chase
Song of Brooklyn: An Oral History of America’s Favorite Borough by Marc Eliot
Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland, 1861–2008 by Robin Jaffee Frank
It Happened in Brooklyn: An Oral History of Growing Up in the Borough in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s by Myrna Katz Frommer and Harvey Frommer
Brooklyn Heights: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of America’s First Suburb by Robert Furman
Design Brooklyn: Renovation, Restoration, Innovation by Anne Hellman
The Brooklyn Nobody Knows: An Urban Walking Guide by William B. Helmreich
Literary Brooklyn: The Writers of Brooklyn and the Story of American City Life by Evan Hughes
Making a Global Immigrant Neighborhood: Brooklyn’s Sunset Park by Tarry Hum
Brooklynites: The Remarkable Story of the Free Black Communities that Shaped a Borough by Prithi Kanakamedala
111 Places in Brooklyn That You Must Not Miss by John Major
Chronicles of Historic Brooklyn by John B. Manbeck
The Neighborhoods of Brooklyn, edited by John B. Manbeck
The Invention of Brownstone Brooklyn: Gentrification and the Search for Authenticity in Postwar New York by Suleiman Osman
A Coney Island Reader: Through Dizzy Gates of Illusion, edited by Louis Parascandola and John Parascandola
Coney Island: 150 Years of Rides, Fires, Floods, the Rich, the Poor and Finally Robert Moses by William J. Phalen
A History of Brooklyn Bridge Park: How a Community Reclaimed and Transformed New York City’s Waterfront by Nancy Webster and David Shirley
Brooklyn’s Promised Land: The Free Black Community of Weeksville, New York by Judith Wellman
Old Brooklyn in Early Photographs, 1865-1929 by William Lee Younger
Queens
The Neighborhoods of Queens by Claudia Gryvatz Copquin and Kenneth T. Jackson
The 1939-1940 New York World’s Fair: The World of Tomorrow by Bill Cotter
111 Places in Queens That You Must Not Miss by Joe DiStefano
Historic Tales of Long Island City by the Greater Astoria Historical Society
The Queens Nobody Knows: An Urban Walking Guide by William B. Helmreich
Rural County, Urban Borough: A History of Queens by Jeffrey A. Kroessler
Sunnyside Gardens: Planning and Preservation in a Historic Garden by Jeffrey A. Kroessler
The End of the Innocence: The 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair by Lawrence R. Samuel
Ravenswood: The Lost Paradise by Sydney Schuster
Old Queens, N.Y., in Early Photographs: 261 Prints by Vincent F. Seyfried and William Asadorian
Forgotten Borough: Writers Come to Terms with Queens by Nicole Steinberg
Forgotten Queens by Kevin Walsh and the Greater Astoria Historical Society
Staten Island
Revolutionary Staten Island: From Colonial Calamities to Reluctant Rebels by Joseph Borelli
Staten Island in the Nineteenth Century: From Boomtown to Forgotten Borough by Joseph Borelli
Staten Island: The Other Cradle of Aviation by Ed Drury
The Forgotten Borough: Staten Island and the Subway by Kenneth M. Gold
Our Staten Island by Janet Medoro
That Ever Loyal Island: Staten Island and the American Revolution by Philip Papas
Murder and Mayhem on Staten Island by Patricia M. Salmon
Sailors’ Snug Harbor, 1801-1976 by Barnett Shepherd
Tottenville: The Town the Oyster Built: A Staten Island Community, Its People, Industry and Architecture by Barnett Shepherd
Staten Island: A Walk Down Memory Lane by John Louis Sublett
Staten Island Folklore by John Louis Sublett
Staten Island Town by Town by John Louis Sublett
Manhattan Neighborhood Histories
Devil’s Mile: The Rich, Gritty History of the Bowery by Alice Sparberg Alexiou
The Five Points: The Nineteenth-Century New York City Neighborhood by Tyler Anbinder
East Harlem Remembered: Oral Histories of Community and Diversity by Christopher Bell
Black Women of the Harlem Renaissance Era, edited by Lean’tin L. Bracks and Jessie Carney Smith
Talkin’ Greenwich Village: The Heady Rise and Slow Fall of America’s Bohemian Music Capital by David Browne
Gangsters of Harlem: The Gritty Underworld of New York’s Most Famous Neighborhood by Ron Chepesiul
New York City Chinatown Chinese: Narratives of a Village and Community Volume I by Jean Lau Chin
New York City Chinatown Chinese: Narratives of a Village and Community Volume II by Jean Lau Chin
The Westies: Inside New York’s Irish Mob by T.J. English
A Guide to Gangsters, Murderers and Weirdos of New York City’s Lower East Side by Eric Ferrara and Rob Hollander
Lower East Side Oral Histories by Eric Ferrara
The Bowery: A History of Grit, Graft and Grandeur by Eric Ferrara
The Bowery: The Strange History of New York’s Oldest Street by Stephen Paul DeVillo
Harlem: The Four Hundred Year History from Dutch Village to Capital of Black America by Jonathan Gill
The Chinatown Trunk Mystery: Murder, Miscegenation, and Other Dangerous Encounters in Turn-of-the-Century New York City by Mary Ting Yi Lui
Race and Real Estate: Conflict and Cooperation in Harlem, 1890-1920 by Kevin McGruder
Memories of Growing Up in Little Italy by Gus Petruzzelli
Tong Wars: The Untold Story of Vice, Money, and Murder in New York’s Chinatown by Scott D. Seligman
The Lofts of SoHo: Gentrification, Art, and Industry in New York, 1950–1980 by Aaron Shkuda
The House on Henry Street: The Enduring Life of a Lower East Side Settlement by Ellen M. Snyder-Grenier
Hell’s Kitchen and the Battle for Urban Space: Class Struggle and Progressive Reform in New York City, 1894-1914 by Joseph J. Varga
Archaeology
Tales of Gotham, Historical Archaeology, Ethnohistory and Microhistory of New York City by Meta F. Janowitz and Diane Dallal
Archaeological Ambassadors: A History of Archaeological Gifts in New York City by Elizabeth R. Macaulay
Buried Beneath the City: An Archaeological History of New York by Nan A. Rothschild, Amanda Sutphin, H. Arthur Bankoff, and Jessica Striebel MacLean
Architecture
Wright and New York: The Making of America’s Architect by Anthony Alofsin
Luxury Apartment Houses of Manhattan: An Illustrated History by Andrew Alpern
New York’s Fabulous Luxury Apartments: With Original Floor Plans from the Dakota, River House, Olympic Tower and Other Great Buildings by Andrew Alpern
Posh Portals: The Entrances to New York’s Grandest Apartment Buildings by Andrew Alpern
The Dakota: A History of the World’s Best-Known Apartment Building by Andrew Alpern and Kenneth G. Grant
Skyscraper: The Politics and Power of Building New York City in the Twentieth Century by Benjamin Flowers
Five Hundred Buildings of New York by Bill Harris and Jorg Brockmann
Guide to Contemporary New York City Architecture by John Hill
Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan by Rem Koolhaas
The Architecture of New York City: Histories and Views of Important Structures, Sites and Symbols by Donald Martin Reynolds
Seeking New York: The Stories Behind the Historic Architecture of Manhattan–One Building at a Time by Tom Miller
New York Art Deco: A Guide to Gotham’s Jazz Age Architecture by Anthony W. Robins
New York 1880: Architecture and Urbanism in the Gilded Age by Robert A.M. Stern, Thomas Mellins and David Fishman
New York 2000: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Bicentennial and the Millennium by Robert A. M. Stern, David Fishman, and Jacob Tilove
New York 1960: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Second World War and the Bicentennial by Robert A.M. Stern and David Fishman
New York 1900: Metropolitan Architecture and Urbanism 1890-1915 by Robert A.M. Stern, Gregory Gilmartin, and John Massengale
New York 1930: Architecture and Urbanism Between the Two World Wars by Robert A.M. Stern, Gregory Gilmartin, and Thomas Mellins
Rosario Candela & The New York Apartment: 1927-1937 The Architecture of the Age by David Netto, Paul Goldberger, and Peter Pennoyer
The AIA Guide to New York City by Norval White and Elliot Willensky
Art
Iconoclasm in New York: Revolution to Reenactment by Wendy Bellion
CAVS, Just a Vandal from the Bronx: New York City Graffiti, 1980s–2010s by Paul Cavalieri
Loft Law: The Last of New York City’s Original Artist Lofts by Joshua Charow
I See a City: Todd Webb’s New York by Sean Corcoran and Daniel Okrent
NY City of Kings: A History of New York City Graffiti by Al Díaz, Eric Felisbret, and Mariah Fox
Andy Warhol’s New York City: Four Walks, Uptown to Downtown by Thomas Kiedrowski
The Many Pleasures: Found Art in New York City by Barton Lewis
Imagining New York City: Literature, Urbanism, and the Visual Arts, 1890-1940 by Christoph Lindner
Tattooing New York City: Style and Continuity in a Changing Art Form by Michael McCabe
Bill Cunningham: On the Street: Five Decades of Iconic Photography, The New York Times
Murals of New York City: The Best of New York’s Public Paintings from Bemelmans to Parrish by Glenn Palmer-Smith
Modernism for the Masses: Painters, Politics, and Public Murals in 1930s New York by Jody Patterson
The Slip: The New York City Street That Changed American Art Forever by Prudence Peiffer
Inventing Downtown: Artist-Run Galleries in New York City, 1952-1965 by Melissa Rachleff
Acts of Art in Greenwich Village, edited by Howard Singerman
Graffiti Kings: New York City Mass Transit Art of the 1970s by Jack Stewart
The Twilight of Bohemia: Westbeth and the Last Artists of New York by Peter Trachtenberg
Art Hiding in New York: An Illustrated Guide to the City’s Secret Masterpieces by Lori Zimmer and Maria Krasinski
Amusement Parks
The Light of Luna Park by Addison Armstrong
Coney Island: Lost and Found by Charles Denson
Lost Amusement Parks of New York City: Beyond Coney Island by Wesley Gottlock and Barbara Gottlock
The Lost Tribe of Coney Island: Headhunters, Luna Park, and the Man who Pulled Off the Spectacle of the Century by Claire Prentice
Lost Amusement Parks: of Staten Island by John Louis Sublett
Bridges and Tunnels
The Magnificent Bridges Of New York City by Dave Frieder
Crossing Under the Hudson: The Story of the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels by Angus Gillespie
The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge by David McCullough
The Bridges of New York by Sharon Reier
The George Washington Bridge: Poetry in Steel by Michael Rockland
Bridges of New York City by Cara A. Sutherland
The Bridge: The Building of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge by Gay Talese
Silent Builder: Emily Warren Roebling and the Brooklyn Bridge by Marilyn E Weigold
Cemeteries
Woodlawn Remembers: Cemetery of American History by Edward F. Bergman
Silent Cities New York: Hidden Histories of the Region’s Cemeteries by Jessica Ferri
The African Burial Ground in New York City: Memory, Spirituality, and Space by Andrea E. Frohne
The Graveyard Shift: A Family Historian’s Guide to New York City Cemeteries by Carolee Inskeep
Stories in Stone: New York: A Field Guide to New York City Area Cemeteries & Their Residents by Doug Keister
Gardens of Stone: The Cemeteries of New York City from Colonial Times to the Present by Alexandra Kathryn Mosca
Baseball Legends of Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery by Peter J. Nash
Dead Queens: The Cemeteries of New York City’s Largest Borough by Richard Panchyk
Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery: New York’s Buried Treasure by Jeffrey I. Richman
Final Camping Ground: Civil War Veterans at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery by Jeffrey I. Richman
City Parks
Central Park Trees and Landscapes: A Guide to New York City’s Masterpiece by Edward Sibley Barnard and Neil Calvanese
Prospect Park: Olmsted and Vaux’s Brooklyn Masterpiece by David P. Colley and Elizabeth Keegin Colley
High Line: The Inside Story of New York City’s Park in the Sky by Joshua David and Robert Hammond
The Statues of Central Park: A Tribute to New York City’s Most Famous Park and Its Monuments by June Eding
It Happened on Washington Square by Emily Kies Folpe
Central Park / Prospect Park: A New Perspective by M.M. Graff
Drawing a Circle in the Square: Street Performing in New York’s Washington Square Park by Sally Harrison-Pepper
Rethinking Urban Parks: Public Space and Cultural Diversity by Setha Low, Dana Taplin, and Suzanne Scheld
Learning from Bryant Park: Revitalizing Cities, Towns, and Public Spaces by Andrew M. Manshel
Before Central Park by Sara Cedar Miller
New York Green: Discovering the City’s Most Treasured Parks and Gardens by Ngoc Minh Ngo
The Park and the People: A History of Central Park by Roy Rosenzweig and Elizabeth Blackmar
Birds of Central Park by Cal Vornberger and Marie Winn
Environmental and Ecological History
New York City Trees by Edward Sibley Barnard
Taking Our Water for the City: The Archaeology of New York City’s Watershed Communities by April M. Beisaw
Urban Ornithology: 150 Years of Birds in New York City by P. A. Buckley, Walter Sedwitz, William J. Norse, and John Kieran
Field Guide to the Natural World of New York City by Leslie Day
Field Guide to the Street Trees of New York City by Leslie Day
Field Guide to the Neighborhood Birds of New York City by Leslie Day and Don Riepe
Honeybee Hotel: The Waldorf Astoria’s Rooftop Garden and the Heart of NYC by Leslie Day
Hidden Waters of New York City: A History and Guide to 101 Forgotten Lakes, Ponds, Creeks, and Streams in the Five Boroughs by Sergey Kadinsky
The Bronx River: An Environmental & Social History by Maarten de Kadt
Water for Gotham: A History by Gerard T. Koeppel
Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City by Eric Sanderson
Nineteen Reservoirs: On Their Creation and the Promise of Water for New York City by Lucy Sante
Empire of Water: An Environmental and Political History of the New York City Water Supply by David Soll
Gotham Unbound: The Ecological History of Greater New York by Ted Steinberg
Ethnic and Religious Groups in the City
Plentiful Country: The Great Potato Famine and the Making of Irish New York by Tyler Anbinder
Neighbors in Conflict: The Irish, Germans, Jews, and Italians of New York City, 1929-1941 by Ronald H. Bayor
City of Islands: Caribbean Intellectuals in New York by Tammy L. Brown
Sewing Women: Immigrants and the New York City Garment Industry by Margaret Chin
Who are the Cantonese Chinese?: New York City Chinatown during the 1940s-1960s by Dr. Jean Lau Chin and Daniel Lee
The Italian American Table: Food, Family, and Community in New York City by Simone Cinotto
Immigrant Women in the Land of Dollars: Life and Culture on the Lower East Side 1890-1925 by Elizabeth Ewen
Beer and Revolution: The German Anarchist Movement in New York City, 1880-1914 by Tom Goyens
The Polish Immigrant in New York City, 1865-1914 by Anne M. Gurnack
Racial Migrations: New York City and the Revolutionary Politics of the Spanish Caribbean by Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof
Distant Islands: The Japanese American Community in New York City, 1876-1930s by Daniel H. Inouye and David Reimers
A Community of Many Worlds: Arab Americans in New York City by Philip Kayal
The Golden Door: Italian and Jewish Immigrant Mobility in New York City 1880-1915 by Thomas Kessner
Becoming American, Being Indian: An Immigrant Community in New York City by Madhulika S. Khandelwal
Cultures of Opposition: Jewish Immigrant Workers, New York City, 1881-1905 by Hadassa Kosak
Building a Latino Civil Rights Movement: Puerto Ricans, African Americans, and the Pursuit of Racial Justice in New York City by Sonia Song-Ha Lee
Organizing Crime in Chinatown: Race and Racketeering in New York City, 1890-1910 by Jeffrey Scott McIllwain
In Their Own Image: New York Jews in Jazz Age Popular Culture by Ted Merwin
The Korean American Dream: Immigrants and Small Business in New York City by Kyeyoung Park
Unsettled: Cambodian Refugees in the New York City Hyperghetto by Eric Tang
Puerto Rican Citizen: History and Political Identity in Twentieth-Century New York City by Lorrin Thomas
Surviving the City: The Italian and Chinese Immigrant Experiences in New York City, 1890-1970 by Xinyang Wang
The Great Disappearing Act: Germans in New York City, 1880-1930 by Christina A. Ziegler-McPherson
Fashion
American Look: Fashion and the Image of Women in 1930’s and 1940’s New York by Rebecca Arnold
Little Book of New York Style: The Fashion History of the Iconic City by Kristen Bateman
Watching New York: Street Style A to Z by Johnny Cirillo
New York: Through a Fashion Eye by Megan Hess
Empresses of Seventh Avenue: World War II, New York City, and the Birth of American Fashion by Nancy MacDonell
When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion by Julie Satow
Worn in New York: 68 Sartorial Memoirs of the City by Emily Spivack
Filmmaking and Movies
The (Moving) Pictures Generation: The Cinematic Impulse in Downtown New York Art and Film by V. Dika
“Keep ’Em in the East”: Kazan, Kubrick, and the Postwar New York Film Renaissance by Richard Koszarski
Reel Freedom: Black Film Culture in Early Twentieth-Century New York City by Alyssa Lopez
City That Never Sleeps: New York and the Filmic Imagination, edited by Murray Pomerance
Fear City Cinema: The Dark Side of New York in Film, 1965-1995 by Roger A. Salerno
Scenes from the City: Filmmaking in New York by James Sanders
Seeing Symphonically: Avant-Garde Film, Urban Planning, and the Utopian Image of New York by Erica Stein
Hospitals and Public Health
Fighting For Our Lives: New York’s AIDS Community and the Politics of Disease by Susan M. Chambré
Epidemic City: The Politics of Public Health in New York by James Colgrove
Nursing with a Message: Public Health Demonstration Projects in New York City by Patricia D’Antonio
Caribeños at the Table: How Migration, Health, and Race Intersect in New York City by Melissa Fuster
Quarantine!: East European Jewish Immigrants and the New York City Epidemics of 1892 by Howard Markel
Who Shall Take Care of Our Sick?: Roman Catholic Sisters and the Development of Catholic Hospitals in New York City by Bernadette McCauley
No One Was Turned Away: The Role of Public Hospitals in New York City since 1900 by Sandra Opdycke
Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America’s Most Storied Hospital by David M. Oshinsky
Hives of Sickness: Public Health and Epidemics in New York City by David Rosner
Islands of New York City
American Passage: The History of Ellis Island by Vincent J. Cannato
Forgotten Ellis Island: The Extraordinary Story of America’s Immigrant Hospital by Lorie Conway
Hart Island: Discovery of an Unknown Territory by Melinda Hunt and Joel Sternfeld
New York City’s Hart Island: A Cemetery of Strangers by Michael T. Keene
North Brother Island: The Last Unknown Place in New York City by Randall Mason and Robert Sullivan
City Island and Orchard Beach by Catherine Scott
The Other Islands of New York City: A History and Guide by Sharon Seitz and Stuart Miller
LGBTQIA+ History
Gay Gotham: Art and Underground Culture in New York by Donald Albrecht
Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution by David Carter
Stonewall: The Definitive Story of the LGBT Rights Uprising that Changed America by Martin B. Duberman
A Queer New York: Geographies of Lesbians, Dykes, and Queers by Jen Jack Gieseking
When Brooklyn Was Queer: A History by Hugh Ryan
The Stonewall Riots: A Documentary History, edited by Mark Stein
Music and Nightlife
The Come Up: An Oral History of the Rise of Hip-Hop by Jonathan Abrams
No Sleep: NYC Nightlife Flyers 1988-1999 by DJ Stretch Armstrong and Evan Auerbach
Bartschland: Tales of New York City Nightlife by Susanne Bartsch
New York Rock: From the Rise of The Velvet Underground to the Fall of CBGB by Steven Blush
Nineteen+: Conversations with Jazz Musicians, New York City, 1964-1965 by Garth W. Caylor Jr.
Everybody’s Doin’ It: Sex, Music, and Dance in New York, 1840-1917 by Dale Cockrell
Born in the Bronx: A Visual Record of the Early Days of Hip Hop by Joe Conzo
“You Better Work!” Underground Dance Music in New York City by Kai Fikentscher
Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011 by Lizzy Goodman
Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever by Will Hermes
Blowin’ the Blues Away: Performance and Meaning on the New York Jazz Scene by Travis A. A. Jackson
Turn Up The Bass: An In-Depth Analysis of Dance Music in New York City’s Underground Clubs 1969-1987 by Bjorn Klein
Punk Avenue: Inside the New York City Underground, 1972-1982 by Phil Marcade
From Broadway to The Bronx: New York City’s History through Song by Sabrina Mittermeier and Veronika Keller
Folk City: New York and the American Folk Music Revival by Stephen Petrus and Ronald D. Cohen
High on Rebellion: Inside the Underground at Max’s Kansas City by Yvonne Sewall-Ruskin
New York City Blues: Postwar Portraits from Harlem to the Village and Beyond by Larry Simon
The City of Hip-Hop: New York City, The Bronx, and a Peace Meeting by Rob Swift
Railroads, Rapid Transit, and Subways
New York’s Pennsylvania Stations by Hilary Ballon
One-Track Mind: Drawing the New York Subway, edited by Ezra Bookstein and Jeremy Workman
A Century of Subways: Celebrating 100 Years of New York’s Underground Railways by Brian J. Cudahy
Rails Under the Mighty Hudson: The Story of the Hudson Tubes, the Pennsylvania Tunnels, and Manhattan Transfer by Brian J. Cudahy
The Malbone Street Wreck by Brian J. Cudahy
Under the Sidewalks of New York: The Story of the Greatest Subway System in the World by Brian J. Cudahy
The Late, Great Pennsylvania Station by Lorraine B. Diehl
Subways: The Tracks That Built New York City by Lorraine B. Diehl
The Subway and the City: Celebrating a Century by Stan Fischler with John Henderson
Long Island Rail Road by Stan Fischler with Andrew J. Sparberg
722 Miles: The Building of the Subways and How They Transformed New York by Clifton Hood
Conquering Gotham: Building Penn Station and Its Tunnels by Jill Jonnes
Subway: The Curiosities, Secrets, and Unofficial History of the New York City Transit System by John E. Morris
The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry That Built America’s First Subway by Doug Most
The City Beneath Us: Building the New York Subway by the New York City Transit Museum and Vivian Heller
Subway Style: 100 Years of Architecture & Design in the New York City Subway by the New York Transit Museum, Anthony W Robins, and Andrew Garn
The Routes Not Taken: A Trip Through New York City’s Unbuilt Subway System by Joseph B. Raskin
Grand Central: How a Train Station Transformed America by Sam Roberts
Grand Central’s Engineer: William J. Wilgus and the Planning of Modern Manhattan by Kurt C. Schlichting
Helvetica and the New York City Subway System by Paul Shaw
From a Nickel to a Token: The Journey from Board of Transportation to MTA by Andrew J. Sparberg
Boss of the Grips: The Life of James H. Williams and the Red Caps of Grand Central Terminal by Eric K. Washington
Restaurants, City Cuisine, and Cookbooks
The Waldorf Astoria Bar Book by Frank Caiafa
Dining at Delmonico’s: The Story of America’s Oldest Restaurant by Judith Choate and James Canora
The NYC Kitchen Cookbook: 150 Recipes Inspired by the Specialty Food Shops, Spice Stores, and Markets of New York City by Tracey Ceurvels
The Veselka Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from the Landmark Restaurant in New York’s East Village by Tom Birchard and Natalie Danford
Katz’s: Autobiography of a Delicatessen by Jake Dell
Gastropolis: Food & New York City by Annie Hauck-Lawson and Jonathan Deutsch
City Harvest: 100 Recipes from Great New York Restaurants by Florence Fabricant
Russ & Daughters: Reflections and Recipes from the House That Herring Built by Mark Russ Federman
Pizza City: The Ultimate Guide to New York’s Favorite Food by Peter Genovese
The Automat: The History, Recipes, and Allure of Horn & Hardart’s by Marianne Hardart and Lorraine Diehl
The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell by Mark Kurlansky
The 2nd Ave Deli Cookbook: Recipes and Memories from Abe Lebewohl’s Legendary Kitchen by Sharon Lebewohl and Rena Bulkin
New York City Coffee: A Caffeinated History by Erin Meister
Mix Shake Stir: Recipes from Danny Meyer’s Acclaimed New York City Restaurants, compiled by Danny Meyer
Luchow’s German Cookbook: The Story And The Favorite Dishes Of America’s Most Famous German Restaurant by Jan Mitchell
Great Bars of New York City: 30 of Manhattan’s Favorite Storied Drinking Establishments by James and Karla Murray
Marvelous Manhattan: Stories of the Restaurants, Bars, and Shops That Make This City Special by Reggie Nadelson
EAT NYC: The Iconic Recipes that Feed the City by Yasmin Newman
How to Feed Friends and Influence People: The Carnegie Deli…A Giant Sandwich, a Little Deli, a Huge Success by Milton Parker and Allyn Freeman
Rao’s Cookbook: Over 100 Years of Italian Home Cooking by Frank Pellegrino
Elaine’s: The Rise of One of New York’s Most Legendary Restaurants from Those Who Were There by Amy Phillips Penn
Carmine’s Family-Style Cookbook: More Than 100 Classic Italian Dishes to Make at Home by Michael Ronis with Mary Goodbody
Food City: Four Centuries of Food-Making in New York by Joy Santlofer
Patsy’s Cookbook: Classic Italian Recipes from a New York City Landmark Restaurant by Salvatore Scognamillo
Savoring Gotham: A Food Lover’s Companion to New York City by Andrew F. Smith
The Nom Wah Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from 100 Years at New York City’s Iconic Dim Sum Restaurant by Wilson Tang and Joshua David Stein
The Delmonico Way: Sublime Entertaining and Legendary Recipes from the Restaurant That Made New York by Max Tucci
Zabar’s: A Family Story, with Recipes by Lori Zabar
97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement by Jane Ziegelman
Sports
Brooklyn Bounce: The Rise of the Brooklyn Nets by Jake Appleman
When the Garden Was Eden: Clyde, the Captain, Dollar Bill, and the Glory Days of the New York Knicks by Harvey Araton
The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City by Kevin Baker
Giants Among Men: How Robustelli, Huff, Gifford, and the Giants Made New York a Football Town and Changed the NFL by Jack Cavanaugh
Fun City: John Lindsay, Joe Namath, and How Sports Saved New York in the 1960s by Sean Deveney
New York City Baseball: The Golden Age, 1947–1957 by Harvey Frommer
Blood in the Garden: The Flagrant History of the 1990s New York Knicks by Chris Herring
“Our Bums”: The Brooklyn Dodgers in History, Memory and Popular Culture by David Krell
The Greatest Ballpark Ever: Ebbets Field and the Story of the Brooklyn Dodgers by Bob McGee
After Many a Summer: The Passing of the Giants and Dodgers and a Golden Age in New York Baseball by Robert E. Murphy
City/Game: Basketball in New York by William C. Rhoden
Tales from the New York Rangers Locker Room: A Collection of the Greatest Rangers Stories Ever Told by Gilles Villemure and Mike Shalin
We Are the Giants!: The Oral History of the New York Giants by Richard Whittingham and Dave Buscema
Theater and Performance Art
Salsiology: Afro-Cuban Music and the Evolution of Salsa in N.Y. City by Vernon W. Boggs
Stepping Left: Dance and Politics in New York City, 1928–1942 by Ellen Graff
The City and the Theatre: The History of New York Playhouses: a 250 Year Journey from Bowling Green to Times Square by Mary Henderson
Music in German Immigrant Theater: New York City, 1840-1940 by John Koegel
It Happened at the Palace: A History of New York’s Iconic Broadway Theater by Stewart F. Lane
Brooklyn Takes the Stage: Nineteenth-Century Theater in the City of Churches by Samuel L. Leiter
Wilde Times: Patricia Wilde, George Balanchine, and the Rise of New York City Ballet by Joel Lobenthal
Repertory Movie Theaters of New York City: Havens for Revivals, Indies and the Avant-Garde, 1960-1994 by Ben Davis
Drop Dead: Performance in Crisis, 1970s New York by Hillary Miller
Theatres of Value: Buying and Selling Shakespeare in Nineteenth-Century New York City by Danielle Rosvally
New York City and the Hollywood Musical: Dancing in the Streets by Martha Shearer
Mad Scenes and Exit Arias: The Death of the New York City Opera and the Future of Opera by Heidi Waleson
Urbanism and Public Spaces
In the Midst of Things: The Social Lives of Objects in the Public Spaces of New York City by Mike Owen Benediktsson
Privately Owned Public Space: The New York City Experience by Jerold S. Kayden
Who Cleans the Park?: Public Work and Urban Governance in New York City by John Krinsky and Maud Simonet
The Invention of Public Space: Designing for Inclusion in Lindsay’s New York by Mariana Mogilevich
Vanishing New York: How a Great City Lost Its Soul by Jeremiah Moss
Manhattan’s Public Spaces: Production, Revitalization, Commodification by Ana Morcillo Pallarés
A History of Housing in New York City by Richard Plunz
The Beach Beneath the Streets: Contesting New York City’s Public Spaces by Benjamin Heim Shepard and Gregory Smithsimon
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The photo of the New York Public Library at the top of this page is from Valentine’s Manual of the City of New York, New Series, 1916-1917, edited by Henry Collins Brown.