New York Stories: The Best of the City Section of the "New York Times"

"There are eight million stories in the Naked City." This famous line from the 1948 film The Naked City has become an emblem of New York City itself. One publication cultivating many of New York City's greatest stories is the City section in The New York Times. Each Sunday, this section of The New York Times, distributed only in papers in the five boroughs, captivates readers with tales of people and places that make the city unique. Featuring a cast of stellar writers - Phillip Lopate, Vivian Gornick, Thomas Beller and Laura Shaine Cunningham, among others - New York Stories brings some of the best essays from the City section to readers around the country. New Yorkers can learn something new about their city, while other readers will enjoy the flavor of the Big Apple. New York Stories profiles people like sixteen-year-old Barbara Ott, who surfs the waters off Rock-away in Queens, and Sonny Payne, the beloved panhandler of the F train. Other essays explore memorable places in the city, from the Greenwich Village townhouse blown up by radical activists in the 1970s to a basketball court that serves as the heart of its Downtown neighborhood. The forty essays collected in New York Stories reflect an intimate understanding of the city, one that goes beyond the headlines. The result is a passionate, well-written portrait of a legendary and ever-evolving place.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction Part I A Sense of PlacePart II Moods and MoresPart III New YorkersPart IV City LoreAbout the Contributors About the Editor

About the Author :
Constance Rosenblum is editor of the City section of The New York Times. Previously, she was editor of the Arts and Leisure section, and culture editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer. She is the author of Gold Digger: The Outrageous Life and Times of Peggy Hopkins Joyce. She lives in New York City.

Review :
"In New York Stories, Constance Rosenbium and The New York Times have assembled a plenty's horn of stories and essays, each chasing a subject too fast, too sly and too big to catch. Thus, as with city life itself, the art is in the pursuit. These rich and splendid pieces not only give us the five senses of New York, but also the heart - strangely tender, funny, dark and out of reach." - Roger Rosenblatt; "These essays, which range from soulful reflection to sidewalk reportage, are shot through with noun phrases - subway screech, tenement kitchen, Bronx bodega, skyscraper window washer, Second Avenue bus ride - that both render New York's famous mayhem and at the same time tame it into intimacy." - Russell Shorto, author of The Island at the Center of the World"