Rural County, Urban Borough: A History of Queens (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781978837812)

Once wetlands, Queens today is a crowded cityscape of dense urban neighborhoods and suburban sprawl. The largest of New York City's five boroughs by area, it has a larger population than every American city except Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City itself. It possesses the most culturally, ethnically, linguistically, and religiously diverse population in the United States and possibly the world. This is the story of Queens, "the world's borough," and how it transformed, in less than one hundred years, from an agricultural hinterland to a vital urban corridor.

Rural County, Urban Borough is a history of place, charting the rapid transformation of the Queens landscape. It identifies what drove the borough's development, from public infrastructure, architecture, and transportation to technological innovation and urban planning. New York historian Jeffrey A. Kroessler takes us inside the backrooms and boardrooms where local powerbrokers shaped the borough's future, chronicling how its relationship with the city has evolved. He also shows the steps Queens residents from all backgrounds took to care for their neighborhoods and build their communities. Richly illustrated, this book underscores why Queens is integral to New York City and the wider world and reveals how, in its evolution, we see the whole arc of American urban history.


Author: Jeffrey A. Kroessler
ISBN-10: 197883781X
ISBN-13: 9781978837812
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Language: English
Published: 06/10/2025
Pages: 382
Format: Hardcover