{"product_id":"the-gods-of-new-york-jonathan-mahler-9780525510635","title":"The Gods of New York: Egotists, Idealists, Opportunists, and the Transformation of a City: 1986-1989","description":"\u003cb\u003eA sweeping chronicle of four years in 1980s New York, a crucible that would transform the city and leave it more divided than ever--a rollicking, real-life \u003ci\u003eBonfire of the Vanities\u003c\/i\u003e featuring larger-than-life personalities of Donald Trump, Spike Lee, Ed Koch, Al Sharpton, Rudy Giuliani, and countless others\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eNew York City entered 1986 as a city reborn, with record profits on Wall Street sending waves of money splashing across Manhattan and bringing a once-bankrupt, reeling city back to life. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBut it also entered 1986 as a city divided. Nearly one-third of the city's Black and Hispanic residents were living below the federal poverty line. Thousands of New Yorkers were sleeping in the streets--and in many cases addicted to drugs, dying of AIDS, or suffering from mental illness. The manufacturing jobs that had once sustained a thriving middle class had vanished. Long-simmering racial tensions threatened to boil over. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOver the next four years, a singular confluence of events--involving a cast of outsized, unforgettable characters--would widen those divisions into chasms. Ed Koch. Donald Trump. Al Sharpton. The Central Park Five. Spike Lee. Rudy Giuliani. Howard Beach. Tawana Brawley. The Preppy Murder. Jimmy Breslin. \u003ci\u003eDo the Right Thing\u003c\/i\u003e, Wall Street, crack, the AIDS epidemic, and, of course, ready to pour gasoline on every fire--the tabloids. In \u003ci\u003eThe Gods of New York\u003c\/i\u003e, Jonathan Mahler tells the story of these convulsive, defining years. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Gods of New York \u003c\/i\u003eis an exuberant, kaleidoscopic, and deeply immersive portrait of a city in transformation, one whose long-held identity was suddenly up for grabs: Could it be both the great working-class city, lifting up immigrants from around the world \u003ci\u003eand\u003c\/i\u003e the money-soaked capital of global finance? Could it retain a civic culture--a common idea of what it meant to be a New Yorker--when the rich were building a city of their own and vast swaths of its citizens were losing faith in the very systems intended to protect them? New York City was one thing at the dawn of 1986; it would be something very different as 1989 came to a close. This book is the story of how that happened.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Jonathan Mahler\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 052551063X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780525510635\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Random House\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/12\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 432\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.25lbs","brand":"Jonathan Mahler","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46640956932351,"sku":"9780525510635","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_a30e1d55-6c56-4ac2-b346-0fd37f78d649.jpg?v=1740670941","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-gods-of-new-york-jonathan-mahler-9780525510635","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}