{"product_id":"the-gods-of-new-york-jonathan-mahler-9780525510659","title":"The Gods of New York: Egotists, Idealists, Opportunists, and the Birth of the Modern City: 1986-1990","description":"\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW \u003c\/i\u003eEDITORS' CHOICE - A sweeping chronicle of four tumultuous years in 1980s New York that changed the city forever--and anticipated the forces that would soon divide the nation--from the bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eLadies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A rip-roaring, sweeping, essential work of history . . . a deeply reported and brilliantly observed account of how the modern city was born and why all of us continue to live with the results.\"--Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of \u003ci\u003eKing: A Life\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eA BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review, The Economist, The New Yorker, Town \u0026amp; Country\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eNew York entered 1986 as a city reborn. Record profits on Wall Street sent waves of money splashing across Manhattan, bringing a battered city roaring back to life. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBut it also entered 1986 as a city whose foundation was beginning to crack. Thousands of New Yorkers were sleeping in the streets, addicted to drugs, dying of AIDS, or suffering from mental illnesses. Nearly one-third of the city's Black and Hispanic residents were living below the federal poverty line. Long-simmering racial tensions threatened to boil over. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe events of the next four years would split the city open. Howard Beach. Black Monday. Tawana Brawley. The crack epidemic. The birth of ACT UP. The Central Park jogger. The release of \u003ci\u003eDo the Right Thing\u003c\/i\u003e. And a cast of outsized characters--Ed Koch, Donald Trump, Al Sharpton, Spike Lee, Rudy Giuliani, Larry Kramer--would compete to shape the city's future while building their own mythologies. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Gods of New York \u003c\/i\u003eis a kaleidoscopic and deeply immersive portrait of a city whose identity was suddenly up for grabs: Could it be both the great working-class city that lifted 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 systems meant 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 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 0525510656\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780525510659\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Random House Trade\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/08\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 464\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.81lbs","brand":"Jonathan Mahler","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48623670919423,"sku":"9780525510659","price":22.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-gods-of-new-york-jonathan-mahler-9780525510659","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}