New York Stories: The Best of the City Section of the New York Times » (1st Edition)

Constance Rosenblum, the longtime editor of the New York Times’ City section and former editor of the newspaper’s Arts & Leisure section, is the author of Gold Digger: The Outrageous Life and Times of Peggy Hopkins Joyce and editor of New York Stories: The Best of the City Section of the New York Times, also available from NYU Press.

One publication cultivating many of New York City's greatest stories is the City section in The New York Times.

Publishers Weekly

The City section of the Sunday edition of the New York Times features vivid accounts of life, past and present, in the five boroughs. Rosenblum, who edits the City section, has collected 40 representative pieces that showcase the ups and downs of life in a metropolis that still exerts a gravitational pull on those seeking their fortune. Many of the essays are by well-known authors, such as Jan Morris, Phillip Lopate and Vivian Gornick, but others, equally winning, are by emerging writers. All of the pieces are engrossing and share a painstaking attention to craft. Mel Gussow dramatically evokes the day in 1970 when the Greenwich Village townhouse next door to him, occupied by members of the radical Weather Underground, was blown apart in an accidental detonation in their basement bomb factory. On a lighter note, Tara Bahrampour recounts the paradigmatic New York experience: searching for an affordable apartment. Field Maloney and Jill Eisenstadt each relate the glory days of Queens's Rockaway Beach as a summer resort, its sad decline and enduring allure. This is both an excellent addition to New York history and a pleasure for casual browsing. B&w photos. (May) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.