New York: An Illustrated History, Hardcover

A revised and expanded edition of the landmark, ravishing history of New York City--the companion volume to the acclaimed PBS series--that begins in 1624 and brings its 400-year-long story up to the current moment.

This edition of the biography of this great and ever-evolving city includes two new chapters that deliver a sweeping portrait of New York since September 11, 2001. Here is the city at the dawn of the 21st century, having emerged from decades of decline to assert its place at the very center of a new globalized culture. Yet, here too is a city challenged--indeed, sometimes shaken to its core--by a series of profound crises: the aftermath of 9/11, the continual struggle with racial injustice, the financial crisis of 2008, the devastation of Superstorm Sandy, the still unfolding cataclysm of the COVID-19 pandemic. Also brought up to date in the new chapters is the lively portrait of the city's vibrant street life and culture: the birth of hip-hop in the South Bronx, Christo and Jeanne-Claude's Gates in Central Park, the celebrated Broadway musicals and songs, the explosion in location filmmaking, the pivotal rise of the tech industry, and so much more.

The history of this city--especially in the tumultuous and transformative two decades covered by the new chapters--is an epic story of rebirth and growth, of dramatic physical and economic change and exploding cultural energy, intertwined with staggering episodes of catastrophe and challenge. It is the story of an incomparable place, told in an incomparable book.

About author(s):RIC BURNS is a documentary filmmaker best known for directing the award-winning PBS series New York, which he wrote with James Sanders. He is also known for his work on The Civil War, which he produced with his brother, Ken. Since 1990, he has directed nearly fifty hours of prime-time programming for PBS, and the films have received seven Emmy Awards, three Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, and two Peabody Awards, among others.

JAMES SANDERS is an architect, author, and filmmaker, who, with Ric Burns, wrote the acclaimed eight-part PBS series New York. His landmark study of the city and film, Celluloid Skyline: New York and the Movies, won a Theatre Library Association Award. He has written for The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Vanity Fair, and has also received a Guggenheim Fellowship and an Emmy Award.

LISA ADES is a documentary filmmaker who has produced and directed films for PBS and cable television for thirty years. Her acclaimed film Miss America premiered at the Sundance Film Festival before its broadcast on PBS in 2002. She has also produced award-winning films with Ric Burns, including the first five episodes of New York.