Table Of Contents:
INTRODUCTION XVII

WASHINGTON IRVING from A History of New York 1(7)

JAMES KIRKE PAULDING The Stranger at Home; or, a Tour in Broadway 8(8)

FRANCES TROLLOPE from Domestic Manners of the Americans 16(4)

FANNY KEMBLE from The Journal 20(10)

PHILIP HONE from The Diary 30(21)

CHARLES DICKENS from American Notes for General Circulation 51(14)

HENRY DAVID THOREAU Letters from Staten Island 65(9)

NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS from Open-Air Musings in the City 74(17)

EDGAR ALLAN POE from Doings of Gotham 91(16)

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER from Satanstoe 107(4)

MARGARET FULLER Our City Charities 111(8)

GEORGE G. FOSTER The Eating-Houses 119(8)

GRANT THORBURN from Life and Writings of Grant Thorburn 127(11)

WALT WHITMAN 138(15)

Crossing Brooklyn Ferry 138(7)

The Old Bowery 145(8)

HERMAN MELVILLE Bartleby, the Scrivener 153(38)

GEORGE TEMPLETON STRONG from The Diaries 191(50)

FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED Passages in the Life of an Unpractical Man 241(9)

ERNEST DUVERGIER DE HAURANNE from Eight Months in America 250(5)

FANNY FERN Tyrants of the Shop 255(2)

MARK TWAIN Personals 257(3)

JAMES D. MCCABE Impostors 260(8)

WONG CHIN FOO Experience of a Chinese Journalist 268(3)

JOSE MARTI New York Under the Snow 271(7)

WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS from A Hazard of New Fortunes 278(16)

JACOB RIIS The Down Town Back-Alleys 294(14)

STEPHEN CRANE 308(12)

Opium's Varied Dreams 308

Adventures of a Novelist 313

ABRAHAM CAHAN 320(7)

Drowned Their Sins 320

Summer Complaint: The Annual Strike 324

THEODORE DREISER 327(20)

Whence the Song 327(13)

A Vanished Seaside Resort 340(7)

GEORGE W. PLUNKITT AND WILLIAM L. RIORDAN 347(8)

Honest Graft and Dishonest Graft 347(3)

The Curse of Civil Service Reform 350(5)

MAXIM GORKY Boredom 355(14)

HENRY JAMES from The American Scene 369(13)

O. HENRY The Duel 382(5)

JAMES WELDON JOHNSON from The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man 387(9)

JAMES HUNEKER The Lungs 396(11)

SARA TEASDALE 407(3)

Gramercy Park 407(1)

In the Metropolitan Museum 407(1)

Coney Island 408(1)

Union Square 408(1)

Broadway 409(1)

DJUNA BARNES "Come Into the Roof Garden, Maud" 410(7)

EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY 417(2)

If I should learn 417(1)

Recuerdo 418(1)

WILLA CATHER Coming, Aphrodite! 419(40)

CLAUDE MCKAY 459(2)

The Tropics in New York 459(1)

The Harlem Dancer 460(1)

MARIANNE MOORE New York 461(2)

PAUL ROSENFELD from Port of New York 463(10)

EDMUND WILSON 473(6)

The Finale at the Follies 473(3)

Thoughts on Leaving New York for New Orleans 476(3)

VLADIMIR MAYAKOVSKY Brooklyn Bridge 479(6)

HART CRANE To Brooklyn Bridge 485(2)

STEPHEN GRAHAM Exterior Street 487(10)

AL SMITH from Up to Now 497(8)

HELEN KELLER I Go Adventuring 505(4)

PAUL MORAND from New York 509(9)

LINCOLN STEFFENS 518(20)

The Police 518(10)

Roosevelt and Reform 528(10)

DAWN POWELL from The Diaries 538(16)

LOUIS-FERDINAND CELINE from Journey to the End of the Night 554(10)

CHRISTOPHER MORLEY West End Avenue 564(5)

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD My Lost City 569(11)

EDITH WHARTON The Background 580(18)

THOMAS WOLFE Only the Dead Know Brooklyn 598(6)

DAMON RUNYON Sense of Humor 604(10)

HENRY MILLER from Black Spring 614(6)

CHARLES REZNIKOFF 620(6)

Millinery District 620(1)

from Autobiography: New York 621(1)

from By the Well of Living and Seeing 621(5)

A. J. LIEBLING Apology for Breathing 626(6)

LANGSTON HUGHES When the Negro Was In Vogue 632(8)

ELIZABETH BISHOP Letter to N.Y. 640(2)

JOHN MCNULTY 642(6)

Atheist Hit By Truck 642(2)

The Television Helps, But Not Very Much 644(4)

IRWIN SHAW Welcome to the City 648(13)

MARY MCCARTHY The Genial Host 661(19)

ZORA NEALE HURSTON Story in Harlem Slang 680(7)

RED SMITH As He Seemed to a Hick 687(3)

DAVID SCHUBERT It Is Sticky in the Subway 690(1)

WELDON KEES Aspects of Robinson 691(2)

E. B. WHITE Here Is New York 693(19)

BERNARD MALAMUD The Cost of Living 712(9)

ANZIA YEZIERSKA from Red Ribbon on a White Horse 721(10)

WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS Hell's Kitchen 731(13)

MALCOLM COWLEY The Long Furlough 744(5)

ALFRED KAZIN from A Walker in the City 749(6)

JOSEPH MITCHELL Up in the Old Hotel 756(25)

WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS from Junky 781(4)

BERNARDO VEGA from Memoirs of Bernardo Vega 785(18)

FRANK O'HARA 803(5)

A Step Away From Them 803(2)

The Day Lady Died 805(1)

Steps 806(2)

LOREN EISELEY from The Immense Journey 808(2)

ROBERT MOSES Fiorello H. LaGuardia 810(10)

JOHN CHEEVER Moving Out 820(6)

NED ROREM from The New York Diary 826(3)

JANE JACOBS from The Death and Life of Great American Cities 829(5)

JAMES MERRILL An Urban Convalescence 834(3)

EDWIN DENBY 837(6)

The Thirties 837(5)

The Climate 842(1)

AMIRI BARAKA (LEROI JONES) Minton's 843(3)

GEORGE OPPEN Tourist Eye 846(3)

JAMES BALDWIN from The Fire Next Time 849(8)

HARVEY SHAPIRO 857(2)

National Cold Storage Company 857(1)

47th Street 858(1)

GAY TALESE Panic in Brooklyn 859(10)

LOUIS AUCHINCLOSS The Landmarker 869(11)

MARIO PUZO from The Fortunate Pilgrim 880(18)

TOM WOLFE A Sunday Kind of Love 898(6)

JOAN DIDION Goodbye to All That 904(10)

ISAAC BASHEVIS SINGER The Cafeteria 914(17)

JIMMY CANNON Lou Stillman 931(3)

JAMES SCHUYLER 934(10)

February 934(1)

Dining Out with Doug and Frank 935(9)

ALLEN GINSBERG 944(5)

Mugging 944(4)

Fourth Floor, Dawn, Up All Night Writing Letters 948(1)

ELIZABETH HARDWICK from Sleepless Nights 949(11)

LEWIS MUMFORD from Sketches from Life 960(6)

KATE SIMON The Movies and Other Schools 966(10)

EDWARD RIVERA from Family Installments 976(14)

JOYCE JOHNSON from Minor Characters 990(5)

LIONEL ABEL from The Intellectual Follies 995(11)

E.L. DOCTOROW from World's Fair 1006(7)

RALPH ELLISON New York, 1936 1013(9)

OSCAR HIJUELOS from The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love 1022(10)

VIVIAN GORNICK from Approaching Eye Level 1032