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Article: Gotham.
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- October 12, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THESE two books, which together run almost a million words, tell a lot about New York's past, and about us.
Edwin Burrows and Mike Wallace survey the story of the city from the arrival of the Dutch in the early 1600s to the union of the present five boroughs in 1898. This works out to more than three pages per year, and though they are brisk writers, the back of their narrative is broken by their maniacal thoroughness. But as a lively work of reference, Gotham is splendid.
The parade of characters is like rush hour: Captain Kidd, Alexander Hamilton, Robert Fulton, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Herman Melville, Horatio Alger, Buffalo Bill, Stanford White. There is an ...