"Here is New York" by E.B. White and Roger Angell

Boris Karr: ...and now I know why. Very slight volume, but captures NYC then and even today. The prose is eerily magical. So glad I finally read this legendary essay!

United States on Dec 10, 2023

Kathy BellKathy Bell: Written in 1948, this little book brought me back to NYC when I moved there in 1986. So many of the landmarks and scenery remain to this day that the author describes as one would an ex lover - exacerbating and intoxicating. If you have ever loved New York, you owe it to yourself to read this book.

United States on Sep 14, 2023

John Bromley: Please see above nothing to add

United Kingdom on Jan 14, 2022

Amazon Customer: I love new york so it's a nice essai to read. In 20 minutes or so you're done.

Canada on Sep 22, 2020

Tammy Vogel: Absolutely charming and still relevant today. What makes New York City captivating is the history and people rolled into the contradiction of grit and enchantment.

Canada on Jun 04, 2020

William Edward Schenck: E.B. White was a very accomplished writer. His books and essays are some the best literature we have. His short book "Here Is New York" provides a good example of his gift as a generator of beautiful prose. He wrote this piece in 1948 and as the writer of the introduction, Roger Angell states White confronts the task with the knowledge that what he writes at his time will not endure because the city is ever changing metropolis. White likes to write with a heavy use of metaphor and he constantly anthropomorphizing what the city of New York has to offer us. He speaks of three basic types of individuals who spend their day in the city: the commuter who never really gets to know the city, the native individual who takes the city for granted and the ones who move in later in life who are in love with the city and enthralled with it's bill of fare. I enjoyed the book. It was fascinating to hear him speak of the boroughs that have evolved with the city. If he were to write the essay today I think he would be dismayed by the further disappearance of the places that he cherished and yet he would continue to express the belief that it is the greatest city in the world.

United States on Jun 16, 2016

jackreed: a very short but very sweet journey through New York. Dated but not so much so that you can't see the aspects of NYC culture that remain to this very day.

United Kingdom on Nov 08, 2015

Christopher Gaule: A short homily to New York it puts into words all that you can imagine New York to be. I cant wait to visit and see for myself although I hope I don't end up as one of the tourists he speaks of in the book. If you have been there you'll love it, its unbiased, if you have not you'll love it, its full of hopes and dreams.

United Kingdom on Dec 08, 2012

David Gaston: A classic from the 1940's, "Here is New York," is well thought and well penned. What was fundamentally true about New York City yesterday, is still true today and will likely be true again in 2040 when this little novella turns 100. Since any town is really a reflection of it's people, White describes NY as three towns made up of three distinct groups. The first elite circle is the establishment, it includes those select families that keep guard of the famous (and infamous) institutions of New York City. The second set represent the public hordes of daily commuters, without this faceless, massive mobile workforce the city would screech to a halt. Finally, White describes the magical third group, right-off-the-boat immigrants both domestic and foreign. Men and women arriving with nothing more then their robust hearts and minds. White romantically and justifiably concludes that without this third injection of new blood, new ideas, and new dreams, New York City would never be as colorful and successful as it is. He wraps up his charming tale by dicing New York City up from another angle. He describes the 100's of small micro towns within a town. Each 2 block set is truly a self...

United States on Dec 14, 2009

krebsman: E.B. White, the author of the classic THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE, shows off that style brilliantly in this highly literate, amusing, and passionate memoir of New York City in 1948. Although the surface details of New York have changed in sixty years, the spirit remains the same, and that's what White is really writing about. White is also disturbingly prophetic when he writes, "The subtlest change in New York is something people don't speak much about but that is in everyone's mind. The city, for the first time in its long history, is destructible. A single flight of planes no bigger than a wedge of geese can quickly end this island fantasy, burn the towers, crumble the bridges, turn the underground passages into lethal chambers, cremate the millions." I doubt that a book such as this could be written today. Some editor would "dumb it down" and politically correct it. But how refreshing it is to read such wonderful prose. This is really a 56-page essay between hard covers, rather than a "book." As such, it's a very easy and exhilarating reading experience and would make a wonderful gift for anyone who loves New York or would like to visit it someday. Five stars, absolutely.

United States on Nov 05, 2008