J
Jonathan Mahler
Jonathan Mahler writes non-fiction focused on urban history and social culture. He is the author of The Gods of New York Egotists, Idealists, Opportunists, and the Birth of the Modern City: 1986-1990.
The Gods of New York
Synopsis
The Gods of New York is Jonathan Mahler's narrative history of New York City between 1986 and 1990, four tumultuous years he frames as the birth of the modern city. Mahler, a longtime New York Times Magazine staff writer and author of Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning, argues that this brief window set patterns of money, media, and division that still define American life.
The book braids together the fortunes of a cast of egotists, idealists, and opportunists, from Ed Koch and Donald Trump to Al Sharpton, Spike Lee, Rudy Giuliani, and Larry Kramer, as record Wall Street profits collided with homelessness, the crack epidemic, the AIDS crisis, and racial violence. Set pieces include Howard Beach, Black Monday, Tawana Brawley, the founding of ACT UP, and the Central Park jogger case.
Named a best book of the year by several major outlets, it is a sweeping work of urban and political history for readers of Robert Caro.