THE WAY WE WERE: NEW YORK
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| Photo from the cover: New York, Guide to the Empire State |
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| View of Manhattan |
| New York Volumes |
| ¶ New York State Guide |
| ¶ New York City Guide |
| ¶ New York Panorama |
"The average New Yorker, conditioned to crowds, speed, Wall Street, even violent death, takes his city for granted. The visitor approaching the city sees spread before him one of the most congested habitations of men on earth, the lofty towers of Manhattan marking the vast apex of a vast jungle of structures in which men work, sleep, eat, play. Little more than three centuries has sufficed for the building of this gigantic city. The miracle of its upsurge since the turn of the present century makes it a dynamic expression of American civilization. In that sense New York is America. "
The Guide sees New York as greater than merely first among American cities, “there are more Italians in New York City than in Rome, more Irish than in Dublin.” It is a leading city of the world. Many of the better known neighborhoods receive a brief treatment, such as the following description of Greenwich Village, where the visitor “listens to a crapulent poet melodramatically reciting his effusions.” The entry on the city is relatively brief, owing to there being two dedicated volumes published as part of the American Series. The New York City Guide and New York Panorama, both more radical than the state guide. These leftist leanings made the New York project was a frequent target of Congressman Dies’ Committee.
New York: A Guide to the Empire State
Compiled by workers of the Writes’ Program of the Work Projects Administration in the State of New York – F.124.W89 – First published 1940