SYLLABUS
Required Reading | Recommended Reading | Topics and Assignments

Required Reading
David R. Goldfield & Blaine A. Brownell, Urban America: A History (2nd ed, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1990)

David Ment, Shaping of a City: A Brief History of Brooklyn (Brooklyn: Brooklyn Rediscovery, c. 1979).
Excellent overview, also readable yet rich in insight and detail. This too is out of print, though. [pamphlet, library reserve]

Floyd M. Shumway, Seaport City: New York in 1775 (New York: South Street Seaport Museum, 1975).
A brief but remarkably substantial snapshot of the city on the eve of the Revolution. Readable, good graphics. It's probably out of of print now, unfortunately. [library reserve]

William L. Riordan, Plunkitt of Tammany Hall: A Series of Very Plain Talks on Very Practical Politics. Edited with an Introduction by Terrence J. McDonald. (Boston : Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1994)

Jack Finney, Time and Again (New York, Simon & Schuster, 1970)

Stephen Crane, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets: A Story of New York (1st Published, 1893)

Jervis Anderson, This Was Harlem: A Cultural Portrait, 1900-1950 (New York : Farrar Straus Giroux, 1982.)

Thomas Kessner & Betty Boyd Caroli, Today's Immigrants, Their Stories: A New Look at the Newest Americans (New York : Oxford University Press, 1981, c1982)

Recommended Reading
Gerard R. Wolfe, New York: A Guide to the Metropolis

• Donald M. Reynolds, The Architecture of New York City: Histories and Views of Important Structures, and Symbols (1984)
• Harmon H. Goldstone and Martha Dalrymple, History Preserved: A Guide to New York City Landmarks and Historic Districts (1974) and
• the famous AIA Guide to New York City, by Norval White and Elliot Willensky (1978)

*Note: the final exam will include a photo identification quiz based on the walking tour of Lower Manhattan to be found in Sources and Documents.

PART I: COMPANY TOWN, 1626-1664
(Feb 7, 9, 14)

Ment, Shaping, 4-17
Goldfield & Brownell, Urban America, ch. 1
Sources & Documents, Part I

PART II: IMPERIAL PORT, 1664-1783
(Feb 16, 21, 28, Mar 2)

Ment, Shaping, 18-27
Shumway, Seaport City, 1-64
Goldfield & Brownell, Urban America, chs. 2-3
Sources & Documents, Part II

PART III: MERCANTILE METROPOLIS, 1783-1837
(Mar 7, 9, 14, 16)

Ment, Shaping, 25-36
Goldfield & Brownell, Urban America, chs. 4-5
Sources & Documents, Part III

MIDTERM EXAM March 21

PART IV: INDUSTRIAL CITY, 1837-1898
(Mar 23, 28, 30, Apr 4, 6)

Ment, Shaping, 37-67
Goldfield & Brownell, Urban America, chs. 6-8
Riordon, Plunkitt of Tammany Hall
Finney, Time and Again Crane, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets

PART V: CAPITALIST CAPITAL, 1898-1948
(Apr 11, 13, 25, 27, May 2, 4)

Ment, Shaping, 67-98
Goldfield & Brownell, Urban America, chs. 9-10
Anderson, This Was Harlem

PART VI: THE CONTEMPORARY CITY
(May 9, 11, 16, 18)

Kessner & Caroli, Today's Immigrants
Goldfield & Brownell, Urban America, chs. 11-1