"Wallace then took 18 years to produce a sequel. Greater Gotham's time frame was far more modest than its predecessor's. Writing solo this time, Wallace zeroed in on the two decades between 1898 and the end of World War I. But like the first book, Greater Gotham contained multitudes, with fascinating chapters on everything from the subway, housing, and the Bronx Zoo to vaudeville, feminism, and child labor."
"While not neglecting tales of social and cultural life, Gotham at War focuses more on the eruptions from elsewhere that shook and remade New York City. It begins in 1933 with a Brooklyn-based boycott of goods made in Nazi Germany and concludes with the decision by United Nations delegates to make the city their permanent headquarters. Like the previous volumes, its achievement lies not in its interpretive framework but rather in the wealth of detail"
The three-volume history traces New York City's transformation from early Dutch contact through its emergence as a global metropolis. The first volume covers Manhattan's colonial encounters through the 1898 consolidation of the five boroughs. The second volume focuses on the two decades from 1898 to the end of World War I, detailing subways, housing, entertainment, feminism, and labor. The final volume centers on external shocks between 1933 and the postwar era, including a Brooklyn boycott of Nazi goods and the selection of New York as the United Nations headquarters. The trilogy emphasizes meticulous archival detail and a people's-history approach to social and cultural life.
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