Taking Manhattan : the extraordinary events that created New York and shaped America / Russell Shorto.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shorto, Russell, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

New York (N.Y.)--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775.

New York (N.Y.).

Manhattan (New York, N.Y.)--History--Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775.

Manhattan (New York, N.Y.).

Manhattan (New York, N.Y.)--History.

New York (N.Y.)--History.

Genre:

Creative nonfiction.

Informational works.

Physical Description:

xii, 390 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

Extraordinary events that created New York and shaped America

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : W. W. Norton & Company, [2025]

Summary:

The author of The Island at the Center of the World offers up a thrilling narrative of how New York--that brash, bold, archetypal city--came to be.

In 1664, England decided to invade the Dutch-controlled city of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. Charles II and his brother, the Duke of York, had dreams of empire, and their archrivals, the Dutch, were in the way. But Richard Nicolls, the military officer who led the English flotilla bent on destruction, changed his strategy once he encountered Peter Stuyvesant, New Netherland's canny director general. Bristling with vibrant characters, Taking Manhattan reveals the founding of New York to be an invention, the result of creative negotiations that would blend the multiethnic, capitalistic society of New Amsterdam with the power of the rising English empire. But the birth of what might be termed the first modern city is also a story of the brutal dispossession of Native Americans and of the roots of American slavery. The book draws from newly translated materials and illuminates neglected histories--of religious refugees, Indigenous tribes, and free and enslaved Africans. Taking Manhattan tells the riveting story of the birth of New York City as a center of capitalism and pluralism, a foundation from which America would rise. It also shows how the paradox of New York's origins--boundless opportunity coupled with subjugation and displacement--reflects America's promise and failure to this day. Russell Shorto, whose work has been described as "astonishing" (New York Times) and "literary alchemy" (Chicago Tribune), has once again mined archival sources to offer a vibrant tale and a fresh and trenchant argument about American beginnings.

Contents:

Prologue: The view from the mountaintop

Part one: Squaring off. The invader

The defender

Enemy waters

Stuyvesant's error

Part two: Settlement and exile. Rabbits on an anthill

The trailblazer

The exile

Dorothea Angola

Restoration London

Part three: A game of chess. Doppelganger

Gravesend

The alchemist

The delegation

The effusion of Christian blood

White flag

"The town of Manhatans"

Part four: The invention. Remaining English

Merger

Going Dutch

The mystery.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 361-371) and index.

ISBN:

9780393881165

0393881164

OCLC:

1482617392

Publisher Number:

90101532643