The stars are the ratings by Amazon.com readers (1-5 stars). When Amazon stars are not available, I have often provided personal commentary.

As You Pass By
Dunshee / Hastings House
A wonderfully quirky NYC history using fire histories. Unusual maps. Great for New York aficionados.

The Automat: The History, Recipes, and Allure of Horn & Hardart's Masterpiece
Diehl & Hardart / Potter
Nostalgia of the best kind. A deliciously illustrated book. Complete with your favorite Horn & Hardart recipes!

Calvin Trillin: Piece By Piece (Audio Cassette)
Trillin, Highbridge
“Funny, brilliant, and unexpected, observations on everything from Greenwich Village ("where people from the suburbs come on Saturday nights to test their car alarms") to the origins of the famous New York expression, "Smart as a Chinatown chicken."

City on Two Rivers : Profiles of New York--Yesterday and Today
Longstreet / Hawthorn Press
Delightful armchair reading about the cultural and social histories of New York City.

Here Is New York
E. B. White / Little Bookroom
Brief, but elegant. The classic paean to New York City. A joy to read and read again!

Incredible New York
Morris / Random House
Delightful armchair reading of the history and legendary tales of New York City.

Old New York
Wharton / Scribner
Three novellas depicting three decades in 19th century New York City society. Entertaining and enlightening.

My Ears are Bent
Mitchell / Pantheon
Remarkable New York stories by one of New Yorker magazine’s consummate writers. Mitchell sensitively captures the essence of unusual personalities and offbeat characters who enrich in this great metropolis.

New York Enclaves
Hemp / Clarkson Potter
Lively commentary and delightful line drawings provide an intimate glimpse into twenty-six of New York’s most beloved hidden spots. A great gift book.

The Story of New York: An Informal History of the City from the First Settlement to the Present Day
Lyman / Crown
Well-written prose history of New York.

Up in the Old Hotel: And Other Stories
Pantheon / 1992
A loving collection of some of the Joseph Mitchell’s finest works. The tales compassionately evoke great poetry, grace, and beauty in the lives of ordinary people — from the “secret” of Greenwich Village character Joe Gould, to tales of the “regulars” at McSorley’s Saloon, to the gentle eloquence of the caretaker of New York’s first free-black cemetery. Savor this book.

Black Manhattan
Johnson / Da Capo
A classic, not-to-be missed text by noted writer James Weldon Johnson.

Encyclopedia of New York City
Jackson (ed.) / Yale
Wide-ranging topics make this a perfect book for diehard New Yorkers. A great gift for New York aficionados.

Gilded City: Scandal & Sensation in Turn-of-the-Century New York
Dunlop / Perennial
While the writing is inconsistent, the author does recount some fascinating New York tales.

Gotham: A History of NYC to 1898
Burrows & Wallace / Oxford
Pulitzer Prize winner of 1998 with quality research and the vital writing of good storytellers.

How the Other Half Lives: Studies Among the Tenements of New York
Riis / Penguin
The powerful photographic and journalistic text that compelled the transformation of New York City slums.

Manhattan Manners
Boyer / Rizzoli
Documents the urban fabric of Manhattan from 1850 to 1900. Well illustrated and researched – including material not often found elsewhere.

New York: An Illustrated History
Burns, et al / Knopf
This excellently illustrated book was designed to accompany Ric Burns’ 12-hour PBS television series about the History of New York City.

New York Life at the Turn of the Century in Photographs
Byron / Dover
Classic New York images by famed photographer Joseph Byron. Excellent.

Old New York in Early Photographs
Black / Dover
Enjoy!

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
Caro / Random House
This award-winning biography of Robert Moses - and to a great extent, the "biography" of New York City - is an enticing and captivating text.

You Must Remember This: An Oral History of Manhattan from 1890 to World War II
Kisseloff / Johns Hopkins
Who can resist nostalgia with substance?

Water for Gotham: A History
Koeppel / Princeton University
A refreshing history of the creation of New York's amazing water system - one of 19th Century America's greatest engineering feats.

WPA Guide to New York City: The Federal Writers' Project Guide to 1930s New York
Whyte / Federal Writers Project
A delightful and accurate - yet almost naïve interpretation of New York in the Depression era. Uplifting.