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by William B. Helmreich (Author)
An intimate portrait of the Big Apple
As a child growing up in Manhattan, William Helmreich played a game with his father called "Last Stop." They would pick a subway line, ride it to its final destination, and explore the neighborhood. Decades later, his love for exploring the city was as strong as ever. Putting his feet to the test, he decided that the only way to truly understand New York was to walk virtually every block of all five boroughs--an astonishing 6,000 miles. His journey took him to every corner of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island. Helmreich spoke with hundreds of New Yorkers from every part of the globe and all walks of life. He finds that to be a New Yorker is to struggle to understand the place and to make a life that is as highly local as it is dynamically cosmopolitan. Truly unforgettable, The New York Nobody Knows will forever change how you view the world's greatest city.Back Jacket
"A modern-day flaneur, ethnographer William Helmreich moves engagingly through the streets and neighborhoods of New York, making pithy and substantive observations that place the everyday lives of the city's diverse peoples in a peculiarly revealing light. The New York Nobody Knows is a brilliant representation of everyday lives of New Yorkers, and as such--what Baudelaire did for Paris, Helmreich's work promises for New York."--Elijah Anderson, author of The Cosmopolitan Canopy: Race and Civility in Everyday Life
"Helmreich's original and incredible book shows what every nook and cranny of this city looks like from the inside. I have never seen a work that amasses so many observations from so many scenes and deploys them with such elegance. It is a monumental and inspiring achievement."--Mitchell Duneier, author of Sidewalk
"William Helmreich has walked everywhere and read everything pertinent on New York, and has many astute observations about both the essential spirit of the Big Apple and its rapid changes. Recommended to all lovers of this particular city, and cities in general."--Phillip Lopate, author of Waterfront: A Walk around Manhattan
"The book offers an intriguing journey through the jagged patchwork of New York neighborhoods. Helmreich is a native son who has never lost his love for the city, its unusual characters, and its capacity to absorb change."--Sharon Zukin, author of Naked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places
"Original and important, The New York Nobody Knows presents a picture of the inner life of the city, bit by delightful bit, as a complete whole. The book is enchanting in a wonderfully old-fashioned way."--Peter Moskos, author of Cop in the Hood: My Year Policing Baltimore's Eastern District
"In a clear storytelling manner, Helmreich makes the case that New York is a vibrant, complex, and diverse municipality grappling with a range of social conditions and different forms of social change, all of which are affecting America's major cities. I know of no other work comparable in scope."--Alford A. Young Jr., author of The Minds of Marginalized Black Men: Making Sense of Mobility, Opportunity, and Future Life Chances
Author Biography
William B. Helmreich (1945-2020) was the author of many books, including The Manhattan Nobody Knows, The Brooklyn Nobody Knows, and The Queens Nobody Knows. He was Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the City College of New York's Colin Powell School for Civic and Global Leadership and at CUNY Graduate Center.
