Open House New York invites you to a talk by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Mike Wallace about his recently published book, Greater Gotham: A History of New York City from 1898-1919 (Oxford University Press, 2017). A sequel to Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 (co-written with Edwin G. Burrows), Greater Gotham picks up the story of New York on New Year’s Day 1898–when the cities of New York and Brooklyn merged with Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island to become the second largest city on the planet–and follows it through to the end of World War I. The two decades in between were marked by massive economic, cultural, and technological transformations that in large part laid the foundations for the city that we inhabit today. From the subway to the skyline, and in buildings like the Woolworth, the New York Public Library, and Grand Central Terminal, Greater Gotham reveals a city in full ferment and one whose controversies and concerns still have resonance for contemporary New Yorkers.

Mike Wallace is Distinguished Professor of History at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the founder of the Gotham Center for New York City History. He is the co-author of Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1999. He is now working on the third volume in the Gotham series, which will carry the story to 1945.

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