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A Hundred-and-Nineteen-Year-Old Book That Explains Eric Adams

A collection of political sermons attributed to a crooked machine boss is a handy reference for New York City’s current political chaos.
by Eric Lach via The New Yorker on October 17, 2024
"Manhattan Nocturne," drawing of buildings by Armin Landeck (1938)

Excursus on the History of New York

The machine breaks down: A brief history of Tammany Hall.
by John Ganz via Unpopular Front on January 20, 2023
Front page of the New York Daily News about Vivien Gordon's murder.

The 1930s Investigation That Took Down New York's Mayor—and Then Tammany Hall

When FDR found out how beholden New York politicians were to mobsters, he ordered the Seabury commission to investigate.
by Erin Blakemore via HISTORY on April 17, 2019
Fiorello La Guardia.

How Mayor Fiorello La Guardia Transformed New York City

Zohran Mamdani’s campaign is questioning what a socialist might accomplish as mayor of NYC. To answer it, it’s worth looking back on Fiorello La Guardia.
by Joshua B. Freeman via Jacobin on April 23, 2025
Ben Davis Jr. leaving courthouse, surrounded by crowd carrying signs bearing various slogans.

In 1930s NYC, Proportional Representation Boosted the Left

NYC history suggests that the Left might profitably revive proportional representation as a tool to build its electoral strength.
by Trevor Goodwin via Jacobin on January 26, 2025
A family affair: Roosevelt was just 31 in 1913, when President Woodrow Wilson appointed him assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy — a post previously held by his cousin Teddy.

The Making of FDR

Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s struggle against polio transformed him into the man who led the country through the Great Depression and World War II.
by Jonathan Darman via The Saturday Evening Post on April 5, 2024
Title page of the "Manual of the Corporation of The City of New York."

The Bittersweet Legacy Of David T. Valentine

Valentine devoted his time to writing the Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York. These were annual compendiums of data about the city.
by Claudia Keenan via The Gotham Center on March 6, 2024
A 1797 map of New York City.

The Black Cockade and the Tricolor

Space and place in New York City's responses to the French Revolution.
by Mike Rapport via Age of Revolutions on March 4, 2024
"Boss" Tweed

The Corrupt N.Y. Congressman Who Was Sentenced To Prison — And Escaped

William Magear “Boss” Tweed, who became a political force in New York as leader of the “Tweed Ring,” was found guilty in 1873 of 102 separate crimes.
by George Bass via Retropolis on July 2, 2023
Picture of SunTrust Park, home of the Atlanta Braves.

The Atlanta Braves and the Worst and Best of Baseball in America

How the team came to have that name and why it still persists.
by Ben Railton via The Saturday Evening Post on April 5, 2022

The Little Mayors of the Lower East Side

Getting to know the New York City street mayors of the turn of the century.
by Laurie Gwen Shapiro via Lapham’s Quarterly on August 1, 2018

The Art of the New Deal

Despite a fractured party and health concerns, FDR capitalized on name recognition to win the 1932 presidential election.
by Rebecca Onion via Slate on March 31, 2016
George Washington Plunkitt

The Case for Corruption

Why Washington needs more honest graft.
by Jonathan Rauch via The Atlantic on March 1, 2014

Smoking, Women’s Rights, and a Really Great Fake Bar

The lady smoking caper of 1908.
by Livius Drusus via The Appendix on February 7, 2014

Emperor of Concrete

A 1974 review of Robert Caro's "The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York."
by Gore Vidal via New York Review of Books on October 17, 1974
Photo of Grover Cleveland and then a photo of Donald Trump next to each other.
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Will Grover Cleveland's Second Term Foreshadow Trump's Future?

The only president before Trump to win, lose, and win again ended up decimating his own party during his second term.
by Luke Voyles via Made By History on November 21, 2024
Man burning a picture of Abraham Lincoln.

City on Fire

The night violent anti-government conspirators sowed chaos in the heart of Manhattan.
by Betsy Golden Kellem via The Atavist on September 24, 2024
Republican elephant and Democratic donkey with crossed arms turned away from each other.

Party People

Many recoil at the thought of stronger political parties. But revitalized parties could be exactly what our ailing democracy needs.
by John Sides via Democracy Journal on June 13, 2024
Emily Brooks.

When NYC Invented Modern Policing: On WWII–Era Surveillance and Discrimination

From the 1880s to the 1940s, New York City was transformed—and so too was the New York City Police Department.
by Matthew Guariglia, Emily M. Brooks via Public Books on April 2, 2024
"The Politics of Safety" book cover

Lawless Law Enforcement

Because of the growth of the Prohibition state, police abuse fomented considerable discussions among police and lawyer associations, criminologists, and others.
by Brock Schnoke via UNC Press Blog on January 17, 2024
Dinosaur models and other prehistoric animals designed by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins.

The Bizarre True Story of Central Park’s Doomed Victorian Dinosaur Museum

For centuries, the infamous Boss Tweed was blamed for destroying its dino-models—but what really happened is even weirder.
by Sarah Durn via Atlas Obscura on August 3, 2023
Eilhu Root.

The Shameful Imperialist Legacy of Elihu Root, Godfather of Corporate Law

How a celebrated corporate lawyer named Elihu Root became the driving force behind some of the worst U.S. atrocities ever perpetrated abroad.
by Nathan Porceng via Balls And Strikes on March 8, 2023
Ron DeSantis at podium at CPAC.
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Instead of Boosting Democracy, Primary Elections Are Undermining It

Why our politics are growing ever more extreme — and democracy itself is under siege.
by Lawrence R. Jacobs via Made By History on April 27, 2022
Norman Mailer, left, with Jimmy Breslin, in the garment district of New York during his 1969 race for mayor.

Secessionist City

While New York has yet to break away from the rest of the country, it's not for lack of trying.
by William Hogeland via Paloma Media on December 14, 2021

Mocking the Klan

Was cartoonist Billy Ireland’s pen really mightier than the burning crosses of the KKK?
by Eliya Smith via The Baffler on August 11, 2021
Crowd at 2015 Purim Ball in New York City

How New York's 19th-Century Jews Turned Purim Into an American Party

In the 19th century, Purim became an occasion to hold parties to raise money for charities. These parties helped American Jews gain a standing among the elite.
by Zev Eleff via The Conversation on February 23, 2021
"A National Game that is Played Out," political cartoon, engraving by Thomas Nast. From Harper's Weekly, 23 December 1876, page 1044.

Who Counts?

A look at voter rights through political cartoons.
via Massachusetts Historical Society on September 15, 2020
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Citibank: Exploiting the Past, Condemning the Future

In 2011, Citigroup published a 300-page 200th anniversary commemoration Celebrating the Past, Defining the Future. Is it a past to celebrate?
by Alan J. Singer via HNN on November 3, 2019

Grover Cleveland and the Democrats Who Saved Conservatism

They stood against Tammany Hall, the centralized presidency, and profligate spending. Today's Right should give them another look.
by Daniel Bring via The American Conservative on August 28, 2019
Police car.
partner

What the Loss of the New York Police Museum Means for Criminal-Justice Reform

Without historical records, we lose key insights into how law enforcement works — and how it fails.
by Matthew Guariglia via Made By History on May 22, 2019
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