Using examples from architecture, film, literature, and photography, this interdisciplinary book examines the place and significance of New York City in the urban imaginary between 1890 and 1940. In particular, the project draws on recent thinking in cultural analysis and urban studies to consider how and why certain city spaces—including the skyline, the sidewalk, and the subway—have come to emblematize key aspects of the modern urban condition. In so doing, the project also considers the ways in which cultural developments in late nineteenth- and twentieth-century New York set the stage for current responses to a variety of urban crises now facing the city, including post-disaster recovery, the renewal of urban infrastructure, and the redevelopment of public space.

Christoph Lindner is professor of media studies and director of the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis at the University of Amsterdam. He is also a research affiliate in the Departments of French and Comparative Studies at the University of London's Institute in Paris. His book publications include Paris-Amsterdam Underground (2013), Globalization, Violence and the Visual Culture of Cities (2010), Urban Space and Cityscapes (2006), and Fictions of Commodity Culture (2003).