REading List
All of our tours heavily draw upon the fantastic works of non-fiction, literary fiction, and memoir that have helped New York City emerge as one of the world's greatest centers of art, commerce, and everything in between. Here's some books that have helped us appreciate the multi-faceted beauty of our remarkable city while also building our knowledge base. (Note this isn't an exhaustive list by any means!)
Non Fiction / Memoir
The Death and Life of Great American Cities: Jane Jacobs
Vanishing New York: How a Great City Lost Its Soul: Jeremiah Moss
The Great Bridge: David McCullough
Kitchen Confidential: Anthony Bourdain
Low Life: Lures and Snares of Old New York: Luc Sante
Notes of a Native Son: James Baldwin
The Gentrification of the Mind: Witness to a Lost Imagination: Sarah Schulman
The Big Oyster: Mark Kurlansky
A Freewheelin' Time: Suze Rotolo
The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone: Olivia Liang
Up in the Old Hotel: Joseph Mitchell
The New York Nobody Knows: William Helmreich
St. Marks Is Dead: Ada Calhoun
The Mad Ones: Crazy Joe Gallo and the Revolution at the Edge of the Underworld: Tom Folsom
The Wolf of Wall Street: Jordan Belfort
New York City Coffee: A Caffeinated History: Erin Meister
Smugglers, Bootleggers, and Scofflaws: Prohibition and New York City: Ellen NicKenzie Lawson
Blood, Bones, and Butter: Gabrielle Hamilton
Russ & Daughters: Mark Russ Federman
Waiter Rant: Confessions of a Cynical Waiter: Steve Dublanica
The Colossus of New York: Colson Whitehead
Artists' SoHo: 49 Episodes of Intimate History: Richard Kostelanetz
Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York: Sari Botton
97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement: Jane Ziegelman
The Archaeology of Home: Katharine Greider
Service Included: Four Star Secrets of an Eavesdropping Waiter: Phoebe Damrosch
Blue Guide New York: Carol Wright
Fiction
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: Betty Smith
The Emperor's Children: Claire Messud
Another Country: James Baldwin
It's Kind of a Funny Story: Ned Vizzini
Another Brooklyn: Jacqueline Woodson
Go Tell It On The Mountain: James Baldwin
Bright Lights, Big City: Jay McInerney
Bodega Dreams: Ernesto Quinonez
A Visit from the Goon Squad: Jennifer Egan
The Catcher In the Rye: JD Salinger
Odds Against Tomorrow: Nathaniel Rich
Bream Gives Me Hiccups: Jesse Eisenberg