Names of New York

Praise

“Fascinating . . . A smorgasbord of New York City lore . . . Lovers of the Big Apple will delight in this unique and informative history.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Jelly-Schapiro’s sprightly prose and ear for New Yorkers’ stories shows, if nothing else, that place-names are less permanent than the ground they identify, and changing them helps forget a past or shape a future.”
—Booklist

“Reading Names of New York is a casually wondrous experience; it made me feel like the city was unfolding beneath my feet. This treasure of a book is surprising, delightful, and often quietly heartbreaking; it doesn’t just satisfy curiosity, but creates and renews it, illuminating the palimpsest of human conflict and devotion that lies just under the everyday landscape of New York.”
—Jia Tolentino, author of Trick Mirror
 
“Joshua Jelly-Schapiro is one of those rare writers who bridges worlds—between deep scholarship and beautiful prose, between islands and mainlands, between big ideas and precise details, between history and possibility.” 
—Rebecca Solnit, author of Recollections of My Nonexistence
 
“Fleet-footed and entertaining, Names of New York builds into a convincingly multifaceted portrait of the city—and a book that is about much more than just names.”
—Luc Sante, author of Low Life
 
“A masterpiece of urban geography. Go for a walk with this congenial and endlessly fascinating author and rediscover the city you thought you knew. Engagingly told, meticulously researched, Names of New York joins the roster of the best books about New York.”
—Suketu Mehta, author of This Land is Our Land and Maximum City