The New Yorkers

July 4, 2022
New York Times reporter Roberts (A History of New York in 27 Buildings) delivers an entertaining and informative group biography of essential New Yorkers “whose roles were largely overlooked or, at best, survive as a footnote.” His timeline ranges from John Colman, the city’s “first recorded homicide,” in 1609, to public housing advocate Carmelia Goffe, who helped revive Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood in the 1980s. Along the way, Roberts profiles Archbishop John Hughes, who combatted anti-Catholic bias in the 19th century; housewife-turned-activist Lillian Edelstein, who fought city planner Robert Moses’s plans for the Cross-Bronx Expressway—and won; and journalist John “Tex” McCrary and his wife, Jinx Falkenburg, hosts of the first political talk radio show. In one of the book’s most moving chapters, Roberts describes how 23-year-old garment worker Clara Lemlich stood up at a union meeting in 1909 and demanded the general strike that became known as the Uprising of 20,000. (“Audacity—that was all I had—audacity,” Lemlich later said.) Throughout, Roberts’s wry wit and rigorous research enliven accounts of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, the displacement of white residents from Harlem, and more. The result is a treasure trove of New York City lore. Photos.