New York 1960: 8architecture and Urbanism Between the Second World War and the Bicentennial

Documenting New York City's transformation from manageable metropolis into sprawling megalopolis, this magnificent, panoramic volume sweeps from early 1940s' New York, a world capital of culture, sophistication and commerce, to the mid-'70s, when crime and near economic collapse had tarnished its image. Stunningly illustrated with some 1500 duotone period photographs, the absorbing text focuses on the 1960s and is organized geographically, from the metamorphosis of stretches of midtown into corporate America's headquarters to development projects in Harlem, the construction of Lincoln Center and the United Nations complex and efforts to preserve neighborhoods ranging from Greenwich Village to those in the other boroughs. We also get commentaries by Philip Johnson, Jane Jacobs, Lewis Mumford, Robert Moses, Ada Louise Huxtable and others reflecting on battles over architectural styles and urban-planning philosophies. An unprecedented record of New York City's dynamism and continual adaptation, this study also looks at portrayals of the city in films, paintings, sculpture, music, plays. (Apr.)