How We Got Here: Readings on New York Politics

As we wallow in the dog days of summer, the city's political high season is around the corner. This fall, voters will elect a new Mayor and choose almost all of the City Council, as well as other state and local offices. Given the propensity of politicians to promise and boast and cajole us to win our vote, New Yorkers are understandably eager to see beyond the hype. Taking a step back from the specifics of campaigns and candidates, the books below all aim to give a glimpse into how New York City politics really works. 

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York, by Robert A. Caro - discerning eyes could spot this book's distinctive red-and-white spine on the bookshelves of many a political pundit during Zoom interviews last year. Granted, at 1,200-plus pages its heft is hard to miss. But there's another reason for its ubiquity: it's a ripping yarn about unbridled power, an evergreen primer on dirty politics, and a revelatory account of the hidden history of New York City from the 1920s into the 1970s.

In case you're not familiar: city planner Robert Moses was never elected to public office, but during his decades behind the scenes he mastered the gears and levers of municipal bureaucracy to build the roads and public housing that reshaped New York, while also bulldozing any neighborhood that stood in his way.

The Pushcart War, by Jean Merrill - this delightful 1965 children's novel is in its own way a primer on how a big city works, or doesn't, and what it takes to make things right. When behemoth trucking companies conspire to monopolize the streets, New York City's curbside pushcart peddlers mount a carefully calibrated guerilla campaign to fight them off. Politics, celebrity and the news media play their part as the drama unfolds.

Fear City: New York's Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics, by Kim Phillips-Fein - for New York's elected officials, the near-bankruptcy of the city in 1975 looms as an object lesson that shapes their behavior to this day. This book incisively portrays the era's three-way conflict between politicians, corporate titans, and beleaguered taxpayers, and traces how the compromises made decades ago led directly to many of today's unsolved problems. 

The Bonfire of the Vanities, by Tom Wolfe - the gulf between the lofty public rhetoric of New York City and the gritty truth behind the scenes has never been portrayed better than in this sprawling 1987 novel, which satirizes the city's toxic stew of criminal injustice, pandering politics and cynical tabloid journalism. 

City Son: Andrew W. Cooper's Impact on Modern-Day Brooklyn, by Wayne Dawkins - Cooper, a civil rights pioneer, ran a news service and newspaper from the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s that trained a spotlight on the concerns of Black Brooklynites, as well as the highs and lows of the era's Black political figures. 

Native Speaker, by Chang-rae Lee - this award-winning 1995 novel addresses the politics of ethnicity in New York. The protagonist is a Korean-American who is assigned to infiltrate -- and possibly torpedo -- a City Council Member's mayoral campaign. 

Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution, by Janette Sadik-Khan - amidst all the grandstanding in New York politics, there is a cadre of career civil servants who just want to get things done. In this book, a former city transportation commissioner shares her vision for making a more bicycle-friendly city, the steps she took during Michael Bloomberg's mayoralty to make it a reality, and the fierce opposition she faced along the way.

New York, New York, New York: Four Decades of Success, Excess, and Transformation, by Tom Dyja  - a widely praised chronicle of New York's slippery path forward from the 1970s to the crises of the 21st century, replete with penetrating insights about the politics of governing a sprawling metropolis.

Meanwhile, up in Albany…

With the turmoil roiling the state capital this summer, we would be remiss if we failed to offer some insight into how political hardball is played north of the Bronx. To set the table, Seymour Lachman's Failed State: Dysfunction and Corruption in an American Statehouse offers insight from a former state legislator about Albany's many shortcomings. If you're curious about what it's like to accidentally become governor, David Paterson's Black, Blind, & In Charge gives his side of the story. For a look back at the sex scandal that gave Paterson his elevated role, there's Peter Elkind's Rough Justice: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer. Finally, if you want a historical perspective on just how awful a New York governor - New York mayor feud can be, check out Herbert Mitgang's Once Upon a Time in New York : Jimmy Walker, Franklin Roosevelt, and the Last Great Battle of the Jazz Age.

For a booklist of these titles, and many more recommended titles about New York politics, click here.

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Mark is a Job Information Resource Librarian and member of the Connected Communities team at the library's Business & Career Center. He enjoys graphic novels and looking for turtles in Prospect Park Lake