City of Dreams

By an acclaimed historian, a sweeping history of the peoples who have come to New York for four centuries: a defining American story of millions of immigrants, hundreds of languages, and one great city.

New York has been America’s city of immigrants for nearly four centuries.

Reviews

“In publishing as in politics, timing is everything. Tyler Anbinder’s sweeping City of Dreams: The 400-Year Epic History of Immigrant New York scores big on both counts. A richly textured guide to the history of our immigrant nation’s pinnacle immigrant city has managed to enter the stage during an election season that has resurrected this historically fraught topic in all its fierceness.”  —New York Times Book Review   “The story of how those waves of millions cascaded upon American shores is told brilliantly, even unforgettably…while this is a New York story, it really is an American story, one that belongs to all of us.”  —Boston Globe   "Mr. Anbinder has provided a valuable service by crafting a single volume that focuses solely on New York as a gateway, a haven and a crucible that forged the fates of millions of immigrants who in turn shaped the destiny of our nation." —Wall Street Journal   “City of Dreams is a rich, rewarding history of New York’s master narrative: the expansive story of the city’s immigrant past and present. It’s a necessary book for any reader — New Yorker or not — curious to know the astonishing sweep of transforming migrations that have made the city the polyglot extravaganza that it is.”  —PHILIP ROTH   “A masterful achievement, City of Dreams is the definitive account of the American origin story, as told through our premier metropolis. Bold, exhaustive, always surprising, Anbinder’s book is a wonderful reminder of how we came to be who we are.”  —TIMOTHY EGAN, author of The Immortal Irishman   “At last! A history of New York’s immigrant experience from Peter Minuit right up to the present day, meticulously researched and wonderfully well-written. City of Dreams will captivate readers and historians alike.”  —KEVIN BAKER, author of The Big Crowd   “Enlightening, impressive, and thorough, City of Dreams is a monumental endeavor: a great resource that fills in many historical blanks, and a riveting saga with something for everyone. And in these times of so much divisiveness and xenophobia, a necessary book, too. Tyler Anbinder reminds us that the dreams that brought my Dominican family to Nueva York are the very bedrock and foundation of this country.”  —JULIA ALVAREZ, author of How the García Girls Lost Their Accents   “Like the City of New York itself, Tyler Anbinder’s City of Dreams is a marvel — a work of astonishing breadth and depth that weaves many threads into a compelling whole. Anbinder’s vibrant narrative stretches from the Dutch of New Amsterdam to the Fujianese of Sunset Park, from the Draft Riots to the Crown Heights riot, depicting waves of immigrants who have overcome persistent nativism to transform the city, the nation, and themselves.”  —T.J. STILES, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biographies Custer’s Trials and The First Tycoon  "A tale of tragedy and triumph that comes with political teeth...Anbinder is a master at taking a history with which many readers will be familiar—tenement houses, temperance societies, slums—and making it new, strange, and heartbreakingly vivid. The stories of individuals, including those of the entrepreneurial Steinway brothers and the tragic poet Pasquale D’Angelo, are undeniably compelling, but it’s Anbinder’s stunning image of New York as a t —