New York City

Eric Adams's Involuntary Commitment Plan for Mentally Ill has a Long, Cruel History (and Won't Help)

by Jeremy Peschard

The history of involuntary hospitalization is one of the removal of the most marginalized and vulnerable people from society, in increasingly cruel and inhumane conditions, with treatment and reintegration to society an afterthought. It's unclear the New York mayor's plans will be different. 

Marc Stein on "Sodomites and Gender Transgressors" in Old New York

The historian discusses a digital database he's been developing to make primary sources and their analysis more widely available for the study of queer communities in American history. 

The Defiant Woman at the Center of New York's First Abortion Battle

by Alan J. Singer

Carolyn Ann Trow Lohman, better known as Madame Restell, defied the authority of the medical establishment and moral crusaders to help women obtain abortions. Justice Alito's misuse of history to justify the Dobbs decision shows the need to remember her. 

What Happens When NYC Defunds the Libraries?

by Allison Chomet

The proposed cuts to library staffing, on the heels of cuts to public schools, city colleges, and social service agencies reflect the way that culture war panics about book content and drag story hours connect to the politics of austerity and privatization, even in liberal big cities. 

An Oral History of Riker's Island

An oral history of New York's notorious jail is chaotic and difficult, but could an account of the place be any different and be true? 

The Right Celebrated Bernhard Goetz as the Kyle Rittenhouse of the 80s

by Pia Beumer

In the context of economic turmoil, urban crisis, and racial division, a broad swath of the American public made Goetz a heroic symbol of restored white masculinity after he shot four Black teens who asked him for money on the New York subway.

"More Cops" is Not the Answer for NYC

by Simon Balto

The entire, terrifying episode that unfolded across 29 hours in New York was a testament to the futility of spending more money on police, and to the lie that police “keep us safe”. 

New York Survived the 1832 Cholera Epidemic

by Daniel S. Levy

The 1832 Cholera epidemic roiled New York, terrorizing the city across lines of class and neighborhood. Today, the city's resilience can be a source of encouragement, but also a caution that today's pandemic won't be the last. 

The Plans that Built Greater New York

New York's Regional Plan association has worked for a century to try to solve problems of development that span not just the five boroughs but three states. As Greater New York deals with climate-related infrastructure problems, its role is more vital than ever. 

Preservationists Want to Save Penn Station. Yes, That Penn Station.

by Kriston Capps

The one thing every New Yorker can agree on is that Penn Station is terrible. Why is this benighted hellhole being championed for historic preservation? 

New Book Revisits the Debate over NYC's Iconic Subway Maps

For fans of transit cartography, the New York Subway Map Debate of April 20, 1978, is remembered as a legendary showdown between two irreconcilable approaches.

Fact Check: History of Robert Moses's Parkways Shows Racist Intent of Bridge Height is Not Certain

Pete Buttigieg's remarks racism in urban planning were informed by Robert Caro's biography of Robert Moses. Some historians say that while Moses's projects harmed minority communities and his prejudices well-known, the specific anedcote about using parkway bridges to keep buses full of Black New Yorkers from Long Island beaches may be apocryphal.

Historically, Black Distrust of Police is About More than Acts of Violence

by Christopher Hayes

The Harlem rebellion against the NYPD in July 1964 was sparked by a police killing of a teenager (and a grand jury's refusal to indict him), but reflected the role of the police in maintaining a profoundly unequal social order that affected everyday life in Black neighborhoods, a situation that has changed little. 

The Forgotten, but Consequential, New York City Police Riot of 1992

Encouraged by Rudy Giuliani, thousands of New York City Police officers, some drunk, staged a riot at City Hall and on the Brooklyn Bridge to protest Mayor David Dinkins's 1992 proposal of an all-civilian, independent police complaint review board. Why has this pivotal event been scrubbed from many New Yorkers' memories? 

An A-Z List of NYC Streets Named for Slaveowners

by Alan Singer

As Mayoral candidate Eric Adams has vowed to change the names of city streets associated with slavery, here's a list of those streets throughout the city. 

The Rogues Gallery: The Messy Growth of Modern Policing in Gilded Age New York City

by John Oller

John Oller's new book on the rise of the NYPD combines a history of the social dynamics of the booming city, with its extremes of wealth and poverty, and a gallery of colorful rogues – in and out of uniform – whose battles shaped American law enforcement for good and ill. 

Reconstructing an Urban Archive Lost on 9/11

The archives of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which held important information about the history of the region's politics and infrastructure, was housed in the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Agency retirees have sent documents, pictures and artifacts to start rebuilidng the record.

Long Crises: Kim Phillips-Fein Interviews Benjamin Holtzman

While New York's mayoral campaign has invoked the "bad old days" of the 1970s, the city today is still experiencing the political-economic crisis that erupted 50 years ago. 

As Immigration Politics Changed, So Did "In the Heights"

by A. K. Sandoval-Strausz

The film release of Lin-Manuel Miranda's "In the Heights" reflects the way the show has evolved in response to the shifting politics of immigration and nativism in the United States. 

Twenty Years after 9/11, its Memorialization Remains Contested

by John Bodnar

"How people respond to traumatic events and the pain of others, of course, is always unpredictable. But such responses have consequences."