The Gods of New York

Egotists, Idealists, Opportunists, and the Birth of the Modern City: 1986-1990

By: Jonathan Mahler

Narrated by: Robert Petkoff

NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS’ CHOICE • A sweeping chronicle of four tumultuous years in 1980s New York that changed the city forever—and anticipated the forces that would soon divide the nation—from the bestselling author of Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning

“A rip-roaring, sweeping, essential work of history . . . a deeply reported and brilliantly observed account of how the modern city was born and why all of us continue to live with the results.”—Jonathan Eig, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of King: A Life

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, The Economist, The New Yorker, Town & Country

New York entered 1986 as a city reborn. Record profits on Wall Street sent waves of money splashing across Manhattan, bringing a battered city roaring back to life.

But it also entered 1986 as a city whose foundation was beginning to crack. Thousands of New Yorkers were sleeping in the streets, addicted to drugs, dying of AIDS, or suffering from mental illnesses. Nearly one-third of the city’s Black and Hispanic residents were living below the federal poverty line. Long-simmering racial tensions threatened to boil over.

The events of the next four years would split the city open. Howard Beach. Black Monday. Tawana Brawley. The crack epidemic. The birth of ACT UP. The Central Park jogger. The release of Do the Right Thing. And a cast of outsized characters—Ed Koch, Donald Trump, Al Sharpton, Spike Lee, Rudy Giuliani, Larry Kramer—would compete to shape the city’s future while building their own mythologies.

The Gods of New York is a kaleidoscopic and deeply immersive portrait of a city whose identity was suddenly up for grabs: Could it be both the great working-class city that lifted up immigrants from around the world and the money-soaked capital of global finance? Could it retain a civic culture—a common idea of what it meant to be a New Yorker—when the rich were building a city of their own and vast swaths of its citizens were losing faith in the systems meant to protect them? New York City was one thing at the dawn of 1986; it would be something very different as 1989 came to a close. This is the story of how that happened.

Great summation of a turbulent time

A comprehensive in outstanding analysis of a turbulent time in New York City. Will read, engaging, and well sequenced.

A MUST READ for mayoral morass we are suffering

A vital mirror for the city. If you want to understand NYC now, start with its patterns. Mahler threads machine politics, tabloids, and real-estate power into a tight narrative that shows how power keeps winning while the rest of us keep surviving. The chapters on race and policing are gut-wrenching. I loved this book and highly recommend it especially if you want to understand how we got to this fractious mayoral race.

Excellent Social History

This is an excellent history of three critical years in the history and politics of New York City. The author covers many aspects of life in NYC in those years admirably, including the ravages of crack and AIDS, and the beginnings of ACT-UP/NY.

Great portrait of the city

A interesting look at the city in a moment in time through some larger than life figures.

A great narration but at times the editing was a bit jarring, jumping quickly between sections without pause.

One of the best NYC history books ever written

Such a fantastic read and listen. Indelible characters, propulsive narrative, and outstanding narration. Jonathan Mahler makes a compelling case that If you want to understand the political and social world we inhabit today in the U.S., then you need to understand what was happening in New York City from 1986 to 1990. I enjoyed this audio book so much that I was finding additional chores to do around the house so that I could keep listening to it. My dishes have never been cleaner and my garage has never been better organized! Highly recommend.