Vanishing New York: How a Great City Lost Its Soul

Modern day astronomers can summon up a pretty remarkable picture of what the universe looked like billions of years ago. They have a much harder time of depicting it now. Most of us have a very vivid recollection of where we grew up and perhaps don't take as much time to carefully assess where we are now, although some level of complaints are pretty universal. This is a truly painful and thoughtful book about New York. I am amazed that I find it so persuasive even though my political and social views are in many ways different and sometimes opposed from that of the author. As a life long conservative, and even a real estate attorney for a time, I still cherish many of the diverse traits and places of "The City" that Moss chronicles as being lost or threatened and am just as angry about the lack of respect and support for immigrants, working class people and those who march to a different drummer.I grew up in Brooklyn and Manhattan in the mid 40s to the early 60s, and have continued to visit it regularly since. We weren't poor, but our circumstances were modest. So I am aware of even more that has been lost before Moss arrived. I too loathe the mediocrity and mendacity of chain stores, cold and arrogant architecture, selfish and supercilious people, kickbacks and eminent domain overreach, and the excesses of redevelopment and gentrification that are destroying the character and grittiness of a place that rewarded the hard work and hustle of people who struggle to make ends meet.Moss paints all of the New York mayors from Koch on as mostly evil accomplices of greedy and barbarian real estate developers. He meticulously recounts the destruction of the character of numerous colorful and distinctive neighborhoods and the systematic efforts to evict poor people and small businesses and banish them to the outer reaches of the city and beyond.But it is a mystery, who are buying all of these luxury condos and apartments? The implication is that wealthy people are moving in in droves and are happy to accept the sterile high rises and mass market and near luxury trinkets of generic city neighborhoods built on the ruins of the older and distinctive quarters that are being decimated. That just doesn't fully compute! Moss doesn't answer those questions. But he rightfully laments the lack of civility, loss of appreciation for people who are different from you, and the reluctance to leave a space for different subcultures and artists.It is not all doom and gloom. The author seeks out and appreciates what hasn't been lost and makes an eloquent plea to fight back against the banal and boorish commercial and civil behavior that has and is destroying the very fabric of city life. Maybe there is some common ground for conservatives and liberals when they truly care about people more than labels and slogans.

Jeremiah Moss chronicles my last 10 years of misery living in NYC. A neatly packaged history memoir about NY and urban planning.I wish I had this book back then to comfort me and assure me that I wasn't going crazy, that these things were really happening before my eyes. I had no one to relate to before I left. No one that understood the magnitude of the situation. I was one of the last to leave. I found this book to be extremely informative. It helped me bring closure to a very depressing time in my life and gave me verification that leaving NYC was one of the best things I did for myself in years. The legend , the memories, the experiences will be with me for life but the NYC that I knew 1969 - 2015 is dead and gone in my lifetime. The politicians and real estate people got their wish.Get out while you can. Believe it or not there is life beyond NY City !

The aptly named author has delivered forth a prophetic bombshell for the ages. His passion, his keen eye, his turn of phrase, are unquestionable. As a native New Yorker and great lover of this quintessential modern city, I approached this book with high hopes, but must admit I found the first half to be tough going at times as the author's justifiable anguish at what's being done to the city in the name of progress over the last few decades seemed to render him virtually incoherent, as if the pages themselves could not contain his inchoate rage. But somewhere around halfway through, probably starting with the chapter on the High Line, Mr. Moss hits his stride and delivers a series of sterling chapters on the decline and fall of so many wonderful neighborhoods in this endangered metropolis. So, overall, well worth a read and an important contribution to the debate on the fate and the future of New York.

This book was absolutely fantastic albeit I am partially the person that the author is frustrated with. I moved to NYC as a dream and have desperately played into its "draw" which is the same false charm that is uprooting the fundamental culture pillars of the worlds greatest city. Jeremiah is able to show the political deals agreed upon along with the financial incentives these stakeholders had in crafting this new tourist-driven metropolis. The research was brilliant, the story was compelling, all the while the author layering his personal touch in self experiences wonderfully woven throughout the publication. Great book with a shocking truth. This book can be ruthless at times and even offend those that are transplants to the city. But truth hurts, and this should be required reading for any transplant to the NYC area living here for under 5 years.

I moved from the Midwest to NYC in 1973, on the cusp of all the changes that Moss writes about. I've always loved energy and diversity of the city although didn't like the grime and crime of the past. I've witnessed the gentrification in my neighborhood and always felt concerned that so many poorer people were being forced from our community. As a social worker married to a teacher we would be priced out of our building neighborhood if we were not a in a rent stabilized apartment. The rent for non-stabilized apartments in our building are going for $10,000/month rent! How many people can really afford that? What Moss does so clearly, with an impressive amount of research, is to explain how these changes have happened all through the city. I did not know of all of the political and corporate agreements and regulations which created this and reading this made me angry. Fortunately he concludes with directions and actions people can take. At times it was painful to read, but I couldn't put it down.

If you are into the NYC of: '70s punk, beat generation, Matta-Clark's anarchitecture, Patti Smith's "Just Kids", CBGB era, Chelsea Hotel era, Hubert Selby's "Last Exit To Brooklyn", Rogosin's "On The Bowery" ...this is the book for you.

A must for NYC fans

Brilliant read - an impassioned account of what's gone wrong with development in New York city over recent decades, and a desperate plea that what's left of what made it great might still be salvaged. Will change the way you look at cities forever - a must-read for anyone anywhere interested in the intersection of urban planning, culture, community... and filthy lucre.

I adore this book - the writing is excellent and evocative, re-creating a wonderful sense of the gritty, authentic heart and soul of my beloved New York City, which seems to disappear, bit by bit, each day

No Photos, not a single picture of the great small business that have closed over the years. I expected something else but I enjoyed it anyhow.