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Offers a thought-provoking perspective on the citys historical development and the continuing efforts to finish the place.
—New York Times, City Section

Bender has an omnivorous intellect, and, whether hes writing about Thomas Edison, the history of Washington Square, or modernist conceptions of the city, he has a knack for finding the telling anecdote and putting it in context. . . . This is a nuanced, convincing history, attuned to the difficulties and pleasures of city living.
—The New Yorker

Offers a thought-provoking perspective on the citys historical development and the continuing efforts to finish the place.— The New York Times

Benders essays are deeply engaged and committed to his project of reasserting a general public role for historians. . . . Many of the most arresting observations in this book derive, however, from close reading of particulars, notably the physical particulars and artistic representations of selected bits of New York City streetscape and architecture.
—The American Historical Review

One of the strengths of this book is the way it uses photographs and illustrations as integral parts of the argument. . . . A learned, thoughtful, and incisive analysis of metropolitan culture.
—The Journal of American History

Throughout American history, cities have been a powerful source of inspiration and energy, nourishing the spirit of invention and the world of intellect, and fueling movements for innovation and reform. In The Unfinished City, nationally renowned urban scholar Thomas Bender examines the source of Manhattans influence over American life.

The Unfinished City traces the history of New York from its humble regional beginnings to its present global eminence. Bender contends that the city took shape not only according to the grand designs of urban planners and business tycoons, but also in response to a welter of artistic visions, intellectual projects, and everyday demands of the millions of people who made the city home. Benders story of urban development ranges from the streets of Times Square to the workshops of Thomas Edison, from the paintings of Georgia OKeeffe to the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge.

In a tour that spans neighborhoods and centuries, The Unfinished City makes a powerful case for the enduring importance of cities in American life. For anyone who loves New York or values the limitless possibilities intrinsic in all cities, this book is an unparalleled guide to Manhattans past and present.

Thomas Bender is University Professor of the Humanities and Professor of History at New York University. He is the author of several books, including, most recently, A Nation Among Nations: Americas Place in World History.