New York in the late 19th-century never registered on anyone's mind as a rival to London or Paris. But in the first two decades of the new century, it established itself as a pre-eminent metropolis for Europeans as well as Americans, an emblem of onrushing modernity which, for some, surpassed even Paris. 'More than any other city in the world it is the fullest expression of our modern age,' contended the cosmopolitan exile Leon Trotsky, who bided his time there for a few months in 1917. New York City had become a subject in its own right - newsworthy, sensational, visually entrancing.

LRB 3 October 1996 | PDF Download