How much do you actually know about New York City? Did you know they tried to anchor Zeppelins at the top of the Empire State Building? Or that the high-rent district of Park Avenue was once so dangerous it was called "Death Avenue"? Lively and comprehensive, Inside the Apple brings to life New York's fascinating past.

This narrative history of New York City is the first to offer practical walking tour know-how. Fast-paced but thorough, its bite-size chapters each focus on an event, person, or place of historical significance. Rich in anecdotes and illustrations, it whisks readers...

New York City experts James and Michelle Nevius explore the lives of two dozen iconic New Yorkers, including Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, Central Park architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, business titan JP Morgan, and music legend Bob Dylan. Beginning with the oldest building in NYC, a 1652 farmhouse in Brooklyn, and journeying all the way to the rebuilding of the World Trade Center, the book follows in the footsteps of notable New Yorkers across all five boroughs. How did the city help Abraham Lincoln win the presidency? Where in Manhattan did Edgar Allan Poe compose The...