The marvelous story of one of New York City's most unique buildings

Critics hated it. The public feared it would fall over. Passersby were knocked down by the winds. But even before it was completed, the Flatiron Building had become an unforgettable part of New York City.

Alice Sparberg Alexiou chronicles not just the story of the building, but the heady times in which it was built. It was the dawn of the twentieth century, a time when Madison Square Park shifted from a promenade for rich women to one for gay prostitutes; when...