Browse Hierarchy HST6394: Gotham: The Making of New York City, 1825-2001

New York City is a paradox. It is the iconic American city, home to the Statue of Liberty, to Wall Street and the Empire State Building. Yet it is also a cosmopolitan place, a gateway for foreign people, new cultures and radical ideas. For many Americans who live beyond the city limits: New York is an alien place. This module explores the history of this extraordinary and contradictory city and its people. The module will cover: the city¿s physical expansion from the slums of lower Manhattan to Central Park and the rise of the skyscraper; the emergence of the city¿s elite and efforts to cope with poverty, disease and crime; and marginal groups, from European immigrants and African Americans, to gay subcultures and countercultures. Students will explore how, and with what consequences, new arrivals to Gotham made the city their home.