City on a Grid: How New York Became New York Paperback – Illustrated, April 4, 2017

This book suffers from what many of these mini-histories tend to: they don't have a lot to talk about with regards to the main topic, so it goes off on long jaunts about the background and life of ancillary characters who, in reality, had little or nothing to do with the topic. Once we get around to hearing about a person's business issues, their personal story, their travel, the size of their feet, we get excited about how important this person must have been in the process of creating the city on the grid, then their story ends with "he did or said something that was of minor importance" and then the book moves on. It isn't interesting or fun.

I am engrossed in this book. I thought I was fairly knowledgeable about NYC, but this is a whole different angle, if you will. Gerald Koeppel really alters your view of the city and provides fascinating stories about how the city has grown from "villages" to the grid. His voice is really entertaining, too--it's like being with a great tour guide, bringing it all to life for you.

Nobody knows about how New York became a gridded city. Gerard Koeppel gives us a vivid description of how it probably happened. More than that he makes a powerful argument for an alternate city plan than the grid. It is a wonderful book about how New York became New York.

I'm an infrequent reader of non-fiction, but having completed this book on New Year's eve I can't think of any book I've enjoyed as much in 2015. While the central story is engrossing with many more historical surprises than I expected, the author's frequent digressions are equally interesting and entertaining. The few but carefully-chosen illustrations beautifully augment the text, and several of the photographs are astonishing - who would have believed that streets were literally bulldozed through hills leaving early homes sitting precariously on newly-formed precipices. Only in New York!

This book reads like a rich history, travelog and thriller all in one. Deep and colorful, fascinating and full of surprises. While Koeppel has obviously done a tremendous amount of scholarly research, his prose is smooth and accessible and the result is a delightful page turner that will forever change the way you look at New York, America, and perhaps even yourself.

The overall story was very interesting. Following some of the city council/board meetings was a little confusing. A second reading would be required to get the story completely clear.

Excellent historical perspective on the foundation & creation of the NYC grid.

I am currently reading this book. The info in the book is amazing. It shows how NYC came to being the great city that it is. I read of a lot of facts about the City that I did not know about or ever read about before. A must have for anyone interested in NYC history

Easy to read, but feels like there should be more to it. There are many reproductions of plans, but no readable maps. For non-Manhattan people it’s almost impossible to follow. And there is no expression of how today’s city has learned to cope with the grid.

all fine

It's a pretty good read, but I would have liked some overlays of the maps shown, so as to indicate where the areas were that he was referring to. For example, the Common Lands could have been overlaid on some of the maps to show exactly where they were. Being a non-NY'er, I'm not completely familiar with the areas spoken of. Aside from that, good historical references & background for the eventual gridding of the city.Also, some of the very small maps could have been enlarged for clarity, for us non-natives.