A richly detailed and lively account of a community victory against an unscrupulous real estate mogul.
The inside story of a New York community’s fight against the Trump Organization.
The subject of Robinson’s book is “Television City,” a 1985 proposal made by real estate mogul Donald Trump to turn the abandoned Penn Central Railyard on the Hudson River into a massive, 18.5 million square-foot building project that would feature luxury apartments, acres of parking, a lavish shopping mall, and the world’s tallest building as its centerpiece. The author, then a young architect, was outraged by this plan, which would have completely swamped the local communities. He banded together with local lawyers, journalists, artists, and civic preservationists in order to wage what he calls a “turf war” to thwart the Television City plan. (“Turf is a hard-wired connection,” he writes, “it is our home ground, personal territory, sphere of influence … its emotional value is determined by its qualities to sustain life, confer status, or provide security.”) With plenty of detail and long quotes from contemporary documents (the clash was widely reported, month after month), Robison tells the story of the coalition that fought against the development and of the allies they enlisted among activists—like Richard Kahan—and politicians, including New York mayor David Dinkins. He follows the story to the unpredictable victory the activists won against Television City, which eventually became the largely residential Riverside South area. Throughout all of this, the author works the minor miracle of turning largely procedural real estate wrangling into gripping reading. Robinson compellingly details how the Trump Organization swamped the city agencies with superfluous litigation and complained that the American Institute of Architects’ report against Television City was an unfair witch hunt—and how the community, alarmed by “a litany of the unacceptable environmental and social impacts” that Television City would unleash on the West Side, won in the end.
A richly detailed and lively account of a community victory against an unscrupulous real estate mogul.Pub Date: Sept. 25, 2024
ISBN: 9781665763523
Page Count: 326
Publisher: Archway Publishing
Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.
Words that made a nation.
Isaacson is known for expansive biographies of great thinkers (and Elon Musk), but here he pens a succinct, stimulating commentary on the Founding Fathers’ ode to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” His close reading of the Declaration of Independence’s second sentence, published to mark the 250th anniversary of the document’s adoption, doesn’t downplay its “moral contradiction.” Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people yet called slavery “a cruel war against human nature” in his first draft of the Declaration. All but 15 of the document’s 56 signers owned enslaved people. While the sentence in question asserted “all men are created equal” and possess “unalienable rights,” the Founders “consciously and intentionally” excluded women, Native Americans, and enslaved people. And yet the sentence is powerful, Isaacson writes, because it names a young nation’s “aspirations.” He mounts a solid defense of what ought to be shared goals, among them economic fairness, “moral compassion,” and a willingness to compromise. “Democracy depends on this,” he writes. Isaacson is excellent when explaining how Enlightenment intellectuals abroad influenced the founders. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Declaration’s “five-person drafting committee,” stayed in David Hume’s home for a month in the early 1770s, “discussing ideas of natural rights” with the Scottish philosopher. Also strong is Isaacson’s discussion of the “edits and tweaks” made to Jefferson’s draft. As recommended by Franklin and others, the changes were substantial, leaving Jefferson “distraught.” Franklin, who emerges as the book’s hero, helped establish municipal services, founded a library, and encouraged religious diversity—the kind of civic-mindedness that we could use more of today, Isaacson reminds us.
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781982181314
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A familiar format, but a timely reminder that cities are made up of individuals, each with their own stories.
Portraits in a post-pandemic world.
After the Covid-19 lockdowns left New York City’s streets empty, many claimed that the city was “gone forever.” It was those words that inspired Stanton, whose previous collections include Humans of New York (2013), Humans of New York: Stories (2015), and Humans (2020), to return to the well once more for a new love letter to the city’s humanity and diversity. Beautifully laid out in hardcover with crisp, bright images, each portrait of a New Yorker is accompanied by sparse but potent quotes from Stanton’s interviews with his subjects. Early in the book, the author sequences three portraits—a couple laughing, then looking serious, then the woman with tears in her eyes—as they recount the arc of their relationship, transforming each emotional beat of their story into an affecting visual narrative. In another, an unhoused man sits on the street, his husky eating out of his hand. The caption: “I’m a late bloomer.” Though the pandemic isn’t mentioned often, Stanton focuses much of the book on optimistic stories of the post-pandemic era. Among the most notable profiles is Myles Smutney, founder of the Free Store Project, whose story of reclaiming boarded‑up buildings during the lockdowns speaks to the city’s resilience. In reusing the same formula from his previous books, the author confirms his thesis: New York isn’t going anywhere. As he writes in his lyrical prologue, “Just as one might dive among coral reefs to marvel at nature, one can come to New York City to marvel at humanity.” The book’s optimism paints New York as a city where diverse lives converge in moments of beauty, joy, and collective hope.
A familiar format, but a timely reminder that cities are made up of individuals, each with their own stories.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9781250277589
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Aug. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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