New York Stories: Landmark Writing from Four Decades of New York Magazine

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Random House Publishing Group, Sep 16, 2008 - Literary Collections - 624 pages
The magazine that is the city that is the world

Just in time for its fortieth anniversary, New York magazine presents a stunning collection of some of its best and most influential articles, stories that captured the spectacle, the turbulence, and the cultural realignments of the past four decades.

Covering subjects from “Radical Chic” to Gawker.com, written by some of the country’s most renowned authors, here are works that broke news, perfectly captured the moment, or set trends in motion. In New York Stories, Gloria Steinem (whose Ms. Magazine was introduced in New York) broaches the subject of women’s liberation; Tom Wolfe coins “The Me Decade”; and Steve Fishman piercingly portrays the unwanted martyrdom of the 9/11 widows. Cutting edge features that invented terms like “brat pack” and “grup”; profiles of defining cultural figures including Joe Namath, Truman Capote, and long-shot presidential candidate Bill Clinton; and reports that inspired the acclaimed movies Saturday Night Fever, GoodFellas, and Grey Gardens–all are included in this one-of-a-kind compilation.

The writers who chronicled the times that began with Nixon’s campaign and end with Obama’s are at their best in New York Stories. It’s an irresistible anthology from a magazine that, like the city itself, is still making stars, setting standards, and going strong.
 

Contents

That Party at Lennys
3
PETE HAMILL The Revolt of the White Lower Middle Class
47
ADAM STERNBERGH Up with Grups
58
GAEL GREENE How Not to Be Humiliated
74
DEBBIE NATHAN David and His Twentysix Roommates
82
GAIL SHEEHY The Secret of Grey Gardens
92
MICHAEL WOLFF The Price of Perfection
110
VANESSA GRIGORIADIS Everybody Sucks
120
NORA EPHRON Critics in the World of the Rising Soufflé
307
JOHN SIMON The Boo Taboo
321
GEORGE PLIMPTON If Youve Been Afraid to Go
331
STEVE FISHMAN The Dead Wives Club or Char in Love
346
GLORIA STEINEM After Black Power Womens Liberation
367
The Issue
374
ARIEL LEVY Female Chauvinist Pigs
388
EMILY NUSSBAUM Say Everything
400

JIMMY BRESLIN Namath All Night Long
139
CHRIS SMITH Comedy Isnt Funny
147
JOHN TAYLOR Hard to Be Rich
165
DAVID BLUM Hollywoods Brat Pack
183
SAM ANDERSON The Memory Addict
192
SUSAN BERMAN Bess Myerson Is One Tough Customer
206
The Death
216
NANCY JO SALES Woody and Me
234
JIMMY BRESLIN I Run to Win
241
PART THREE CULTURES SUB AND OTHERWISE
253
MARK JACOBSON NightShifting for the Hip Fleet
273
JAY MCINERNEY The Death of the Idea
284
GARY INDIANA One Brief Scuzzy Moment
297
JUDITH VIORST Swapping
416
TOM WOLFE The Me Decade
434
MICHAEL DALY The Crack in the Shield
459
ANTHONY HADENGUEST The Headmistress and
477
MARK JACOBSON The 2000anHour Woman
491
NICHOLAS PILEGGI Wiseguy
510
THE NATIONAL INTEREST
531
DAVID HALBERSTAM The Luck of Spiro Agnew
540
Who Is This Guy?
549
JOHN HEILEMANN The Meme Prisoner
555
JENNIFER SENIOR Dreaming of Obama
562
Copyright

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About the author (2008)

New York magazine began publishing in 1968.

Tom Wolfe is the author of a dozen books, among them such contemporary classics as The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, The Right Stuff, and The Bonfire of the Vanities. A native of Richmond, Virginia, he earned his BA at Washington and Lee University and a PhD in American studies at Yale. He lives in New York City.

Steve Fishman is a contributing writer who has written several of New York magazine's most notable stories.

John Homans served as executive editor of New York magazine for nearly twenty years.

Adam Moss has been New York magazine's editor in chief since 2004.

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