THE GODS OF NEW YORK: Egotists, Idealists, Opportunists, and the Birth of the Modern City, 1986-1990 JONATHAN MAHLER Random House ( non...

The city boasted lively characters – from a young Donald Trump to the Rev Al Sharpton – and plenty of grim spectacle

Some of America’s most outlandish politicians also made their debuts in 1986-89

The back cover of this history of New York calls it “a real-life Bonfire of the Vanities”. Tom Wolfe’s bestselling 1987 novel about a bond trader who comes a cropper in a very serious way is also refe...

Some of America’s most outlandish politicians also made their debuts in 1986-89

The mayoral race of 1989, argues Jonathan Mahler in his new book, was the one that ushered in modern New York—and in 2025, its outlines are uncannily familiar.

A compelling portrait of the city argues that the ‘gladiatorial arena’ of egos in the late 1980s fractured its promise of a better life

New York has been many things throughout its history. As Jonathan Mahler recounts, during the 1980s the city underwent something of an identity crisis.

Author Jonathan Mahler joins Morning Joe to discuss his new book 'The Gods of New York: Egotists, Idealists, Opportunists, and the Birth of the Modern City: 1986-1990'.

The Gods of New York revisits the city’s turbulent late 1980s, charting how crime, race, spectacle, and sheer ambition reshaped the city

New York Times Magazine staff writer Mahler (The Challenge) provides an expansive yet fast-paced history of the final chaotic ye...