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vii Contents Preface and Acknowledgments ix Abbreviations xiii Introduction: “Salvation on the East River”: How a Clever Editor Saw Jehovah’s Light 1  “Eloquent Reminders of Sailing and Shipbuilding”: How the Seaport and World Trade Center (Re)made Fulton Street 7  “The Kind of Civilized Vision That New Yorkers Are Not Supposed to Have”: How Historic Preservation Shaped Lower Manhattan’s Development 34  “Ships, the Heart of the Story”: How Tall Ships Became Big News 54  “Look at Our Waterfront! Just Look”: How Earth Day Boomed the Seaport 79  “A Million People Came Away Better Human Beings”: How the Past Mended the Present 97  “Shopping Is the Chief Cultural Activity in the United States”: How the Seaport Sold Its Soul 125  “They Tore Down Paradise, and Put Up a Shopping Mall”: How Speculators and Rouseketeers Created a Bubble 149  “The Museum Was Intellectually and Financially Bankrupt”: How the Seaport Fared after the Bubble Burst 179  “It’s Tough When You Have a Museum in a Mall”: How the Seaport (Almost) Succeeded 201  “A Ship Is a Hole in the Water into Which You Pour Money”: How Maritime Preservation (Almost) Won 233 viii Contents  “Sometimes You Just Can’t Get a Break”: How 9/11 Torpedoed the Seaport 259 Conclusion: “Nobody Knows That We’re Here”: What Happened to That Promised Salvation on the East River? 287 Notes 299 Index 357 About the Author 370 ...

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