New York City: An Outsider's Inside View

How is it possible to approach a city like New York without falling back on old stereotypes, glossy pictures, and touristy routes? Is it possible without writing yet another “guide to the city”? Against all odds, New York City: An Outsider’s Inside View looks at the city with the informed eye of a historian and the innocent eye of an outsider ready and willing to catch the city off-guard. It is organized to lead the reader along paths that stay clear of the well-trodden ones. Mario Maffi treats his readers to new maps of an ever-present city, dotted with small museums; unknown underworlds; sounds, images, and words; villages in the city; bridges both real and metaphorical; the hidden or overlooked history; the past in the present. New York’s prismatic quality is enhanced by a narration that flows in a conversational style, is arranged around a highly personal point of view, and is sustained by a neat historical and cultural approach. New York City: An Outsider’s Inside View is more than a guide yet different from an essay—it is nothing short of an affectionate and nuanced portrait of a city in words.