The Gods of New York (Pre-order Aug 12, 2025)

The Gods of New York by Jonathan Mahler – A Riveting History of NYC's Most Defining Era

🏙️ A gripping portrait of New York City in the late 1980s—where Wall Street boomed, the streets burned, and the nation's future took shape.

From Pulitzer Prize finalist Jonathan Mahler comes The Gods of New York, a sweeping, kaleidoscopic narrative of four transformative years—1986 to 1989—that forever altered the soul of America’s most iconic city. As profits soared and power shifted, the forces of wealth, race, politics, and activism collided to reshape New York and foreshadow the divisions that would soon fracture the country.

On one side: record-breaking gains on Wall Street, the rise of celebrity developers, and a media-driven frenzy that glamorized excess. On the other: rising homelessness, the crack epidemic, the AIDS crisis, and explosive racial injustices.

Mahler brings this period vividly to life through pivotal events—Howard Beach, Black Monday, Tawana Brawley, ACT UP, the Central Park jogger case—and through the powerful figures who shaped them: Ed Koch, Al Sharpton, Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Spike Lee, and Larry Kramer. Each chapter unfolds with cinematic detail and penetrating insight, capturing a city at war with itself—and setting the stage for the national struggles to come.

📰 Richly reported social history with the urgency of a thriller
📽️ Features a cast of unforgettable real-life characters
📊 Explores the birth of modern inequality and media spectacle
💥 Connects NYC’s past to today’s national cultural divides

Perfect for readers of:
The Power Broker by Robert Caro, City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg, Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc, New York, New York, New York by Thomas Dyja

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