Difficult City

West 110th

"New York was a difficult city, far too rich in the ugly, the absurd, the monstrous, the hideous, and the unbearable. Everything capable of being exaggerated or distorted, was."
Mark Helprin, Winter's Tale

Episodes of Glory

Saint Patrick's Cathedral

"The streets of New York and some wards of its venerable institutions were packed with people who, despite being entirely forsaken, had episodes of glory that made the career of Alexander the Great seem like a day in the life of a file clerk."
Mark Helprin, Winter's Tale

Unsurpassed

Sheep Meadow

"A great city is nothing more than a portrait of itself, and yet when all is said and done, its arsenals of scenes and images are part of a deeply moving plan. As a book in which to read this plan, New York is unsurpassed. For the whole world has poured its heart into the city by the Palisades, and made it far better than it ever had any right to be."
Mark Helprin, Winter's Tale