Book
New York
The novel traces New York from the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam to the early twenty-first century through families drawn from successive waves of migration. Merchants, enslaved people, soldiers, financiers and labourers confront revolution, civil war, industrial growth, class conflict and the city's transformation into a global metropolis. Family inheritance and social mobility connect the city's colonial beginnings with its modern identity.
The family structure allows the novel to contrast inherited privilege with successive forms of migration and labour. Dutch merchants, revolutionary households, immigrant communities and later financiers occupy the same city while understanding opportunity in very different ways. New York’s growth is shown as cumulative, with each period leaving streets, fortunes and social divisions that later generations inherit.
Historical Periods
Genres
Historical people
More from this period
5 more top-rated novels about American Revolutionary War
Ranked by rating and voting volume; books already shown on this page are omitted.
More from this period
5 more top-rated novels about Great Depression
Ranked by rating and voting volume; books already shown on this page are omitted.
More from this period
5 more top-rated novels about American Civil War
Ranked by rating and voting volume; books already shown on this page are omitted.
More by the author
Other books by Edward Rutherfurd
Discover more
Authors similar to Edward Rutherfurd
Recommended from shared genres and periods.
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
55 books
Ken Follett
16 books
Gilbert Morris
104 books
Christopher Nicole
49 books