Gotham at War: A History of New York City from 1933 to 1945

by Mike Wallace

Overview

The culminating volume in the acclaimed Gotham series, Gotham at War delivers an unforgettable portrait of America's greatest city during history's most catastrophic conflict. Gotham at War unveils the history of New York and the Second World War, from isolationism and factionalism to crucible of the American effort and the Allied Cause in a total and global war. Kaleidoscopic and immersive, Gotham at War captures the full spectrum of New York and the war from every possible aspect-social, political, economic, and military. Even before the war had started street battles between New York's homegrown fascists and the workers' movement-allied with immigrants from all over the world and their children in the barrios of Gotham-played prelude. Set in the generation after race "scientists" based in the elite warrens of the Upper East Side championed and then imposed national immigration restriction, Gotham at War sees New Yorkers struggle to shake off the city's eugenic past. Between 1933 and 1945, the city wrestled with itself, starting from the rise of Hitler through isolationism and growing interventionism; through Pearl Harbor and a full-throated war effort, when millions of American soldiers and sailors and billions of tons of materiel passed through New York's waterfronts to the warfronts. Along the way Mike Wallace's saga traces the transformation of New York, embracing garment workers and skyscrapers; the subway and Wall Street; gangsters and idealists; pols and reformers; nightclubs and boardrooms; Nazi infiltrators and FBI gumshoes; magazines and movies; shuls and cathedrals; every neighborhood, every industry, and all the peoples of the city swept up in a world that had caught fire. Here is a portrait of a city and a war like no other. Gotham at War traces the transformation of New York from Depression-wracked mother of exiles to a front in the Second World War, and ultimately to the seat of the United Nations and a very contested "capital of the world."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199384532
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/27/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	30 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Mike Wallace is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Founder and Advisory Board Chair of the Gotham Center for New York City History. He is the co-author of Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History, and the author of Greater Gotham: A History of New York City from 1898 to 1919.

Table of Contents

NAZIS AND NEW YORK 1. Boycott 2. Brain Drain 3. Nazis in New York 4. A Fifth Column? 5. Kristallnacht 6. Emigres Arrive: Manhattan 7. Emigres Arrive: Williamsburg 8. Aliens and Enemies ITALIANS 9. Duce! Duce! 10. Italian Anti-Fascists 11. Hands off Ethiopia! 12. Ambling Alp v. Brown Bomber 13. "The Eagles of Rome Have Devoured the Lion of Judah" 14. Italians and Jews: 1938-1941 15. Louis v. Schmeling THE IRISH 16. The Waning of the Green 17. Catholic New York 18. Church Besieged 19. War in Spain 20. Viva La Quince Brigada! 21. Greens and Reds: The Transport Workers Union 22. Catholics v. "Communists" 23. Christian Front 24. Enter Spellman 25. Spellman Takes Command 26. The Cross and the Flag 27. Polonia ASIAN NEW YORK 28. Japanese New York 29. Chinese Gotham IN UNO PLURES 30. Pluralists 31. Culture Warrior 32. Building Brotherhood 33. Fêteing the Folks 34. Teaching Tolerance 35. Americans All 36. Immigrants All 37. Balladeers for Brotherhood 38. Common Ground STUDY WAR NO MORE 39. The Renunciator 40. Antiwarriors 41. Against War and Fascism 42. Peace Crusade 43. Unpopular Fronts 44. Spanish New Yorkers 45. Partisan Views 46. Anti-totalitarianism 47. Unpopular Front 48. Red Scare Lite 49. Spies 50. The Yanks Are Not Coming? FIGHTING LIBERALS 51. FDR: Common Defense and General Welfare 52. Moral Rearmament 53. Muscular Democracy 54. Playwrights and Poets 55. Reality Radio 56. Mars Invades New York 57. Winchell Calling to All Ships at Sea 58. Stern's Post, Dolly's Daily 59. PM 60. Brands from the Burning WALL STREET WARRIORS 61. Let's Make a Deal 62. Change Agent 63. The Veriest Roman 64. Bankers Balked 65. Council Counsel 66. Anglophiliacs 67. Intrepid 68. Aid the Allies! 69. Fifth Columnist 70. Fighting Liberals v. Wall Street Warriors 71. We Want Willkie! 72. War Hawks at Work 73. Martin, Barton, and Fish 74. Arsenal of Democracy 75. America First 76. Second Platoon 77. 007 and the Stork Club Detective 78. Down South American Way 79. You Go to War with the Capitalists You've Got GOTHAM GIRDS FOR WAR 80. Cash and Carry 81. Black Power 82. Illiberal Liberals 83. Battle of the Atlantic 84. Civilian Defender 85. La Guardia Third Term? UNDER THE GUN 86. Pearl Harbor 87. Turkey Shoot 88. Sabotage? 89. The Mob and the Military 90. Sabotage! 91. Aliens 92. Dissenters 93. "As Dark as Hitler's Heart" 94. Convoys 95. "New York at War" WAR PORT 96. Anchors Aweigh 97. Smaller War Plants SCIENCE IN THE CITY 98. R&D: Radar 99. R&D: Manhattan Project 100. The Anthropology of New York City SELLING THE WAR 101. "Any Bonds Today?" 102. "What This War Is All About" 103. Clashing Visions of Victory 104. Writers on Demand 105. War Songs 106. "Smashing Thru, Captain America Came Face to Face with Hitler . . ." HOME FRONT 107. Women at Work 108. Rosie and Charley 109. Wenches with Wrenches 110. Bad Moms 111. Controlling Consumption 112. Controlling Rents BLACKS 113. A White Folks War? 114. "Checkerboarding" Worksites 115. Penned In and Pissed Off 116. G.I. Jim Crow 117. Satyagraha in Madison Square Garden 118. Zoots 119. Clampdown 120. "Get the White Man! Get the White Man!" 121. Passing the Torch HOLOCAUST 122. Sounds of Distant Slaughter 123. Homeland? 124. Trouble at Home JEWS & BLACKS 125. Jews and Blacks 126. Fighting Prejudice 127. Politics 128. Housing 129. Jobs 130. Game Changer ON THE TOWN 131. Sex and the City 132. Night Clubs 133. The Voice 134. Bop 135. Rumbamania 136. Art of This Century 137. Book Boom 138. Broadway 139. Towards a Fashion-Industrial Complex 140. On the Town 141. The Theater at the Center of the World PLANNING THE POSTWAR CITY 142. Presenting the Future: a Public Plan 143. "Two Million Plans!" 144. Housing: The Specter of Suburbanization and the Battle against Blight 145. Rubber and Rails 146. Sea 147. Sky 148. Infrastructure 149. Washington or Wall Street? 150. Manufacturing: Tide Going Out or Tide Coming in? 151. Headquarters PLANNING THE POSTWAR NATION 152. Dueling Planners 153. Paging Dr. New Deal 154. Dr. New Deal: Call Only When Needed 155. Dr. New Deal: Wanted, Dead or Alive, Preferably Dead 156. Rightist Thrust . . . 157. Liberal Riposte 158. The Last Subway Series 159. Enter: "Red Menace" 160. Cue: Cold War 161. Dr. New Deal: Back in the Saddle PLANNING THE POSTWAR WORLD 162. New World a' Comin 163. An Empire of Free Trade 164. Racism & Imperialism 165. India 166. China 167. Puerto Rico 168. Uniting the Nations EPILOGS