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Nick Yablon

Nick Yablon

Professor of History and American Studies at the University of Iowa; historian specializing in American cultural history, urban space, and photography

Jul 22, 2026

18:34
Could you maybe pick out one or two photographs from each chapter and talk about what they depict so that our listeners can get a sense of what this book looks like? Let's start with the first chapter, which covers the Battery to 23rd Street.
18:48
Exactly.
18:48
Okay.
18:49
So, um, I'll take, um, one of the later photographs within that first, um, chapter.
18:55
Uh, and it's a depiction of, uh, two fashionable women walking, uh, walking down, uh, the West Side of Broadway.
19:03
It's around 21st Street.
19:06
Um, and they're well-dressed in the kind of respectable middle class style of the Edwardian period.

5 MINS LATER

24:21
And then in your third and final chapter, you go from 105th Street- Up to the wildflowers of Inwood in northern Manhattan
22:02
Let's move further uptown from Madison Square to 105th Street in the second chapter.
22:07
Okay, this is maybe a more banal photograph than the previous one.
22:12
And actually, part of my challenge in writing this book is to make very ordinary looking photographs.
22:17
Some of them are quite ordinary in their subject matter, trying to make them interesting.
22:22
So this is a depiction of an empty lot, in fact, an entire block that was empty without major buildings between 89th and 90th Street and between Broadway and West End Avenue.
22:37
And Hein is looking in from Broadway into this empty lot.
22:42
And in the middle of this big lot is a shanty, a humble shanty kind of surrounded by a sea of mud.
24:30
And then in your third and final chapter, you go from 105th Street up to the wildflowers of Inwood in Northern Manhattan.
21:20
Let's move further uptown from Madison Square to 105th Street in the second chapter.
21:26
Okay, this is maybe a more banal photograph than the previous one.
21:30
And actually, part of my challenge in writing this book is to make very ordinary looking photographs.
21:36
Some of them are quite ordinary in their subject matter, trying to make them interesting.
21:41
So this is a depiction of an empty lot, in fact, an entire block that was empty without major buildings between 89th and 90th Street and between Broadway and West End Avenue.
21:55
And Hein is looking in from Broadway into this empty lot.
22:00
And in the middle of this big lot is a shanty, a humble shanty, kind of surrounded by a sea of mud.
23:55
Yes.
18:58
Could you maybe pick out one or two photographs from each chapter and talk about what they depict so that our listeners can get a sense of what this book looks like? Let's start with the first chapter, which covers the Battery to
19:11
23rd Street.
19:12
Exactly.
19:12
Okay.
19:13
So I'll take... one of the later photographs within that first chapter.
19:20
And it's a depiction of two fashionable women walking, walking down the west side of Broadway, it's around 21st Street.
19:30
And they're well dressed in the kind of respectable middle class style of the Edwardian period.

5 MINS LATER

24:45
And then in your third and final chapter, you go from 105th Street up to the wildflowers of Inwood in northern Manhattan.
16:49
Could you maybe pick out one or two photographs from each chapter and talk about what they depict so that our listeners can get a sense of what this book looks like? Let's start with the first chapter, which covers the battery to 23rd Street.
17:03
Exactly.
17:03
Okay.
17:04
So I'll take... one of the later photographs within that first chapter.
17:11
And it's a depiction of two fashionable women walking, walking down the west side of Broadway, it's around 21st Street.
17:21
And they're well dressed in the kind of respectable middle class style of the Edwardian period.
17:26
So they have one has an elegant fitted jacket, if I remember right.

5 MINS LATER

22:36
And then in your third and final chapter, you go from 105th Street up to the wildflowers of Inwood in northern Manhattan.
18:28
Could you maybe pick out one or two photographs from each chapter and talk about what they depict so that our listeners can get a sense of what this book looks like? Let's start with the first chapter, which covers the battery to 23rd Street.
18:42
Exactly.
18:42
Okay.
18:43
So I'll take... one of the later photographs within that first chapter.
18:50
And it's a depiction of two fashionable women walking, walking down the west side of Broadway, it's around 21st Street.
19:00
And they're well dressed in the kind of respectable middle class style of the Edwardian period.
19:05
So they have one has an elegant fitted jacket, if I remember right.

5 MINS LATER

24:15
And then in your third and final chapter, you go from 105th Street up to the wildflowers of Inwood in northern Manhattan.
18:46
Could you maybe pick out one or two photographs from each chapter and talk about what they depict so that our listeners can get a sense of what this book looks like? Let's start with the first chapter, which covers the Battery to 23rd Street.
19:00
Exactly.
19:00
Okay.
19:01
So, um, I'll take, um, one of the later photographs within that first, um, chapter.
19:07
Uh, and it's a depiction of, uh, two fashionable women walking, uh, walking down, uh, the west side of Broadway.
19:15
It's around 21st Street.
19:17
Um, and they're well-dressed in the kind of respectable middle class style of the Edwardian period.

5 MINS LATER

24:33
And then in your third and final chapter, you go from 105th Street up to the wildflowers of Inwood in Northern Manhattan.

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