Rebel City: A Guide to New York’s Wild Side

New York’s five boroughs tell a million human stories of revolution, rebellion, and resistance in this singular and timely guide to the city that never sleeps. 

Cities are multifaceted creatures and nowhere is that truer than in New York. Opulent, venal, frenetic, frivolous, full of hubris, it is also a city alive with stories of revolt, rebellion, iconoclasm, creativity, kindness, and transgression. It is the birthplace of vibrant progressive politics, historic organized labor movements, mutual care organizations, and radical ideas that not only thrived in their native soil but have traveled and flourished abroad. New York as the home of Stonewall and the Gay Liberation Movement, the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union ,of  Occupy Wall Street, of the Harlem Renaissance, Tin Pan Alley, Abstract Expressionism, of the Beat poets, the Living Theater, punk music, hip hop, and bebop! 

In this entertaining and easy-to-use guide to the city that never sleeps, readers are invited to soak up New York’s subversive history—the New York of  Frederick Douglass, Thomas Jefferson, Harriet Tubman, Giuseppe Garibaldi, Emma Goldman, Sacco and Vanzetti, Leon Trotsky, Langston Hughes, Walt Whitman, and popular movements the birthplaces of which still evoke a spirit of rebellion and resistance.  Some of the most powerful dissenting voices in American politics, art and literature found their voices in New York—among them, Angela Davis, Malcolm X, the Black Panthers, and the pioneers of countless musical revolutions and innovations. 

A Philosophy of Walking meets Atlas Obscura meets Patti Smith’s Just Kids, Rebel City also includes a comprehensive index that cross references NYC boroughs, locations, and locales with the unforgettable personalities that give life to this book. There’s also extensive bibliography for readers who want to discover more about New York’s rebel history. This is a unique, indispensable, informative, and entertaining guide to New York’s wild side—past, present, and future.