Supreme City: How Jazz Age Manhattan Gave Birth to Modern America

by Donald L. Miller

While F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, Manhattan was transformed by jazz, night clubs, radio, skyscrapers, movies, and the ferocious energy of the 1920s, as this illuminating cultural history brilliantly demonstrates.

In four words--the capital of everything--Duke Ellington captured Manhattan during one of the most exciting and celebrated eras in our history: the Jazz Age. Radio, tabloid newspapers, and movies with sound appeared. The silver screen took over Times Square as Broadway became America's movie mecca. Tremendous new skyscrapers were built in Midtown in one of the greatest building booms in history.

Supreme City is the story of Manhattan's growth and transformation in the 1920s and the brilliant people behind it. Nearly all of the makers of modern Manhattan came from elsewhere: Walter Chrysler from the Kansas prairie; entertainment entrepreneur Florenz Ziegfeld from Chicago. William Paley, founder of the CBS radio network, was from Philadelphia, while his rival David Sarnoff, founder of NBC, was a Russian immigrant. Cosmetics queen Elizabeth Arden was Canadian and her rival, Helena Rubenstein, Polish. All of them had in common vaulting ambition and a desire to fulfill their dreams in New York. As mass communication emerged, the city moved from downtown to midtown through a series of engineering triumphs--Grand Central Terminal and the new and newly chic Park Avenue it created, the Holland Tunnel, and the modern skyscraper. In less than ten years Manhattan became the social, cultural, and commercial hub of the country. The 1920s was the Age of Jazz and the Age of Ambition.

Original in concept, deeply researched, and utterly fascinating, Supreme City transports readers to that time and to the city which outsiders embraced, in E.B. White's words, "with the intense excitement of first love."

Genres: History, Nonfiction, New York, Music, American History, Cities, The United States Of America

784 pages, Hardcover

First published May 6, 2014

About the author

Dr. Miller is the John Henry MacCracken Professor of History at Lafayette College and an expert on World War II, among other topics in American history. Three of his eight books are on WWII: D-Days in the Pacific (2005), the story of the American re-conquest of the Pacific from Imperial Japan; Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany (2006); and The Story of World War II (2001), all published by Simon & Schuster.

Reviews

[Jill H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a huge book that has put me behind in my reading schedule but it was worth every page of it. What a fascinating history of one of the world's most exciting times in one of the world's most exciting cities......the Jazz Age (1920's and early 30s) in New York City.

The author begins that history with the day the Gentleman Jimmy Walker became the popular playboy mayor of the city...people loved him because he ignored Prohibition and his romantic dalliances were grist for the gossip mill. But regardless of his faults, it was during this time that the city began changing into what we know today. The movement of business to mid-town, the relocation of factories and slaughterhouses across the river to New Jersey and the beginning of the age of the skyscraper.

This history is divided into five parts....Power and Politics; Crime and Prohibition; The Making of Modern Manhattan; Bringing In The Future: and Jazz Age Icons. In these sections he covers everything from the Garment District to the Ziegfeld Follies. This is a wonderful book, informative, and beautifully written even if it does end rather abruptly. Highly recommended.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well documented and highly readable social-political history of a key period in New York City's history - the 1920s. The reader meets the fascinating characters who helped make New York the powerful force it has become in our nation and our cultural history. This book effectively straddles academic and popular history and provides an interesting portrait of Jazz era NYC.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of the 33 people on Miller's "Cast of Characters" at the beginning of the book, only 7 were actually born in NYC. Two more were born in New York State. 14 were from other states. 10 were from other countries. In one of the epigraphs to the book, Miller quotes E.B. White saying that there are three New Yorks--the one of the person born here, the one of the person commuting here and the one who was born somewhere else and comes to New York "in quest of something." "Of these three trembling cities the greatest is the last--the city of final destination, the city that is the goal. It is this third city that accounts for New York's high-strung disposition, its poetical deportment, its dedication to the arts, and its incomparable achievements."

This the tale of those cities--from cosmetic queens to nightclubs, from skyscrapers to newspapers, Miller's New York is wonderfully evocative and complete. It is amazing how he keeps the book together even as he moves from subject to subject, from person to person.

Worth reading for anyone who loves NY or who just loves cities.

[Brian Eshleman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is long, but its length is in the service of being comprehensive. The reader really breathes the air of that time of possibility with the figures the author profiles, is at their elbow as they make the crucial and risky decisions which bit by bit constructed the modern age.

[Tawney · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book compliments of Simon & Schuster through the Goodreads First Reads program.

Miller began research on a history of New York City between the World Wars, but found himself drawn to the story of Midtown Manhattan in the Twenties. Quite a story it is. There were big changes in so many areas of business and culture that affected the entire country with New York leading the way.

Some readers may find the very beginning of the book slow going as Miller explains the workings of New York politics, both Tammany Hall and the Republicans, but it is good background to understanding other sections of the book. Politics played a large role in Prohibition which, in turn, had a major part in the changing attitudes of the public. Radio needed both technology and content and business set about providing both. Sports and entertainment needed promoters, and the reporters and news outlets to spread the word. The book delves into these and many other subjects, explaining how they touched and intermingled with each other, just as the personalities interacted. Many of these people were stories unto themselves, most very driven, but not all of them exactly disciplined. It all makes for a really good read. I have not done justice to this book. It is very well done.

There is a map of the Midtown region with the the locations of places covered in the book. It has an extensive bibliography and notes as well as a good index. I appreciate that a lot.

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this unusual book, the author attempts to create a mosaic of NYC in the 1920s. Instead of tiles, Miller fashions his work from numerous short biographies of the individuals behind many of the era's most notable institutions and happenings. In other words, he selects a multitude of the decade's important events, buildings, and businesses--e.g., the Dempsey-Tunney fights, Grand Central Terminal, and Bergdorf Goodman--and then gives a short bio of the personage(s) behind each. This approach is generally entertaining, but does not create a clear overall image. One sees the trees, but not really the forest.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

If Miller is correct (...and I think he is!) New York is the modern Rome, and all roads have led FROM her, starting in the 1920s! Thus wonderful, complex books illustrates the complex jigsaw puzzle that is and was NYC and how that hothouse environment fostered change is everything from business to jazz to politics to literature to...I HIGHLY recommend this work to anyone curious about 20th Century America in all its diversity!

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The richest city in the richest country in the world, the Great War had displaced London’s financial capital to New York. The city was already self-sufficient through mostly real estate tax, and real estate speculation and the economy of building kept the city financially strong and ever-growing. Probably my favorite part of the book was about Vanderbilt’s history with the city’s trains, and the eventual moving of the trains to an electrified underground, which was cleaner, easier to repair, and allowed for a building boom above ground where there had previously been 16 blocks of railyard. From that point onward, there was a midtown building boom (including skyscraper wars!) that probably had no rival until the 21st century in Asia.

The author delves into the personalities who reconfigured the area, including William J. Wilgus (engineer of the New York Central train lines), the two men behind the gem of all skyscrapers Walter P. Chrysler and architect Willam Van Alen, developer Benjamin Winter (who bought and demolished the great mansions of 5th Ave),
Anne Vanderbilt and Anne Morgan fled 5th Ave mansion to revitalize Sutton Place as a well-heeled Sapphic enclave, Fred F. French (developer of utopian skyscraper development Tudor City, and proponent of small share investment in his vertically integrated construction firm, which ensured high quality production and a guaranteed profit for investors), and Samuel “Roxy” Rothafel (the visionary exhibitor who pioneered lavish presentations of silent films, including movie palaces and full orchestras, and who also became a radio personality in the 1930s), and Clifford Holland, who built the tunnel that allowed trucks in and out of the city, which began the de-industrialization of Manhattan.

Change was afoot in all places in society. Women became comfortable going out without male escorts. The rich gave up their mansions on 5th Ave to live in Park Ave apartment houses. Much of the social life in the 1920s was spent in active opposition to Prohibition, which New Yorkers often felt was an edict from small-town hicks trying to tell them what to do. The politicians were not particularly supportive of it, and enforcement was less than half-hearted. One of the stellar personalities the author introduced to me was Texas Guinan, a former vaudevillian who became perhaps the greatest speakeasy/nightclub proprietor on her day. Boundaries collapsed in the 1920s, and in New York there was a new breed of second generation Americans on the rise, whose parents were among the great huddled masses of the late 19th century. The author points out that in the same year that a Russian Jewish immigrant from the Lower East Side, Irving Berlin, married a Long Island society girl, the name Cohen surpassed Smith as the most common name in the New York City phone book.

The first half of this book greatly expanded my knowledge of Manhattan, as it explained in great detail how it developed in the early 20th century, particularly with the building boom in the midtown area, with its development of the transportation system we recognize today, in addition to the cultural mecca it became for theatre, broadcasting, and writing of all kinds. I apprecieted the biographical sketches of Duke Ellington and Jack Dempsey the most. However, as the book went on, it outstayed its welcome. The level of detail that I appreciated in the beginning became overkill by the end. I probably could have done with much less on Florenz Ziegfield, William Paley, and the world of publishing. In the beginning, once the book got past mayor Jimmy Walker, I could see how the larger than life characters with grand ambitions did set the tone for the modern American city, as the book’s title suggests. In the second half of the book, I felt that the author was being too thorough in trying to represent all areas of American culture. It became encyclopedic, and not in the good way.

[Jeremy Silverman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've lived in Manhattan and Brooklyn since 1978 and New York City has been my center of gravity even during my childhood in a small suburban town. Although it focuses on a much earlier era than my own, this book does a fine job of conveying the excitement and allure of the city that I felt especially in my early years here, but continue to experience to this day. Here is a widescreen portrait of Manhattan in the 1920s primarily through detailed profiles of a broad assortment of figures who were making their mark on the city during those years. Miller describes lives of NYC politicians, bootleggers, gamblers, nightclub owners, architects, real estate moguls, journalists, publishers, radio broadcasters, sports figures and on and on. While there is less focused attention on common folk, he does manage to convey a feeling for life among those who are not moving and shaking the city as well. Miller is sometimes a tad repetitious - of the myriad of characters he includes in the book, he typically starts with a fairly extensive initial overview. Typically, Miller is only getting started. He'll then go back and tell you much more about the person, including a retread of the incidents that he'd earlier related at the start. Many times this worked for me, but sometimes it felt like much information that I wanted and repetitious. Nevertheless, the writing is interesting and lively. Among the many high points for me, was his discussion of the men who worked on building the skyscrapers that were going up all around the city, including the Mohawk Indians who traveled down from their homes and families in Canada. While not always drawing the lines explicitly, it was easy to see the basis for Miller's subtitle; so many of the changes and innovations that took place first in New York at that time readily radiated outward to then transform much of the country.

[Antonio Nunez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Donald Miller believes that New York’s high point came during the 1920s, probably around 1927, a date that pops up very often in “Supreme City: How Jazz Age Manhattan Gave Birth to Modern America”. Thus, the book has something in common with Bryson’s “One Summer”, particularly the Lindbergh ticker tape parade, or the murder of Albert Snyder by his wife and her lover, and the Ruth 1927 Yankee season. Miller shows that at no other time during NYC’s history more skyscrapers or cross-river bridges built. At no other time was it more central in fashion and retail, popular culture, sports, science, or literature than in the Jazz Age. He begins with the wonderful history of Jimmy Walker, probably the most popular mayor in the city’s history, a man that seemed to incarnate both the best and the worst in the city: he had his finger on the city’s pulse and partook of all its pleasures. He was a man about town, a dandy, a smart and likable man (much more than his famed Republican successor, Fiorello La Guardia), but also a Tammany Hall product, a heavy drinker (when asked if he thought Prohibition would ever end, he replied: “probably, if it ever gets started), a sexual predator, and he was also corrupt. A great builder and profligate spender, he thought the good times would continue to roll, and was brought down, like other great figures of the age (such as impresario Flo Ziegfeld, writer Francis Scott Fitzgerald, builder Fred F. French and publisher Horace Liveright) by the Great Depression. This is an undercurrent: in these extraordinary times (1924-1929) it seemed that if you were talented and ambitious in New York you could never spend enough to go broke: there was always more money. Here they was excess that would not be seen in the Big Apple until our days.

Miller uses Walker’s opposition to Prohibition as a launching pad to review criminality and from speakeasies he discourses on night life in Manhattan. Then he refers to great builders (he has great stories about the Chrysler Building, truly the Jazz Age in stone and steel), large department stores (with excursions to the cosmetics and fashion industries: great rivalry between Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein), then the beginnings of commercial radio with the fantastic lives of rivals David Sarnoff and William Paley. This is a stepping stone to the later TV age and to the newspaper industry and the advent of mass culture. Perhaps the heart of the book is in the lives of the great athletes: Jack Dempsey and Babe Ruth: both achieved magnificent comebacks in the 1920s. The descriptions of Dempsey’s battles (for the was a fighter, not a boxer) with Charpentier, Firpo and Tunney, and of Ruth’s golden 1927 season were deeply moving. There was no other time when in baseball you would have in the same team titans like Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Ty Cobb. Then Miller tells the story of the George Washington Bridge, a project so brutal that it killed two of its chief engineers and several great architects. At this time a person could become a world-class architect or engineer without graduating from college, by learning on the job. He ends with the stories of Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington and the Cotton Club, the Great Ziegfeld, Tin Pan Alley and the young men who remade a formerly genteel (and febrile) business: publishing. Here, even top players like William Randolph Hearst, Gloria Swanson, JP Morgan [but not Anne Morgan] or Otto Kahn become bit players. The book ends with the harsh winds of the 1930s, and how they killed off some of the key players of the 1920s. He does show that the modern world, characterized by mass media, pop culture, the car and manifold home appliances did arise in New York during the 1920s. He barely mentions comics (as part of the appeal of tabloid newspapers), but they also arose in New York, mostly by the work of Jewish creators and artists. It is remarkable how that in this period New York was both the largest Jewish and Black city in the world. This convergence of many marginalized people in a small space led to all sorts of encounters, which resulted in a spur of creativity and achievement rarely seen before or since.

I love reading about the great cities, and in the 20th century there was none greater than New York. Miller makes a good case that top New York, peak New York, *Supreme* New York, came about in the Jazz Age; that the convergence of money, talent and taste that has always distinguished the City never before and never again reached the heights it did then, when the liquor was strong, the music was hot, the buildings were tall and the women were sultry and lovely.

[DW Rowlands · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really did enjoy this book, but I have to admit that I was a little disappointed that I didn't feel like it quite justified the claim in its subtitle. The book seemed more like a collection of different short histories than one work with a single thesis, and it didn't really seem to even state, little say try to prove the thesis that Jazz Age Manhattan was responsible for "modern America."

That disclaimer out of the way, I really did like this book. Many of the stories Miller told about New York in the 1920's were things I had never heard about before, such as the story of how Simon and Schuster and Horace Liveright revolutionized American publishing, or the history of the early days of radio. Others, such as Texas Guinan's nightclubs, were something I would never have thought of as something to read about on its own. But Miller makes all the topics he brings up, well-known and not, quite interesting, even if the selection of topics sometimes seems a little arbitrary.

[NancyKay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A supreme story, excellently told. Especially for a New Yorker who possesses only general information about such topics as why there's so many skyscrapers around Grand Central, that boxing and musical comedy both came into their own in the 192os along with movies and tabloid newspapers and radio, this book tells amazing stories and succinct biographies of the great movers and shakers who made NYC into it's 20th century self. Architecture, sport, publishing, the Lindbergh solo flight, Prohibition, the rise and fall of Mayor Jimmy Walker, the genesis of Tudor City, the design and building of bridges and tunnels, and much more are brought to life, with nary a dull passage.

[Noemi Proietti · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for anyone who loves New York, or just the 20s, Supreme City recounts how New York came to be the city it is today. Well-written and very informative, the book gives you an account of the events and characters that shaped New York. It gives detailed information about the people that in the 20s went to New York searching for fortune and power because, as Duke Ellington said, "The world revolves around New York".

[Lawrence Prabhakar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A real tour de force. So much of what modern America and modern Manhattan are today started in the 20's. From skyscrapers to fashion to radio and TV networks to modern newspaper and literary publishing, they sprouted from this era, on this island. I learned so much from this book and for a history novel it was an easy read. Well written and well researched. Be warned, 582 pages. But it is well worth it.

[Eline Maxwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this book rather than read it, and it made the difference between finishing it and putting it aside for chapters I probably would have quit over. Listening to it also allows each chapter to be an individual story. It was the era in which my grandparents were young, the years in which my mother and uncle were born, and it was fun imagining them as part of the hustle and bustle of so much change.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating history of a very specific time and place - 1920's Manhattan. The Jazz Age; the period between WWI and the Depression when the midtown section became the cultural and financial capital of the world.

[Bart · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you've ever wondered how Grand Central got built, how Park Avenue went from being a polluted soot-filled open railway to the most exclusive residential street in the country, why New York's hockey team is named after the Texas Rangers, why it's called Radio City and who came up with the Rockettes, anyway, this book might be up your alley. Some folks you'll meet along the way:

- Mayor Jimmy Walker, a young party-loving Tammany Hall politician who got taken down by a corruption scandal
- Texas Guinan, a former silent movie star who opened up speakeasy clubs during Prohibition, as well as the mobsters who supplied her (and how they got the booze in the city in the first place)
- Athletes like Babe Ruth and Joe Dempsey, and the promoters who made them famous
- Showbiz folks like Duke Ellington, radio stars, media moguls, theater builders, etc
- Entrepreneurs like Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein
- The folks who built the bridges, tunnels, and subways in this city

It's a pretty fast and easy read, not nearly as boring as a lot of history books can be. But it is still a hefty tome at about 600 pages, and focuses mostly on midtown -- for a book about Manhattan we don't hear a lot about downtown, the Village, Chinatown, Little Italy, Harlem, etc. We don't really get anything in the way of what it was like for the average New Yorker, or how women, immigrants, local New Yorkers, queer people, Black people, etc, navigated the city (except that the subways were often over-crowded, which I'm sure you'll find shocking to learn). It also talks a LOT about the various skyscrapers and buildings that went up during this time, so if you're not interested in architecture, you'll find this book tough sledding.

The biggest oversight is the lack of attention paid to Wall Street, especially since we know how this story ends -- the Jazz Age ended with a resounding crash but the book barely covers anything about that (I guess you can just read Andrew Ross Sorkin's newest book, 1929, if you're interested in that history). Still, overall, a really solid book for lovers of NYC, the Jazz Age, and the people who made it what it was.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a bit focused on "big men" during the first part of the 20th century, mostly telling a somewhat disjointed tale of the development of many of the largest industries in New York through biography. While I understand this desire to do this, I think that, philosophically, the focus on the personal stories of some of the most unusual (i.e. successful, with all the suvivor bias that implies) people of an age is probably misleading in many ways. For example, nearly every one of the men in this book was basically openly cheating on his wife - is that supposed to reflect the culture at large, or just the specific morays and privileges of the ultra-rich and powerful? The book's arrangement is reminiscent of Anne Applebaum's Iron Curtain in that it is organized by topic rather than chronologically, but Applebaum does a much better job of depersonalizing the story and on focusing on the actual developments on the ground and how it affected society as a whole. By comparison, Supreme City is a series of tabloid stories dressed up to look like history.

As is nearly always the case, the book itself does not live up to its subtitle. There is not even a token effort to connect Jazz Age Manhattan to Modern America, and I highly doubt that it has any special claim there compared to the Industrial Revolution or the post-war era. Obviously each era leaves its legacy on the future, and much of what was first developed in the Jazz Age is still around. Hard to argue against a subtitle that is not actually brought up in the book at all, though.

Of course, with all this criticism out of the way, this does seem like a well-researched, sprawling history of business (and some politics) in early 20th-century New York. There were many interesting facts and tidbits contained herein. If you are the sort who likes in-depth histories of Manhattan and/or the life stories of entrepreneurs, you'd probably enjoy this.

3.5 of 5 stars

[Brennan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read for anyone who wanted to get a better sense of life prior to the depression in NYC. The book covers everything from the birth of radio, the transition of theater to film, building construction as the skyscrapers were built, and major sports figures e.g. Jack Dempsey, Babe Ruth.

The book seems to have a progression that's made to feel like you're walking through the crowd of famous figures. Each section of the book has a central figure, and surrounding them some lesser, and minor figures. All three tiers get woven into succeeding chapters and it's easy to get lost remembering who they were talking about (esp. on picking the book back up), but overall it's comprehensive.

I'd have given the book a 4.5 if I had the option. I docked it a half-star because it wasn't exactly clear why figures were chosen, or what connections they really had. This is likely because Miller aimed to make it a picture of the city then, as if you'd walked in, stayed for the weekend, and left. Still, it can occasionally feel meandering. Aside from this, it's not a quick read. It's not dense, I don't think you'd need a character chart or an encyclopedia knowledge of the time to enjoy the book, but there are shorter reads if you're just looking for the gist of the times.

If you're interested in cities, politics, history, or the evolution of America, this is worth your time. Assuming you have the time.

[George Crofts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Supreme city is about the city of New York mostly during the period between 1920 and 1930.

my family just went to see the lion King musical and one of the things that I struck me were the elements of New York City theater and vaudeville.
For example two of the characters who provide comic relief, have New York City accents. at one point, one made an exclamation “oyi” going back to yiddish theater.

New York City did not conform to Prohibition, as a result it became a watering hole for the rest of the country. the city itself did not enforce prohibition although the feds tried to.

In New York City during Prohibition the mob provided the establishments offering top quality food and entertainment.

The book describes in detail the buildings that were put up after the Civil War and continuing into the 1920s, particularly the development of Grand Central station and surroundings. By the 1920’s the factories, warehouses, and stockyards on the West Side made way the high rises and skyscrapers.

By that time the only manufacturing work that took place in New York City was the women’s garment industry, This is because having production right next to the to the fashion headquarters, allowed rapid changes to keep up with women’s fashion.
The work that remained was intellectual work: finance, real estate, entertainment, music, jazz theater, news papers and book publishing.


A great snapshot of an age not too far removed from our times.

[Kathy Allard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't love or feel really excited about any book I read in the first 11 months of 2019, so I chose this one to finish the year in the hopes it would be "the one," because nonfiction about New York City in the 1920s/early 1930s ticks all the boxes for me. Unfortunately this book wasn't it, and the audiobook is 29.5 hours!

When the topic was something I'm interested in (bootlegging, gangsters, publishing, theater), the book engaged me, but not due to the writing style, which is dry. With all the colorful characters the author wrote about, I expected to laugh more or be delighted by clever turns of phrase, but the few examples of the latter were mainly quoted from other sources.

For topics such as building skyscrapers, bridges or tunnels, listening was a chore. I also became bored with the author's use of the same format for each individual he profiles, and indeed the fact that the book is profiles of individuals. I would have preferred a mixture of people, places, trends, etc instead of just people, who were almost all white males. (I realize it was their world at the time.)

At several points while listening to this, I wondered if a Bowery Boys podcast on the same person would be livelier and more engaging, and I'm pretty sure the answer is hell yes.

Here's to making better choices in 2020!

[Frank McAdam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book's theme is the development of midtown Manhattan as the cultural and commercial center of New York City during the 1920's. In telling the story, however, it necessarily deals with other parts of Manhattan and so ends up being more a selective history of the city itself during the Roaring '20's, probably the most turbulent period in New York's history. The most interesting parts are those at the beginning that deal with Prohibition gangsters and politicians and those at the end that discuss the era's cultural icons, such as Duke Ellington and publisher Horace Liveright. The intervening sections dealing with midtown real estate development and the building of the area's infrastructure are the weakest, at least for those without a compelling interest in financial matters. (Who else needs an entire chapter devoted to so bland a businessman as Fred French?) In the end, the book does manage to capture some of the color and boundless optimism that characterized the decade. I'd recommend it most to those New Yorkers who have a love for their city's history and enjoy a good dose of nostalgia.

[Lauren Hiebner · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story of New York City becoming modern in the decade of the 1920s. Within this context are fascinating stories of politics, gangsters, immigrants, prohibition, parades, subways, skyscrapers, Broadway shows, the cosmetics industry, the publishing industry, the Chrysler building, Times Square, the radio industry, the newspaper business, the motion picture industry, the early TV industry, professional sports such as boxing and baseball, Jazz, construction of the New Holland Tunnel and the GW Bridge, and many more. In these categories are the many characters that make up not only New York lore and history but were leaders in their field in the U.S. Miller does an excellent job of taking the reader inside each of these areas and connecting them to New York and it’s economic, social, and political development in the 1920s and beyond. After reading this, one feels that you lived through the decade of the 20s when New York was transformed into a modern city and became the cultural, economic center of the U.S. A good read.

[HJK44 · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a spectacular book! The book is thoroughly researched, immensely informative, wildly entertaining, and extensively illuminating. Virtually every aspect of Manhattan life in the 1920s is covered with zest and gusto. Also, though squarely and solely rooted in the Jazz Age 20s, this book really helped me understand how New York unfolded throughout the 20th century, particularly as someone who grew up in the New York area in the late 60s, 70s, and early 80s.

Lastly, I may be a bit biased because I had the privilege of attending Lafayette College and I took a few classes with Professor Miller. He was as wonderful a teacher as he is a writer. He had an immense enthusiasm, passion, and curiosity which he imbued in me and no doubt hundreds if not thousands of my fellow students over the years. Bravo, Professor Miller!

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a lot, although it doesn't match the majestic sweep of Miller's history of early Chicago, "City of the Century." It's primarily a look at the personalities who inhabited NYC in the Jazz Age like Jimmy Walker, Paley, Ziegfeld, and others, which makes it more like a patchwork quilt than a sustained narrative. And while each person is fascinating in his or her own right, I never got a feel for the Jazz Age itself and therefore missed the idea of how it "gave birth" to modern America. I could see elements in each portrait, but felt let down at the end.
Still, Miller's writing is clear and his portraits economically touch on the high points of each person's influence.

[Grindy Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

A damn good read, though when the title refers to "Manhattan" it means Midtown, as that's what the focus is on, so anyone looking for stories about Harlem or Wall Street or Little Italy or Central Park will be disappointed. The author tells with skill the stories of people we know little about but are indeed figures of historical import, especially the era's architects. The only flaw is including some figures (William Paley, Duke Ellington, Babe Ruth) who have been covered as nauseam elsewhere though without the untold dirt and anecdotes dug up on the other characters.

[Melissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was enjoying Supreme City for a minute. I found the details of the “big men” a little daunting and was trying to insert in my mind some of the women that would have inevitably been there the whole time. I stopped reading when he suggested Jimmy Walker cheated on his wife because she gained weight.
I am a 45 year old woman who is done with pandering to casual misogyny. Done.

[Frank Duke · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing. I was expecting a history of New York in the Jazz Age (1920s). What I got was less a history of a great city than a collection of vignettes of various people associated with New York during the time period. Some of these were fascinating and well-written -- others were very disappointing and seemed hurriedly written. All in all, a fairly uneven book.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well researched book about New York and the history of people and places there in the 1920's. One surprising thing I learned no matter how inconsequential was that Carly Simon's father was one of the founders of Simon and Schuster publishing House!

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fine history, well researched…it’s just too much. Heavy focus on architecture and skyscrapers, and that’s fine, but it seems disjointed when the book’s first quarter is politics and prohibition gangsterism. Then, it limps to end with theater and book publishing history.