The Empire State: A History of New York

by New York State Historical Association, Paula Baker (Contribution by), Edward Countryman (Contribution by)

New York now has a new, comprehensive history book that chronicles the state through centuries of change. An illustrated volume, The Empire State begins in the early seventeenth century (when the region was still populated solely by Native Americans) and concludes at the year 2000, by which time people from all over the world had made the state their home. Throughout the book, politics, economics, culture, and social history all are emphasized, as are contributions made by ethnic groups and women.
The Empire State serves as a successor to A History of New York State, for many years the standard one-volume account of the region but today outdated and long out of print. Now students, scholars, and history enthusiasts will find thorough and fascinating coverage in The Empire State.

Genres: New York, History, Nonfiction

837 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2001

Reviews

[J.M. Hushour]

Project Read-a-History-of-Every-State-in-Order-of-Statehood #11

"Bloated" and "dense" are not necessarily negative attributes for a state of such rich complexity and global reach as NY, but with this 700+ page plus colossus, they are often the only descriptors. In fact, this massive book could easily be slimmed down considerably without the reader losing out on much. This is especially true for a lot of the colonial bits which tend to blur together. The Indian and Dutch get a nice treatment, but the earlier chapters get bogged down in historical minutiae that I can't even remember to describe to you. Much of the rest of the work is equally dense and detail driven. Your eyes will glaze over as you hurtle through the atomic doings of various state officials well into the 20th century. There are some nice bits: the Erie Canal, NY and abolition, the parts of the state that aren't NYC get some good attention throughout, decent bits on NY culture, and so on.
An array of scholars contributed, doled out chronological sections, though you won't really notice the difference in styles until you get to post-World War 2, easily the best and most readable part.
Verdict: not bad, but literally exhaustive and exhausting.

[Jeanette Durkin]

What a wonderful history book! It's filled with facts, tidbits of information, and stories!!

[Patrick]

Very detailed. A little dry at times, but interesting none the less.

[Korry Thorpe]

Very well written and informative book, although at over 700 pages reading it is a significant undertaking.