Manhattan '45

by Jan Morris

In 1945, Manhattan was poised on the brink of a glittering future. Standing at its pinnacle of cultural and economic power, it looked set to become ‘the supreme city of the Western world’ – in stark contrast to London, Paris and much of the rest of Europe, where the terrible consequences of war were still very much apparent.

Genres: History, Travel, New York, Nonfiction, Cities, World War II, American History

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Jan Morris was a British historian, author and travel writer. Morris was educated at Lancing College, West Sussex, and Christ Church, Oxford, but is Welsh by heritage and adoption. Before 1970 Morris published under her assigned birth name, "James ", and is known particularly for the Pax Britannica trilogy, a history of the British Empire, and for portraits of cities, notably Oxford, Venice, Trieste, Hong Kong, and New York City, and also wrote about Wales, Spanish history, and culture.

In 1949 Jan Morris married Elizabeth Tuckniss, the daughter of a tea planter. Morris and Tuckniss had five children together, including the poet and musician Twm Morys. One of their children died in infancy. As Morris documented in her memoir Conundrum, she began taking oestrogens to feminise her body in 1964. In 1972, she had sex reassignment surgery in Morocco. Sex reassignment surgeon Georges Burou did the surgery, since doctors in Britain refused to allow the procedure unless Morris and Tuckniss divorced, something Morris was not prepared to do at the time. They divorced later, but remained together and later got a civil union. On May, 14th, 2008, Morris and Tuckniss remarried each other. Morris lived mostly in Wales, where her parents were from.

Reviews

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jan Morris has taken us to places before: Venice, Oxford, Wales, and Trieste. But here she takes us not just to a place, but to a time: the island of Manhattan, 1945.

The book opens in June of that year, and the Queen Mary is bring home 14,526 American servicemen from war:

The Manhattan skyline shimmered in the imagination of all the nations, and people everywhere cherished the ambition, however unattainable, of landing one day upon that legendary foreshore, where the sirens always hooted, the bright lights perpetually shone, and black lace panties dangled emblematically from portholes. The flash and merriment of it was like a tonic, to the fancy of a debilitated world. Its wealth, contemplated with as much wonder as envy by less advantaged societies everywhere, seemed to show that every populace might be rich.

Morris would not be there for another decade, but made annual visits thereafter. She gives us both a look back and a look forward. And, of course, she mesmerizes with her ability to turn a phrase, or teach new ones:

-- fissiparous precipice

-- general physical mundanity

-- the place is all dapple

-- carillonneur

She will not waste a humorous finding, like (then) Archbishop Spellman's advice from his father: "Son, always associate with friends smarter than yourself, and that shouldn't be hard to do."

And she can reduce her observations to an essence:

Manhattan was a city in the round, without suburbs on the island, made all the more absolute by the narrowness of its limits. It was the richest of cities, with some of the most dismal slums. It was elegant and it was scruffy. It was vociferously democratic, but also decidedly oligarchal. It was all things to all classes.

She ends, as she began, in the Manhattan seaport, this time not with soldiers returning, but with immigrants arriving. As to the immigrants, for another twenty years they continued to come in ships, but nowadays, like the rest of us, they nearly all reach their haven out of the skies.

And now?

[Richard S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nicely written book in Morris’ excellent prose. Recently moved back to NYC and wanted a book to extol the glory days. Got it.

[diario_de_um_leitor_pjv · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imaginar Manhattan em 1945. Essa é a tarefa que Jan Morris leva a cabo em meados dos anos 80.
Segundo a escritora e historiadora galesa este é o momento de glória de Nova Iorque.
Ao longo destas páginas e num estilo muito cativante Morris percorre a Manhattan, os seus bairros, algum locais míticos... E nos apresenta as pessoas e as sua tipologias (num tom por vezes "antiquado" ) que marcam a paisagem urbana deste pedaço de território.

[Celeste · Rating 3 out of 5]

We live in a society where people who willingly live in Jersey City or Brooklyn will ridicule you for living in Manhattan. 🤡

Spotted this in a bookstore in Dumbo I think? Many things have changed since Manhattan in 1945, but many things have stayed the same. You still get charmed by the skyscrapers in Midtown: the Empire State, Rockefeller Center; dazzled by the lights in Times Square. You can go to Broadway or to the Met Opera and go for dinner at a burger joint just 5 minutes away. The limiting factor is not choice but time and money.

Yes the city is noisy — no matter where you live you cannot escape the urgent sounds of the sirens of ambulances and fire trucks. You cannot escape the barking of dogs in your neighbourhood. It’s dirty and unsafe; you can’t step into a subway car and totally let your guard down. It can be crowded and even if you were willing to pay $17 for a cold sandwich at the Met, you might not be seated.

But how many times can you go to bed and turn to your partner and say, “I’m so happy to be here”, to stroll up 5th/ Madison/ Park home after lunch or dinner and marvel at the walkability of a city, realise that you’re a Mad Men, or stare at the ESB from a distance and actually say “I live right beside it”?

Turning into one of those insufferable people who live in New York and can scarcely hope to identify myself as a New Yorker for the short duration I am here.

What a day! Fortune smiled and came my way!
I could laugh out loud,
I'm so lucky to be me ...

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adore Welsh author Jan Morris's travel writing and this book about Manhattan in its prime (immediately post-WWII) is Morris at her best. Pages are filled with sensual descriptions of busy people in a thrilling city, as well as Morris's keen understanding of the American mindset at mid-century. Victory was ours, times were good, and NYC was the place be.

I also like the way the book is organized, with beautifully researched chapters on pleasure (art, jazz, and other popular recreation), purpose (what industries were booming at the time), the city's history, architecture, and more. It seems like there are three or four interesting anecdotes per page. Did you know O.H. Ammann, the Swiss-born designer of the George Washington and Verrazano bridges (among others), spent his final years in a penthouse apartment in the Carlyle Hotel looking through a telescope at his creations?

Great book.

[Seraphina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jan Morris takes the reader on a tour of manhattan in the 40's. She leaves nothing out describing the city from the noises, hustle and bustle to the people, the cities institutions, the glamour and destitution. You get a great sense of what the city may have been like then from the glamourous hotels and stores to the opulent party lifestyle that Fitzgerald describes. She also gives a great insight into the people of the city at that time, the Italians, Chinese etc
My first time reading this author but she definitely describes a place well without the need to use characters, the city is her character.

[Trelawn · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF at page 184. I am sure there are plenty of people who will find this interesting and informative but I'm not one of them. It was just too dry and overwrought for me. I love the likes of Bill Bryson, Helene Hanff and Susan Allen Toth who show genuine interest in and enthusiasm for the place they are visiting. Jan Morris just seemed to list facts and figures about Manhattan. I never got a real feeling for the place. She could have been describing anywhere. I persevered hoping it would pick up, alas....

[Erin Estes · Rating 4 out of 5]

so lit, i never read nonfiction like ever and expected this to be snoozeville but i was gagged
i miss when america was a happy and hopeful place to live in

[Rob Atkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A blithe and engaging, vivid snapshot of Manhattan at the close of World War II, at the moment it emerged as the world’s artistic, economic and cultural capital. Buoyed by victory and war-driven prosperity, and unlike its European rivals, unscathed by the conflict, this was arguably New York’s greatest moment. From high culture to low, from ‘Café Society’ to Bowery bums, it’s all here, presented by witty tour guide Morris. She has a gift for making these scenes palpable, and often they’re full of surprises, even to a person knowledgeable in New York’s lore and history. It’s like literary time travel.

Jan Morris’s reputation preceded her with me, but I was unaware of this title until I received the gorgeously mounted Folio Society edition as a gift. I look forward to reading more of her work, and I’m delighted to add this volume to my “New Yorkiana” library. There it will have pride of place with Joseph Mitchell’s “Up In The Old Hotel”, Luc Sante’s “Low Life”, Herbert Asbury’s “Gangs of New York”, and Burroughs and Wallace’s “Gotham”. It’s a must for New York history buffs, and a pleasure for any curious reader.

[Miguel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A elegância e a perfeição da escrita, a subtileza, a erudição e o humor de Jan Morris, criam um travelogue muito sui generis.

Como o título indica, a ideia é, mais do que descrever, talvez recriar o que era a vida em Manhattan no ano em que terminou a Segunda Grande Guerra. Vários aspectos são abordados, da política às artes, da economia aos transportes, das comunidades aos bairros, entre outros.

O resultado é o que deve ser o de um livro de viagens: falar-nos dos lugares e das pessoas, mas sobretudo captar a energia de um momento único. Mais do que incitar-nos à viagem, ser ele próprio uma viagem vívida e inesquecível.

[Inês · Rating 3 out of 5]

“(…)o Central Park, em 1945, parece decididamente selecto. Era o lugar certo para divertimentos em famí-lia. Não havia transístores a tocar música em altos berros em plena manhã. Não havia músicos amadores a dedilhar guitar ras. Não havia gente de patins a percorrer vertiginosamente as veredas arborizadas, empurrando tudo e todos. Mesmo as pessoas a correr pelo parque, fazendo exercício físico, eram uma visão rara, e, quando se avistavam, todos achavam que seria um atleta a treinar para os primeiros Jogos Olímpicos do pós-guerra ou então um daqueles nova-iorquinos excêntricos de que tanto se ouvia falar.”

Sounds boring.

[Harry Delany · Rating 5 out of 5]

a history book written about America in its supposed pinnacle. A fun read nonetheless

[Carlton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a strange book.
Written in 1987, it is a recreation of what Manhattan was like in 1945, but with the benefit of writing in the 1970’s, so that Morris is able to note how unusual Manhattan was at that moment, after three plus years of war.
As you would expect from Morris, her writing is a delight, but she chooses to describe her subject by looking at different aspects of the city in turn, so we get:
• On style, about the physical city and its skyscrapers
• On system, about the mayoralty, cops, fire workers, and briefly the criminal underworld
• On race, about the neighbourhoods for the blacks (Harlem), the Jews (Lower East side), the Chinese (China Town!) and other smaller groups
• On class, much about the rich and celebrities, with little about the Village and the poor
• On movement, detailing the various forms of transport, including trolley cars, the elevated train (El) and train ferries which were all to disappear by 1987.
• On pleasure, describing the restaurants, bars, tourist boats and Central Park, ending with a wonderfully imagined day of leisure in New York
• On purposes, listing the range of businesses and markets, with their particular neighbourhoods, including reference to the New Yorker and Life magazines. Radio, Art (with Pollock’s Abstract Expressionism), Wall Street briefly described and finally the port itself, the reason for the creation of the city.

Although Morris visited Manhattan in 1953 and subsequently, so that some of the atmosphere described is from personal experience, Morris credits much of the story to her wide ranging reading of other books. It therefore largely lacks the personal interest which enlivens many of Morris’ better books, with few anecdotes.

[Edward Irons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Morris brings great enthusiasm for the city. She doesn't miss the characters, the bustle, or the contradictions. She covers institutions, transportation, and neighborhoods, the clubs, the jazz, the politicians. Most amazingly, it's a recreation: she never visited until 1953, so created this narrative backed by thorough research. You feel she's read every contemporary account on the city. This work shows it is possible to give a grand overview of an impossible subject and still do it justice.

[Jeremy Walton · Rating 5 out of 5]

What town is this?
Morris takes us back to June 1945 (in between the ends of the European and Asian wars) and puts us with the returning soldiers on the Queen Mary as it arrives in a Manhattan "untouched by the war the men had left behind them, [...] colossal and romantic - everything that America seemed to represent in a world of loss and ruin" (p5). She uses this moment as a jumping-off point to roam the city, describing along the way all aspects of its life (her chapters are named "On Style", "On System", "On Race", etc), characteristically bringing in little vignettes and odd details that stick in the mind - for example, discussing the lengthy history of the city as an important seaport, she mentions that the word "skyscraper" originally referred to the topsail of a clipper ship.

She generously references other books about the city (including Stephen Brook's New York Days, New York Nights, which I read immediately before this book, and apparently found far less "irresistible" than Morris does), building a detailed, multifaceted portrait of a city on the brink of becoming the capital of the world, with a "particular mixture of innocence and sophistication, romance and formality, generosity and self-amazement which seems to have characterized it in those moments of triumph" (p12). The fact that she also acknowledges that much of this promise was to remain unfulfilled in subsequent years (this book was written in 1987, following the economic decline of the 70s, and during the rebirth of Wall Street) makes this an elegiac, wistful portrait of a special place at a special moment which is to be recommended to anyone who's interested in this extraordinary city.

Originally reviewed 16 August 2010

[Jamie Boelter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm giving this book 5 stars because of its ability to transport me to a time and place that the author obviously researched well and was enthusiastic about. I wasn't around in 1945, but I've heard enough stories and seen enough movies to be able to picture the scenes that are described. What a time to have been alive and living in New York! There are so many references footnoted in here that it's like you're having a conversation with the author as you're reading it. It included some nice pictures from the period too which made you long for even more to see what it looked like. The epilogue (which would have been written around 1985, 40 years after the year examined here) is apropos, and it's sad to think of how much worse it's become now almost 40 years after that. Great book for anyone interested in getting an understanding of what it was like in Manhattan right after the end of WWII.

[Catherine Siemann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first read this book shortly after it came out; I'd been a New Yorker for a few years by then. Rereading it now, I found that there were places where I caught Morris's errors (Greenwich Avenue for Greenwich Street -- two very different thoroughfares!), and in the discussion of ethnic enclaves, she sometimes engages in stereotypes.

But for a well-written snapshot of a certain place at a certain time, it still holds up. There are places where I wish she had gone into more depth, but the breadth is there, and the book is worth the read. What's somewhat amusing, reading her footnotes about the "now" of the mid-1980s, is realizing that she is writing 30 years ago about something 40 years prior, and that her viewpoint is quickly becoming a mid-way point between then and now.

[Ian Banks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a portrait of a city on the brink of a glittering future that it never quite reached. Jan Morris paints a fantastic picture of a city that welcomes anyone willing to work hard to succeed. She populates her portrait with famous and infamous characters - I love the description of Mayor la Guardia reading the comics to children over the radio - as well as some cold, hard facts about how the city works and what it takes to keep it going. This is a snapshot of a city at its peak taken by a visitor who knows it like a loved but roguish relative.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mark of an excellent writer that they can draw one into reading a book on a topic that seems of little interest or relevance, and make it a riveting experience. An affectionate portrait of one of the world's great cities, at a time when a sense of unbridled optimism was pervasive (assuming you had money). Yet the shadows that were to come in the next 50 years are also painfully obvious, in retrospect.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A year in the life of the great city. The war is over and Manhattan is about to enter the boom years. Jan Morris has an obvious affection for NYC and this shows in her enthusiasm for the social history of this monolithic city. Focuses on the people, places, infrastructure and famous people who made this city the best in the world.

[Rob Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little time capsule of a book that's meant to give you a feel for what Manhattan was like in 1945 via select facts and anecdotes. Lots of historic references and descriptions. Moderately entertaining.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because it was written in the 1980’s about the 1940’s, some of the details are outdated. That said, this is highly readable. Packs a wealth of information into 270 pages.

[Richard Kingcott · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book written by Jan Morris. You really do get the feeling you are there back in 1945 as she explores this incredible city.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't finish, boring at best problematic at worst. Racist overtones in parts. Had to put down.

[Jim Manning · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s still some of that magic left in Manhattan, I think… I hope…

[Chelsea K · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Marina Ortega · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://www.cargadaconlibros.com/mini...

[David Alonso vargas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evocador libro sobre una ciudad maravillosa, aquella que tenía la última palabra en casi todo.

[Steve Shilstone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intricately detailed snapshot of Manhattan in the year 1945

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jan Morris does such a great job of recreating New York City - Manhattan - so well in its golden moment that a fun exercise for a writer would be to draft some characters and we've them throughout the structure of this entertaining text and see what comes out.

Morris establishes a framework for his study, a Manhattan that is the last great city standing in the wake of World War II, the product of a recent building boom and sturdy enough to handle the business of two continents rather than one.

Intelligently broken up into novel but digestible categories such as style, system, movement, race and class, Manhattan '45 manages to tell a story while not getting lost in the complexity of its remarkable topic.

Morris writes light and breezy like some of the newspaper columnists of era mentioned and one can't help but wonder the extent to which the place and era have come to infuse the writers technique.

Reeling through the '40s requires a certain degree of listing. The listing of names, the listing of places and eateries, the listing and Manhattan's less-that-evocative grid of numbered streets and avenues, but Morris drops in just enough prosody to make it work as in the passage about the nightlife so typical of the work:

The Beau Nash of Manhattan, though, was Sherman Billingsley of the Stork Club. Where but the Stork Club could one see Cobina Wright, "the city's loveliest debutante" in the same room as H.L. Mencken, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor or the Ernest Hemingways? Billingsley, known to his often fawning customers as "Sherm," at once basked in their reflected fame and vigorously exploited it. He employed two teams of press agents, one on day shift, one on night, and he assiduously cultivated the friendship of newspapers columnists like Walter Winchell (the King), or Leonard Lyons, of the "The Lyons Den," who were by then celebrities themselves. Some said he had actually invented Cafe Society; he had first advertised his club in college newspapers, and given publicity to suitably prepossessing and sufficiently moneyed students as "prominent members of Cafe Society."

The author's passion for Manhattan shines throughout and is so infectious even the odd reader who picks up the book because nothing else is at hand my catch the fever.