Featuring a stunning gallery of portraits by the world's finest poets, essayists, and fiction writers - including Walt Whitman, Stephen Crane, José Martí, Maxim Gorky, and Katie Roiphe - this anthology focusses on the unique history and transporting experience of a beloved fixture of the New York City landscape. It captures the highs and lows of the place, with works that picture it as a restful resort, a playground for the masses and a symbol of America's democratic spirit, as well as a Sodom by the sea, a garish display of capitalist excess and a paradigm of urban decay.