Bruce Kayton

On our first trip ever to New York City (September 2015), I found this a fascinating and useful intro to the history of the Lower East Side - where we were staying. It is slightly dated now, as the area is changing rapidly, but it is chock-full of little-known facts about New York's radical political past - and the surviving buildings that preserve memories of it.

I visit New York City three or four times a year, but I hate being a tourist, so this book has come in handy. It gets four stars rather than five only because it can be a bit outdated, mentioning certain buildings are X when they have since been converted into Y, but that's certainly not the fault of the author.