New York at the Brink: “The Gods of New York” with Jonathan Mahler

Between 1986 and 1990, New York City seemed to be on the rebound from the fiscal collapse of the 1970s. But beneath the surface, the city was coming apart at the seams. Racial conflict, the AIDS epidemic, widening inequality, media sensationalism and political realignment were tearing at its civic fabric. Out of that turbulence, the modern city we know today was born.

On March 10, join acclaimed author and journalist Jonathan Mahler for a discussion of this pivotal era as chronicled in his latest book, “The Gods of New York.” Mahler tells the story through a cast of larger-than-life figures who vied to shape the city's future: Mayor Ed Koch in his unraveling final term; Rudy Giuliani, emerging as a combative, media-savvy prosecutor; David Dinkins, on the cusp of making history; activists like Al Sharpton and Larry Kramer, forcing the city to confront injustice and indifference; cultural figures like Spike Lee, whose work captured the city's racial and social tensions; and a young Donald Trump, already honing his personal politics of attention and spectacle. These years, Mahler argues, marked the end of shared civic consensus and the birth of a city defined by polarization, inequality and media-driven conflict.

Mahler will discuss how these battles, fought on New York's streets, in its courtrooms and across its front pages not only reshaped one city but foreshadowed the fault lines that would come to define American public life.

The discussion will be followed by a reception and light refreshments. Onsite book sales will be facilitated by McNally Jackson.

Jonathan Mahler is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine and the author of the bestselling Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning, which was adapted as an ESPN miniseries, and The Challenge, a New York Times Notable Book. His journalism has received numerous awards and been featured in The Best American Sports Writing. He lives in Brooklyn.

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