A critical study of the evolution of New York City in the American novel during the past two centuries. No two novelists have ever viewed the city in the same manner; each describes the city according to his viewpoint and the times in which he writes. Authors discussed are James Fenimore Cooper, Herman Melville, Edith Wharton, Stephen Crane, John Dos Passos, Thomas Wolfe, Nathaniel West, Saul Bellow, and John Cheever. Of interest to students and teachers of American Studies and the novel.