Mannahatta

If the United States had been settled west-to-east, there’s a good chance Manhattan would have been made a national park. That’s how biologically diverse this city is at its core. This book provides the broadest view of New York City history by describing the area before European settlement and the ensuing urbanization. This book uses historical maps, GPS data, and other inputs to reveal the surprisingly rich natural history of New York City, while also providing a thoughtful analysis of how dramatically things have changed, as well as a compelling framework for a more sustainable future for New York. 

This natural history of Manhattan is about the natural “skyline”—the flora and geography that was converted from a natural wonder to the world’s most amazing city. Sanderson’s re-creation of Manhattan before it was Manhattan is a tour de force. While the book is not directly about the Manhattan skyline, a deep understanding of Manhattan’s geography and natural environment before European settlement is actually crucial to understanding how the skyline rose in the 20th century.

When explorer Henry Hudson arrived in 1609, the island we know today as Manhattan was covered with forests and wetlands and was known as Mannahatta by the native Lenape people. This revelatory, genre-defying book shows us what the island was like before Dutch colonists settled there in the seventeenth century. Mannahatta combines ecological data on the plants and animals that once covered the island with astonishing digital imagery that will make you feel like you are gazing at aerial photographs of a vanished world. Before-and-after pictures thrillingly juxtapose two extraordinary places—a stunning green landscape and the dense, vibrant city of… show more.