Thomas Bender is Dean for the Humanities, Faculty of Arts and Science, University Professor of the Humanities, and professor of history at New York University. He is the author of Toward an Urban Vision, Community and Social Change in America, New York Intellect, and Budapest and New York: Studies in Metropolitan Transformation, 1870-1930.

Remarkable history-superb in research, insight, and interpretation... The book is full of fascinations. New Yorker A model of cultural history... [Bender] makes his case for New York with the conviction that he knows what is genuinely distinctive and valuable in the life of a great city and that his view of the matter is not only true to the reality of its history but important to those who hold democratic ideals. New York Times Book Review

• CoverOther Books by This AuthorTitle PageCopyrightDedicationEpigraphAcknowledgmentsPrefacePrologue: New York City and the Condition of IntellectPart I: Civic CultureChapter 1. The Emergence of City Chapter 2. Patricians and ArtisansChapter 3. A University of the CityPart II: Literary CultureChapter 4. Toward a Metropolitan SensibilityChapter 5. The Metropolitan Gentry: Culture Against PoliticsChapter 6. The Modern Literary IntellectualPart III: Academic CultureChapter 7. A Metropolitan UniversityChapter 8. Professors as IntellectualsPart IV: An International Capital of CultureChapter 9. RefigurationNotes