Enchanted New York
A Walk Along Broadway through Manhattan's Magical Past
By Kevin Dann
New York, the City that Never Sleeps, one of the great metropolises (or is it metropoleis?) of the world, has, unsurprisingly, received plenty of attention from writers of all kinds. There is certainly no shortage of books dedicated to its boroughs, its history, its architecture, and its protagonists, whether famous or less known. So what is it that makes Kevin Dann’s book stand out?
In Enchanted New York, Dann gives us an alternative and esoteric history of the Big Apple, one shaped by a coterie of mavericks ranging from Freemasons to magicians, occultists to scientists dabbling in cryptozoology and spiritualism. Split in seven chapters, the book follows a roughly chronological sequence from the inauguration of the George Washington in 1789, to the present and beyond. In the course of his account, however, Dann examines different themes and provides a wealth of anecdotes linking the specific subjects to the city’s locations.
The result is an intriguing book which can be
read in one stretch or dipped into at leaisure, a portrait of New York City
which, probably, even most of its inhabitants will find surprising and
unfamiliar.
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