Reddit mentions of Brendan Behan's New York

A good friend of mine got me a first edition copy of Brendan Behan’s New York for my birthday last year. It offers an immigrant’s perspective on the city and has a bunch of lovely illustrations that capture what the city was like in the 1960s. Another fantastic book that I picked up that I think every New Yorker interested in history should read is Springs and Wells of Manhattan and the Bronx by James Reuel Smith. Smith went up Manhattan and found old wells and springs to document before they were destroyed. Given the inordinate impact that the old watercourses still have on the city (they often flood old buildings and cause troubles during construction), it’s an invaluable resource.