Port of New York, from Mannahatta to 1949

by | Feb 1, 2011 | Port of New York

In addition to team-teaching Writing New York with Cyrus, I’m also teaching, this semester, an interdisciplinary honors seminar called “The Port of New York.” We’ll spend the semester thinking about how various disciplines frame evidence and construct knowledge, with the port our basic entryway to a long cultural history of the city, from pre-European settlement to the effects of 9/11. In relation to an ongoing conversation we’re having in that class — a surprising debate has arisen over the value of studying the city’s distant, pre-European past — I was digging around on YouTube for this video

when I stumbled across this one:

I hope you enjoy both.

5 Comments

  1. Sean Nortz
    Sean Nortz on February 2, 2011 at 9:26 am

    I’m a bit disturbed by his vision of the future, which turns all of the relatively affordable areas of New York into pasture. How’s that going to work? Is Giuliani’s great-grandson going to become mayor and lead forced marches out to Nassau County?

  2. Sean Nortz
    Sean Nortz on February 2, 2011 at 9:28 am

    “Baghdad on the Hudson”!!

  3. Bryan
    Bryan on February 2, 2011 at 9:33 am

    I almost used that line for the title of this post.

  4. Matthew
    Matthew on February 2, 2011 at 9:53 am

    Sean, I wouldn’t worry too much. 400 years from now is a very, very long time.

  5. Heather
    Heather on February 10, 2011 at 11:28 am

    I find the pre-Revolutionary War era of New York’s History just fascinating, and wish I could attend your seminars. I believe the novel “New York” (written by Edward Rutherford) would interest you. It is a fictitious historic novel, wriiten about New York from the 1600’s Dutch settlements, so the fall of the World Trade Center. It was a wonderful, captivating and informative book.