“Part of loving New York is just mourning the hell out of it.” With lines like that, you can’t help but listen to the treasure trove of rich stories compiled in Craig Taylor’s New Yorkers: A City and Its People in Our Time (14 hours).
The author of a similar compendium of stories of life across the big pond, Londoners, Taylor spent six years interviewing 180 New Yorkers, some briefly, some over the course of several years, filling 71 notebooks and more than 400 hours of recordings. Steering clear of publicists and government officials to avoid familiar talking points, Taylor sought out New Yorkers from every walk of life to tell their stories and to share their place in the city, ranging from mothers and nurses to window washers.
The audiobook brings this “profusion of voice in New York” even further into the realm of oral history, with a cast that includes such New Yorkers as Catherine Ho, Luis Moreno and more. “This city barged into conversations,” Taylor says. With that kind of attitude, you’ll have no choice but to listen in.
