Much of this series is enjoyable and informative, but it also has substantial drawbacks. It's indulgent with the viewer's time -- some parts could have easily been sliced. A few great men, like Walt Whitman, are given too much attention. The impact of WWII on the city is mostly ignored.
But what I found most annoying was the tendentious stance on Robert Moses. His impact on the city was enormous, and the series would have you believe all of it was bad. But growing up on the Rockaway Peninsula, I enjoyed the benefits of many of his projects. Riis Park, the Belt Parkway, the Verrazzano Bridge...all of these significantly improved the quality of my family's life. The series makes little effort to note that the white middle class wanted out of the city one way or the other and that was not Moses's fault.
The series was made at a time when Moses's reputation was in free fall and perhaps that low estimation remains. But given New York's resurgence, I wonder if there will be a re-evaluation. I don't know if New York's current prosperity is more because or despite of Moses's impact -- perhaps the latter. But whatever he did, it has not stopped NYC from regaining its role as (perhaps) the leading city of the world.
But what I found most annoying was the tendentious stance on Robert Moses. His impact on the city was enormous, and the series would have you believe all of it was bad. But growing up on the Rockaway Peninsula, I enjoyed the benefits of many of his projects. Riis Park, the Belt Parkway, the Verrazzano Bridge...all of these significantly improved the quality of my family's life. The series makes little effort to note that the white middle class wanted out of the city one way or the other and that was not Moses's fault.
The series was made at a time when Moses's reputation was in free fall and perhaps that low estimation remains. But given New York's resurgence, I wonder if there will be a re-evaluation. I don't know if New York's current prosperity is more because or despite of Moses's impact -- perhaps the latter. But whatever he did, it has not stopped NYC from regaining its role as (perhaps) the leading city of the world.