An insider’s view—an invitation to imaginative private parties at the elegant homes of New York’s most celebrated hosts. Seasoned experts share entertaining secrets. Join Jamee Gregory as a guest at some of New York’s most exclusive private parties. Visit the homes of savvy tastemakers from the worlds of fashion, finance, and design, including Michael Kors, Evelyn and Leonard Lauder, Tory Burch, and Jamie Drake. Observe them behind-the-scenes, shopping at farmer’s markets, arranging flowers, decorating tables, choosing menus, dressing up dining and living rooms, terraces and gardens, and themselves, with great style, ready to receive friends. Follow the Manhattan sociable set’s gatherings throughout the year from SoHo cocktails and Fifth Avenue splendor to a Bridgehampton tented dinner and a Millbrook hunt breakfast, revealing how they entertain with flair. From Porthault linens to plastic glasses, in jeans or evening dress, at elegant holiday celebrations, imaginative birthdays, or an intimate brunch, this book features innumerable inspirational events. Sophisticated party givers discuss what makes a celebration a success—from memorable invitations and cocktail recipes to seating, and special welcoming touches. Dazzling portraits of unique rooms full of glamorous guests show parties unfold. Informative close-up photographs capture details of carefully orchestrated get-togethers, offering the reader myriad ideas.

New York City is home to some of the most recognizable places in the world. As familiar as the sight of New Year’s Eve in Times Square or a protest in front of City Hall may be to us, do we understand who controls what happens there? Kristine Miller delves into six of New York’s most important public spaces to trace how design influences their complicated lives. Miller chronicles controversies in the histories of New York locations including Times Square, Trump Tower, the IBM Atrium, and Sony Plaza. The story of each location reveals that public space is not a concrete or fixed reality, but rather a constantly changing situation open to the forces of law, corporations, bureaucracy, and government. The qualities of public spaces we consider essential, including accessibility, public ownership, and ties to democratic life, are, at best, temporary conditions and often completely absent. Design is, in Miller’s view, complicit in regulation of public spaces in New York City to exclude undesirables, restrict activities, and privilege commercial interests, and in this work she shows how design can reactivate public space and public life. Kristine F. Miller is associate professor of landscape architecture at the University of Minnesota.

New York Apartments presents the interiors of 25 of the most elegant apartments in the city. This spectacular array of residences reflects the absolute best in New York living, from the Upper East Side and Upper West Side to Central Park South, SoHo, and TriBeCa.

To combat behavior they viewed as sexually promiscuous, politically undesirable, or downright criminal, social activists in Progressive-era New York employed private investigators to uncover the roots of society’s problems. New York Undercover follows these investigators—often journalists or social workers with no training in surveillance—on their information-gathering visits to gambling parlors, brothels, and meetings of criminal gangs and radical political organizations. Drawing on the hundreds of detailed reports that resulted from these missions, Jennifer Fronc reconstructs the process by which organizations like the National Civic Federation and the Committee of Fourteen generated the knowledge they needed to change urban conditions. This information, Fronc demonstrates, eventually empowered government regulators in the Progressive era and beyond, strengthening a federal state that grew increasingly repressive in the interest of pursuing a national security agenda. Revealing the central role of undercover investigation in both social change and the constitution of political authority, New York Undercover narrates previously untold chapters in the history of vice and the emergence of the modern surveillance state.

Uncover the hidden side of New York City with this insider's e-guide Home to soaring skyscrapers, eclectic museums, and a foodie scene like no other, this rapturous city is endlessly enticing. But beyond the well-trodden sights of the Empire State Building and the Met lies the real New York City: a whole other side waiting to be explored. We've spoken to the city's locals to unearth the coolest hangout spots, hidden gems, and personal favorites to ensure you travel like a local. Grab a coffee from the cafes the locals catch up in, browse fresh produce at vibrant farmers' markets, or explore the quirky galleries the students rave about. Whether you're a New Yorker looking to uncover your city's secrets or seeking an authentic experience beyond the tourist track, this stylish guide makes sure you experience New York City beneath the surface.

Design authority Wendy Moonan takes the reader on a tour of some of New York City's finest residential rooms--past and present. The selection of interiors is about the "wow" factor--New York residential spaces that elicit gasps of pleasure and surprise when first seen. Some are very grand, others sparingly modern or eclectic. All are exceptional and, Moonan promises, unforgettable. Groundbreaking rooms include Brooke Astor's elegant library by Albert Hadley; Gloria Vanderbilt's sublime patchwork bedroom; Donald Judd's dramatically spare art-filled loft; Adolfo's opulent and magnificently red entrance hall; a Peter Marino-designed penthouse with sweeping midtown views; and Jamie Drake's stunning dining room for the mayor's residence, Gracie Mansion. Other illustrious interior designers and architects represented in the book include Mario Buatta, Robert Couturier, Albert Hadley, Denning & Fourcade, Mark Hampton, Philip Johnson, Charlotte Moss, Thomas O'Brien, Paul Rudolph, Bunny Williams, and Steven Gambrel. New York is the epicenter of interior-design innovations. Residents embrace myriad styles--from pure period historicism to bracing modernity. Moonan investigates the city's best residential spaces and presents them here, a book for the libraries of design lovers and professionals in the field.