August 2026 Book of the Month
Gotham is a sprawling, all-encompassing history of New York from its infancy as territory of the Lenape to New Amsterdam to the unofficial capital of America. This historical novel charts a detailed course through the history of an iconic city and the lives of the many citizens within it.
I know I’m late. I know this is a week coming, BUT I have an excuse. I was 1000 pages deep into Gotham researching for a historical fiction novel. I decided to go against my normal grain of fiction to rep this as my book of the month. This book absolutely deserves the Pulitzer it got. Every decade from the 1600s to 1898 was covered with such depth, going into the many subcultures of the city and how it changed topographically and culturally with turns of the century, waves of immigration, and technological advancement.
Burrows and Wallace show how mindsets, contemporaries, and culture evolve alongside the city that never sleeps, and I also never slept because this book was over 1000 pages. Yet, if you have a historical fiction book set in New York, I cannot recommend this book enough. This will give you so much for setting, culture, and geography for an ever-growing New York. Gotham is a product of tireless amounts of research, and a deep care for New York and the many citizens who made it what it is.
Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 by Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace Genre(s): Nonfiction, History Summary: Gotham is a sprawling
