Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas

Winner of the 2017 Brendan Gill Prize from the Municipal Arts Society of New York

"The maps themselves are things of beauty... a document of its time, of our time."
—Sadie Stein, New York Times

"One is invited to fathom the many New Yorks hidden from history’s eye... thoroughly terrific."
—Maria Popova, Brain Pickings

"Rebecca Solnit and Joshua Jelly-Schapiro's collection achieves the trifold purpose that all good cartography does — it's beautiful, it inspires real thought about civic planning, and, most of all, it's functional."—The Village Voice

"...the New York installment [of the Atlas Trilogy] is eccentric and inspiring, a nimble work of social history told through colorful maps and corresponding essays. Together, Solnit, Jelly-Schapiro and a host of contributors — writers, artists, cartographers and data-crunchers — have come up with dozens of exciting new ways to think about the five boroughs."—San Francisco Chronicle

"...the book...contains many beautiful and not-so-beautiful images that document New York’s past and the present, and make tangible the social and cultural diversity of this extraordinary place." —Times Literary Supplement

"Nonstop Metropolis. . . .is impressionistic, a gallimaufry of takes on neighborhoods and topics. . . .The writing and the maps are what “place” is about: desire, fear, landmark, memory, imagination, a state of mind, sometimes melting into thin air — but still right there under your feet.—Christian Science Monitor

"The sum of it all is, like New York itself, overwhelming, alluring and dazzlingly diverse."—Jewish Daily Forward

"26 maps of New York that prioritize bachata over Broadway, pho over pizza."—Wired.com

A 20 Big Indie Books of 2016 selection—Publishers Weekly

“All will come away from this New York City volume with newfound love for the beguiling, legendary, volatile town…an engaging and enlightening read for anyone who loves New York City, creative scholarship, and top-notch graphic design.”—Foreword Reviews
Nonstop Metropolis, the culminating volume in a trilogy of atlases, conveys innumerable unbound experiences of New York City through twenty-six imaginative maps and informative essays. Bringing together the insights of dozens of experts—from linguists to music historians, ethnographers, urbanists, and environmental journalists—amplified by cartographers, artists, and photographers, it explores all five boroughs of New York City and parts of nearby New Jersey. We are invited to travel through Manhattan’s playgrounds, from polyglot Queens to many-faceted Brooklyn, and from the resilient Bronx to the mystical kung fu hip-hop mecca of Staten Island. The contributors to this exquisitely designed and gorgeously illustrated volume celebrate New York City’s unique vitality, its incubation of the avant-garde, and its literary history, but they also critique its racial and economic inequality, environmental impact, and erasure of its past. Nonstop Metropolis allows us to excavate New York’s buried layers, to scrutinize its political heft, and to discover the unexpected in one of the most iconic cities in the world. It is both a challenge and homage to how New Yorkers think of their city, and how the world sees this capital of capitalism, culture, immigration, and more.

Contributors: Sheerly Avni, Gaiutra Bahadur, Marshall Berman, Joe Boyd, Will Butler, Garnette Cadogan, Thomas J. Campanella, Daniel Aldana Cohen, Teju Cole, Joel Dinerstein, Paul La Farge, Francisco Goldman, Margo Jefferson, Lucy R. Lippard, Barry Lopez, Valeria Luiselli, Suketu Mehta, Emily Raboteau, Molly Roy, Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts, Luc Sante, Heather Smith, Jonathan Tarleton, Astra Taylor, Alexandra T. Vazquez, Christina Zanfagna
Interviews with: Valerie Capers, Peter Coyote, Grandmaster Caz, Grand Wizzard Theodore, Melle Mel, RZA