This is a strange book.
Written in 1987, it is a recreation of what Manhattan was like in 1945, but with the benefit of writing in the 1970’s, so that Morris is able to note how unusual Manhattan was at that moment, after three plus years of war.
As you would expect from Morris, her writing is a delight, but she chooses to describe her subject by looking at different aspects of the city in turn, so we get:
• On style, about the physical city and its skyscrapers
• On system, about the mayoralty, cops, fire workers, and briefly the criminal underworld
• On race, about the neighbourhoods for the blacks (Harlem), the Jews (Lower East side), the Chinese (China Town!) and other smaller groups
• On class, much about the rich and celebrities, with little about the Village and the poor
• On movement, detailing the various forms of transport, including trolley cars, the elevated train (El) and train ferries which were all to disappear by 1987.
• On pleasure, describing the restaurants, bars, tourist boats and Central Park, ending with a wonderfully imagined day of leisure in New York
• On purposes, listing the range of businesses and markets, with their particular neighbourhoods, including reference to the New Yorker and Life magazines. Radio, Art (with Pollock’s Abstract Expressionism), Wall Street briefly described and finally the port itself, the reason for the creation of the city.

Although Morris visited Manhattan in 1953 and subsequently, so that some of the atmosphere described is from personal experience, Morris credits much of the story to her wide ranging reading of other books. It therefore largely lacks the personal interest which enlivens many of Morris’ better books, with few anecdotes. ( )

Manhattan '45 (1985) by Jan Morris attempts to capture New York City at the time of its greatest success, optimism, influence and power, just as the Second World War comes to an end. This is not a travel book so much as an historical recreation. The author never even visited New York until nearly a decade later. Writing in 1985, the book is full of copious footnotes where Morris tells us what is gone and different. Reading this an additional 25 years later my mind adds another layer of meta-analysis of things further lost and changed in Manhattan's continuous build and demolish cycle.

This book is filled with details of life and how it was lived in 1945 mostly from books, letters, photographs and interviews. Everything's discussed in categories and in a gossipy tone that covers people, places, race, class, shopping, transportation, music, technology, slums, mansions, art, parties, and schools. I kind of wish I'd taken better notes on this book since it's full of fun little tidbits, but no great memorable themes. I'd like to read it again, perhaps while in Manhattan, the book tucked under my arm as I visit what's there and what once was. ( )