Ruins and Reforms: New York Yesterday and Today

There are all sorts of ironies in a Dissent issue devoted to New York City. In one sense, nothing could be more obvious. Most of Dissent’s editors have spent most of their lives in or near this city. Indeed, the strong vertical form of our masthead resembles nothing so much as a New York apartment house. [Editors’ note: With this issue, the masthead
changes to a low-rise model.] Examined at closer range, this mostly but not wholly Jewish masthead— “Howe, Walzer, Geltman, Ph...