New York as a Center of “Difference”

When people speak of New York as being different, something other than America, they seem to have in mind a special quality of the city’s culture and politics, perhaps associated with its ethnic makeup. Such perceptions, however imprecise, have a ring of truth.

Culture and politics in New York are based on premises not quite shared by the dominant American culture. The most influential myths of America, those that have been incorporated into the culture, are easily identified in ...