Meyer ("Mike") Berger was one of the greatest journalists of this century. A reporter and columnist for The New York Times for thirty years, he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1950 for his account of the murder of thirteen people by a deranged war veteran in Camden, New Jersey.
Berger is best known for his "About New York" column, which appeared regularly
in the Times from 1939 to 1940 and from 1953 until his death in 1959. Through
lovingly detailed snapshots of ordinary New Yorkers and far corners of the city, Berger's writing deeply influenced the next generation of writers, including Gay Talese and Tom Wolfe.
Originally published in 1960 and long out of print, Meyer Berger's New York is a rich collection of extraordinary journalism, selected by Berger himself, which captures the buzz, bravado, and heartbreak of New York in the fifties in the words of the best-loved reporter of his time.
"Mike Berger was one of the great reporters of our day . . . he was a master of the color story, the descriptive narrative of sights and sounds-of a parade, an eclipse, a homicidal maniac running amok . . . or just a thunderstorm that broke a summer heat wave . . . ."-The New York Times, obituary, February 6, 1959
"Dip into Meyer Berger's New York, at any point, and you will find things you never knew or dreamed of knowing. . . . It has a heart, a soul, and a beauty all its own."
-Phillip Hamburger, The New York Times Book Review

"Meyer Berger's New York is not a book you read cover-to-cover in one swoop, as you might a crime thriller. It is a book you savor, and drop in on, as you would an old friend." -- -Al Ellenberg "The legendary Berger's collection of 'About New York' columns, snapshots of the city that appeared in The New York Times in the 1950s, has been resurrected from out-of-print limbo by Fordham University Press." -New York Daily News "The Berger reissue is part of a minor recent trend in the publishing world to rescue some of the great works of 20th century's urban journalism..." -New York Sun

Pete Hamill, a Meyer Berger Award–winning journalist, is the author of many bestsellers, including A Drinking Life and Forever.