Tenements, Towers, and Trash: An Unconventional Illustrated History of New York City by Julia Wertz is...well, an unconventional history of NYC. What makes the book appealing is the spotlight on lesser known history, such as Bottle Beach or what's happened to structures left to rot after a World's Fair. It also a graphic novel, so it instantly gets more points for that. I went to NYC a few years ago, and I agree with Wertz about the city. Yes, the bigger stuff like The Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building are interesting things to see, but a bizarre subway entrance architecture is also part of the city's quirkiness. You can see a lot of history just by looking at the odd stuff.
I also read this book before diving into her newest title Impossible People: A Completely Average Recovery Story. This one is more personal, dealing with Wertz's alcohol abuse and subsequent recovery. It's a tougher read, but after reading Tenements, I enjoyed seeing a more personal story that showed where Tenements came from. It seemed a lot of the research done for Tenements was during the first few years of her recovery. It gave context to the many walks, research, and urbexing that I assumed had to be done to complete the book.
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