{"title":"Books by Russell Shorto","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780349140209","title":"The Island at the Center of the World","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Narratively irresistible, intellectually provocative, historically invaluable'\u003c\/b\u003e Simon Callow, \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Astonishing ... a book that will permanently alter the way we regard our collective past' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A landmark work ... Shorto paints the emotions and attitudes of his characters with a sure hand, and bestows on each a believable, living presence' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen the British wrested New Amsterdam from the Dutch in 1664, the truth about its thriving, polyglot society began to disappear into myths about an island purchased for 24 dollars and a cartoonish peg-legged governor. But the story of the Dutch colony of New Netherland was merely lost, not destroyed. Drawing on the archives of the New Netherland Project, Russell Shorto has created a gripping narrative that transforms our understanding of early America.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43201676181682,"sku":"9780349140209","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780349140209_5f180582-7209-4c2e-945b-d4424dce5d39.jpg?v=1786013385"},{"product_id":"9780349000022","title":"Amsterdam","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Standard kit for anyone visiting the city' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eGuardian \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'Rich and eventful ... a book that easily fuses large cultural trends with intimately personal stories' \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e'The story of a great city that has shaped the soul of the world. Masterful reporting, vivid history'\u003c\/b\u003e James Gleick\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this ever-surprising and effortlessly erudite portrait, Russell Shorto traces the idiosyncratic evolution of Amsterdam and examines its role as the fount of liberalism. Weaving in his own experiences of his adopted home, he delivers a delightful and intellectually engaging story of the city from the building of the first canals in the 1300s through the brutal struggle for Dutch independence and its golden age as the capital of a vast empire, to its complex present in which its cherished ideals are being questioned anew.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43201736507570,"sku":"9780349000022","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780349000022_b48bfc53-5e7f-405b-acbf-5c98b8df9f43.jpg?v=1786013924"},{"product_id":"9781800754966","title":"Taking Manhattan","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘An informative and thought-provoking history’ \u003cem\u003eThe Telegraph\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‘A story rich in intrigue, diplomacy and personalities’ \u003cem\u003eNew Statesman\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Offering new perspectives and ideas' \u003cem\u003eGuardian\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e'Here is the whirligig of history, which Shorto captures vividly in this well-researched, well-written, sprightly book' \u003cem\u003eLiterary Review\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA \u003cem\u003eNew Zealand Listener\u003c\/em\u003e 100 Best Books of 2025\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1664, England decided to invade the Dutch-controlled city of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island. Charles II and his brother, the Duke of York, had dreams of empire, and their arch-rivals, the Dutch, were in the way. But Richard Nicolls, who led the English flotilla bent on destruction, changed his strategy once he began parleying with Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch leader on Manhattan.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBristling with vibrant characters, \u003cem\u003eTaking Manhattan\u003c\/em\u003e reveals the founding of New York to be an invention: the result not of a violent English takeover, but of clever negotiations that led to the fusing of the multiethnic, capitalistic society the Dutch had pioneered to the power of the rising English empire. But the birth of what might be termed the first modern city is also a story of the brutal dispossession of Native Americans and of the roots of American slavery.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBased on newly translated sources, \u003cem\u003eTaking Manhattan\u003c\/em\u003e shows how the paradox of New York’s origins — boundless opportunity coupled with subjugation and displacement — reflect America’s promise and failure to this day.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57697045741941,"sku":"9781800754980","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":54926142275957,"sku":"9781800754966","price":22.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781800754980_cf8614dc-17b0-4e68-9181-61d665586e57.jpg?v=1793083571"},{"product_id":"9780393356212","title":"Revolution Song – The Story of America`s Founding in Six Remarkable Lives","description":"At a time when America’s founding principles are being debated as never before, Russell Shorto looks back to the era in which those principles were forged. In Revolution Song, Shorto weaves the lives of six people into a seamless narrative that casts fresh light on the range of experience in colonial America on the cusp of revolution. The result is a brilliant defence of American values with a compelling message: the American Revolution is still being fought today, and its ideals are worth defending.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56288440516981,"sku":"9780393356212","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780393356212_8bafdc98-2b8a-486c-9540-f54fbabc5b47.jpg?v=1786013530"},{"product_id":"9781324020172","title":"Smalltime – A Story of My Family and the Mob","description":"\u003cp\u003eBest-selling author Russell Shorto, praised for his incisive works of narrative history, never thought to write about his own past. He grew up knowing his grandfather and namesake was a small-town mob boss but maintained an unspoken family vow of silence. Then an elderly relative prodded: You’re a writer—what are you gonna do about the story?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSmalltime is a mob story straight out of central casting—but with a difference, for the small-town mob, which stretched from Schenectady to Fresno, is a mostly unknown world. The location is the brawny postwar factory town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The setting is City Cigar, a storefront next to City Hall, behind which Russ and his brother-in-law, “Little Joe,” operate a gambling empire and effectively run the town.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSmalltime is a riveting American immigrant story that travels back to Risorgimento Sicily, to the ancient, dusty, hill-town home of Antonino Sciotto, the author’s great-grandfather, who leaves his wife and children in grinding poverty for a new life—and wife—in a Pennsylvania mining town. It’s a tale of Italian Americans living in squalor and prejudice, and of the rise of Russ, who, like thousands of other young men, created a copy of the American establishment that excluded him.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn urgent and intimate exploration of three generations of the American immigrant experience.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSmalltime is a moving, wryly funny and richly detailed memoir by a masterful writer of historical narrative.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56297715630453,"sku":"9781324020172","price":13.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781324020172_5b3b7428-d5b8-4807-a41d-570cf54742cc.jpg?v=1786018484"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-russell-shorto.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}