Podcast #34: Sam Roberts on New York City
The New York Public Library Podcast brings you the best of the Library's author talks, live events, and other bookish curiosities. In our most recent episode, Sam Roberts of The New York Times discussed his latest book A History of New York in 101 Objects. He spoke about what he thinks the motto of New York City should be, seeing history through objects, and productive procrastination.
Roberts' new book looks at New York City history through the lens of emblematic objects. He recalls that when he asked for suggestions, many people recommended foods:
"More people suggested various forms of food than you could possibly imagine: every form of pizza, empanada, knishes, egg creams, seltzer bottles, and I finally decided that given the declining crime rate of New York, the motto of the city should probably be 'Leave the gun; take the cannoli.'"
So why consider history through objects? Roberts elaborated:
"History is really important, and what I was looking to do is make history more accessible. One way to do that is through objects. The British Museum proved that: objects in this materialistic world show that there's more to value than just paying for a materialistic thing, that an object can have value not just because people are willing to pay for it. An object in this virtual world can have value because it's authentic. An object can have value it was invented; it's not part of a chronological timeframe of events. There's a reason for this to come into being. There was a reason for it to happen. There was a need for it to be created. It also fits in with our desire to make lists. As someone said, 'It allows us all to me Simon Cowell in a way.' We can all create American idols by making lists of 100 or 101. So I was trying to pick more quirky things that would make people think about history in a different way."
While many writers lament procrastinating by playing games of solitaire or spending time on Twitter, Roberts has a more productive method:
"I am a reporter and a writer, and therefore spend a great deal of time researching so I can avoid having to write. Anything that will delay having to write is something I engage in. So I recruited as many archivists, curators, librarians, historians as I possibly could and said, 'What would you include if I'm making a list of an arbitrary number — 100, 101, whatever it happens to be — what would you include as transformative objects in the roughly 400-year history of New York City?'"
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