The women who made New York

I started reading "The Women Who Made New York" in October, around the time the presidential race got ugly - and extra New York-y. Speaking at a Trump rally in Ocala, Fla., former Mayor Rudy Giuliani ridiculed Hillary Clinton's work to rebuild New York after Sept. 11. "I was there that day," Giuliani said. "I don't remember seeing Hillary Clinton." Newspapers published those quotes - accompanied by pictures of Giuliani and Clinton standing shoulder to shoulder at ground zero on Sept. 12, when elected officials were first permitted onto the site. "I made a mistake," Giuliani later admitted. He had forgotten the woman was also there. Forgetting - and belatedly remembering - women is a historiographical tradition as old as history itself. "The Women Who Made New York" positions itself as an antidote to that process. Written by Julie Scelfo and illustrated by Hallie Heald, the volume features 126 female artists, activists, politicians, criminals and tycoons. Legends like Brooke Astor, Ella Fitzgerald , Edith Wharton, Anna Wintour and Debbie Harry receive authoritative write-ups that also pay tribute to the lesser-known women who cleared the path for them. You've heard of Billie Holiday, the legendary jazz singer whose haunting performance of "Strange Fruit" described lynching in agonizing, unforgettable language. But what about Ethel Waters, the daughter of a young rape victim who rose out of poverty to become one of the first Harlem musicians to make it big on Broadway? Six years before Holiday recorded "Strange Fruit," Waters began performing "Supper Time," a song about a woman discovering her husband has been lynched. "A number so moving it routinely stopped the show," Scelfo writes, bringing contemporary social commentary to the Great White Way. Equally enriching is Scelfo's treatment of women usually relegated to "wife of" status. A chapter called "The Builders" opens with a paean to Emily Warren Roebling, who completed the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge when her engineer husband fell ill. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis appears in "The Preservationists," in an entry that focuses on her work to preserve historical buildings. The famous men in Jackie's life appear only in asides - or when their presence serves a greater purpose, like the time Jackie choreographed a kiss on the steps of City Hall while campaigning to save a Park Avenue landmark. I don't think I've ever seen a Jackie O profile so resolutely focused on substance instead of style - to the point that I felt a little bit deprived, until I turned the page and saw Heald's dreamy watercolor portrait of the windswept first lady in a sumptuous roll-neck sweater. At last, I thought, a book that indulges my superficiality without wasting any words on it. With its romantic illustrations and requisite three pages dedicated to Joan Didion, it would be easy to dismiss "The Women Who Made New York" as mere gifting bait for anyone with a niece at Barnard College. (And to be clear, your niece probably will love this.) But for every tale that makes you pump your fist in triumph, there is one that makes you clench your jaw in anger. Take the story of Eve Adams, a Polish-Jewish immigrant who ran a literary social club for "lesbian and bi-curious women" in the 1920s: An early promoter of Henry Miller and Anaïs Nin, Adams was jailed and deported for making "a homosexual advance" toward an undercover cop. "She spent the 1930s in Paris working as a bookseller, but in 1940, the Nazi invasion drove her south to Nice," Scelfo writes. "Soon thereafter she was arrested and, in 1943, forced on a train to Auschwitz, where she was promptly murdered." This willingness to recount hardship as unflinchingly as success allows the book to function as more than an aside that "many women were there." But it also means that no matter how persuasively Scelfo makes the case for her subjects' achievements, a deeply depressing question remains: What more would have been accomplished if circumstances were different? If Eve Adams's life had not been cut short, would she have discovered another Miller or Nin? If Emily Warren Roebling had continued as an engineer, what else would she have built? How much talent, intelligence and innovation has been wasted, ignored or forgotten? As the joke goes, women do everything men do, but backward and in high heels. (Although it should be noted that Martha Graham, in the "Counterculturists" part of this collection, performed barefoot. ) What can be accomplished on even footing will have to wait for some future edition. ? MAUREEN O'CONNOR is a columnist at New York magazine.

An exuberant celebration of more than 100 women who shaped the myths and realities of New York City.In her debut book, journalist Scelfo, who has written for thenbsp;New York Timesnbsp;andnbsp;Newsweek, aims to counter histories of New York that focus only on male political leaders and male activists and male cultural tastemakers. As the author discovered and shows, the contributions of women have been deeply significant, and she has chosen a copious roster of personalities, gathered under three dozen rubrics, such as The Caretakers (pioneering physician Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell and Dr. Sara Josephine Baker, who enacted revolutionary hygienic measures in early-20th-century tenements); The Loudmouths (Joan Rivers and Better Midler); and Wall Street (brokerage firm founder Victoria Woodhull and miserly investor Hetty Green). With a plethora of women to choose from, Scelfo aimed for representation from musical theater, law enforcement, education, social justice movements, and various professions and organizations. Some of the women are familiar (Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, for her preservation work; Brooke Astor for her philanthropy), some iconic (Emma Lazarus, in a category of her own as The Beacon), and some little known (artist Hildreth Meire, whose art deco designs can be seen on the south facade of Radio City Music Hall). One odd category is The Crooks, which includes several forgettable women who contributed to the citys cons and crimes. The authors brief, breezy bios reveal quirky facts about each woman, a form better suited to The In-Crowd (restaurateur Elaine Kaufman, hardly a crowd), entertainers (Betty Comden, Ethel Waters), and The Wisecrackers (Nora Ephron, Tina Fey), than to Susan Sontag, Edith Wharton, and Joan Didion. Nevertheless, the book is lively and fun, with something, no doubt, to pique anyones interest. Healds blithe illustrations add to the lighthearted mood. An eclectic assortment of women make for an entertaining read. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

A few of The Women Who Made New York : THE BUILDERS Emily Roebling Lillian Wald Mary Ann Tighe Amanda Burden AFTER-HOURS Texas Guinean Grace Jones Régine Zylberberg SEE AND BE SEEN SCENE Elaine Kaufman THE BENEFACTORS Brooke Astor Abby Rockefeller Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney THE FUNDER Elizabeth Milbank Anderson THE CHANGE-MAKERS Gloria Steinem Nelly Bly Frances Perkins Ella Baker THE THUG Hell Cat Maggie THE FIGHTERS Shirley Chisholm Bella Abzug THE COUNTER-CULTURISTS Martha Graham Patti Smith Ellen Stewart Diane Arbus Laurie Anderson DESIGNER DOYENNES Diana Vreeland Anna Wintour THE STYLE SAVANT Patricia Fields THE FOODIES CRITICS Gael Greene Mimi Sheraton Nina Zagat GROCERS Lillian Zabar RESTAURANTEURS Mama Leone Sylvia Woods GREAT WHITE WAY Ethel Waters Ethel Merman Betty Comden HARLEM RENAISSANCE A'lelia Walker Zora Neale Hurston Billie Holiday HOT STUFF Eve Adams Polly Adler Mae West THE ICONS Iris Apfel Fran Leibovitz Dorothy Parker Barbra Streisand THE INTELLECTS Susan Sontag Joan Didion THE MYTHMAKER Edith Wharton THE BEACON Emma Lazarus THE LIBERATORS Audre Lorde Margaret Sanger Elizabeth Stanton Susan B Anthony Barbara Gittings THE ICONOCLAST Victoria Woodhull MADISON AVENUE Mary Wells Lawrence Eileen Ford Christine Frederick MEDIA INFLUENCERS Barbara Walters Jane Grant Liz Smith Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger THE PRESERVATIONISTS Jackie O Betsy Barlow Rogers Ada Louise Huxtable Jane Jacobs THE PROTECTORS Dead Shot Mary Linda Fairstein Mary Jo White Gertrude Schimmel THE SETTLER Lady Deborah Moody SOUNDTRACK MAKERS Ella Fitzgerald La Lupe Sylvia Robinson DJ Rekha THE SHEPHERDS Beverly Sills Karen Brooks Hopkins THE WISECRACKERS Gilda Radner Nora Ephron Fannie Brice Tina Fey THE AUNTIES Uma Mysorekar Betty Lee Sung Antonia Pantoja Debbie Almontoser THE LOUDMOUTHS Joan Rivers Bette Midler Elaine Stritch THE ARTISTS Yoko Ono Hildreth Miere Cindy Sherman THE LENSWOMAN Berenice Abbott WALL STREET Hetty Green Muriel Seibert THE REVOLUTIONARY Margaret Corbin THE CARE-TAKERS Elizabeth Blackwell Mother Cabrini S. Josephine Baker THE GLOBAL CITIZEN Eleanor Roosevelt THE GATE-OPENER Julia Richman Excerpted from How Women Made New York by Julie Scelfo All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.