The variety and extravagant energy of innovation that characterize New York are captured in the pages of this engaging book. From the very beginning, diversity has been one of the city's primary characteristics. The first Dutch colonists arrived in 1624, and by 1664, New Amsterdam had a population of 1,500, including Dutch, English, French, German, Irish, Spanish, Portuguese, West Indian, Calvinist, Catholic, Lutheran, Puritan and Jewish people. "A kaleidoscope divine," was one of Walt Whitman's many descriptions for New York and its teeming, motley crowds. While a gateway for immigrants and the nation's commercial center since its inception, it was only for a brief period at the nation's birth that New York served as the country's political capital. Over time, the city became the artistic center, the intellectual heart, and the sports capital of America. A place of subways, skyscrapers, jazz, theater, and publishing, the growth of New York is a tribute to the country that nourished and never stops being fascinated by it.