City Reading

David Henkin's 'City Reading' examines the emergence of urban texts such as street signs, advertisements, newspapers, and paper money in New York City between 1825 and 1865.

The book highlights how these texts reflected and shaped the city's social dynamics and public discourse during a period of rapid urbanization.

Henkin analyzes these urban texts as crucial elements in the development of a new form of public communication in an increasingly heterogeneous urban environment.