A riveting investigation of a beloved library caught in
the crosshairs of real estate, power, and the people’s
interests—by the reporter who broke the story
In a series of cover stories for The
Nation magazine, journalist Scott Sherman uncovered the
ways in which Wall Street logic almost took down one of New
York City’s most beloved and iconic institutions: the New
York Public Library.
In the years preceding the 2008
financial crisis, the library’s leaders forged an audacious
plan to sell off multiple branch libraries, mutilate a
historic building, and send millions of books to a storage
facility in New Jersey. Scholars, researchers, and readers
would be out of luck, but real estate developers and New
York’s Mayor Bloomberg would get what they wanted.
But when the story broke, the people fought back, as famous
writers, professors, and citizens’ groups came together to
defend a national treasure.
Rich with revealing
interviews with key figures, Patience and Fortitude
is at once a hugely readable history of the library’s secret
plans, and a stirring account of a rare triumph against the
forces of money and power.
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