6:30 pm, Skylight Room (9th Floor)

Elizabeth Albert, editor of Silent Beaches, Untold Stories: NYC’s Forgotten Waterfront​, sits down with Kurt Schlichting to discuss his new book, Waterfront Manhattan, the first comprehensive history of the asset which made NYC the unrivaled commercial hub of the nation and the north Atlantic world. Nature provided Gotham with a sheltered harbor, which allowed New York to grow dramatically, while other cities struggled to compete. But the government handed ownership and control of the priceless asset to business, until neglect and conflict between various industries forced the city to resume management — a situation that lasted until the era of jet transport and containerization destroyed the old industrial waterfront, opening the door to its contemporary revival, in which private interests have again dominated.