Jonathan Mahler and Kathy Wylde in Conversation with Thomas Dyja: The Gods of New York and a City Transformed

Jonathan Mahler is a longtime staff writer for the New York Times Magazine and the author of The Gods of New York, which was named a best book of the year by The New York Times York Review, the New Yorker, the Economist and Amazon. His previous books include the bestselling Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning, which was adapted as an ESPN mini-series, and The Challenge, a New York Times Notable Book and winner of the Scribes Award. His investigative journalism and narrative storytelling has been featured in The Best American Sports Writing, and has received numerous honors, including the Gerald Loeb Award and the Mirror Award. He lives in Brooklyn.

Kathryn Wylde is an urban policy expert and widely recognized New York civic and business leader. For fifty years, Kathryn has played a central role in building and maintaining New York’s thriving economy, as well as the revitalization of the city’s neighborhoods, development of affordable housing, reform of the public education system, modernization of the public transit system, and advancing public health and safety.

Kathryn recently stepped down after 25 years as President and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, the city’s preeminent business organization. She is a Senior Strategic Advisor to Invariant, a top Washington D.C.-based public affairs firm. She is a member of New York State Financial Control Board, the NYC Independent Budget Office Advisory Board, and the Board of Mt. Sinai Hospital. She also serves on the boards of the NYC Economic Development Corporation, the New York State NYC Regional Economic Development Council, the Fund for Public Schools, the Manhattan Institute, and the Partnership Fund for New York City. She writes a regular column for Crain’s New York Business and is a frequent spokesperson on issues that impact the city and state.

Thomas Dyja is an award-winning cultural historian. His book New York, New York, New York: Four Decades of Success, Excess, and Transformation, was called “a tour de force, a work of astonishing breadth and depth” by the New York Times. The Third Coast: When Chicago Built the American Dream, was selected for the Chicago Public Library’s One Book, One City program and received the Heartland Prize. Both books were New York Times Book Review covers as well as Notable Books of the Year. His other books include a biography of civil rights pioneer Walter White and three novels, including the Casey Award-winning Play For A Kingdom. Born and raised in Chicago, he graduated from Columbia and has lived on the Upper West Side ever since.