Like Paris in the twenties or postwar Greenwich Village, Brooklyn today is experiencing an alchemical cultural boom. In recent years, writers, journalists, and cities of all stripes have flocked to its patchwork of neighbourhoods. But as literary critic and journalist Evan Hughes reveals, the rich literary life now flourishing in Brooklyn is part of a larger, fascinating history. Hughes not only traces the origins of Brooklyn's contemporary literary scene but illuminates a revealing slice of American urban history. Starting with Walt Whitman, Brooklyn's first laureate, through the greats of the twentieth century, such as Henry Miller, Marianne Moore, Thomas Wolfe, and Truman Capote, to today's prominent writers - Jonathan Lethem, Jhumpa Lahiri, Colson Whitehead, and more - Hughes peers into their lives, their work, and their Brooklyn, the home that shaped them. And chapter by chapter, Hughes uses Brooklyn's literary tradition to tell the story of city life in America.