You will have a hard time getting through Thomas Dyja’s New York, New York, New York, mostly because there is an idea on every page, if not in every paragraph — and usually attached to a perfect line from the host of sources he has collected for this history of New York City over its last four rollicking decades.

Dyja’s history is a pixelated montage, embellished with oaken references to Elaine’s and the Yankees, but also indebted to Google searches and online newspapers for its density of anecdotes about artists and ABC execs, among hundreds of minor socialites and city officials.

Dyja portrays cities with verve.

Dyja is highly qualified to create this work on the city he considers to be the greatest in the world, with careful explanation of the city’s history of urban renewal. The author is opinionated, but his research is staggeringly thorough, and his interpretation of major events, such as the September 11 attacks, and insight into prominent governmental figures, like Mayors Ed Koch, Rudy Giuliani, and Mike Bloomberg; Governors Andrew Cuomo and George Pataki; and even Donald Trump, will resonate with and appeal to most who are even somewhat familiar with the city and its history, and will educate those who are not.

Dyja’s omnivorous curiosity takes in city bureaucracies, investment bankers, neighborhood activists, literati lunching at Elaine’s, hip-hop impresarios, and downtown artists. Dyja shapes it all into a cogent narrative studded with pithy insights and vivid profiles.

Dyja is no fan of the authoritarians and plutocrats, clearly, but he does not spare more liberal mayors like David Dinkins and Bill de Blasio, who 'let the city go adrift'.