Joshua B. Freeman is a professor of history at Queens College (CUNY)
Summary
More than any American city, New York in the years after World War II laid out an idealistic and equitable path to the future. Ordinary workers and a dynamic labor movement helped make New York the envied model of liberal America and the scourge of conservatives everywhere: union wages and benefits, cheap and easy-to-use mass transit, affordable public housing, and healthcare for all.
