Episode Information

From Russell Shorto's website:

"The Island at the Center of the World", my most recent book, is a narrative history of Manhattan’s founding. The argument, basically, is that the Dutch founding of Manhattan—and of the colony of New Netherland, which extended across the whole Middle Atlantic region—seeded not only New York’s immigrant culture, but America’s melting pot.

I’m a strong believer in the idea that meaning is best conveyed via narrative, which means focusing on individuals and their struggles, and the story I tell centers on two men and their very different ideas about what the wilderness island called Manhattan might become. (Hint on the outcome: neither man got his wish, but both ended up influencing American history in startling and profound ways.)