The title of this book is misleading. Karen Gerard’s subject is one city. New York, and the “scenes” she discusses are random sketches of New York’s political, economic, and cultural life. Gerard, former deputy mayor of New York under Edward
Adler begins his latest book with Aristotle’s admonition: “The least initial deviation from the truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.” Adler concludes with a recommendation: “The recovery of basic truths, long hidden from view, would eradicate errors that have such