cover image Manhattan for Rent, 17851850

Manhattan for Rent, 17851850

Elizabeth Blackmar. Cornell University Press, $47.5 (348pp) ISBN 978-0-8014-2024-5

Blackmar explains how the economic boom in the early 19th century caused land values in Manhattan to rise, forcing homeowners to augment their incomes by taking boarders while less wealthy proprietors turned wage-workers had to rent rather than purchase living quarters. Illustrated. no PW review (Sept.)