Sixty-eight memorable views — Manhattan, neighborhoods; Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, harbor. Detail crisp, major sites identified.

Witness the rise of New York City through dozens of historic and contemporary aerial photographs that chart the city's ever-changing skyline. From the ground, New York City can feel like a chaotic jumble of traffic, pedestrians, one-way streets, parks, and buildings of every shape and size. But above the city, away from the cacophony and the commotion, New York can be tranquil and awe-inspiring. The city that never sleeps also never stops changing, which is why this phenomenal collection of historic maps and aerial photos is a fascinating way to explore New York's evolution. The book opens with maps of 17th-century Manhattan, a quiet settlement with a ragged shoreline. A series of chronological illustrations show the city's northward expansion, the establishment of its grid system, and the creation of Central Park. The next three chapters include aerial photographs that chart the city's unbelievable expansion in every direction, including skyward. As buildings rise, as the shoreline expands with ports and landfills, and as more sophisticated photographic techniques allow for breathtaking views of New York's unmistakable skyline, this lush, oversized book captures a city that is truly alive. Author Peter Skinner's commentaries on the photographs and maps will guide readers through what is certain to become a treasured book for all who love New York.

A unique dual aerial portrait of Los Angeles and New York, in a stunning case of compare and contrast from a bird’s-eye point of view LA NY is a dazzling visual tale of two cities, Los Angeles and New York, as seen from the air. Photographed straight down at a ninety-degree angle to emphasize the particular patterns of place, how the urban grid adapts to local topography, and how the topography itself adapts to human purposes, these two cities are revealed as never before in astonishing detail. Photographer Jeffrey Milstein explores residential and commercial neighborhoods, parks and recreation spots, as well as industrial districts and the infrastructure of transportation. Iconic buildings and landmarks are easy to spot, alongside suburban housing developments, apartment complexes, commercial hubs, entertainment and financial centers, and airports and shipping terminals. Milstein’s work deftly combines architecture, science, and art. Using high-resolution cameras mounted to a stabilizing gyro, Milstein leaned out of helicopters over Los Angeles where he grew up and over New York where he now lives, looking for shapes and patterns of culture from above, continually awed by the difference an aerial view makes. In addition to the urban topography, events and activities have also been captured, such as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and outings at the beach.

Have you ever flown into New York City and marveled out the plane windows at the incredible view of the skyline from the air? With unprecedented access from both helicopter and rooftop vantages, here are 200 of the most stunning, never-before-seen New York City photographs ever assembled. From sunrise to sunset, New York City is the most photographed city in the world. No other city is captured more each year, anywhere. Award-winning photographer Paul Seibert takes us on a breath-taking journey high above New York, from sweeping panoramic views to details of the architecture that make the city a photographer’s dream. Seibert’s years as the official photographer for FlyNYON helicopter tours allowed him to know where and when to be for the most extraordinary light. Seibert brings his unique and unmatched aerial vistas of New York City to life—every angle, every moment, every season. Tourists and native New Yorkers alike will see New York for the first time, all over again.

In Over New Orleans, photographer David King Gleason creates a breathtaking aerial mosaic of the Crescent City—a composite portrait that is at once panoramic and intimate, dramatic and subtle. Working from the skies, Gleason reveals every aspect of the city from the familiar streetcars and wrought-iron balconies to less celebrated views of the Faubourg Marigny, the Dixie Brewery on Tulane Avenue, and the palatial residences that overlook Lake Pontchartrain. From high overhead, Gleason's camera captures the dynamism of the Central Business District and the broad sweep of the docks that lie along the great bend of the Mississippi. Closing in, he reveals the lush courtyards of the French Quarter and the great mansions of the Garden District. Mapping the city's environs, Gleason shows the turbid Mississippi where it meets the clear blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway leading off into the morning mist, and the cluster of chemical plants that have found their place on the river amid the swampland and graceful antebellum plantation homes. These photographs reveal the diverse urban fabric of New Orleans with a drama that can seldom be approached at street level. The narrow streets of the French Quarter give way to the bustle of Canal Street and the bluntly modern towers of Poydras Street; the Iberville Housing Project is revealed wedged in a netherworld between the Saint Louis No. 2 Cemetery and the sculptured terrain of Louis Armstrong Park; the Superdome sits at the hub of a network of highways; and the Mississippi, girded with shipping, is seen as the city's backbone—its presence felt in nearly every image. Cities are usually seen from above only fleetingly, from airplane windows, or partially, from the upper floors of tall buildings. In Over New Orleans, David King Gleason offers us the opportunity to linger above one of the world's most fascinating cities, to contrast its charms and raw vigor, to see it whole in all its complexity.

The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair was the largest international exhibition ever built in the United States. More than one hundred fifty pavilions and exhibits spread over six hundred forty-six acres helped the fair live up to its reputation as "the Billion-Dollar Fair." With the cold war in full swing, the fair offered visitors a refreshingly positive view of the future, mirroring the official theme: Peace through Understanding. Guests could travel back in time through a display of full-sized dinosaurs, or look into a future where underwater hotels and flying cars were commonplace. They could enjoy Walt Disney's popular shows, or study actual spacecraft flown in orbit. More than fifty-one million guests visited the fair before it closed forever in 1965. The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair captures the history of this event through vintage photographs, published here for the first time.