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Author E.B. White, of "Stuart Little" fame, wrote an essay in 1949 entitled, "Here is New York."
In it, he describes life in Manhattan, its people and its habits.
WWII had just ended, a B-25 bomber had accidentally crashed into the Empire State Building just a few years before, so potential destruction was apparently on his mind, prompting this:
"A single flight of planes no bigger than a wedge of geese can quickly end this island fantasy, burn the towers, crumble the bridges, turn the underground passages into lethal chambers, cremate the millions. The intimation of mortality is part of New York now: in the sound of jets overhead, in the black headlines of the latest edition...In the mind of whatever perverted dreamer might loose the lightning, New York must hold a steady, irresistible charm...This race - this race between the destroying planes and the struggling Parliament of Man - it sticks in all our heads. The city at last perfectly illustrates both the universal dilemma and the general solution, this riddle in steel and stone is at once the perfect target and the perfect demonstration of nonviolence, of racial brotherhood, this lofty target scraping the skies and meeting the destroying planes halfway, home of all people and all nations, capital of everything, housing the deliberations by which the planes are to be stayed and their errand forestalled."
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