Jeremiah Moss’s “Vanishing New York” is a fierce, elegiac love letter to a city in the throes of transformation. Moss documents, in vivid detail, how gentrification and real estate speculation have swept away the small businesses, dive bars, diners, and cultural landmarks that once defined New York’s neighborhoods. The book is packed with case studies—CBGB, Café Edison, Pearl Paint, and countless others—each a casualty of rising rents and city policies that favor luxury development over local character.

Moss marshals a wealth of statistics: between 2002 and 2012, New York lost more than 1,000 small businesses each month; the number of chain stores has doubled since 2008; and the city’s rent-regulated apartments have declined by hundreds of thousands. He argues that this is not just the result of market forces, but of deliberate policy choices—tax breaks for developers, rezoning, and the prioritization of tourism and global capital over the needs of residents.

The book is deeply personal, blending Moss’s own experiences as a longtime New Yorker with the voices of shopkeepers, artists, and activists fighting to save their communities. He critiques the “hyper-gentrification” that has made the city less affordable, less diverse, and less interesting, and calls for stronger protections for small businesses and affordable housing.

Like having a beer with your grouchy uncle, “Vanishing New York” is both a lament and a rallying cry—a plea to remember what made the city great, and to fight for its soul before it disappears entirely.