Dear New York

Humans of New York creator Stanton (Humans) captures the beating heart of New York City—its people—in this vibrant love letter to the metropolis. Featuring portraits, most of which are being published here for the first time, alongside brief and characteristically intimate subject interviews, he highlights the celebratory (a woman in a colorful feathered costume during Carnival), as well as the melancholy (a woman on the verge of tears discusses the challenges of living with a mom who’d spent most of the speaker’s childhood in the hospital: “But now she’s in my life and just commenting on everything.... It feels like she’s hovering over me, making sure that my life is stable, that she’ll always have some pockets to dip her hands into”). Some portraits are more New York specific. For instance, an older man in a pink blazer vividly recounts first visiting the city as a young gay college student: “All the storefronts were dark; It was like lyric poetry to me. Unopened boxes of mystery. All I knew was I had to get to Greenwich Village.” Elsewhere, a doorman laments, “Here it’s very hard to know if someone is genuine.... Sometimes the moment a person gets what they want, the smile goes away.” Stanton’s knack for capturing his subjects’ voices is on full display, making for a collection that easily ranges from heartbreaking to bizarre to humorous. It’s an affectionate mosaic of the city and those who call it home. (Oct.)