400+ Years

Above is the brilliant, reconstructed, bird’s-eye view that I’ll be using for my book covers. It shows the densely forested, lightly-inhabited island that Henry Hudson encountered on September 12, 1609. The native Lenapes called it Mannahatta; we now call it Manhattan. The whisp of smoke rising from the lower center of the island is at Werpoes, one of the main habitation sites of the Manahate band, who, along with the Rechgawawanks and the Wiechquaesecks, made Mannahatta their seasonal home.

Jump forward 417 years, and here’s the same island above, now its own county in New York City. With more than 1.6 million inhabitants and more tall buildings than you can count. Manhattan is now part of one of the most important cities in the world, and the seeds of its greatness were planted in September, 1609.

There’s a story in that. And guess who’s writing it?

See the Books section here for more…