Two weeks ago, Flynn came to Manhattan to debate Charles Murray at a forum sponsored by the Manhattan Institute.

NEWYORKER: None of the Above

Robert Oppenheimer, that effort came to be known as the Manhattan Project.

NPR: Revisiting the Birth of the Bomb

Buffeted by the building boom, the increasingly generic glass boxes-- the sort that dominate certain sweeps of Park Avenue in midtown Manhattan--came to seem ubiquitous, even inescapable, guaranteeing their place in history and serial rejection by factions all the way from the Supreme Soviet to the postmodernists.

FORBES: On The Cover/Top Stories

Later, Koch remained extraordinarily popular among New Yorkers as the city thrived and prospered and once-run down neighbourhoods in Manhattan and Brooklyn gentrified and came to sparkle.

BBC: Obituary: Ed Koch

As part of that lawsuit, Picard also sued Claudine de la Villehuchet, the widow of Rene-Thierry Magon de la Villehuchet, a French hedge fund manager who killed himself soon after the Ponzi scheme came to light by swallowing sleeping pills and slitting his wrists in his Manhattan office.

FORBES: Madoff Trustee Sues JPMorgan Chase For $6.4 billion

Reading The Ghosts of Manhattan, it is easy to understand how the worst of Wall Street came apart.

FORBES: Book Review: Douglas Brunt's "The Ghosts of Manhattan"

Three old hands, however, wrote thoroughly impressive new plays that were all done off-Broadway: John Patrick Shanley's "Storefront Church" opened at the Atlantic Theater Company, Christopher Durang's "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike " came to Lincoln Center Theater, and Terrence McNally's "Golden Age" was presented in the Manhattan Theatre Club's downstairs space at City Center.

WSJ: Teachout's Best of 2012 Includes Salesman, A Little Night Music