Chapter One of Joseph Berger’s book, The World in a City, is very aptly named: “So You Thought You Knew Astoria.” Immediately, you think of Greek restaurants, or maybe even the Museum of the Moving Image (if you’ve never been, it’s definitely worth a visit). But like the neighborhoods we’ve read about in Ellis Island to JFK, or in the Zhou, Chin, Kim article, no neighborhood is ever so simply or so demographically static.

Berger explores the last outposts of Greek culture in the area and arrives at a conclusion similar to the ones offered in our other class readings: as Greek immigrants “make it,” they move out of the area and into more suburban neighborhoods. New immigrants subsequently fill that vacuum and the process repeats itself. Berger tactfully frames the process with a mix of melancholy and excitement: it’s sad to think of an Astoria that is no longer Greek, yet exciting to explore the cultures of new immigrant groups. Today, Astoria is more Arab and Brazilian than Greek. Like those of the generation before them, these immigrants are excited to be in the United States; they want to work, to save, to send their children to school, and to make the United States their homes. Interestingly, Berger argues that because these immigrants are (relatively) welcomed into American society, they “have been ‘pretty much immune to the jihadist virus'” that is often found among Arab immigrants in countries that are less welcoming. Even those Greek immigrants who long for the Astoria of twenty years ago accept these demographic changes; after all, their neighborhood is still vibrant and economically sound, it’s just that the sights and sounds and smells are a little different.

Although perhaps a bit outdated (this city has undoubtably changed since 2007), this book exudes the excitement of an urban explorer: no other city in the world could offer so much in such a small space. This book makes you want to travel the neighborhoods of New York.