Gerard Koeppel

Gerard Koeppel is an American author and historian, with a focus on New York infrastructure.[1][2] He has written three books—Water for Gotham: A History[3][4] (Princeton University Press, 2000), Bond of Union: Building the Erie Canal and the American Nation[5][6][7][8] (Da Capo Press, 2009); and City on a Grid: How New York Became New York[9][10][11][12] (Da Capo Press, 2015)—and contributed to numerous other books, including The Encyclopedia of New York City, of which he was an associate editor of the second edition.[13] City on a Grid was a winner of a 2015 New York City Book Award [14] and was named one of Planetizen's top 10 urban planning books of 2015.[15] Koeppel has written opinion pieces for the New York Times [16], the New York Daily News[17][18][19], and other print and online publications. He writes and speaks regularly about aspects of New York history. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University,[20] where he was deeply influenced by professors V.S. Naipaul and Phyllis Rose. He has been a charter sailboat captain, a New York City cabdriver, and radio journalist, including a dozen years at CBS News.