Wild Nights: The nature of New York City by Anne Matthews, Flamingo,
£14.99, ISBN 0007123337
YOU or I look at New York and see skyscrapers, traffic and a notoriously
snarling populace. “When a snowy owl looks at New York,” writes Anne Matthews,
“it sees safety. And lunch. And a frontier.”
We tend to think of cities as our own. This is perhaps particularly true of
New York, old enough to have character and history, but young enough that people
still remember significant portions of it being built. Even before the tragic
events of 11 September, Matthews described it as a…
