The Enlightenment of Gotham: How Four Men Transformed New York City at the Start of the 19th Century

Beginning in 1802, four men – DeWitt Clinton, Samuel Latham Mitchill, David Hosack, and John Pintard – designed four temples of wisdom and a garden, which together embodied art, science, literature, philosophy, and history. These men set out to make New York a "first city" in every sense of the term, to capture the ethos of the Enlightenment, and, in so doing, to enlighten the citizens of Gotham.

Praise for Lee Dugatkin's Previous Books

For How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog), University of Chicago Press, 2017:
"Sparkling... part science, part Russian fairy tale and part spy thriller."

—New York Times Book Review

For Behind the Crimson Curtain: The Rise and Fall of Peale's Museum, Butler Books, 2020:
"As a biologist and writer on nature, Dugatkin expertly and straightforwardly gives us an account of Peale's Museum... Behind the Crimson Curtain is the best sort of book, as it sends you searching for more."

—We Proceeded On, Journal of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation

About the Author

Lee Alan Dugatkin, PhD, is a professor of biology and a College of Arts & Sciences distinguished scholar at the University of Louisville. He is the author of many books, including Mr. Jefferson and the Giant Moose (University of Chicago Press, 2009) and Behind the Crimson Curtain: The Rise and Fall of Peale's Museum (Butler Books, 2020). The New York Times Book Review called his 2017 book, How to Tame a Fox (and Build a Dog) (University of Chicago Press), "Sparkling... a story that is part science, part Russian fairy tale, and part spy thriller. It may serve – particularly now – as a parable of the lessons that can emerge from unfettered science, if we have the courage to let it unfold."

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Behind the Crimson Curtain: The Rise and Fall of Peale's Museum

By Lee Dugatkin