Deep within New York's compelling, sprawling history lives an odd, ornery Manhattan native named Diedrich Knickerbocker. The name may be familiar today: his story gave rise to generations of popular tributes - from a beer brand to a basketball team and more - but Knickerbocker himself has been forgotten. In fact, he was New York's first truly homegrown chronicler, and as a descendant of the Dutch settlers, he singlehandedly tried to reclaim the city for the Dutch. Almost singlehandedly, that is. Diedrich Knickerbocker was created in 1809 by a young Washington Irving, who used the character to narrate his classic satire, A History of New York. According to Irving's partisan narrator, everything good and distinctive, proud and powerful, about New York City - from the doughnuts to the twisting streets of lower Manhattan - could be traced back to New Amsterdam. This book features a terrific general interest, cultural history of a city with a rich and lively literary past. This is the first-ever book on the eponymous myth that has informed New York City culture since the early 1800s. It also coincides with the two-hundredth anniversary of Washington Irving's publication of A History of New York. It is a perfect gift book or addition to library collection of New York City - themed books. It includes a gallery of images that brings Diedrich Knickerbocker, his myth, time, and place to life.