The Literature Network - AMERICAN INNOCENCE New York was Walt Whitman's Jerusalem " the poet was ravished by its buildings, its boats and, occasionally, its citizens. Now 21st- century Gotham City is re-igniting its love affair with the 19th- century visionary, says Philip Ho

AMERICAN INNOCENCE New York was Walt Whitman's Jerusalem " the poet was ravished by its buildings, its boats and, occasionally, its citizens. Now 21st- century Gotham City is re-igniting its love affair with the 19th- century visionary, says Philip Ho

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From: The Independent on Sunday
Date: 20050814
Author:Philip Hoare

At my bedside New York public radio issues vague reports of explosions in London. Still jet-lagged, it's 5.30 am, I blearily turn on the TV, and for the next three hours watch, with mounting horror, scenes from the city I have just left. Tearing myself away, I leave the Soho Grand Hotel in lower Manhattan for the overheated streets outside; the subway entrances are already guarded by police with machine guns. Walking south through the Financial District, a BBC journalist vox-pops me at Ground Zero. Wall Street is flanked on one side by militia, and on the other by the media, in the shape of ...

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AMERICAN INNOCENCE New York was Walt Whitman's Jerusalem " the poet was ravished by its buildings, its boats and, occasionally, its citizens. Now 21st- century Gotham City is re-igniting its love affair with the 19th- century visionary, says Philip Ho

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