If, at the start of this decade, somebody had told us that New York would shortly be attacked, leaving thousands dead and the city’s two tallest buildings a smoldering pile, leading to two wars in distant lands against a mostly unseen enemy, and that the economy would later collapse under the weight of bad debt, driving the local unemployment rate north of 10 percent and pulverizing three of the five largest Wall Street firms, well, we might have asked if there was a fast-forward button we could press. But rather shockingly, despite all this obvious human misery, the disappearance of entire professions, and the fact that the Yankees blew a three-games-to-nothing lead in the 2004 ALCS to the Red Sox, the world did not end. It was scathed, yes, very badly scathed. Institutions we thought would last forever convulsed with change. But the city endured. The Times is still published every day. There are more bicyclists on the streets than sanity would dictate. Cities around the world wish they could be Brooklyn. And there was Junot Díaz and a giant puppy made of flowers installed in Rockefeller Center and the ever-flourishing Union Square Greenmarket and maybe the best television ever made—many, many things that, even against a dreadful backdrop, made life richer and very much worth savoring. Not that we want to hit the rewind button. read more [+]