1. Celluloid Skyline
Shot on location or built out of plywood, cinematic New York is a city all its own. James Sanders, who co-wrote Ric Burns's New York documentary, explains how movies made the city -- and vice versa. (Knopf; $45.)

2. Unearthing Gotham
This ever-changing city leaves its traces everywhere. Anthropologists Anne-Marie Cantwell and Diana diZerega Wall give it the archaeological once-over, baring everything from 10,000-year-old stone tools to nineteenth-century chamber pots. (Yale; $39.95.)

3. Brooklyn: A State of Mind
Spike Lee and David McCullough may have very different stories, but their tales, along with those of 100 contributors, converge in one borough and one big paperback edited by Michael W. Robbins. (Workman; $19.95.)

4. New York Exposed: Photographs From the Daily News or The Post's New York
Take your pick: The News' classy compendium catches the city's great and ghastly moments, whereas the Post (celebrating its 200th birthday) talks all about itself, in a book that's as crass as the paper, and therefore great fun. (Abrams; $39.95. HarperResource; $18.)

5. Cityscapes
For small coffee tables, this combination of social history and rarely seen images of the city, culled by Howard B. Rock and Deborah Dash Moore, covers all the bases. But it's the often-surprising mid-century photographs that are most compelling. (Columbia; $59.95.)

Related:

• Archive: “Top Five”
• Articles by Boris Kachka
• Table of Contents: Dec 17, 2001 issue of New York | Subscribe!