<b>A riveting investigation of a beloved library caught in the crosshairs of real estate, power, and the people’s interests—by the reporter who broke the story<br></b><br>In a series of cover stories for <i>The Nation</i> magazine, journalist Scott Sherman uncovered the ways in which Wall Street logic almost took down one of New York City’s most beloved and iconic institutions: the New York Public Library.<br><br>In the years preceding the 2008 financial crisis, the library’s leaders forged an audacious plan to sell off multiple branch libraries, mutilate a historic building, and send millions of books to a storage facility in New Jersey. Scholars, researchers, and readers would be out of luck, but real estate developers and New York’s Mayor Bloomberg would get what they wanted.<br><br>But when the story broke, the people fought back, as famous writers, professors, and citizens’ groups came together to defend a national treasure.<br><br>Rich with revealing interviews with key figures, <i>Patience and Fortitude</i> is at once a hugely readable history of the library’s secret plans, and a stirring account of a rare triumph against the forces of money and power.