Sam Roberts, a 50-year vet­er­an of New York jour­nal­ism, is an obit­u­ar­ies reporter and for­mer­ly the Urban Affairs cor­re­spon­dent at the New York Times. He hosts the New York Times ​“Close Up,” which he inau­gu­rat­ed in 1992, and the pod­casts ​“Only in New York,” anthol­o­gized in a book of the same name, and ​“The Cau­cus.” He is the author of A His­to­ry of New York in 27 Build­ings, A His­to­ry of New York in 101 Objects, and Grand Cen­tral: How a Train Sta­tion Trans­formed Amer­i­ca, among oth­ers. He has writ­ten for the New York Times Mag­a­zine, the New Repub­lic, New York, Van­i­ty Fair, and For­eign Affairs. A his­to­ry advis­er to Fed­er­al Hall, he lives in New York with his wife and two sons.