‘The Great Mistake’ traces the life and career of early 20th-century city builder Andrew Haswell Green in lyrical language that just did not suit my patience level in a pandemic—my fault, not the author’s. The book begins with Green’s murder (no spoiler) and works backward to explain his death and his life. But his interior life is what’s important here and the titanic changes happening in New York City at the turn of the century seem unreal and almost beside the point. I missed the dynamism of this historical period, which I’m sure was Lee’s point, but just didn’t work for me.