In this volume, some of the best figures in the field have come together to write on preservation movements across the country, from New York to Atlanta to Santa Fe and others. Giving Preservation a History also touches on the European roots of the historic preservation movement; on how preservation movements have taken a leading role in shaping American urban space and urban development; how historic preservation battles have reflected broader social forces; and what the changing nature of historic preservation means for the effort to preserve the nation's past.
I am a Professor of Architecture and History at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. I am the author of The Creative Destruction of Manhattan, 1900-1940 (University of Chicago Press, 1999), which won the Spiro Kostof Award of the Society of Architectural Historians, for the best book on architecture and urbanism. I write for a variety of publications about New York City, urban development, and the politics of the past. I am also the co-editor (with Steven Conn) of Building the Nation: Americans Write About Their Architecture, Their Cities, and Their Environment (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003), as well as the co-editor (with Randall Mason) of Giving Preservation a History: Histories of Historic Preservation in the United States (Routledge, 2003). For the hundredth anniversary of Times Square in 2004, I curated an exhibition on the history of the Square at the AXA Gallery in New York City. My latest book, The City's End: Two Centuries of Fantasies, Fears, and Premonitions of New York's Destruction was published by Yale University Press in 2008. You can learn more about The City's End at www.thecitysend.com. I am a recipient of fellowships from the Howard Foundation, Fulbright Commission, and Guggenheim Foundation. My next book project is entitled Priceless: Rethinking Historic Preservation in the 21st Century.
