An outstanding study of a neglected topic.
(
New England Quarterly 2007)
In recent decades, such ethnic groups as Italians, African-Americans and Chinese have rightfully demanded recognition for their share in building America in the days of the Industrial Revolution. Horses clearly did as much but had no one to speak in their behalf. Now they do.
(
History Wire 2008)
Overall, McShane and Tarr have written an outstanding and highly creative book. It should interest historians of cities, the environment, economics and animals.
(
Journal of Economic History 2008)
Presents a rich and complex picture of nineteenth-century urban life. McShane and Tarr have given us a book that is simultaneously an urban social history, a social history of a technology, and an environmental history.
(
Technology and Culture 2008)
The growth and development of the 19th-century city would have been vastly different without the horse, even though the horse's role was taken for granted by city residents and ignored by historians.
(
Choice 2008)
Valuable contribution not only to urban history but also to nineteeth-century economic, business, environmental, and social history.
(
Journal of Interdisciplinary History 2008)
A brilliant account of an incredibly important but understudied topic.
(John H. Hepp, IV
American Historical Review 2008)
McShane and Tarr's book, mercifully free of academic argot, a pleasure to read and full of enjoyable and surprising revelations, is welcome. And, if you'll forgive the metaphor, it covers the ground well.
(Paul Laxton
Urban History 2008)
Their work will no doubt encourage many scholars to reevaluate what they know about the physical formation of U.S. cities and what was going on in them.
(Robert Buerglener
American Quarterly 2009)
A deeply researched exploration of the intimate relationships among horses, humans, urbanization, industrialization, and reform.
(George B. Ellenberg
Agricultural History 2008)
Taken together the horse and the growth of the city fill an interesting and useful history of America. This ride is highly recommended.
(Ray B. Browne
Journal of American Culture 2008)
A valuable addition to the growing discussion of animals in history... the reader is left with a greater appreciation of the horse as an active participant in American history.
(Marta Knight
Economic History Review 2008)
It should be required reading for anyone interested in the environmental history of urban life in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
(Brian Black
Environmental History 2008)
A fascinating story of the 'Gelded' Age.
(D. Scott Molloy
Journal of American History )
A fascinating account of the role of horses in shaping the economy and society of American cities during the nineteenth century that contributes greatly to the fields of urban history, environmental history, and the history of human-animal relationships.
(Susan D. Jones, author of
Valuing Animals )
In this careful and richly textured book, Clay McShane and Joel Tarr have shown us how these beasts of burden helped create the modern metropolis and then disappeared from the city streets.
(Kenneth T. Jackson, Columbia University )
This innovative and fascinating book goes to the heart of new research that connects the human and animal worlds as never before. In presenting the horse as a ‘living machine,’ McShane and Tarr help us rethink how cities were built and how they functioned in the past.
(Martin V. Melosi, University of Houston, author of
The Sanitary City and
Effluent America )
Clay McShane and Joel A. Tarr, prominent scholars of urban life, here explore the critical role of the horse in the growing nineteenth-century metropolis. Using diverse sources, they examine how horses were housed and fed; how workers bred, trained, marketed, and employed their four-legged assets; and how horses affected the physical form of the city.
In addition to providing an insightful account of life and work in nineteenth-century urban America, The Horse in the City brings us to a richer understanding of how the animal fared in terms of both treatment and health in this unnatural and presumably uncomfortable setting.
"Presents a rich and complex picture of nineteenth-century urban life. McShane and Tarr have given us a book that is simultaneously an urban social history, a social history of a technology, and an environmental history."— Technology and Culture
"Their work will no doubt encourage many scholars to reevaluate what they know about the physical formation of U.S. cities and what was going on in them." —American Quarterly
"A brilliant account of an incredibly important but understudied topic."— American Historical Review
"A fascinating story of the 'Gelded' Age."— Journal of American History
