St. Louis: Evolution Of American Urban Landscape (Critical Perspectives On The P) [Hardcover]

ERIC SANDWEISS (Author)

Book Description

Series: Critical Perspectives On The P | Publication Date: August 9, 2001

St. Louis' story stands for the story of all those cities whose ambitions and civic self-image, forged from the growth of the mercantile and industrial eras, have been dramatically altered over time. More dramatically, perhaps, than most but in a manner shared by all St. Louis' changing economic base, shifting population, and altered landscape have forced scholars, policymakers, and residents alike to acknowledge the transiency of what once seemed inexorable metropolitan trends: concentration, growth, accumulated wealth, and generally improved well-being. In this book, Eric Sandweiss scrutinizes the everyday landscape streets, houses, neighborhoods, and public buildings as it evolved in a classic American city.Bringing to life the spaces that most of us pass without noticing, he reveals how the processes of dividing, trading, improving, and dwelling upon land are acts that reflect and shape social relations. From its origins as a French colonial settlement in the eighteenth century to the present day, "St Louis" offers a story not just about how our past is diagramed in brick and asphalt, but also about the American city's continuing viability as a place where the balance of individual rights and collective responsibilities can be debated, demonstrated, and adjusted for generations to come. Author note: Eric Sandweiss is the Director of Research at the Missouri Historical Society.

Editorial Reviews

Review

" Eric Sandweiss's book makes fascinating reading--not only for someone with a love of St. Louis history, but for anyone interested in thinking about the effect of past decisions upon the current state of American cities." --Vince Schoemehl, former Mayor of St. Louis " Sandweiss deftly shows his readers how and why 'form' followed a wide range of functions--economic, political, and social--in St. Louis. [The book] offers a rich and satisfactory account of how city neighborhoods, and especially working-class neighborhoods, were built in the nineteenth century and what happened to them in the twentieth. Sandweiss makes a vital and original contribution to the history of the built environment and does so with unusual acuity, wit, and sympathy." --Elizabeth Blackmar, Professor of History, Columbia University " In this superbly researched and carefully argued study, Eric Sandweiss presents the hidden history of spatial separation and social inequality in cities like St. Louis. Sandweiss shows how seemingly small decisions about ordinary aspects of urban life--like the placement of porches in the front or the back of buildings and the purchase of pavement from private or public funds--activate enduring and seeming irresolvable tensions in urban life. By showing how an unending capacity for change in urban areas frustrates abstract invocations of the common good as articulated by urban planners, Sandweiss directs our attention to more modest--but also more practical--plans for resolving conflicts between the interests of the 'fenced-off corners' of our cities and the needs of the 'wider setting.'" --George Lipsitz, author of A Life in the Struggle: Ivory Perry and the Culture of Opposition (Temple) and Sidewalks of St. Louis " Sandweiss engages with an impressive range of sources to tell this story of people's lived experiences and urban imaginations...St. Louis demonstrates how we can think deeply about the spatial dimensions of city life and urban development." --Urban History

From the Publisher

The changing contours of a classic American city.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Temple University Press; 1 edition (August 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566398851
• ISBN-13: 978-1566398855
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 7.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,364,207 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A rare combination of meticulous research and a larger vision, July 17, 2010

By 

Michael S. McGill (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: St. Louis: Evolution Of American Urban Landscape (Critical Perspectives On The P) (Paperback)

Eric Sandweiss has done a superb job of analyzing the physical evolution of St. Louis as seen from the perspective of one of its most stable neighborhood areas, South St. Louis. His analytical framework reflects the perspective of the great Sir Winston Churchill, who said "We shape our buildings. Thereafter, they shape us." The kind of analysis the author undertakes is similar to a book he cites in his notes, Puritan Village. But while this latter work focused on the relatively simple and stable environment of Sudbury, MA, over a relatively short period of time, Sandweiss covers virtually the entire history of St. Louis. For most of his book, he focuses on a detailed analysis of several representative blocks of South St. Louis, including demographics, house styles, and block-by-block development patterns, to demonstrate how neighborhood character and composition change over time. This is truly original work. But his last two chapters, comprising a little over 50 pages, present a powerful summation of the growth and decline of the city in the 20th century. Many of his observations reflect the evolution of most American cities over time, making a transition from a kinship-based to an association-based pattern of development, evolving from a ward-healer pattern of government to one emphasizing professional management principles, etc. His indictment of city planning as practiced in St. Louis is just devastating, particularly the work of Harland Bartholomew. My only quibble is that he does not offer a plausible alternative to the pattern of centralization and professionalization of city government that occurred. Would St. Louis have avoided its precipitous decline if it had retained a dispersed, neighborhood-based type of government? Or, could its leaders, beginning with the Progressive Era, have guided the city in a more positive direction? Nevertheless, Eric Sandweiss has contributed a powerful analysis of how St. Louis grew, developed, and declined over time.

3 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The most irritating style of "educational writing", February 9, 2010

By 

C. Binkley (Missouri, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: St. Louis: Evolution Of American Urban Landscape (Critical Perspectives On The P) (Paperback)

While I'm sure this author is very knowledgeable in the area of Urban renewal, history, etc- he wrote a book that shares his knowledge with no one. His style of writing is that which uses unnecessarily big words in unnecessarily complicated ways, forcing the reader to reread each paragraph 4 times and still not understand what the heck the point is. This is the type of book which might be on a suggested book list for a college course, but everyone hates it because even if you suffer through it and manage to 'read' the whole thing, you will walk away with a very small understanding of the material inside. If the author would just speak his mind and explain his thoughts, it would be a great book. However, he jumbles up his sentences and paragraphs so horridly, trying to make himself appear intelligent, that everyone finds this book frustrating and a waste of time.