Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

  • Apple
  • Android
  • Windows Phone
  • Android

To get the free app, enter your email address or mobile phone number.
Download to your computer
Kindle Cloud Reader

Camden After the Fall: Decline and Renewal in a Post-Industrial City (Politics and Culture in Modern America)

by Howard Gillette Jr. (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 5 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0812219685
ISBN-10: 0812219686
Why is ISBN important?
ISBN
This bar-code number lets you verify that you're getting exactly the right version or edition of a book. The 13-digit and 10-digit formats both work.
Scan an ISBN with your phone
Use the Amazon App to scan ISBNs and compare prices.
Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest
Buy used On clicking this link, a new layer will be open
$6.54 On clicking this link, a new layer will be open
Buy new On clicking this link, a new layer will be open
$25.18 On clicking this link, a new layer will be open
More Buying Choices
26 New from $21.11 27 Used from $0.01
53 used & new from $0.01
See All Buying Options
Free Two-Day Shipping for College Students with Amazon Student Free%20Two-Day%20Shipping%20for%20College%20Students%20with%20Amazon%20Student

Sleeping Giant: How the New Working Class Will Transform America by Tamara Draut
Hot Button Issues
The Working Class is more female, more diverse racially, and doesn't wear just a hard hat anymore. Sleeping Giant is the first major examination of this dynamic and increasingly activist movement. Learn more | See related books

Frequently Bought Together

  • Camden After the Fall: Decline and Renewal in a Post-Industrial City (Politics and Culture in Modern America)
  • +
  • Building Suburbia: Green Fields and Urban Growth, 1820-2000
Total price: $38.46
Buy the selected items together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.
Back
  1. Experiencing Cities (2nd Edition)
    Mark Hutter
    4.1 out of 5 stars 16
    Paperback
  2. Camden (NJ) (Images of America)
    Cheryl L. Baisden
    5.0 out of 5 stars 5
    Paperback
    $20.00 Prime
  3. Building Suburbia: Green Fields and Urban Growth, 1820-2000
    Dolores Hayden
    4.6 out of 5 stars 8
    Paperback
    $13.28 Prime
  4. Major Problems in American Urban and Suburban History (Major Problems in American History Series)
    Howard P. Chudacoff
    3.2 out of 5 stars 6
    Paperback
    $112.46 Prime
  5. Going Public: An Organizer's Guide to Citizen Action
    Michael Gecan
    4.0 out of 5 stars 8
    Paperback
    $13.01 Prime
  6. Blessed Are the Organized: Grassroots Democracy in America
    Jeffrey Stout
    4.8 out of 5 stars 9
    Paperback
    $15.24 Prime
Next
NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Product Details

  • Series: Politics and Culture in Modern America
  • Paperback: 344 pages
  • Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press (August 9, 2006)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0812219686
  • ISBN-13: 978-0812219685
  • Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #948,712 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starslots of facts, sometimes too detailed, sometimes not detailed enough
By Michael Lewyn VINE VOICE on December 19, 2012
Format: Paperback
The most interesting chapters of this book are the first few, which paint a picture of Camden's decline and fall in the 1960s. In 1950, Camden was a prosperous, mostly industrial and working-class, city. By the early 1970s, much of Camden's nonpoor population had been driven out by escalating violence. Gillette tells a simple story: manufacturing jobs left Camden, causing people to get angry and start behaving disruptively. And because suburban zoning kept the poor out of suburbs, it was easy for the middle class to leave but hard for the poor to leave.

But I wonder. The 1960s were a time of low unemployment and escalating prosperity nationally, but also a time of escalating violence and "white flight" from older neighborhoods. Did every declining city suffer the kind of job loss that Camden did? (If not, Gillette's correlation seems weaker). And how we do we that job loss caused violence and not vice versa? And since employer and union discrimination kept blacks out of many manufacturing jobs, why was the loss of those jobs so harmful?

The rest of the book tells the story of Camden's attempt to recover over the last few declines, mostly focused on attempts at "trickle down development" (that is, subsidizing large private-public partnerships designed to gentrify the city or bring in tourists, which in turn was supposed to mean more tax revenue for everyone in the long run). Here Gillette gives us a dense cover of detail, somtimes too dense to be interesting. Having said that, he occasionally leaves out details that I wish he'd spent more space on. In particular, he suggests that Camden's last remaining strong neighborhoods were destroyed by an early 1990s tax revaluation, but doesn't really explain much about the revaluation, why it happened, or why it was so toxic.
Comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsEveryone thinks the horrible situation Camden is in just happened on its own
By Joseph on November 25, 2014
Format: Paperback
I've never read a book faster in my entire life; I am totally captivated by the story of Camden's rise and fall in the 20th century. Everyone thinks the horrible situation Camden is in just happened on its own, but no one tells you how the county and state worked together to promote suburbia to wealthy whites while systematically keeping the poor concentrated in increasingly-impoverished urban communities. Camden was no accident; the industry that fueled its growth in the late 19th and early 20th century may have fallen due to market pressures, but its history from 1950 onward is riddled with conscious decisions to hurt the city by its fleeing population and the governments they elected in their new suburban towns.

Quite honestly, this is a story that must be heard, especially for those who live in the state of New Jersey. Everyone makes suburbia out to be this naturally occurring, purely American construct, and yet the reality is that its entire existence has been a social experiment that's done nothing short of perpetuate social and economic segregation in the United States. Unfortunately for South Jersey, there's no better microcosm of this insane world than Camden and its surrounding towns.
Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsUntold story of one of the most impovershed cities in America
By howard ways on October 20, 2012
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
For history buffs, planners and political junkies, this book has it all. It delves deep into the behind the scene view of how a once prosperous industrial city rapidly declined and how state and regional politics helped to inhibit the improvement of the largest city in South Jersey.
Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsCamden After the Fall
By A J Giffoniello on June 2, 2012
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Camden After the Fall is a must read to understand not only Camden's fall but the fall of most American cities. Condidering the city to be the cultural center of a country and not suburbs, we have lost a great heritage.
2 Comments Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
3.0 out of 5 starsDense. Informative. Dry.
By kc on January 31, 2015
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Dense.

Informative.

Dry.
Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Camden After the Fall: Decline and Renewal in a Post-Industrial City (Politics and Culture in Modern America)
Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more
This item: Camden After the Fall: Decline and Renewal in a Post-Industrial City (Politics and Culture in Modern America)
Set up a giveaway

What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?

There's a problem loading this menu right now.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.



Pages with Related Products. See and discover other items: urban planning