Review
“There is consensus that the period between 1865 and 1915 marked the transition of the US from a rural to an urban society. One often wonders how those who lived through such a major historical shift experienced, recognized, and described it. White has assembled from 37 journals, magazines, and newspapers a wide range of commentary among the contemporaries of this period. He has organized these materials into five cogent chapters. In each he knits together a massive number of quotations to highlight the central theme of each chapter, with a minimum of editorial comment but often with insightful reflection. It is clear that White enjoyed himself in creating this book; those who are interested in US urban history will find equal enjoyment in reading it. Useful for students and scholars in urban sociology, american studies, and urban history. The book is so readable that its audience should be quite broad and it obviously belongs in any research library.”–Choice
Product Description
Based on a reading of almost 6,000 entries from 37 periodicals published between the years 1865 and 1900, The Urbanists offers an insightful analysis of the development of an urban frame of mind. Drawing on the writings of such major figures of 19th-century and early-20th-century urban America as Frederick Law Olmsted, Daniel H. Burnham, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Robert E. Park, as well as their lesser-known contemporaries, the study combines a number of customarily specialized perspectives. The book suggests that the basic outlines of modern urban theory were set for subsequent generations by the first urbanists who emerged during the late 1800s.
