From the Inside Flap
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
--Martin V. Melosi, University of Houston, author of The Sanitary City and Effluent America "Journal of American History" From the Back Cover
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
About the Author
Clay McShane teaches history at Northeastern University.
Joel A. Tarr is the Richard S. Caliguiri University Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. In 2008, he received the Leonardo da Vinci Medal for lifetime achievement from the Society for the History of Technology.
