A Nation of Neighborhoods

Imagining Cities, Communities, and Democracy in Postwar America

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Sociology, Urban, History, Americas, United States, 20th Century
Cover of the book A Nation of Neighborhoods by Benjamin Looker, University of Chicago Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Benjamin Looker ISBN: 9780226290454
Publisher: University of Chicago Press Publication: October 22, 2015
Imprint: University of Chicago Press Language: English
Author: Benjamin Looker
ISBN: 9780226290454
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication: October 22, 2015
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Language: English

Despite the pundits who have written its epitaph and the latter-day refugees who have fled its confines for the half-acre suburban estate, the city neighborhood has endured as an idea central to American culture. In A Nation of Neighborhoods, Benjamin Looker presents us with the city neighborhood as both an endless problem and a possibility.

Looker investigates the cultural, social, and political complexities of the idea of “neighborhood” in postwar America and how Americans grappled with vast changes in their urban spaces from World War II to the Reagan era. In the face of urban decline, competing visions of the city neighborhood’s significance and purpose became proxies for broader debates over the meaning and limits of American democracy. By studying the way these contests unfolded across a startling variety of genres—Broadway shows, radio plays, urban ethnographies, real estate documents, and even children’s programming—Looker shows that the neighborhood ideal has functioned as a central symbolic site for advancing and debating theories about American national identity and democratic practice.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Despite the pundits who have written its epitaph and the latter-day refugees who have fled its confines for the half-acre suburban estate, the city neighborhood has endured as an idea central to American culture. In A Nation of Neighborhoods, Benjamin Looker presents us with the city neighborhood as both an endless problem and a possibility.

Looker investigates the cultural, social, and political complexities of the idea of “neighborhood” in postwar America and how Americans grappled with vast changes in their urban spaces from World War II to the Reagan era. In the face of urban decline, competing visions of the city neighborhood’s significance and purpose became proxies for broader debates over the meaning and limits of American democracy. By studying the way these contests unfolded across a startling variety of genres—Broadway shows, radio plays, urban ethnographies, real estate documents, and even children’s programming—Looker shows that the neighborhood ideal has functioned as a central symbolic site for advancing and debating theories about American national identity and democratic practice.

More books from University of Chicago Press

Cover of the book Seventeenth-Century Opera and the Sound of the Commedia dell’Arte by Benjamin Looker
Cover of the book Beyond Caring by Benjamin Looker
Cover of the book A Place for Us by Benjamin Looker
Cover of the book Temporary Kings by Benjamin Looker
Cover of the book What Philosophy Is For by Benjamin Looker
Cover of the book Culinary Herbs and Spices of the World by Benjamin Looker
Cover of the book Proust among the Nations by Benjamin Looker
Cover of the book The Cultural Turn in U. S. History by Benjamin Looker
Cover of the book The Old-Time Saloon by Benjamin Looker
Cover of the book Snakes, Sunrises, and Shakespeare by Benjamin Looker
Cover of the book What Is Contemporary Art? by Benjamin Looker
Cover of the book Socrates and the Jews by Benjamin Looker
Cover of the book Darwin and the Making of Sexual Selection by Benjamin Looker
Cover of the book The Long and the Short of It by Benjamin Looker
Cover of the book Rights on Trial by Benjamin Looker
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy