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More About This Textbook
Overview
In the early fifties, Teaford explains, big cities were planning for a bright future. Crosstown highways, low-income highrises, and vigorous demolition drastically altered the urban landscape and confidently anticipated new development. But the automobile culture was already derailing urban renewal as city dwellers sought the good life in the suburbs. By the late sixties, rising crime, racial tension, labor militancy, and a wave of abandonment seemed to offer further evidence of impending urban demise. Yet in the 1980s, "messiah mayors" and visionary planners boosted the hopes and morale of urban residents. Once again there was talk of renaissance, but beneath the facade of revival serious problems persisted. In "The Rough Road to Renaissance", Jon Teaford tells a story that residents of Boston, Minneapolis, Chicago, New York, St. Louis, and other famous urban centers will recognize-- a story that is still being written
Editorial Reviews
Library Journal
This well-organized, well-written, and informative study analyzes a dozen large cities of the Northeast and Midwest over more than four decades, focusing primarily on the alternating cycles of optimistic reform and pessimistic realism about their fate. Teaford, author of several books on urban planning issues (e.g., The Twentieth-Century American City ), doesn't gloss over the declining condition of many cities; he examines problems with the retail economy, tax base, transportation, housing, and much more. He recognizes that some urban centers managed to make their environment more livable, in part because they had energetic political leaders, but describes some of these leaders as naive and unable to deal with serious underlying problems. He weaves a variety of complex themes easily into an analysis of changing styles of political leadership, presenting a cogent survey of an important subject. For informed laypersons and specialists.-- Charles K. Piehl, Mankato State Univ., Minn.Booknews
Teaford (history, Purdue U.) describes efforts in twelve older central cities in the Northeast and Midwest to achieve revitalization during the period from 1940 to 1985. Focusing on local rather than state or federal perspectives, he explores the changing trends in city politics and municipal finance as well as other policies in pursuit of urban renaissance. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)Product Details
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