Tag Archives: cities

The City: the Index

Posted on May 8, 2016 by smellincoffee

Citizen Politics Edens Lost and Found,  Harry Wiland, Dale Bell,  Joseph D’Agnes’ City as Community The Small-Mart Revolution,  Michael Schuman The Great Good Place: Cafés, Coffee Shops, Bookstores, Bars, Hair Salons, and the Other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community, Ray … Continue reading →

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Picking Up

Posted on January 11, 2016 by smellincoffee

Picking Up: On the Streets and Behind the Trucks with the Sanitation Workers of New York City© 2014 Robin Nagle304 pages When young Robin Nagle stumbled upon a communal dumpsite in the middle of an otherwise picturesque meadow, she was … Continue reading →

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The Horse in the City

Posted on November 21, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Horse in the City© 2007 Clay McShane, Joel A. Tarr242 pages To the American imagination, horses are the stuff of country dreams, of farms and cowboys. This is a recent conceit, however, as for most of American history humans … Continue reading →

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Downtown

Posted on October 24, 2015 by smellincoffee

Downtown: Its Rise and Fall (1880 – 1950)© 2001 Robert Fogelson544 pages Just listen to the music of the traffic in the city!Linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty — how can you lose? The lights are much brighter … Continue reading →

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The Great Cities in History

Posted on July 23, 2015 by smellincoffee

The Great Cities in History© 2009 ed. John Julius Norwich302 pages             The Great Cities in History takes readers on a literary world tour, traveling through space and time to visit the greatest political bodies in history.  Civilization is nothing … Continue reading →

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Seeing like a State

Posted on October 9, 2014 by smellincoffee

Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition have Failed© 1999 James Scott464 pages             Seeing like a State scrutinizes the organizational approach of state governments and other large institutions from the … Continue reading →

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Living Downtown

Posted on September 11, 2014 by smellincoffee

Living Downtown: The History of Residential Hotels in the United States © 1994 Paul Groth 399 pages Although today hotels are thought of as places for travelers, at its most basic level a hotel is simply a rented room; an … Continue reading →

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Fighting Traffic

Posted on July 22, 2014 by smellincoffee

Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City© 2008 Peter Norton396 pages Stroll into the middle of any American city today, and provided you are not in Detroit, odds are better than not you will be … Continue reading →

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This week at the library: war, commerce, and cities

Posted on April 14, 2014 by smellincoffee

Last week was taken up with Away Down South: A History of Southern Identity and  The Yellowhamer War: Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama. Considering that my leisure reading was Fire on the Waters, a naval novel set amid the … Continue reading →

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This week: Christmas reads, science in the city, and social telegraphy

Posted on December 24, 2013 by smellincoffee

Dear readers:             A blessed Yuletide and a merry Christmas to those of you in the northern hemisphere, as we celebrate the rebirth of the Sun – or the birth of the Son, if you prefer. The library is closing … Continue reading →

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