Heartland of Cities
Title | Heartland of Cities PDF eBook |
Author | Robert McCormick Adams |
Publisher | |
Pages | 362 |
Release | 1981-01-01 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 9780226005447 |
Cities of the Heartland
Title | Cities of the Heartland PDF eBook |
Author | Jon C. Teaford |
Publisher | Indiana University Press |
Pages | 328 |
Release | 1993-04-22 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 9780253209146 |
"Recommended for all who want to learn about the origins of the contemporary urban crisis." —Library Journal Teaford writes a definitive history of the transformation of "America's heartland" into the "Rust Belt," chronicling the development of the cities of the industrial Midwest as they challenged the urban supremacy of the East, from their heyday to the trying times of the 1970s and '80s. The early part of this century brought wealth and promise to the heartland: automobile production made Detroit a boomtown, and automobile-related industries enriched communities; Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie School of architects asserted the Midwest's aesthetic independence; Sherwood Anderson and Carl Sandburg established Chicago as a literary mecca; Jane Addams made the Illinois metropolis an urban laboratory for experiments in social justice. Soon, however, emerging Sunbelt cities began to rob such cities as Cincinnati, Saint Louis, and Chicago of their distinction as boom areas, foreshadowing urban crisis.
Heartland of Cities
Title | Heartland of Cities PDF eBook |
Author | Adams |
Publisher | |
Pages | |
Release | 1989-09-01 |
Genre | |
ISBN | 9780226005454 |
Newcomers to Old Towns
Title | Newcomers to Old Towns PDF eBook |
Author | Sonya Salamon |
Publisher | University of Chicago Press |
Pages | 270 |
Release | 2007-07-24 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN | 0226734110 |
2004 winner of the Robert E. Park Book Award from the Community and Urban Sociology Section (CUSS) of the American Sociological Association Although the death of the small town has been predicted for decades, during the 1990s the population of rural America actually increased by more than three million people. In this book, Sonya Salamon explores these rural newcomers and the impact they have on the social relationships, public spaces, and community resources of small town America. Salamon draws on richly detailed ethnographic studies of six small towns in central Illinois, including a town with upscale subdivisions that lured wealthy professionals as well as towns whose agribusinesses drew working-class Mexicano migrants and immigrants. She finds that regardless of the class or ethnicity of the newcomers, if their social status differs relative to that of oldtimers, their effect on a town has been the same: suburbanization that erodes the close-knit small town community, with especially severe consequences for small town youth. To successfully combat the homogenization of the heartland, Salamon argues, newcomers must work with oldtimers so that together they sustain the vital aspects of community life and identity that first drew them to small towns. An illustration of the recent revitalization of interest in the small town, Salamon's work provides a significant addition to the growing literature on the subject. Social scientists, sociologists, policymakers, and urban planners will appreciate this important contribution to the ongoing discussion of social capital and the transformation in the study and definition of communities.
Lessons from the Heartland
Title | Lessons from the Heartland PDF eBook |
Author | Barbara J. Miner |
Publisher | The New Press |
Pages | 281 |
Release | 2013-08-06 |
Genre | Education |
ISBN | 1595588647 |
“Miner’s story of Milwaukee is filled with memorable characters . . . explores with consummate skill the dynamics of race, politics, and schools in our time.” —Mike Rose, author of The Mind at Work Weaving together the racially fraught history of public education in Milwaukee and the broader story of hypersegregation in the rust belt, Lessons from the Heartland tells of a city’s fall from grace—and its chance for redemption in the twenty-first century. A symbol of middle American working-class values, Wisconsin—and in particular urban Milwaukee—has been at the forefront of a half century of public education experiments, from desegregation and “school choice” to vouchers and charter schools. This book offers a sweeping narrative portrait of an all-American city at the epicenter of public education reform, and an exploration of larger issues of race and class in our democracy. The author, a former Milwaukee Journal reporter whose daughters went through the public school system, explores the intricate ways that jobs, housing, and schools intersect, underscoring the intrinsic link between the future of public schools and the dreams and hopes of democracy in a multicultural society. “A social history with the pulse and pace of a carefully crafted novel and a Dickensian cast of unforgettable characters. With the eye of an ethnographer, the instincts of a beat reporter, and the heart of a devoted mother and citizen activist, Miner has created a compelling portrait of a city, a time, and a people on the edge. This is essential reading.” —Bill Ayers, author of Teaching Toward Freedom “Eloquently captures the narratives of schoolchildren, parents, and teachers.” —Library Journal
Abandoned in the Heartland
Title | Abandoned in the Heartland PDF eBook |
Author | Jennifer Hamer |
Publisher | Univ of California Press |
Pages | 281 |
Release | 2011-09-01 |
Genre | Social Science |
ISBN | 0520950178 |
Urban poverty, along with all of its poignant manifestations, is moving from city centers to working-class and industrial suburbs in contemporary America. Nowhere is this more evident than in East St. Louis, Illinois. Once a thriving manufacturing and transportation center, East St. Louis is now known for its unemployment, crime, and collapsing infrastructure. Abandoned in the Heartland takes us into the lives of East St. Louis’s predominantly African American residents to find out what has happened since industry abandoned the city, and jobs, quality schools, and city services disappeared, leaving people isolated and imperiled. Jennifer Hamer introduces men who search for meaning and opportunity in dead-end jobs, women who often take on caretaking responsibilities until well into old age, and parents who have the impossible task of protecting their children in this dangerous, and literally toxic, environment. Illustrated with historical and contemporary photographs showing how the city has changed over time, this book, full of stories of courage and fortitude, offers a powerful vision of the transformed circumstances of life in one American suburb.
Doing Justice in Our Cities
Title | Doing Justice in Our Cities PDF eBook |
Author | Warren R. Copeland |
Publisher | Westminster John Knox Press |
Pages | 154 |
Release | 2009-01-01 |
Genre | Religion |
ISBN | 0664232299 |
Warren Copeland draws from his experience of more than two decades in city politics and addresses head on the issue of Christian ethics in public service. Throughout, he animates the discussion with numerous anecdotes from his tenure in City Hall, combining examples of specific ethical issues in American cities with theological and ethical reflection. Then he takes it a step further by including specific suggestions for addressing social injustice in a manner that is true to Christian faith.