In 1790, President Timothy Dwight of Yale offered this description of Northampton, a town situated on the banks of the Connecticut River in western Massachusetts: The inhabitants of this valley possess a common character, he remarked. Even the beauty of the scenery, scarcely found in the same degree elsewhere, becomes a source of pride as well as enjoyment. For Dwight, the appeal of the place lay in its proportions, which epitomized eighteenth-century ideas about the proper balance between the natural world and the built environment. Northampton evoked equally powerful visions in others. of saving grace and redemption, while to Swedish soprano Jenny Lind it was simply a paradise. During the 1920s Northampton became Main Street USA - a reassuring backdrop for the presidency of the city's former mayor Calvin Coolidge. But for Smith College professor Newton Arvin, it was the dark side of small-town America which surfaced during the early decades of the Cold War. From witchcraft trials to Shays's Rebellion, from Sojourner Truth and the utopian abolitionists to Sylvester Graham and diet reform, many of the main currents of American life have flowed through this New England river town. Called Paradise brings together a broad range of writing on the city's rich heritage. Edited with an introduction by Kerry W. Buckley, the volume includes essays by John Demos, Christopher Clark, Nell Irvin Painter, David W. Blight, and other distinguished scholars who have found this region fertile ground for research. Together their writings not only chronicle the history of a place but illustrate, in microcosm, the dynamics at work in the larger sweep of America's past.

In 1999, Nunavut Territory was created in the Canadian Arctic. The area is about 50 times as large as the Netherlands, and is inhabited by a population of 30,000. 85% of the population is Inuit, the indigenous people in this area. The central questions in this research project are what place or regional identities are being ascribed to Nunavut by different groups of people from within and from outside the region, and how do these identities work? In the process of the formation of the region, the territorial Government of Nunavut is an important actor in producing a regional identity that is based on the cultural identity of the Inuit: the Inuit Homeland. This 'official' regional identity creates a symbolic unity that is important in linking people to the region, and through which the land, the history and the people are united in a new territorial membership. However, there is no reason to assume that there is only one regional identity for Nunavut. Different individuals or groups of people from within and from outside the region, such as the people who live in one of the 25 communities and those who work for the multinational mining corporations or as tourist operators, are also involved in the production and reproduction of identities for Nunavut. They represent Nunavut for example as a place to live, a resource region, a wilderness or as a sustainable place. Nunavut Government also links these alternative identities to the area, because as a government they are not only interested in protecting Inuit culture but also aim to modernize the economy in order to enhance prosperity and well-being. As such the place identities are hybrid, and identities that before were produced only by external actors are now also being produced by internal actors, and vice versa.

In this call for better public history, Robert Archibald explores the intersections of history, memory and community to illustrate the role of history in contemporary life and how we are active participants in the past.

What are the imagined communities that compel men to kill or to die for an idea of a nation? This notion of nationhood had its origins in the founding of the Americas, but was then adopted and transformed by populist movements in nineteenth-century Europe. It became the rallying cry for anti-Imperialism as well as the abiding explanation for colonialism. In this scintillating, groundbreaking work of intellectual history Anderson explores how ideas are formed and reformulated at every level, from high politics to popular culture, and the way that they can make people do extraordinary things. In the twenty-first century, these debates on the nature of the nation state are even more urgent. As new nations rise, vying for influence, and old empires decline, we must understand who we are as a community in the face of history, and change.

Updated to include a new chapter about the influence of social media and the Internet—the 20th anniversary edition of Bowling Alone remains a seminal work of social analysis, and its examination of what happened to our sense of community remains more relevant than ever in today’s fractured America. Twenty years, ago, Robert D. Putnam made a seemingly simple observation: once we bowled in leagues, usually after work; but no longer. This seemingly small phenomenon symbolized a significant social change that became the basis of the acclaimed bestseller, Bowling Alone, which The Washington Post called “a very important book” and Putnam, “the de Tocqueville of our generation.” Bowling Alone surveyed in detail Americans’ changing behavior over the decades, showing how we had become increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors, and social structures, whether it’s with the PTA, church, clubs, political parties, or bowling leagues. In the revised edition of his classic work, Putnam shows how our shrinking access to the “social capital” that is the reward of communal activity and community sharing still poses a serious threat to our civic and personal health, and how these consequences have a new resonance for our divided country today. He includes critical new material on the pervasive influence of social media and the internet, which has introduced previously unthinkable opportunities for social connection—as well as unprecedented levels of alienation and isolation. At the time of its publication, Putnam’s then-groundbreaking work showed how social bonds are the most powerful predictor of life satisfaction, and how the loss of social capital is felt in critical ways, acting as a strong predictor of crime rates and other measures of neighborhood quality of life, and affecting our health in other ways. While the ways in which we connect, or become disconnected, have changed over the decades, his central argument remains as powerful and urgent as ever: mending our frayed social capital is key to preserving the very fabric of our society.

US cities are faced with the joint challenge of our climate crisis and the lack of housing that is affordable and healthy. Our housing stock contributes significantly to the changing climate, with residential buildings accounting for 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. US housing is not only unhealthy for the planet, it is putting the physical and financial health of residents at risk. Our housing system means that a renter working 40 hours a week and earning minimum wage cannot afford a two-bedroom apartment in any US county. In Gray to Green Communities, green affordable housing expert Dana Bourland argues that we need to move away from a gray housing model to a green model, which considers the health and well-being of residents, their communities, and the planet. She demonstrates that we do not have to choose between protecting our planet and providing housing affordable to all. Bourland draws from her experience leading the Green Communities Program at Enterprise Community Partners, a national community development intermediary. Her work resulted in the first standard for green affordable housing which was designed to deliver measurable health, economic, and environmental benefits. The book opens with the potential of green affordable housing, followed by the problems that it is helping to solve, challenges in the approach that need to be overcome, and recommendations for the future of green affordable housing. Gray to Green Communities brings together the stories of those who benefit from living in green affordable housing and examples of Green Communities’ developments from across the country. Bourland posits that over the next decade we can deliver on the human right to housing while reaching a level of carbon emissions reductions agreed upon by scientists and demanded by youth. Gray to Green Communities will empower and inspire anyone interested in the future of housing and our planet.