LEADER 05987nam 2200757 a 450 001 996248215603316 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a1-282-50426-6 010 $a9786612504266 010 $a0-226-38509-4 024 7 $a10.7208/9780226385099 035 $a(CKB)2550000000006837 035 $a(EBL)481232 035 $a(OCoLC)609855204 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000681981 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)12240955 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000681981 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10678860 035 $a(PQKB)11470927 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC481232 035 $a(DE-B1597)523558 035 $a(OCoLC)1135589645 035 $a(DE-B1597)9780226385099 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL481232 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10364138 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL250426 035 $a(EXLCZ)992550000000006837 100 $a20031107d2004 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcn||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aDowntown America$b[electronic resource] $ea history of the place and the people who made it /$fAlison Isenberg 210 $aChicago $cUniversity of Chicago Press$dc2004 215 $a1 online resource (461 p.) 225 1 $aHistorical studies of urban America 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 $a0-226-38508-6 311 $a0-226-38507-8 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [321]-419) and index. 327 $tFront matter --$tCONTENTS --$tILLUSTRATIONS --$tACKNOWLEDGMENTS --$tIntroduction. Beyond Decline: Assessing the Values of Urban Commercial Life in the Twentieth Century --$tChapter 1. City Beautiful or Beautiful Mess? The Gendered Origins of a Civic Ideal --$tChapter 2. Fixing an Image of Commercial Dignity: Postcards and the Business of Planning Main Street --$tChapter 3. "Mrs. Consumer," "Mrs. Brown America," and "Mr. Chain Store Man": Economic Woman and the Laws of Retail --$tChapter 4. Main Street's Interior Frontier: Innovation amid Depression and War --$tChapter 5. "The Demolition of Our Outworn Past": Suburban Shoppers and the Logic of Urban Renewal --$tChapter 6. The Hollow Prize? Black Buyers, Racial Violence, and the Riot Renaissance --$tChapter 7. Animated by Nostalgia: Preservation and Vacancy since the 1960's --$tConclusion. "The Lights Are Much Brighter There" --$tList of Archival Collections --$tNOTES --$tINDEX 330 $aDowntown America was once the vibrant urban center romanticized in the Petula Clark song-a place where the lights were brighter, where people went to spend their money and forget their worries. But in the second half of the twentieth century, "downtown" became a shadow of its former self, succumbing to economic competition and commercial decline. And the death of Main Streets across the country came to be seen as sadly inexorable, like the passing of an aged loved one. Downtown America cuts beneath the archetypal story of downtown's rise and fall and offers a dynamic new story of urban development in the United States. Moving beyond conventional narratives, Alison Isenberg shows that downtown's trajectory was not dictated by inevitable free market forces or natural life-and-death cycles. Instead, it was the product of human actors-the contested creation of retailers, developers, government leaders, architects, and planners, as well as political activists, consumers, civic clubs, real estate appraisers, even postcard artists. Throughout the twentieth century, conflicts over downtown's mundane conditions-what it should look like and who should walk its streets-pointed to fundamental disagreements over American values. Isenberg reveals how the innovative efforts of these participants infused Main Street with its resonant symbolism, while still accounting for pervasive uncertainty and fears of decline. Readers of this work will find anything but a story of inevitability. Even some of the downtown's darkest moments-the Great Depression's collapse in land values, the rioting and looting of the 1960's, or abandonment and vacancy during the 1970's-illuminate how core cultural values have animated and intertwined with economic investment to reinvent the physical form and social experiences of urban commerce. Downtown America-its empty stores, revitalized marketplaces, and romanticized past-will never look quite the same again. A book that does away with our most clichéd approaches to urban studies, Downtown America will appeal to readers interested in the history of the United States and the mythology surrounding its most cherished institutions. A Choice Outstanding Academic Title. Winner of the 2005 Ellis W. Hawley Prize from the Organization of American Historians. Winner of the 2005 Lewis Mumford Prize for Best Book in American Planning History. Winner of the 2005 Historic Preservation Book Price from the University of Mary Washington Center for Historic Preservation. Named 2005 Honor Book from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. 410 0$aHistorical studies of urban America. 606 $aCities and towns$zUnited States$xHistory 606 $aCentral business districts$zUnited States$xHistory 606 $aCity and town life$zUnited States$xHistory 606 $aCommunity life$zUnited States$xHistory 606 $aInner cities$zUnited States$xHistory 606 $aUrban renewal$zUnited States$xHistory 606 $aCity planning$zUnited States$xHistory 608 $aElectronic books. 615 0$aCities and towns$xHistory. 615 0$aCentral business districts$xHistory. 615 0$aCity and town life$xHistory. 615 0$aCommunity life$xHistory. 615 0$aInner cities$xHistory. 615 0$aUrban renewal$xHistory. 615 0$aCity planning$xHistory. 676 $a307.76/0973 700 $aIsenberg$b Alison$0886744 801 0$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a996248215603316 996 $aDowntown America$91980404 997 $aUNISA