*NOTE* I had this set to post on 2/15 but for some reason it did not. My apologies to the author and publisher. *
About Triumph of the City
• Hardcover: 352 pages• Publisher: The Penguin Press (February 3, 2011)
A pioneering urban economist offers fascinating, even inspiring proof that the city is humanity’s greatest invention and our best hope for the future.
America is an urban nation. More than two thirds of us live on the 3 percent of land that contains our cities. Yet cities get a bad rap: they’re dirty, poor, unhealthy, crime ridden, expensive, environmentally unfriendly… Or are they?
As Edward Glaeser proves in this myth-shattering book, cities are actually the healthiest, greenest, and richest (in cultural and economic terms) places to live. New Yorkers, for instance, live longer than other Americans; heart disease and cancer rates are lower in Gotham than in the nation as a whole. More than half of America’s income is earned in twenty-two metropolitan areas. And city dwellers use, on average, 40 percent less energy than suburbanites.
Glaeser travels through history and around the globe to reveal the hidden workings of cities and how they bring out the best in humankind. Even the worst cities-Kinshasa, Kolkata, Lagos- confer surprising benefits on the people who flock to them, including better health and more jobs than the rural areas that surround them. Glaeser visits Bangalore and Silicon Valley, whose strangely similar histories prove how essential education is to urban success and how new technology actually encourages people to gather together physically. He discovers why Detroit is dying while other old industrial cities-Chicago, Boston, New York-thrive. He investigates why a new house costs 350 percent more in Los Angeles than in Houston, even though building costs are only 25 percent higher in L.A. He pinpoints the single factor that most influences urban growth-January temperatures-and explains how certain chilly cities manage to defy that link. He explains how West Coast environmentalists have harmed the environment, and how struggling cities from Youngstown to New Orleans can “shrink to greatness.” And he exposes the dangerous anti-urban political bias that is harming both cities and the entire country.
Using intrepid reportage, keen analysis, and eloquent argument, Glaeser makes an impassioned case for the city’s import and splendor. He reminds us forcefully why we should nurture our cities or suffer consequences that will hurt us all, no matter where we live.
About Edward Glaeser
Edward L. Glaeser is the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics at Harvard University. He studies the economics of cities, housing, segregation, obesity, crime, innovation and other subjects, and writes about many of these issues for Economix. He serves as the director of the Taubman Center for State and Local Government and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Dr. Glaeser received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1992.
Edward’s Tour Stops
Wednesday, February 2nd: Proud Book NerdThursday, February 3rd: I’m Booking It
Tuesday, February 8th: English Major’s Junk Food
Monday, February 14th: Books Are Like Candy Corn
Tuesday, February 15th: My Own Little Corner of the World
Wednesday, February 16th: Po(sey) Sessions
Thursday, February 17th: Books Like Breathing
Monday, February 21st: Take Me Away
Tuesday, February 22nd: Book Club Classics!
Wednesday, February 23rd: Library Queue
Thursday, February 24th: Reviews from the Heart
Thursday, February 24th: Rhapsody In Books
Tuesday, March 1st: Booksie’s Blog
I am really looking forward to reading this. Sounds just like the kind of non-fiction I like.
ReplyDeleteI'm intrigued by the author's arguments, especially since I'm not really a city girl myself. Sounds like it is a fascinating read!
ReplyDeleteThanks for being a part of the tour.