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Dark Age Ahead: Author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities
Visionary thinker Jane Jacobs uses her authoritative work on urban life and economies to show us how we can protect and strengthen our culture and communities.In Dark Age Ahead, Jane Jacobs identifies five pillars of our culture that we depend on but which are in serious community and family; higher education; the effective practice of science; taxation and government; and self-policing by learned professions. The decay of these pillars, Jacobs contends, is behind such ills as environmental crisis, racism and the growing gulf between rich and poor; their continued degradation could lead us into a new Dark Age, a period of cultural collapse in which all that keeps a society alive and vibrant is forgotten.But this is a hopeful book as well as a warning. Jacobs draws on her vast frame of reference -- from fifteenth-century Chinese shipbuilding to zoning regulations in Brampton, Ontario -- and in highly readable, invigorating prose offers proposals that could arrest the cycles of decay and turn them into beneficent ones. Wise, worldly, full of real-life examples and accessible concepts, this book is an essential read for perilous times.
255 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 5, 2004
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About the author
Jane Jacobs
69 books703 followersJane Jacobs, OC, O.Ont (May 4, 1916 – April 25, 2006) was an American-born Canadian writer and activist with primary interest in communities and urban planning and decay. She is best known for The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961), a powerful critique of the urban renewal policies of the 1950s in the United States. The book has been credited with reaching beyond planning issues to influence the spirit of the times.
Along with her well-known printed works, Jacobs is equally well-known for organizing grassroots efforts to block urban-renewal projects that would have destroyed local neighborhoods. She was instrumental in the eventual cancellation of the Lower Manhattan Expressway, and after moving to Canada in 1968, equally influential in canceling the Spadina Expressway and the associated network of highways under construction.
Along with her well-known printed works, Jacobs is equally well-known for organizing grassroots efforts to block urban-renewal projects that would have destroyed local neighborhoods. She was instrumental in the eventual cancellation of the Lower Manhattan Expressway, and after moving to Canada in 1968, equally influential in canceling the Spadina Expressway and the associated network of highways under construction.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 151 reviews
July 20, 2007
I tried to start this book last year, after her funeral. Jane was my Great Aunt. But I couldn't bring myself to turn the pages after she died. I don't know why, I am sure she is pleased that people will read her books and she can live on through the written page, ideas that matter...but it just made me sad...So a year later I picked it up again and had a good read. I really enjoyed it on a personal level mentions of my grandfather and cousins...and to hear her voice once more, besides the ghostly whispers I get every now and again when I wonder what the hell I am doing with my life. Anyway, I liked it even though it made me sad thinking about the collapse of many great cultures and watching our own not- so- great culture go right down the crapper.
I wish I hadn't waited to read it until after she died. But I can hear her now, "Oh that's fine, I am just glad you found the time to read it." I am glad too.
I wish I hadn't waited to read it until after she died. But I can hear her now, "Oh that's fine, I am just glad you found the time to read it." I am glad too.
June 3, 2018
This is such an eye-opener, everyone should read it. We think how smart we are, how we live in an amazing place but something is fading, something is disappearing from our society and that can bring the downfall of our culture (as it has happened many times over the course of human history - I'm sure you have heard about developed cultures vanishing in the matter or decades and it wasn't natural catastrophy which killed them off). It's a very scary book given the fact it's non-fiction.
January 23, 2010
Due to my current borderline obsession with social collapse, I was intrigued when I saw this recommended on the Multnomah County Library's website. So I placed a hold and received a copy not long after and got to reading.
I liked it. Hence the three stars. I didn't quite love it. Not because of any lack of good information and ideas or a lack of quality writing, but more because I wanted it to be a little more riled up. A bit more emotional. It was very straightforward and even, which is perfectly commendable but doesn't get my blood flowing.
Jacobs basically claims that North America (the U.S. and Canada, that is) is teetering dangerously close on the brink of sliding into a Dark Age. She cites five major reasons why: the continuing degradation of community and family, our higher education system, misuse of science and technology, governmental representation that has become disconnected from local needs, and the failure of self-regulation of the learned professions.
I found all the points really intriguing, with quite a number of viewpoints offered that I hadn't before heard or considered. Her talk of the degradation of community and family was a great section, not focusing on ranting moralistic concerns so much as on the ever-worsening economic brutalities that households face while trying to support themselves, as well as the destruction of community (in its most holistic sense) brought about by those economic hardships as well as poor planning practices. For instance, she takes suburban design to task. Again, this is not in some kind of moralistic view in which she proclaims suburbs evil, but rather she simply points out the ways in which thought-processes behind their planning have been terribly misguided and destructive, often leading to neighborhoods that lack any real sense of community.
Her taking to task of most of the universities in North America was also quite compelling. It comes across as a somewhat more dispassionate version of Wendell Berry's arguments in Life Is a Miracle: An Essay Against Modern Superstition, although the substance of the arguments do have their differences, as well. Still, she quite convincingly argues that universities have become little more than credentialing agencies, rather than institutions that work to create fully formed human beings via comprehensive education (that fosters and creates the ability of critical and independent thought) and mentoring.
Those are just a few of the intriguing arguments Jacobs makes in the book, and if they sound interesting, I certainly would recommend reading it. I perhaps prefer this sort of information to come to me via a more agitated voice--someone railing, though ideally not to the degree of incoherence. That Dark Age Ahead doesn't come in that exact voice is no condemnation of it as a fine bit of writing. Hell, for some, it's probably a much more palatable approach to a topic that can easily become very emotionally charged. For me, I would have preferred a bit more Berry-type anger.
But then, I have Berry for that. Jacobs fulfills her own niche quite nicely.
I liked it. Hence the three stars. I didn't quite love it. Not because of any lack of good information and ideas or a lack of quality writing, but more because I wanted it to be a little more riled up. A bit more emotional. It was very straightforward and even, which is perfectly commendable but doesn't get my blood flowing.
Jacobs basically claims that North America (the U.S. and Canada, that is) is teetering dangerously close on the brink of sliding into a Dark Age. She cites five major reasons why: the continuing degradation of community and family, our higher education system, misuse of science and technology, governmental representation that has become disconnected from local needs, and the failure of self-regulation of the learned professions.
I found all the points really intriguing, with quite a number of viewpoints offered that I hadn't before heard or considered. Her talk of the degradation of community and family was a great section, not focusing on ranting moralistic concerns so much as on the ever-worsening economic brutalities that households face while trying to support themselves, as well as the destruction of community (in its most holistic sense) brought about by those economic hardships as well as poor planning practices. For instance, she takes suburban design to task. Again, this is not in some kind of moralistic view in which she proclaims suburbs evil, but rather she simply points out the ways in which thought-processes behind their planning have been terribly misguided and destructive, often leading to neighborhoods that lack any real sense of community.
Her taking to task of most of the universities in North America was also quite compelling. It comes across as a somewhat more dispassionate version of Wendell Berry's arguments in Life Is a Miracle: An Essay Against Modern Superstition, although the substance of the arguments do have their differences, as well. Still, she quite convincingly argues that universities have become little more than credentialing agencies, rather than institutions that work to create fully formed human beings via comprehensive education (that fosters and creates the ability of critical and independent thought) and mentoring.
Those are just a few of the intriguing arguments Jacobs makes in the book, and if they sound interesting, I certainly would recommend reading it. I perhaps prefer this sort of information to come to me via a more agitated voice--someone railing, though ideally not to the degree of incoherence. That Dark Age Ahead doesn't come in that exact voice is no condemnation of it as a fine bit of writing. Hell, for some, it's probably a much more palatable approach to a topic that can easily become very emotionally charged. For me, I would have preferred a bit more Berry-type anger.
But then, I have Berry for that. Jacobs fulfills her own niche quite nicely.
July 3, 2017
Even though this was published 13 years ago, it was as prophetic AF. Just listen to this:
"Hospitals, transit systems, and orchestras are scorned [by far-right conservatives] as freeloaders seeking handouts if they can’t directly pay their way or, better yet, make a profit either for tax collectors or for a corporate partner. Greed becomes culturally admired as competence, and false or unrealistic promises as cleverness."[Italics mine]
Did she see what was coming or what?! Highly recommended.
"Hospitals, transit systems, and orchestras are scorned [by far-right conservatives] as freeloaders seeking handouts if they can’t directly pay their way or, better yet, make a profit either for tax collectors or for a corporate partner. Greed becomes culturally admired as competence, and false or unrealistic promises as cleverness."[Italics mine]
Did she see what was coming or what?! Highly recommended.
May 28, 2013
Jane Jacob’s brilliantly prophetic book Dark Age Ahead was published posthumously in 2004 and forecasts the cultural collapse the United States now is experiencing. Jacobs uses historical precedent to show how the decline of previously flourishing cultures had certain traits in common and that these traits, including Mesopotamia and 15th c China, are now apparent in our own time. But Jacobs does not present a hopeless case, and offers a list of powerful corrective actions to combat economic and cultural stagnation.
August 19, 2007
I had mixed feelings: Jacobs wrote this book not long before her death, and at times it has the feel of an incoherent, rambling old person. Other times, she makes astute cultural and political analyses, particularly about Canada. Jacobs is an American who lived the better part of her adult life in Canada, so she has ample knowledge of politics, urban life, and cultural on both sides of the border, and she is a respected urban critic/theorist by both Americans and Canadians. In this book, her introduction in which she outlines past dark ages and her argument that we are about to enter into one is a bit all over the place; her attack on academia (accreditation vs. educataion) has its moments, but mostly sounds like someone who is self-righteous about the fact that she became a superstar in a field in which she received no formal training. Nevertheless, her criticism of the unsientific tendencies in some academic fields that on the surface seem scientific ("traffic engineering") do get to the point of the failure of city building/re-building since the advent of the automobile, though her generalizations are sometimes hard to digest. Her chapter on "dumbed-down taxes" regards mostly the political situation in Ontario, and in particular in Toronto, in the early 2000s, an issue that could enlighten especially American readers, but that also may feel completely foreign and irrelevant to them. Basically, she echoes the movement towards greater autonomy for urban centers in regard to taxes, especially in relation to the state/provincial and federal levels, which is an issue that is in the press a lot in Canada and in particular in Toronto these days (Toronto's social-democratic mayor being one of its leading proponents). Similar to her criticism of the academy, she devotes a chapter to the self-regulation and self-policing of the learned professions and the impact that such activities have on society. In all, it's an interesting read that's worth the couple of hours it will take to read it, though her arguments are not always entirely coherent or substantialized.
February 15, 2008
Hey remember Razzles? they were gum and candy at the same time. That shit was awesome.
February 5, 2015
this book has sat on a shelf at work for many years. I retired and took it home to write a review and then give it away.
Chapter 3 Credentialing Versus Education:
"My father, a doctor, worked long hours, seven days a week, and in spite of weariness he stayed in good spirits because he was needed and, especially, because his work interested him. But, like everyone else, he worried about getting by. In our little city, where the chief industry was mining expensive high-grade anthracite coal, the Great Depression was intensified because, in effect it had started four years early with a long and bitter coal strike and subsequent loss of markets.
Few of my father's patients were able to pay him, as the effects of mass unemployment spread. He told me one Saturday evening in 1936 that he had to earn $48 a day merely to pay for his office rent, his subscriptions to medical journals, office supplies, and the salary of his assisting nurse. To me that seemed an incomprehensibly formidable sum: I was earning $12 a week in New York as a stenographer in a candy manufacturing company that soon went into bankruptcy."
Chapter 4 Science Abandoned:
"If a body of inquiry becomes disconnected from the scientific state of mind, that unfortunate segment of knowledge is no longer scientific. It stagnates. Intellectually, it is poisonous, because thereafter almost everything the stagnated and warped knowledge touches is harmed by it. Nazi ideologies of race. Marxist ideologies of economics and social utopias, capitalist confusion of commercial competition with Darwinism, along with the elimination of cooperation from understanding of evolution, are all examples of inquiries claiming scientific validity that were disconnected from the scientific state of mind and sank into dogma."
Chapter 3 Credentialing Versus Education:
"My father, a doctor, worked long hours, seven days a week, and in spite of weariness he stayed in good spirits because he was needed and, especially, because his work interested him. But, like everyone else, he worried about getting by. In our little city, where the chief industry was mining expensive high-grade anthracite coal, the Great Depression was intensified because, in effect it had started four years early with a long and bitter coal strike and subsequent loss of markets.
Few of my father's patients were able to pay him, as the effects of mass unemployment spread. He told me one Saturday evening in 1936 that he had to earn $48 a day merely to pay for his office rent, his subscriptions to medical journals, office supplies, and the salary of his assisting nurse. To me that seemed an incomprehensibly formidable sum: I was earning $12 a week in New York as a stenographer in a candy manufacturing company that soon went into bankruptcy."
Chapter 4 Science Abandoned:
"If a body of inquiry becomes disconnected from the scientific state of mind, that unfortunate segment of knowledge is no longer scientific. It stagnates. Intellectually, it is poisonous, because thereafter almost everything the stagnated and warped knowledge touches is harmed by it. Nazi ideologies of race. Marxist ideologies of economics and social utopias, capitalist confusion of commercial competition with Darwinism, along with the elimination of cooperation from understanding of evolution, are all examples of inquiries claiming scientific validity that were disconnected from the scientific state of mind and sank into dogma."
March 14, 2016
Published during the nadir of the Bush Regime (2004), the title may seem biased. But Jacobs' cautionary book offers some keen perceptions. She warns against mass amnesia and having a culture that cannot generate "human ingenuity, knowledge and skills," that is, homogeneity and conformity. With the digital means at hand, our culture (the West, anyway) might err toward forgetfulness.
I was particularly impressed by the accuracy of one prediction she made. She predicted the bubble of the housing and mortgage crisis of 2008/2009 as an impending doom and described how it will change our culture. She died in 2006.
Her concerns involve the decay of the family/community structures, credentialing in education over teaching wisdom, a phobia of genuine science and the scientific method, tax models that create greater divides in class and social strata, and the lack of self-policing in the professions.
At times droll, the book caused me to think about the nature of our culture and where we are headed. She finishes by stating that we could go up or down, but since she has published, things have only become more difficult to solve.
I was particularly impressed by the accuracy of one prediction she made. She predicted the bubble of the housing and mortgage crisis of 2008/2009 as an impending doom and described how it will change our culture. She died in 2006.
Her concerns involve the decay of the family/community structures, credentialing in education over teaching wisdom, a phobia of genuine science and the scientific method, tax models that create greater divides in class and social strata, and the lack of self-policing in the professions.
At times droll, the book caused me to think about the nature of our culture and where we are headed. She finishes by stating that we could go up or down, but since she has published, things have only become more difficult to solve.
July 16, 2019
I was surprised at how poor a book this is, compared to Jacobs' vastly influential Death and Life of Great American Cities.
The chapter titles are grand and full of promise: "Families Rigged to Fail", "Credentialing Versus Educating", "Science Abandoned", "Dumbed-Down Taxes", "Self-Policing Subverted", "Unwinding Vicious Spirals", "Dark Age Patterns". But each chapter nose-dives into some specific pet topic or other. The Science chapter ends up talking about how bad a science traffic engineering is, and then for no apparent reason the chapter ends with an exhortation to the reader to eat at a particular diner in Brampton, Ontario. The Self-Policing chapter (ostensibly about how the professions regulate themselves) ends up preoccupied by certain short-comings in contemporary accounting practices: Jacobs seems deeply concerned with whether recyclable parts of products ought to be considered "capital assets" or "operating expenses". I guess Jacobs relied heavily on case studies and anecdotes even in D and L, but in this book it goes too far.
The chapter titles are grand and full of promise: "Families Rigged to Fail", "Credentialing Versus Educating", "Science Abandoned", "Dumbed-Down Taxes", "Self-Policing Subverted", "Unwinding Vicious Spirals", "Dark Age Patterns". But each chapter nose-dives into some specific pet topic or other. The Science chapter ends up talking about how bad a science traffic engineering is, and then for no apparent reason the chapter ends with an exhortation to the reader to eat at a particular diner in Brampton, Ontario. The Self-Policing chapter (ostensibly about how the professions regulate themselves) ends up preoccupied by certain short-comings in contemporary accounting practices: Jacobs seems deeply concerned with whether recyclable parts of products ought to be considered "capital assets" or "operating expenses". I guess Jacobs relied heavily on case studies and anecdotes even in D and L, but in this book it goes too far.
September 27, 2011
The rise of "credentialism" is perhaps the most prescient view of Jacobs' book. With college grads taking menial jobs and more and more teenagers giving up hope in the value of even going to college, the value of a degree is certainly in question. Perhaps this is why tech companies insist on their own testing standards (Microsoft and Cisco certificate programs for example) because they feel colleges are not preparing students to use the tools of the trade. I always tell college bound kids that an internship is perhaps the most valuable foot in the door because there are 1,001 little things that can't be taught in a classroom.
October 12, 2007
we are simultaneously fundamentally regenerative and totally fucked.
August 7, 2025
Always interesting to read books about the future in, well the future! And this slim but erudite volume by the renowned journalist/urban theorist Jane Jacobs (author of 'The Life and Death of American Cities' and others) quite nicely fits the bill. Written in the very early 2000s, so 20+ years is enough time to test some of the ideas and predictions within. It is a rather ominous title of course and while she does not make a fully convincing case that we are on the cusp of something like the Fall of the Roman Empire there is plenty to elicit concern. Jacobs cites five pillars of societal culture--the nuclear family and community; quality in education; free thought in science; representational government and responsible taxes; and corporate and professional accountability. In nearly every category above the negative trends identified within these pages has gotten worse, some glaringly so.
It is a bit of a ramble at times however, with numerous sidebars into seemingly less pertinent developments such as various situations in Toronto (where she moved to from NYC and eventually passed away in 2006), just two years after this was published. She is spot on in her chapter on education and the explosion in 'credentialing' versus actual, useful education. Due also in part to the obscene growth in bureaucratic bloat within the University system the affordability of these 'credential' factories has produced yet another debt crisis, affecting the youngest citizens. In addition, she reiterates many of the well-known social factors contributing to societal collapse--chief among them the decline of the nuclear family.
In the arena of professional and corporate responsibility she cites the very recent (at the time) 2001 Enron scandal and all that financial legerdemain, which included the demise of Arthur Andersen, a Big Five accounting firm yet little systemic change occurred. But the portents were there and Jacobs missed the big sub-prime mortgage and financial crisis of 2008-2009 which put Enron to shame and should have resulted in a similar fate to Andersen for several major credit firms including Moody's and Standard and Poor's. But as incredible as it seems almost no one was held accountable for nearly destroying the entire economy! Anyway, her point was about how professional organizations do (or do not, mostly) police their own behavior. Most adopt a 'circle the wagons' mentality when faced with often legitimate criticism. That was true again as Big Medicine and Pharma incinerated their own credibility in the Covid-19 debacle. Both adopted attitudes of denial and refusal to question 'established' wisdom as described in Jacob's section on free thought in science. But again little has changed there, likely ensuring future repeats. So the erosion of these 'pillars' has gotten worse, often much worse, in nearly every aspect of US and Canadian societies in the past two decades and shows no sign of letting up. Where and when will the breaking point occur? Well prediction is always the hard part, as any meteorologist can attest! Home affordability is at an all-time low in 2025 and she was complaining about it in 2002!
She ignores the centrifugal effects of unlimited migration from all points of the globe on our societal cohesion but cites Japan as a great success, a country with almost zero immigration. In the end 'Dark Age Ahead' has a bit of a 'last rant' feel before exiting stage left, a sentiment I can relate to as age overtakes me. Wish I had a similar platform and I might do one too! She was probably a fun person to talk with even though we certainly might disagree on some things. 3.5 stars rounded up, cause Jane was a cool lady.
It is a bit of a ramble at times however, with numerous sidebars into seemingly less pertinent developments such as various situations in Toronto (where she moved to from NYC and eventually passed away in 2006), just two years after this was published. She is spot on in her chapter on education and the explosion in 'credentialing' versus actual, useful education. Due also in part to the obscene growth in bureaucratic bloat within the University system the affordability of these 'credential' factories has produced yet another debt crisis, affecting the youngest citizens. In addition, she reiterates many of the well-known social factors contributing to societal collapse--chief among them the decline of the nuclear family.
In the arena of professional and corporate responsibility she cites the very recent (at the time) 2001 Enron scandal and all that financial legerdemain, which included the demise of Arthur Andersen, a Big Five accounting firm yet little systemic change occurred. But the portents were there and Jacobs missed the big sub-prime mortgage and financial crisis of 2008-2009 which put Enron to shame and should have resulted in a similar fate to Andersen for several major credit firms including Moody's and Standard and Poor's. But as incredible as it seems almost no one was held accountable for nearly destroying the entire economy! Anyway, her point was about how professional organizations do (or do not, mostly) police their own behavior. Most adopt a 'circle the wagons' mentality when faced with often legitimate criticism. That was true again as Big Medicine and Pharma incinerated their own credibility in the Covid-19 debacle. Both adopted attitudes of denial and refusal to question 'established' wisdom as described in Jacob's section on free thought in science. But again little has changed there, likely ensuring future repeats. So the erosion of these 'pillars' has gotten worse, often much worse, in nearly every aspect of US and Canadian societies in the past two decades and shows no sign of letting up. Where and when will the breaking point occur? Well prediction is always the hard part, as any meteorologist can attest! Home affordability is at an all-time low in 2025 and she was complaining about it in 2002!
She ignores the centrifugal effects of unlimited migration from all points of the globe on our societal cohesion but cites Japan as a great success, a country with almost zero immigration. In the end 'Dark Age Ahead' has a bit of a 'last rant' feel before exiting stage left, a sentiment I can relate to as age overtakes me. Wish I had a similar platform and I might do one too! She was probably a fun person to talk with even though we certainly might disagree on some things. 3.5 stars rounded up, cause Jane was a cool lady.
January 15, 2010
A short, perhaps lazy last book from Jane Jacobs, author of the far better The Death and Life of Great American Cities back in 1961. While she makes some good points, her picks of items that will lead to a decline of civilization include some idiosyncratic choices, choices that I don't think she makes a good case for, such as "Credentialing vs. Educating," (bemoaning the fact that education is no longer general and lacking in practicality in obtaining employment) "Self-policing subverted," (she almost seems to be asking for a return to some sort of medieval guild system) and "Dumbed-down Taxes" (more taxes should be local, despite the fact that when taxes were more local the result was gross inequities between nearby communities). She also trumpets the now-somewhat discredited notion of the Great Plot to Destroy Streetcars led by General Motors and the oil companies during the early and mid-20th century.
Nevertheless, there are some very good insights in this book, and since it is short you won't spend a lot of time wading through other stuff to glean from these insights. Her diatribes against the traffic engineering profession are perhaps the most compelling of these insights.
Nevertheless, there are some very good insights in this book, and since it is short you won't spend a lot of time wading through other stuff to glean from these insights. Her diatribes against the traffic engineering profession are perhaps the most compelling of these insights.
May 29, 2016
I found reading Jane Jacobs a great joy. Her style and prose are analytical and enjoyable to follow. Dark Age Ahead postulates that North American culture, and many others across the world, as in the process of losing knowledge and traditions that are at their core. "Mass Amnesia" will result and North Americans will forget this knowledge that was the pith of their culture.
These ideas are fascinating and enjoyable to think about, however, this book is simply a rant. Her five chapters that highlight specific declines in our society rarely follow the subject she intended to talk about. The first chapter, the Decline of the North American Family is emblematic of that, where she transgresses to discussing how the automobile became the focus of pro-growth policies in North America.
This book is a rant, poorly organized, and offers little real substance on how to avoid the future Dark Age that many people feel is at hand. That being said, it is an enjoyable rant, and I will look to read The Death and Life of Great American Cities.
These ideas are fascinating and enjoyable to think about, however, this book is simply a rant. Her five chapters that highlight specific declines in our society rarely follow the subject she intended to talk about. The first chapter, the Decline of the North American Family is emblematic of that, where she transgresses to discussing how the automobile became the focus of pro-growth policies in North America.
This book is a rant, poorly organized, and offers little real substance on how to avoid the future Dark Age that many people feel is at hand. That being said, it is an enjoyable rant, and I will look to read The Death and Life of Great American Cities.
June 23, 2008
I was sadly disapppointed- the first few chapters are promising but the bulk of her argument is disjointed logic and barely relatable personal experiences. She makes definative statements that are barely backed upa nd if so, not properly. Her opinions are stated as fact and weak interpretations are used to combat stronger logic. If you know nothing about civic development and like someone who's most interesting writing is when she' reguritating another authors research, you may like this book. But if you want orignial or at least well reasoned introspectives, well argued positions, and naratives that flow logically then avoid this book. I expected so much more from Jane Jacobs, and I really hope that her other books are stronger than this one... but the more I read of this the less I wanted to read...
What a waste of 15$ and subway reading hours...I'm still debating whether I'll finish this one...
What a waste of 15$ and subway reading hours...I'm still debating whether I'll finish this one...
July 20, 2024
In her last book, the articulate ur-urbanist manages to be both prophetic about America's present and hopeful about America's future. She describes five signs of crisis as our culture enters the post-industrial era, which must be addressed to prevent slipping into a "dark age" like the prehistoric hunter-gatherers, ancient Romans, or modern farm belts. (Declaring ourselves "exceptional" is not a good sign of self-awareness. They probably did, too.) But history has several examples of several adaptations, too, and Americans can profit by those examples. "Is suburban sprawl, with its murders of communities and wastes of land, time, and energy, a sign of decay? Or is rising interest in means of overcoming sprawl a sign of vigor and adaptability in North American culture? Arguably, either could turn out to be true" (pp. 169-170).
August 19, 2014
This is basically a book of rants that are loosely tied to the premise that western culture is showing signs of cracking and heading into a cultural, political, technological dark age. Even though much of the discussion doesn't support the premise very well, Jacobs still makes some good points. Her rants about suburban sprawl and traffic engineering, among others, were good. I also like to read through her well-explained thought processes on different topics, even if they aren't supported very well by in-depth analysis or evidence. Of course, it wouldn't be a Jacobs book if she had included a lot of research.
Compared to Death and Life of Great American Cities and Economy of Cities, the organization of this book isn't very focused. But, some of the ideas are intriguing.
Compared to Death and Life of Great American Cities and Economy of Cities, the organization of this book isn't very focused. But, some of the ideas are intriguing.
September 14, 2012
The title may leave prospective readers with the impression that Jacobs espoused a rather pessimistic view of our urban future but as she points out in the text, the book actually outlines a number of thought-provoking and entirely practical approaches that could be adopted in the planning of our urban spaces to improve our quality of life without risking some sort of economic catastrophe or vastly increased costs of living. The influence of the late Jacobs' thinking on urban planning continues to make itself felt today ... this book will help readers to gain a better appreciation of why that is so.
June 9, 2016
It's good; I'm possibly rating it too harsh based on my expectations. But it's also unfocused, and at its best when Jacobs is talking about cities --- and for that I'm sure nothing beats her Death and Life, so it feels a little redundant. At its worst, this book just reads like a fairy arbitrary list of things Jacobs doesn't like.
Of course, she still writes about them with incredible grace, and she is mostly right about what's happening. I wish some of the "why" had been deeper than "greed and capitalism run amok" in some places, but it's still a very prescient book.
Of course, she still writes about them with incredible grace, and she is mostly right about what's happening. I wish some of the "why" had been deeper than "greed and capitalism run amok" in some places, but it's still a very prescient book.
December 30, 2012
The society that forgets it's errors is doomed to repeat them. This seems to be the central message in this book. I don't disagree, but the author stretches her arguments from time to time. She also indulges in a lot of referencing of her own previous work as source.
I still enjoyed reading this one, and I would suggest that readers of her other works add this one to their Read shelf as well.
I still enjoyed reading this one, and I would suggest that readers of her other works add this one to their Read shelf as well.
December 9, 2015
I don't think that the late Jane Jacobs thought her book through very thoroughly. She only based her analysis on the places she lived in Canada and the U.S. and I can't agree with her five pillars that are the cause of the downfall of society.
January 1, 2017
Thesis: American civilization is in a death spiral due to bad land use planning, poor traffic engineering, lack of proper policing of the learned professions, and an education system focused on credentialing. Seriously? Half the content isn't even about the US. It's about Canada.
May 21, 2021
I learned a lot, but the book was pretty underwhelming. I found neither the beginning nor the ending impactful in any way, which is not good. And I understand that this book focuses on North America (i.e., the US and Canada), but I'm not too fond of the sense of exceptionalism and, dare I say, superiority that I feel Jacobs places on these societies. There are other aspects of the book that frustrate me as well, but which I won't get into for fear of falling into "presentism." I have to say, though, that I do respect this book (and Jacobs), and I am glad I read it as a foundational text for urban studies, a field in which I am very interested. But again, though I did learn a lot, I didn't find Dark Age Ahead particularly groundbreaking, profound, or even memorable. I wonder if I would feel differently if I had read it around the time it was actually published. Overall, glad I read the book, but I don't particularly like it. My feelings may or may not change as I read more urban-studies-related texts, I don't know.
March 10, 2024
Dreck. Michiko Kakutani's review calling it sloppy and haphazard got it right.
https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/15/bo...
June 1, 2025
jane is my queen & i love finishing a book on the last day of the month
February 21, 2021
I had read this back when it was published but saw several references to it recently and bought it again. It's an even better read with 15 years passed. She has a wonderful way of seeing things in an unusual and un-realized context. If you're disturbed by the course of current events, do pick up this book!
July 29, 2023
This book was alright, it went in some unexpected directions in considering which decaying elements of our culture may be bringing us into a dark age. I don't know that Jacobs is wrong about any of the problems she discusses but I also don't know if she has captured the roots of the problems.
July 23, 2024
The perfect combination of depressing and informative. Jane Jacobs is great at exploring the intersection between cities and just about every other important topic. She’s always an entertaining read as she never hesitates to take potshots at everyone and everything, with a special something reserved for traffic engineers. She might come across as a little dramatic depending on your beliefs and prior knowledge, but I feel that time has continued to prove her largely correct.
March 2, 2017
This is a decidedly minor book, notable mostly because of the severity of Jacobs' prediction. Applying her keen eye for city life to the early 21st century, Jacobs became convinced that she was witnessing a culture in collapse. She then went about gathering data to support this thesis, but it's not exactly a bulletproof thesis, and some of it will be familiar to readers who already possess similarly critical views. Still, a very serious thesis, and worth a look.
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