Empire City: The Making and Meaning of the New York City Landscape

Critical Perspectives on the Past

by David M. Scobey, Roy Rosenzweig (Editor), Susan Porter Benson (Editor)

A history of urban development in New York City traces its evolution from a compact port to a modern metropolis in the mid-nineteenth century, citing the dreams, improvements, and environmental disorder that surrounded such landmarks as Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the downtown commercial center.

Genres: History, New York, Cities

340 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2002

Reviews

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scobey takes a novel approach to the history of urban planning in New York City, turning not to the typical strategies of social demographic growth or advances in technology and transportation, but to the driving force of urban real estate. He focuses on 'the third quarter of the nineteenth century' in which the aims of Victorian New York to foster economic growth, class-based gentility, and moral environmentalism embodied an urban Manifest Destiny of 'empire,' a capitalist and mythic pursuit that Scobey claims was as much a national endeavor as it was a local effort in city planning, building, and restructuring.

Attacking issues of class, culture, politics, economics, and architecture, this is a layered and complex (and at times dense) work within the canon of urban history.

[Deena · Rating 1 out of 5]

The bottom line: this book was written by a pompous academic for other pompous academics. I feel his personal writing philosopy is why use an accessible word when an obscure on that you cannot always even find in a dictionary would work. His tone is pompous, his style is dull. This was a required text for a grad school course on the evolution of the U.S. city, and every last member of this class hated the text. I love books, and I love words, especially obscure and underused ones, but this book takes the concept beyond too far. I'd never condone burning a book, but this one pushes my convictions