Voices of Decline: The Postwar Fate of US Cities

by Robert A. Beauregard

As World War II faded into the past, urban decline emerged as the dominant motif in the public debate over the fate of the once-mighty cities of many Western industrial nations. Freely crossing disciplinary boundaries, this book uses the words of those who witnessed the cities' distress to portray the postwar discourse on urban decline in the United States. That discourse reshaped the ambivalence Americans have towards their cities, probed the nature of their moral responsibilities, offered advice as to how they should respond, and most importantly, sited in the cities the contradictions of society.

360 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1993

Reviews

[Matthew Sun · Rating 4 out of 5]

if you’re interested in how public discourse about U.S. cities has changed over time, this is 100% the book for you. at some points it dragged with endless quotes from various academics and journalists, but it’s well signposted and the information is written relatively clearly!

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit hard to get through, and yet a very good overview of the changing mainstream views of cities and their decline over the decades. I hadn't quite realized the trajectory of the city before, painted in broad strokes, it certainly changes your understanding of how people see the inner city today and in that sense is really useful. It's very comfortably situated in the middle class position however, which grated on me in discussions of the ghetto, and given its scope, looked only at mainstream media. Which is useful, but once again sidelines the voices of the ghetto, the more radical and conflictual visions of the city and what can be done...so I'm not sure in the end it doesn't come to legitimate the very mainstream views it is critiquing, by not presenting discourses that counter the white middle-class view of people of colour, the problems they face, and their struggle to overcome them.

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

My copy of this book is now so full of notes, highlights and marked pages that clearly show how excellent and useful it is! On to be reread again and again and again...