The American Urban Reader

The American Urban Reader, Second Edition, brings together the most exciting and cutting-edge work on the history of urban forms and ways of life in the evolution of the United States, from pre-colonial Native American Indian cities, colonial European settlements, and western expansion, to rapidly expanding metropolitan regions, the growth of suburbs, and post-industrial cities.

Each chapter is arranged chronologically and thematically around scholarly essays from historians, social scientists, and journalists, and is supplemented by relevant primary documents that offer more nuanced perspectives and convey the diversity and interdisciplinary nature of the study of the urban condition. Building upon the success of the First Edition, and responding to increasingly polarized national discourse in the era of Donald Trump’s presidency, The American Urban Reader, Second Edition, highlights both the historical and urban/rural divide and the complexity and deeply woven salience of race and ethnic relations in American history.

About the authors

Lisa Krissoff Boehm is Dean of the College of Graduate Studies at Bridgewater State University. She is the author of Popular Culture and the Enduring Myth of Chicago and Making a Way out of No Way: African American Woman and the Second Great Migration. With Steven H. Corey, she is co-author/co-editor of America’s Urban History and the American Urban Reader, 2010 and 2020.

Steven H. Corey is Dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Professor of History at Columbia College, Chicago. He has written for Environmental Ethics, PS: Political Science and Politics, Journal of Urban History, and was research curator for Garbage! The History and Politics of Trash in New York City. With Lisa Krissoff Boehm, he is co-author/co-editor of America’s Urban History and the American Urban Reader, 2010 and 2020.

Book Information Complimentary Exam Copy

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Reviews

This wonderful collection offers readers an opportunity to explore the deep interdisciplinary nature of urban history through topics ranging from migrants and immigrants to the environment and transportation. The essays, like cities themselves, unfold in layers: there are documents offering insight in cities, classic essays on urban history and studies, as well as the latest scholarship. While providing a wide-ranging introduction to cities, the volume also encourages thoughtful consideration of gender, race, and class across American history.

Ann Keating, Dr. C. Frederick Toenniges Professor of History, North Central College, co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Chicago

An outstanding single-volume reader, incorporating a richly diverse array of primary and secondary sources from the pre-Colombian period to the present. The second edition further enriches the content of the first with inclusion of the newest scholarship and primary-source materials you won’t find anywhere else. Carefully curated and thoughtfully introduced, this is an essential resource for anyone wanting to better understand America’s urban past.

Margaret O’Mara, Howard & Frances Keller Professor of History, University of Washington, author of Cities of Knowledge

As the planet’s population moves into growing megacities, a more just and sustainable future depends upon understanding the social, environmental, and political complexities of human settlement. The essays and documents in the second edition of The American Urban Reader provide valuable historical perspectives on contemporary problems of cities in the United States. This volume will generate productive classroom discussion about the roots of the systems we rely upon, as well as the inequities that divide us.

Carl A. Zimring, Professor of Sustainability Studies, Pratt Institute, author of Clean and White: A History of Environmental Racism in the United States