Vertical Bellevue Architecture Above A Boomburb Skyline

Author : Marques Vickers
Publisher : Marquis Publishing
Page : 201 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2019-01-09
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

Vertical Bellevue: Architecture Above a Boomburb Skyline by Marques Vickers Pdf

This edition is an architectural survey of contemporary downtown Bellevue, Washington. Documenting the city’s explosive growth within the cor, the profiled mid-rise and high-rise developments cover the period of 2016-2023. The photography captures the projects from a variety of completion stages and perspective angles. Suburban architecture projects dominated the focus of Puget Sound’s architects post-World War II. The construction of the initial bridge across Lake Washington in 1939 radically changed Bellevue from merely being a farming community into a residential suburb directly linked with Seattle. In 1940, Bellevue had only a population of 5,000 residents. That figure would only modestly increase to 6,000 by the end of the war. Population increases continued gradually throughout the 1950s. In the 1960 census, the population had reached 13,000. The 1960s witnessed a population expansion that by 1970 had increased the level to 61,000 residents. The emergence of the tech industry had a profound growth effect upon the city. In 1990, the population increased to 98,000 swelling to 152,000 by 2020. The city is currently ranked the 178th largest in the United States. City projections envision a 25% growth rate over the next twenty years. Bellevue was officially incorporated in 1953. In 1963, the Evergreen Point Bridge opened across Lake Washington becoming a second commuter option. The positioning solidified Bellevue’s central hub status from Seattle into the Eastside suburbs. Essentially a bedroom community, Bellevue evolved into a major commercial center. Bellevue steadily cultivated a business core attracting finance. insurance and real estate corporate headquarters. Two of the most prominent included T-Mobile and Smartsheet. The demographic educated base and elevated quality of life enticed decision makers at Google, Facebook and Amazon to establish a growing corporate presence. Additional technology firms and start-ups have followed. The rate of growth within the downtown core accelerated beginning in 1996. Five initial skyscrapers were erected during the 1980s before development stalled during the early 1990s. A major element of the renewed stimulus involved creating a pedestrian friendly urban environment. Long range city-planning decisions created accompanying priorities to accommodate the influx of anticipated pedestrian traffic creating a desirable environment. Bellevue’s sustained growth has stimulated infrastructure investment and developments including the expansion of Sound Transit’s Link Rail connecting Seattle with Bellevue and continuing to Redmond. The Grand Connection, a 1.5-mile pedestrian pathway begins at Lake Washington winding through the downtown. Restoration and transformation of the freeway network has coincided with expanded residential capacity.

Author : Marques Vickers
Publisher : Marquis Publishing
Page : 159 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2017-06-20
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

The Red-Light District of Butte Montana by Marques Vickers Pdf

This edition is an intimate photo examination of the infamous Butte, Montana sex trade once nationally recognized during the late 19th and early 20th century. Over 135 current photographs document the remnants of the famed copper mining town’s prostitution core. The work details historical anecdotes, narratives on colorful personages and perspective on an era when prostitution was locally institutionalized. The remaining Dumas Brothel is a profiled parlor house noteworthy for its operational longevity between 1890-1982. The Dumas is the longest tenured American house of prostitution. The property weathered numerous reform movements and attempts towards forced closure by governmental authorities. Owner tax evasion ultimately shuttered the property. Across the road is the Blue Range Building, the last street-facing example of the lowest extremity of prostitution once employed within the district. The seven sets of ground floor doors and adjacent windows housed segregated cubicles called cribs. Diminutive cribs accommodated only a single bed and an occasional washbasin. Lower esteemed prostitutes serviced clients from these utilitarian spaces. Butte’s prostitution industry reinforced a rigid hierarchy of distinguishing elite mistresses for the affluent and influential, from lowly street solicitors. The lifestyle of sex professionals was plagued by drug addiction, financial debt, sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy, abortion, violence and abuse by their patrons and jealousy-motivated clients. Suicide was common even amongst the highest regarded women within such a cannibalistic environment, During the turn of the twentieth century, Butte was one of the largest Rocky Mountain population centers. Its licentious reputation mirrored contemporary Las Vegas. Unlike many western frontier settlements, cowboy culture made minimal intrusion. Butte’s red-light district is a haunting environment with a complex past.

Author : Marques Vickers
Publisher : Marquis Publishing
Page : 130 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2017-05-06
Category : Travel
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

Herron Island, Washington by Marques Vickers Pdf

Marques Vickers’ “Herron Island, Washington” is a photographic survey showcasing the diminutive island with a land area of 300 acres and population of 150. Located along the Case Inlet of Southern Puget Sound, the island’s dimensions are estimated at one and a quarter miles in length by one half mile in width. Vickers’ nearly 150 images capture the prominent north and south coastline beaches, interior residential terrain and roundtrip ferry transfers from the mainland peninsula. The island is abundant with deer, eagles, seals, seagulls, Pacific geoducks (large clams), beach, flora, fauna and spectacular views of the Puget Sound straits. Despite Herron Island’s luster, safety and tranquility, it remains virtually unknown to western Washington residents and beyond. Herron Island was initially discovered in 1792 as part of Lieutenant Peter Puget’s expedition, under the command of Captain George Vancouver. The original landing party was greeted with inhospitable weather conditions and the island remained unoccupied for nearly fifty years. An American naval exploration party led by Lieutenant Charles Wilkes re-explored and re-charted Puget Sound including the island in 1841. The island’s name was changed from Wednesday Island to Herron Island in recognition of one of Wilkes' crew members. Little background has been documented about Seamon Herron. Another century passed with reportedly only a sole caretaker habitant. The island was privately purchased during the 1950s. Herron Island was incorporated on April 30, 1958 as a non-profit, non-stock Washington Corporation composed of the owners and purchasers of island property. Buildable lots were partitioned and resold for development. The island is currently self-sustaining and does not receive local, state or federal funding. Over the decades, the interior has been graded and roads connect the island throughout. A community building, fire station and water system has been established for residents. Access to the island is available exclusively via a daily operating ferry and limited by invitation only from an island resident most of the year. The crossing requires approximately ten minutes to the mainland dock.

Author : Marques Vickers
Publisher : Marquis Publishing
Page : 148 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2017-03-30
Category : Computers
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

In Search of Toxic Silicon Valley by Marques Vickers Pdf

Over forty years after the groundwater table of the Silicon Valley was declared contaminated, the source remains tainted and unfit for human consumption. Twenty-five former toxic waste sites are profiled “In Search of Toxic Silicon Valley: The Subterranean Poisoning From High Technology Manufacturing”. The edition focuses on visually documenting the contemporary redevelopment of these properties decades after they have become removed from closer public and media scrutiny. During the 1960s through early 1990s, an environmental disaster originated from leaking hazardous chemicals and solvents employed in semiconductor manufacturing. A lethal combination of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) seeped through on-site industrial storage containers. These concentrated leakages formed toxic plumes that penetrated between thirty and five hundred feet beneath the ground surface. The plumes ranged from three hundred feet to ten miles in length. Drinking water, regional creeks, streams and estuary lands were affected. The result has left the technology heartland with an extended network of contaminated groundwaters. The resulting contamination of soils and waters created a large-scale clean-up dilemma for a region that has sustained prosperity from the evolution of the technology industry. Neighboring public health consequences have included documented elevated statistics on cancer rate spikes and birth defects. Limited follow-up litigation has generally resulted in no-fault disclosure financial settlements. Only one individual has faced criminal related disposal charges and was convicted of ten misdemeanors. Federal Superfund clean up projects began in the 1980s, coordinated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Silicon Valley has the highest concentration of Superfund sites in the United States. Reclamation projects transported polluted soils to federal hazardous waste sites. Water excavation pumping, filtering and monitoring stations were established. These ongoing treatments have reversed groundwater contamination levels to acceptable EPA standards. They have not completely eliminated the toxic compound presence or eradicated the risk of vapor intrusion aboveground. Silicon Valley groundwater remains unacceptable for public consummation. The most affected cities currently outsource drinking water from the Hetch Hetchy reservoir in Yosemite, Sacramento Delta, San Luis Reservoir and long-established municipal and private wells. The subsequent reuses of formerly contaminated parcels currently include residential, retail and commercial developments, a shopping center and church. Only a small percentage of lands remain dormant and these are targeted for future development. The Silicon Valley manufacturing era remains a discreetly mentioned blight to the legacy of the industry. The semiconductor manufacturing process has subsequently been relocated offshore. Instead of prioritizing hygienic solutions for production and waste disposal, the shifting has reportedly created an equally dangerous source of dioxin pollution transported globally by prevailing winds and ocean currents. The author’s research is based exclusively from EPA archived documentation and related contaminant databases. The text and photographs are best summarized in his chilling opening paragraph: This is a story about unhappy endings. This is a narrative about how the manufacture of technology has potentially forever poisoned the subterranean strata of the Silicon Valley. In brief, this is a horror story.

Author : Marques Vickers
Publisher : Marquis Publishing
Page : 165 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2017-03-03
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

You Can’t Return Home Except Through Photographs and Memory by Marques Vickers Pdf

Author Marques Vickers returns to his hometown of Vallejo, California with his memoir “You Can’t Return Home Except Through Photographs and Memory”. The personal narrative traces his formation within a community that through his eyes has slipped a notch from both the middle-class and affluence. Vickers employs a light but candid tone on a gravely perceived subject, Vallejo’s regressive deterioration. The suburban San Francisco Bay Area town of 120,000 was formerly the California State Capital twice and home to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. The base closed in 1996 creating an employment void that prompted stagnation within the downtown core. Vickers was raised locally during the 1960s-70s. He traces the specific causes for decline as the proliferation of long simmering racial tensions, homelessness, aggressive criminality and drug trafficking. Returning in 1987 as an adult following a twelve-year absence, he was struck by the town’s smallness of scale. In spite of the successful recruitment of Marine World Africa USA in 1986, the addition has not elevated Vallejo into a desirable extended stay tourist destination. He observes that seemingly for every positive step forward, the city tends to relapse two steps backwards. Despite the deterioration, most Vallejoans he knows are proud of their grounded heritage. His text is far from bleak and bitter. He cites the town’s distinctiveness, attractions and diversity that positively impacted his personal development. His photo compilation was prompted by a return for the funeral service of a 90-year-old friend Andy who died on New Years Day 2017. Andy, a former longtime resident, avoided local visitations noting the degenerating conditions from his residence in adjacent Benicia. The author’s own series of memories were exhumed at the same time as the body of his friend was being lowered into the ground for burial. Vickers surveys the present tense community with his camera lens portraying a bittersweet reality. Although he cannot overlook the obvious, he hopes the current downtown may ultimately be viewed as an isolated puzzle piece fitting into a larger positive legacy. Balancing his criticism with objectivity, humor and insight, Vickers attempts to accurate portray a subject he mourns and knows intimately.

Author : Marques Vickers
Publisher : Marquis Publishing
Page : 488 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2015-09-30
Category : True Crime
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

Get Book

Murder in California: The Topography of Evil by Marques Vickers Pdf

The second edition of “Murder in California: The Topography of Evil” is Marques Vickers’ visual return to 108 infamous crime scenes detailing the shocking and often searing narratives behind each tragedy. Over 225 images amplify insight by escorting the reader to the crime location, offering a critical context and perspective for understanding. The captured snapshots portray visual testimonies of extinguished lives removed by acts of violence. Crime scenes often revert back into unremarkable landscape or unassuming buildings over the ensuing years and decades. Several have altered little since their moment of infamy. Many are passed daily by pedestrian and vehicular traffic unaware of a location’s unique significance. California has been the residence for many notorious profiled individual and serial killers including the Zodiac, Ted Unabomber Kaczynski, Charles Manson, Sirhan Sirhan, Jim Jones, Richard Allen Davis, David Carpenter, The Menendez Brothers, Juan Corona, Rodney Alcala, Phil Spector, Dan White, Juan Corona, Richard Ramirez and Scott Peterson. The media has christened some monikers including the Trailside Killer, Children of Thunder, Co-ed Killer, Vampire of Sacramento, Zebra Killers and the Death House Landlady. The state has been the death site of notable victims including Senator Robert Kennedy, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone, Supervisor Harvey Milk, Mobster Bugsy Siegel, Black Panther Huey P. Newton, Journalist Chauncey Bailey, Nicole Simpson-Brown, Rapper Notorious B.I.G., Polly Klaas, Lacy Peterson, the Heaven’s Gate cult, singers Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke and actors Haing Ngor, Ramon Novarro and Sal Mineo. The Murder in California edition profiles are segmented into nine categories including assassinations, abductions, historical legacies, reckless homicides, chance encounters and manslaughters, law enforcement fatalities and controversies, unsolved murders, rampage and serial killers. Within the context of examining each profile, many important issues and questions are raised without necessarily culminating in resolution. These include capital punishment, racial perceptions, contributing parental influences, media reporting, public opinion, juvenile sentencing, self-incrimination protections and the impartiality of our judicial system. An extensive and updated listing of fatality victims is included along with convicted and deceased killers. Each living convict still registered within the United States penal systems is identified by their current penitentiary residence. Vickers’ own introduction to the consequences of murder began with the 1968 killings of David Faraday and Betty Lou Jenson by the Zodiac killer in the author’s hometown. Faraday was an acquaintance of Vickers through Boy Scouts and his older sister knew both victims. His reflections on the trauma inflicted on his intimate suburban community correspond with the realization that a single homicide affects far more individuals than simply the victim. Hundreds and often thousands may be touched by the arbitrariness and unfairness of life being terminated abruptly and prematurely. Cases Profiled (By Sequential Order and Category): Assassinations: Oakland School Superintendent Dr. Marcus Foster, Mobster Bugsy Siegel, Journalist Chauncey Bailey, Mickey and Trudy Thompson, San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, Rapper Christopher Wallace (Notorious B.I.G.), The Marin County Courthouse Shootout Massacre, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Hitman Joseph The Animal Barboza, Vic Weiss and the Wonderland Gang. Abductions: Patty Hearst, Nicholas Markowitz, Brooke Hart, The Onion Field Killings, Polly Klaas, Ramona Irene Price, Cal Poly Student Kristin Smart, Kevin Collins, Rachel Newhouse, Aundria Crawford and Karen Mitchell. Historical Legacies: Fung Little Pete Jing Toy, Charles Crawford, US President Warren Harding, Ned Doheny and Hugh Plunkett, Mary Ellen Pleasant, Orcutt Freeway Sniper, Miles Archer and Eastside Salinas Gang Killings. Chance Encounters and Manslaughter Killings Ennis Cosby, Diane Whipple, Haing Ngor, Huey P. Newton, Johnny Stompanato, Barbara Graham, Marvin Gaye, Phil Hartman, Phil Spector, Ramon Novarro, Ronni Chasen, Sal Mineo, Sam Cooke and Father Eric Freed. Unsolved Murders: The Black Dahlia, Lindsay Cutshall and Jason Allen, Bob Domingos and Linda Edwards, Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders, Crips Gang Founder Raymond Washington, David Nadel, Geneva Ellroy, Virginia Rapp, Kym Morgan, William Desmond Taylor, Ted Healy and the Visalia Ransacker. Rampage Mass Murders: Elliot Rodger, The Helzer Brothers, Bruce Pardo, The 101 California Building Rampage, John Linley Frazier, Edward Charles Allaway, Golden Dragon Restaurant, Meritage Salon, John Kenney, Frederick Martin Davidson, Lynwood Jim Drake, High School student Andy Williams, Oikos University Shootings, Nicolas Holzer, the Cleveland Elementary Schools in San Diego and Stockton and Marcus Wesson. Premeditated Murders: Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten, Laci Peterson, John Morency, Artie Mitchell, Nicole Brown-Simpson, Menendez Brothers, Bonnie Lee Bakley, Vincent Brothers, Marin County Barbeque Killings and Ewell Family Executions. Law Enforcement Fatalities and Controversies Captain Walter Auble. Oscar Grant III, Newhall CHP Massacre, Office Thomas Guerry, Oakland Macarthur Boulevard Shooting, Demetrius DeBose, Policeman Matthew Pavelka and the North Hollywood Bank of America Shootout. Serial Killings: Zodiac Killer, Charles Manson, Dorothea Puente, Efren Saldivar, Ted Unabomber Kaczynski, The Two Night Stalkers, The Zebra Killings, Heaven’s Gate Suicide, Edmund Kemper III, Lawrence Bittaker and Roy Norris, Juan Corona, Richard Trenton Chase, Speedfreak Killers, Herbert Mullin, David Carpenter, Reverend Jim Jones and the People’s Temple Massacre, Hillside Strangler and Rodney Alcala.

Author : Robert E. Lang,Jennifer B. LeFurgy
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 232 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2007-10-01
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780815751120

Get Book

Boomburbs by Robert E. Lang,Jennifer B. LeFurgy Pdf

A glance at a list of America's fastest growing "cities" reveals quite a surprise: most are really overgrown suburbs. Places such as Anaheim, California, Coral Springs, Florida, Naperville, Illinois, North Las Vegas, Nevada, and Plano, Texas, have swelled to big-city size with few people really noticing—including many of their ten million residents. These "boomburbs" are large, rapidly growing, incorporated communities of more than 100,000 residents that are not the biggest city in their region. Here, Robert E. Lang and Jennifer B. LeFurgy explain who lives in them, what they look like, how they are governed, and why their rise calls into question the definition of urban. Located in over twenty-five major metro areas throughout the United States, numerous boomburbs have doubled, tripled, even quadrupled in size between census reports. Some are now more populated than traditional big cities. The population of the biggest boomburb—Mesa, Arizona—recently surpassed that of Minneapolis and Miami. Typically large and sprawling, boomburbs are "accidental cities," but not because they lack planning. Many are made up of master-planned communities that have grown into one another. Few anticipated becoming big cities and unintentionally arrived at their status. Although boomburbs possess elements found in cities such as housing, retailing, offices, and entertainment, they lack large downtowns. But they can contain high-profile industries and entertainment venues: the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Arizona Cardinals are among over a dozen major-league sports teams who play in the boomburbs. Urban in fact but not in feel, these drive-by cities of highways, office parks, and shopping malls are much more horizontally built and less pedestrian friendly than most older suburbs. And, contrary to common perceptions of suburbia, they are not rich and elitist. Poverty is often seen in boomburb communities of small single-family homes, neighborhoods that once represented the American dream. Boomburbs are a quintessential American landscape, embodying much of the nation's complexity, expansiveness, and ambiguity. This fascinating look at the often contradictory world of boomburbs examines why America's suburbs are thriving and how they are shaping the lives of millions of residents.

Author : Timothy R. Mahoney,Wendy J. Katz
Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
Page : 372 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2008-12-01
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780803220461

Get Book

Regionalism and the Humanities by Timothy R. Mahoney,Wendy J. Katz Pdf

Although the framework of regionalist studies may seem to be crumbling under the weight of increasing globalization, this collection of seventeen essays makes clear that cultivating regionalism lies at the center of the humanist endeavor. With interdisciplinary contributions from poets and fiction writers, literary historians, musicologists, and historians of architecture, agriculture, and women, this volume implements some of the most innovative and intriguing approaches to the history and value of regionalism as a category for investigation in the humanities. In the volume’s inaugural essay, Annie Proulx discusses landscapes in American fiction, comments on how she constructs characters, and interprets current literary trends. Edward Watts offers a theory of region that argues for comparisons of the United States to other former colonies of Great Britain, including New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. Whether considering a writer's connection to region or the idea of place in exploring what is meant by regionalism, these essays uncover an enduring and evolving concept. Although the approaches and disciplines vary, all are framed within the fundamental premise of the humanities: the search to understand what it means to be human.

Author : T. G. McGee
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 204 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 1967
Category : Cities and towns
ISBN : LCCN:lc67099423

Get Book

The Southeast Asian City by T. G. McGee Pdf

Author : Robert E. Lang
Publisher : Brookings Institution Press
Page : 186 pages
File Size : 45,9 Mb
Release : 2003-02-25
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 0815796005

Get Book

Edgeless Cities by Robert E. Lang Pdf

Edgeless cities are a sprawling form of development that accounts for the bulk of office space found outside of downtowns. Every major metropolitan area has them: vast swaths of isolated buildings that are neither pedestrian friendly, nor easily accessible by public transit, and do not lend themselves to mixed use. While critics of urban sprawl tend to focus on the social impact of "edge cities"—developments that combine large-scale office parks with major retail and housing—edgeless cities, despite their ubiquity, are difficult to define or even locate. While they stay under the radar of critics, they represent a significant departure in the way American cities are built and are very likely the harbingers of a suburban future almost no one has anticipated. Edgeless Cities explores America's new metropolitan form by examining the growth and spatial structure of suburban office space across the nation. Inspired by Myron Orfield's groundbreaking Metropolitics (Brookings, 1997), Robert Lang uses data, illustrations, maps, and photos to delineate between two types of suburban office development—bounded and edgeless. The book covers the evolving geography of rental office space in thirteen of the country's largest markets, which together contain more than 2.6 billion square feet of office space and 26,000 buildings: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington. Lang discusses how edgeless cities differ from traditional office areas. He also provides an overview of national, regional, and metropolitan office markets, covers ways to map and measure them, and discusses the challenges urban policymakers and practitioners will face as this new suburban form continues to spread. Until now, edgeless cities have been the unstudied phenomena of the new metropolis. Lang's conceptual approach reframes the current thinking on suburban sprawl and provides a valuable resource for future policy discussions surrounding smart growth issues.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 5 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 1988
Category : Planning
ISBN : 0117520691

Get Book

Major Retail Development by Anonim Pdf

Author : Richard W. Longstreth
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 278 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2000-08-25
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 0262621428

Get Book

The Drive-In, the Supermarket, and the Transformation of Commercial Space in Los Angeles, 1914-1941 by Richard W. Longstreth Pdf

Longstreth explores the early development of two kinds of retail space that have become ubiquitous in the United States in the second half of the twentieth century. Richard Longstreth is one of the few historians to focus on ordinary commercial buildings—buildings usually associated with commercial builders and real estate developers rather than architects and thus generally overlooked by historians of "high" architecture. Here Longstreth explores the early development of two kinds of retail space that have become ubiquitous in the United States in the second half of the twentieth century. One, external, is devoted to the circulation and parking of automobiles on retail premises. Longstreth analyzes the origins of this development in the 1910s and 1920s, with the super service station and then the drive-in market. The other type of space, internal, was introduced soon thereafter with the single-story supermarket. The most innovative aspect of the supermarket was how its interior was designed for high-volume turnover of a large selection of goods with a minimum of staff assistance. Longstreth focuses on Los Angeles, the principal center for the development of both kinds of space, during the period from the mid-1910s to the early 1940s. This richly illustrated study integrates architectural, cultural, economic, and urban factors to describe the evolution of retailing and how it has affected the urban landscape.

Author : Wendy Jean Katz
Publisher : Ohio State University Press
Page : 292 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2002
Category : Art
ISBN : 0814209068

Get Book

Regionalism and Reform by Wendy Jean Katz Pdf

"Before the Civil War, Cincinnati, Ohio, was considered the most important art center of what was then regarded as the U.S. West. In this book, Wendy Jean Katz explores the role of artists and art associations in moral and social reform in antebellum Cincinnati. Its leaders claimed for it the status of the future geographic and economic center of the nation, and supported art as part of their effort to forge a regional vision of morals and manners attractive enough to persuade their adoption nationally."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Author : Henry D. Shapiro
Publisher : UNC Press Books
Page : 399 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2014-03-30
Category : History
ISBN : 9781469617244

Get Book

Appalachia on Our Mind by Henry D. Shapiro Pdf

Appalachia on Our Mind is not a history of Appalachia. It is rather a history of the American idea of Appalachia. The author argues that the emergence of this idea has little to do with the realities of mountain life but was the result of a need to reconcile the "otherness" of Appalachia, as decribed by local-color writers, tourists, and home missionaries, with assumptions about the nature of America and American civilization. Between 1870 and 1900, it became clear that the existence of the "strange land and peculiar people" of the southern mountains challenged dominant notions about the basic homogeneity of the American people and the progress of the United States toward achiving a uniform national civilization. Some people attempted to explain Appalachian otherness as normal and natural -- no exception to the rule of progress. Others attempted the practical integration of Appalachia into America through philanthropic work. In the twentieth century, however, still other people began questioning their assumptions about the characteristics of American civilization itself, ultimately defining Appalachia as a region in a nation of regions and the mountaineers as a people in a nation of peoples. In his skillful examination of the "invention" of the idea of Appalachia and its impact on American thought and action during the early twentieth century, Mr. Shapiro analyzes the following: the "discovery" of Appalachia as a field for fiction by the local-color writers and as a field for benevolent work by the home missionaries of the northern Protestant churches; the emergence of the "problem" of Appalachia and attempts to solve it through explanation and social action; the articulation of a regionalist definition of Appalachia and the establishment of instituions that reinforced that definition; the impact of that regionalistic definition of Appalachia on the conduct of systematic benevolence, expecially in the context of the debate over child-labor restriction and the transformation of philanthropy into community work; and the attempt to discover the bases for an indigenous mountain culture in handicrafts, folksong, and folkdance.

Author : William R. Leach
Publisher : Vintage
Page : 289 pages
File Size : 42,8 Mb
Release : 2011-08-10
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780307760517

Get Book

Country of Exiles by William R. Leach Pdf

In Country of Exiles, William Leach, whose Land of Desire was a finalist for the National Book Award, explores the troubling effects of our national love affair with mobility. He shows us how the impulse to pull up stakes and find a new frontier has always battled with the need to put down roots, and how a new cosmopolitanism has seized our national identity. Leach takes us across a featureless America, where strip malls homogenize a once varied and majestic landscape, and where casinos displace the Native American spiritual connection to the land. He shows us a culture where everyone, from CEOs to office temps, abandons the notion of company loyalty, and where rootless academics posit a world without borders. With compelling vision and insight, Leach reveals the profound but often hidden impact of America's disintegrating sense of place on our national and individual psyche.