{"product_id":"city-on-a-hill-alex-krieger-9780674987999","title":"City on a Hill: Urban Idealism in America from the Puritans to the Present","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA sweeping history of American cities and towns, and the utopian aspirations that shaped them, by one of America's leading urban planners and scholars.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe first European settlers saw America as a paradise regained. The continent seemed to offer a God-given opportunity to start again and build the perfect community. Those messianic days are gone. But as Alex Krieger argues in \u003ci\u003eCity on a Hill, \u003c\/i\u003e any attempt at deep understanding of how the country has developed must recognize the persistent and dramatic consequences of utopian dreaming. Even as ideals have changed, idealism itself has for better and worse shaped our world of bricks and mortar, macadam, parks, and farmland. As he traces this uniquely American story from the Pilgrims to the \"smart city,\" Krieger delivers a striking new history of our built environment. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe Puritans were the first utopians, seeking a New Jerusalem in the New England villages that still stand as models of small-town life. In the Age of Revolution, Thomas Jefferson dreamed of citizen farmers tending plots laid out across the continent in a grid of enlightened rationality. As industrialization brought urbanization, reformers answered emerging slums with a zealous crusade of grand civic architecture and designed the vast urban parks vital to so many cities today. The twentieth century brought cycles of suburban dreaming and urban renewal--one generation's utopia forming the next one's nightmare--and experiments as diverse as Walt Disney's EPCOT, hippie communes, and Las Vegas. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eKrieger's compelling and richly illustrated narrative reminds us, as we formulate new ideals today, that we chase our visions surrounded by the glories and failures of dreams gone by.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Alex Krieger\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0674987993\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780674987999\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Belknap Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 10\/29\/2019\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 464\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.95lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 1.60d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/01\/2020","brand":"Alex Krieger","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44046993424639,"sku":"9780674987999","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_a46ba1fe-6e9b-4480-8962-acaa06d74e32.jpg?v=1684987670","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/city-on-a-hill-alex-krieger-9780674987999","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}