{"product_id":"shopping-town-victor-gruen-9781517902100","title":"Shopping Town: Designing the City in Suburban America","description":"\u003cp\u003eVictor Gruen was one of the twentieth century's most influential architects and is regarded as the father of the U.S. shopping mall. In spring 1979, less than a year before his death, he began reconstructing his life story. Now available in English for the first time, \u003ci\u003eShopping Town\u003c\/i\u003e is the long overdue account of a man whose work fundamentally altered the course of city development. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eShopping Town\u003c\/i\u003e opens in Vienna in 1938 with the Anschluss--the turning point in Gruen's life--as he narrowly escaped the Nazi regime. A few years later, in the suburbs of postwar America, the Jewish refugee sought to reproduce the vitality of Vienna's city center and invented the commercial apparatus now known as the shopping mall. Gruen's Southdale Mall in Edina, Minnesota, was the first fully enclosed shopping center in America. He then translated the concept to economically neglected city centers, setting the path for pedestrian zones and fighting passionately for an urban ideal without compromise. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHighlighting Gruen's sense of humor as well as reflections on the complex forces that sustained the postwar transformation of American cities, \u003ci\u003e Shopping Town\u003c\/i\u003e embeds Gruen's experiences and perspectives in a wider social and political context while helping us understand his problematic place in American architectural culture. With afterwords by his son and daughter, \u003ci\u003eShopping Town\u003c\/i\u003e closes with Anette Baldauf's richly insightful essay on the legacy of Victor Gruen.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Victor Gruen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 151790210X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781517902100\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Minnesota Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/30\/2017\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 328\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.20lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 10.00h x 7.00w x 0.60d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 12\/01\/2017","brand":"Victor Gruen","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43940065247487,"sku":"9781517902100","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_ac9322d1-be31-4794-a96b-6c2116a556db.jpg?v=1681445084","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/shopping-town-victor-gruen-9781517902100","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}