City by City

Starred review from April 27, 2015
The spirited, eye-opening examinations of various American cities in this intelligent collection of essays, many republished from n+1 magazine, tell a common story of economic vibrancy and ambitious vision followed by "postindustrial malaise," economic depression, ecological devastation, and rising crime. Some chapters peer revealingly into small pockets of a business or a lifestyle; others analyze structures such as highways, skyscrapers, and schools. The most thoughtful and thought-provoking provide personalized histories of various cities' struggles, illuminating their current economics (a study of denim production in Greensboro, N.C.; another of a brothel in Washington, D.C.), colorful pasts, and attempts at renewal: fracking in Williston, N.D., volunteerism in New Orleans, the DestiNY U.S.A. mall in Syracuse, N.Y., and reality TV in Whittier, Alaska. While the collection paints a depressing picture of the modern American city as home to strangling politics, entrenched racism, and desperate poverty, and subject to ongoing gentrification and exploitation by the very wealthy, several essays sow seeds of hope for a more promising future: one of environmental renewal and new civic institutions that can renegotiate livable, thriving communities out of a present crisis and a blighted past.

March 1, 2015
In these 37 singular essays, some reading like research papers, others as personal as memoirs, n+1 editor Gessen (All the Sad Young Literary Men, 2008, etc.) and Harvard graduate student Squibb find in certain American cities the crucible of enormous change since the financial meltdown of 2008.In "Lessons of the Arkansas," Ben Merriman wisely considers the hugely troubling ramifications of diverting rivers such as the mighty Arkansas for the irrigation of arid land. Dan Albert's "The Highway and the City" finds the interstate structure both a product of wrongheaded urban renewal and a "transcendent" step in technological progress. In "The Office and the City," Nikil Saval, author of Cubed: The Secret History of the Workplace (2014), looks at how the once-ubiquitous office towers of New York, San Francisco, and other metropolises face conversion rather than obsolescence. Two of the chapters are interviews: historian Gar Alperovitz explores how Cleveland has become a model for worker-owned, multistakeholder institutions that anchor the community and distribute wealth more equally. City Life/Vida Urbana organizer and activist Steve Meacham shares his methods of helping advocate for tenants' rights in Boston against foreclosures. Some of the more amusing essays are highly quirky reminiscences of living or growing up in certain cities-e.g., Annie Wyman's ferocious "Dallas and the Park Cities," which chronicles her move to this "dark heart of Republican power" as a child and feeling appalled by its racist tones; and Ryann Liebenthal's "The Making of Local Boise," which finds a charm in the "little anthills of aesthetic and cultural kinship" popping up in his hometown. Other contributors include Michelle Tea, Jenny Hendrix, and James Pogue. From Whittier, Alaska, to Williston, North Dakota, to Palm Coast, Florida, these varied essays offer compelling snapshots of how Americans live, move, and work.

April 15, 2015

Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin' " could easily be background music for n+1's collection of essays on the state of contemporary American cities. Coeditors Gessen (All the Sad Young Literary Men) and Squibb (coauthor, Paul Chan: 2000 Words) have compiled a diverse offering of voices addressing the magnitude of the changes cities have experienced since the financial crisis of 2007-08. While large urban centers are represented, it should be noted that the use of the word "city" is misleading as these essays take one beyond the noisy streets of Los Angeles or Washington, DC. Writers explore the frozen landscape of Whittier, AK; the overgrown lots of Lehigh Acres, FL; and the oil patch in Williston, ND. These essays look critically at how economics, politics, and crime affect metropolises today. It's the human element, however, the citizen stories woven throughout this book, that remind us that no city is an empty vessel--it is shaped by those that occupy it. VERDICT Recommended for readers with an interest in urban life, literary nonfiction essays, modern American culture, and socioeconomic issues.--Angela Forret, Clive P.L., IA

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