A Community in Search of Itself: A Case History of Cairo, Illinois - Hardcover

Lantz M.A. Ph.D., Professor Herman R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080930516X ISBN 13: 9780809305162

Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press, 1972

Synopsis

Cairo, Illinois, at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, was a city favored by geography and climate. It was founded in the early 1800s on great expectations. Its location at the head of major rivers navi­gable both summer and winter and its proximity to coal fields generated predictions that Cairo would soon surpass Louisville, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and even Chicago. Yet it failed to realize the success its promoters believed inevitable.

 

Using mainly primary sources such as newspapers, city council records, and census data, Herman R. Lantz has traced the history of the city and has pinpointed the economic, social, and psychological factors that helped to retard Cairo’s progress while other cities with the same, or even fewer, advantages flourished. The result is an important socio-historical contribution that attempts to explore the process of community failure in the perspective of national success.

About this title

About the Author

Herman R. Lantz is a Professor of Sociology at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Edition details

• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press
• Publication date: 1972
• ISBN 10: 080930516X
• ISBN 13: 9780809305162
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256