Great American Cities Past and Present - Hardcover

Sapp, Rick; Solomon, Brian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1554077451 ISBN 13: 9781554077458

Publisher: Firefly Books, 2010

Synopsis

The stunning history of the transformation of America's great cities.

Great American Cities Past and Present is a fascinating collection of 250 large-format photographs and commentary that illustrates the dramatic changes in America's urban landscape over the last century. The images clearly show the remarkable development of such cities as Chicago, New York and Los Angeles, as they went from flourishing cities to vibrant metropolises of international significance.

Each left-hand page in the book shows a cityscape -- some are skylines, others are street scenes -- as it was 5, 20, 50 or even 100 years ago, and the facing page shows the same location as it looks today. Each visual comparison tells a compelling story, from economic busts and booms to waves of immigration to city planning gone wrong (or maybe right) to a total disregard for heritage architecture to the urban appetite for farmland. The book also chronicles the changes in styles of dress, consumerism, storefronts and public transit that accompanied the transformations.

Detailed captions describe changes such as:

• Technological advances that raised skylines to new heights
  
• Urban ghettoization and regeneration
  
• The casualties of fires, earthquakes and tornadoes
  
• The cultural evolution of neighborhoods
  
• The best and worst of American architecture

Maps also include locator keys that highlight features and buildings within the photographs. From skyline to street level, Great American Cities Past and Present gives readers a thought-provoking perspective on America's cities.

About this title

About the Author

Since serving with the U.S. Army, Rick Sapp has been a journalist, author and editor of such magazines as Bowhunting World and Archery Business. He lives in Gainesville, Florida.

Brian Solomon is an accomplished photographer and author with more than 30 titles to his name, including Railway Masterpieces and North American Railroad Bridges.

Reviews

This book opens with a hyperbolic paean: "people are attracted to cities, are drawn to build them, as if it is genetic code." Cities "are the great things, the wild things, the jaw-dropping wonders about which all men and women dream." Unfortunately, there's no discussion of these ideas; instead, photos of North American cities taken at different times in history highlight the changing metropolis--Jacksonville, Fla. in 1913, 1921, 2006, and 2008; Cleveland, Ohio in 1951 and 2005; Quebec in 1901 and 2005, and so on. Bigger cities get bigger spreads, but the book is admirably democratic: a city is interesting, it seems, simply because it exists and changes over time. Perhaps Sapp and Solomon are right, but their framework is lacking and reveals an endemic problem. The photo spreads feel random; why this shot and not another? Why that year? And since the book's purpose is to compare and contrast, it's disappointing that paired photos (the Flatiron area in 1915 and 2009, for example) often don't match up. One is perplexed, and, as often happens when confronted with a missed opportunity, left to consider how this promising idea could have been better executed. (Aug.)
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In the great urban boom of the twentieth century, American cities burgeoned into massive centers of commercial activity and architectural achievement. Sapp and Solomon offer precise visual documentation of this historical alteration of the face of the planet. Working with black-and-white photographs, they display panoramas from as much as a century ago, juxtaposing these with brilliantly colored vistas of present realities. The megalopolises of New York and Chicago predictably stun with the vast scales of their multiple skyscrapers and teeming avenues, yet some of the nation’s smaller cities contribute equally compelling, if less spectacular, vistas. Diminutive Butte, Montana, has seen great changes over decades, and Richmond, Virginia’s, resurrection from Civil War devastation to today’s capital could not be more striking. Text points out salient details in the growth of these cityscapes and identifies specific structures in both old and new scenes. --Mark Knoblauch

Edition details

• Publisher: Firefly Books
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1554077451
• ISBN 13: 9781554077458
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256