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Written by one of this country's foremost urban historians, Downtown is the first history of what was once viewed as the heart of the American city. It tells the fascinating story of how downtown-and the way Americans thought about downtown-changed over time. By showing how businessmen and property owners worked to promote the well-being of downtown, even at the expense of other parts of the city, it also gives a riveting account of spatial politics in urban America.Drawing on a wide array of contemporary sources, Robert M. Fogelson brings downtown to life, first as the business district, then as the central business district, and finally as just another business district. His book vividly recreates the long-forgotten battles over subways and skyscrapers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. And it provides a fresh, often startling perspective on elevated highways, parking bans, urban redevelopment, and other controversial issues. This groundbreaking book will be a revelation to scholars, city planners, policymakers, and general readers interested in American cities and American history

The quintessential American suburbs, with their gracious single-family homes, large green lawns and leaf-shaded streets, reflected not only residents' dreams but nightmares, not only hopes but fears: fear of others, of racial minorities and low-income groups, fear of themselves, fear of the market and above all, fear of change. These fears, and the restrictive covenants that embodied them, are the subject of Robert Fogelson's fascinating new book. As Fogelson reveals, suburban subdividers attempted to cope with the deep-seated fears of unwanted change, especially the encroachment of 'undesirable' people and activities, by imposing a wide range of restrictions on the lots. These restrictions ranged from mandating minimum costs and architectural styles for the houses to forbidding the owners to sell or lease their property to any member of a host of racial, ethnic and religious groups. These restrictions, many of which are still commonly employed, tell us as much about the complexities of American society today as a century ago