It is a paradox of American life that we are a highly urbanized nation filled with people deeply ambivalent about urban life. An aversion to urban density and all that it contributes to urban life, and a perception that the city was the place where "big government" first took root in America fostered what historian Steven Conn terms the "anti-urban impulse." In response, anti-urbanists called for the decentralization of the city, and rejected the role of government in American life in favor of a return to the pioneer virtues of independence and self-sufficiency. In this provocative and sweeping book, Conn explores the anti-urban impulse across the 20th century, examining how the ideas born of it have shaped both the places in which Americans live and work, and the anti-government politics so strong today. Beginning in the booming industrial cities of the Progressive era at the turn of the 20th century, where debate surrounding these questions first arose, Conn examines the progression of anti-urban movements. : He describes the decentralist movement of the 1930s, the attempt to revive the American small town in the mid-century, the anti-urban basis of urban renewal in the 1950s and '60s, and the Nixon administration's program of building new towns as a response to the urban crisis, illustrating how, by the middle of the 20th century, anti-urbanism was at the center of the politics of the New Right. Concluding with an exploration of the New Urbanist experiments at the turn of the 21st century, Conn demonstrates the full breadth of the anti-urban impulse, from its inception to the present day. Engagingly written, thoroughly researched, and forcefully argued, Americans Against the City is important reading for anyone who cares not just about the history of our cities, but about their future as well.

A study of African Americans in Ohio-notably, Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. Giffin argues that the "color line" in Ohio hardened as the Great Migration gained force. His data shows, too, that the color line varied according to urban area, hardening progressively as one traveled South in the state.

A sweeping history of American cities and towns, and the utopian aspirations that shaped them, by one of America’s leading urban planners and scholars. The first European settlers saw America as a paradise regained. The continent seemed to offer a God-given opportunity to start again and build the perfect community. Those messianic days are gone. But as Alex Krieger argues in City on a Hill, any attempt at deep understanding of how the country has developed must recognize the persistent and dramatic consequences of utopian dreaming. Even as ideals have changed, idealism itself has for better and worse shaped our world of bricks and mortar, macadam, parks, and farmland. As he traces this uniquely American story from the Pilgrims to the “smart city,” Krieger delivers a striking new history of our built environment. The Puritans were the first utopians, seeking a New Jerusalem in the New England villages that still stand as models of small-town life. In the Age of Revolution, Thomas Jefferson dreamed of citizen farmers tending plots laid out across the continent in a grid of enlightened rationality. As industrialization brought urbanization, reformers answered emerging slums with a zealous crusade of grand civic architecture and designed the vast urban parks vital to so many cities today. The twentieth century brought cycles of suburban dreaming and urban renewal—one generation’s utopia forming the next one’s nightmare—and experiments as diverse as Walt Disney’s EPCOT, hippie communes, and Las Vegas. Krieger’s compelling and richly illustrated narrative reminds us, as we formulate new ideals today, that we chase our visions surrounded by the glories and failures of dreams gone by.

Precise connections between race, poverty, and the condition of America's cities are drawn in this collection of seventeen essays. Policymakers and scholars from a variety of disciplines analyze the plight of the urban poor since the riots of the 1960s an

Democracy in the world is backsliding in many countries around the globe at the present time due to various reasons. Different nations may have their own particular reasons such as socioeconomic inequality, poverty, failure of checks and balances that may result in an abrupt military coup d'etat to change from democracy to tyranny. In nations where democracy failed, there were no tanks on the street. Constitution of the land remained, but elected leaders became autocrats, maintaining a veneer of democracy. America, being a nation with nearly 80 percent of Christians, has been the strongest democracy in the world who championed it as the model for the rest of the world. However, democracy in America appears to be in peril because of political bickering, partisan gridlock, and promulgation of falsities, misinformation, and faux faith by one political party. By introducing the foundational principles of democracy from the philosophical arguments of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, the author shows how and why the cornerstone of democracy in America shows signs of crumbling. The book vividly explains: Politics without God will shatter the foundation of democracy. Present political system rejects the checks and balances laid by the founding fathers. The right wing has cultivated a spirit of untruth that spreads like a wildfire. Rejecting truth by political parties and leadership is a sign of strong delusion. There is a clear moral bankruptcy in the present political sphere of our nation. The brightness of democracy in America which Tocqueville praised has been tarnished. Hypocritic and dishonest leaders should not reign, lest the people be ensnared. American politicians must register their solemn oath in heaven to act in truth. No nation can be established in one day but can shatter in one day by a despot. America must realign with God to lead the nation in truth, justice, and freedom for all. Democracy turns to tyranny when a moral man becomes amoral. With biblical prophecies and instructions, the author shows that America faces a real threat to its democracy unless it resists tyrants with all their mind, soul, and strength, which is obedience to God who can anchor the nation on its solid foundation set by the Founding Fathers. Every citizen, political and judicial leaders of the nation, are the cupbearers and the watchmen of the nation.