Download or read book The Metropolitan Frontier and American Politics written by Daniel Elazar and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-03-10 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: American civilization has been shaped by four decisive forces: the frontier, migration, sectionalism and federalism. The frontier has offered abundance to those who would/could take advantage of its opportunities, stimulated technological innovation, and been the source of continuous change in social structure and economic organization; migration has been responsible for relocating cultures from the Old world to the New: various sections of geographic territories have adjusted to the overall American culture without losing their individual distinctiveness; and federalism has shaped the United States' political and social organization., The Metropolitan Frontier and American Politics was begun in the late 1950s under the auspices of the University of Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs as a study of the eight "lesser" metropolitan areas in Illinois. What started out as a design for "community maps" of each area, with the intent to outline their particular political systems, led to a major study of metropolitan cities of the prairie-the "heartland" area between the Great Lakes and the Continental Divide-with an examination of the processes that have shaped American politics. The distinctive features of the geographic areas that Elazar discovered can best be understood as reflections of the differences in cultural backgrounds of their respective settlers. Proper understanding of these communities therefore requires an examination of their place in the federal system, the impact of frontier and section upon them, and a study of the cultures that inform them as civil communities. The volume is consequently divided into three parts: "Cities, Frontiers, and Sections," "Streams of Migration and Political Culture," and "Cities, States, and Nation," each of which explores Elazar's concerns in discovering the interrelationship between the cities of the frontier and American politics., A prequel to The Closing of the Metropolitan Frontier, The Metropolitan Frontier and American Politics will be of great interest to students of politics, American history and ethnography.
Download or read book Settler City Limits written by Heather Dorries and published by Univ. of Manitoba Press. This book was released on 2019-10-04 with total page 479 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While cities like Winnipeg, Minneapolis, Saskatoon, Rapid City, Edmonton, Missoula, Regina, and Tulsa are places where Indigenous marginalization has been most acute, they have also long been sites of Indigenous placemaking and resistance to settler colonialism. Although such cities have been denigrated as “ordinary” or banal in the broader urban literature, they are exceptional sites to study Indigenous resurgence. The urban centres of the continental plains have featured Indigenous housing and food co-operatives, social service agencies, and schools. The American Indian Movement initially developed in Minneapolis in 1968, and Idle No More emerged in Saskatoon in 2013. The editors and authors of Settler City Limits, both Indigenous and settler, address urban struggles involving Anishinaabek, Cree, Creek, Dakota, Flathead, Lakota, and Métis peoples. Collectively, these studies showcase how Indigenous people in the city resist ongoing processes of colonial dispossession and create spaces for themselves and their families. Working at intersections of Indigenous studies, settler colonial studies, urban studies, geography, and sociology, this book examines how the historical and political conditions of settler colonialism have shaped urban development in the Canadian Prairies and American Plains. Settler City Limits frames cities as Indigenous spaces and places, both in terms of the historical geographies of the regions in which they are embedded, and with respect to ongoing struggles for land, life, and self-determination.
Download or read book Prairie Fairies written by Valerie J. Korinek and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2018-01-01 with total page 527 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Prairie Fairies draws upon a wealth of oral, archival, and cultural histories to recover the experiences of queer urban and rural people in the prairies. Focusing on five major urban centres, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Edmonton, and Calgary, Prairie Fairies explores the regional experiences and activism of queer men and women by looking at the community centres, newsletters, magazines, and organizations that they created from 1930 to 1985.? Challenging the preconceived narratives of queer history, Valerie J. Korinek argues that the LGBTTQ community has a long history in the prairie west, and that its history, previously marginalized or omitted, deserves attention. Korinek pays tribute to the prairie activists and actors who were responsible for creating spaces for socializing, politicizing, and organizing this community, both in cities and rural areas. Far from the stereotype of the isolated, insular Canadian prairies of small towns and farming communities populated by faithful farm families, Prairie Fairies historicizes the transformation of prairie cities, and ultimately the region itself, into a predominantly urban and diverse place.
Download or read book Prairie Train written by Marsha Wilson Chall and published by HarperCollins Publishers. This book was released on 2003-09 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A young girl experiences the thrill of her first train ride when she takes the Great Northern from the country to visit her grandmother in the city.
Download or read book Cities of the Prairie written by Daniel Judah Elazar and published by University Press of Amer. This book was released on 1984-02 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No descriptive material is available for this title.
Download or read book A New Garden Ethic written by Benjamin Vogt and published by New Society Publishers. This book was released on 2017-09-01 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a time of climate change and mass extinction, how we garden matters more than ever: “An outstanding and deeply passionate book.” —Marc Bekoff, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals Plenty of books tell home gardeners and professional landscape designers how to garden sustainably, what plants to use, and what resources to explore. Yet few examine why our urban wildlife gardens matter so much—not just for ourselves, but for the larger human and animal communities. Our landscapes push aside wildlife and in turn diminish our genetically programmed love for wildness. How can we get ourselves back into balance through gardens, to speak life's language and learn from other species? Benjamin Vogt addresses why we need a new garden ethic, and why we urgently need wildness in our daily lives—lives sequestered in buildings surrounded by monocultures of lawn and concrete that significantly harm our physical and mental health. He examines the psychological issues around climate change and mass extinction as a way to understand how we are short-circuiting our response to global crises, especially by not growing native plants in our gardens. Simply put, environmentalism is not political; it's social justice for all species marginalized today and for those facing extinction tomorrow. By thinking deeply and honestly about our built landscapes, we can create a compassionate activism that connects us more profoundly to nature and to one another.
Download or read book Energy Capitals written by Joseph A. Pratt and published by University of Pittsburgh Press. This book was released on 2015-03-23 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fossil fuels propelled industries and nations into the modern age and continue to powerfully influence economies and politics today. As Energy Capitals demonstrates, the discovery and exploitation of fossil fuels has proven to be a mixed blessing in many of the cities and regions where it has occurred. With case studies from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Norway, Africa, and Australia, this volume views a range of older and more recent energy capitals, contrasts their evolutions, and explores why some capitals were able to influence global trends in energy production and distribution while others failed to control even their own destinies. Chapters show how local and national politics, social structures, technological advantages, education systems, capital, infrastructure, labor force, supply and demand, and other factors have affected the ability of a region to develop and control its own fossil fuel reserves. The contributors also view the environmental impact of energy industries and demonstrate how, in the depletion of reserves or a shift to new energy sources, regions have or have not been able to recover economically. The cities of Tampico, Mexico, and Port Gentil, Gabon, have seen their oil deposits exploited by international companies with little or nothing to show in return and at a high cost environmentally. At the opposite extreme, Houston, Texas, has witnessed great economic gain from its oil, natural gas, and petrochemical industries. Its growth, however, has been tempered by the immense strain on infrastructure and the human transformation of the natural environment. In another scenario, Perth, Australia, Calgary, Alberta, and Stavanger, Norway have benefitted as the closest established cities with administrative and financial assets for energy production that was developed hundreds of miles away. Whether coal, oil, or natural gas, the essays offer important lessons learned over time and future considerations for the best ways to capture the benefits of energy development while limiting the cost to local populations and environments.
Download or read book The Verging Cities written by Natalie Scenters-Zapico and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2015-04-15 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From undocumented men named Angel, to angels falling from the sky, Natalie Scenters-Zapico’s gripping debut collection, The Verging Cities, is filled with explorations of immigration and marriage, narco-violence and femicide, and angels in the domestic sphere. Deeply rooted along the US-México border in the sister cities of El Paso, Texas, and Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua, these poems give a brave new voice to the ways in which international politics affect the individual. Composed in a variety of forms, from sonnet and epithalamium to endnotes and field notes, each poem distills violent stories of narcos, undocumented immigrants, border patrol agents, and the people who fall in love with each other and their traumas. The border in Scenters-Zapico’s The Verging Cities exists in a visceral place where the real is (sur)real. In these poems mouths speak suspended from ceilings, numbered metal poles mark the border and lovers’ spines, and cities scream to each other at night through fences that “ooze only silt.” This bold new vision of border life between what has been named the safest city in the United States and the murder capital of the world is in deep conversation with other border poets—Benjamin Alire Saenz, Gloria Anzaldúa, Alberto Ríos, and Luis Alberto Urrea—while establishing itself as a new and haunting interpretation of the border as a verge, the beginning of one thing and the end of another in constant cycle.
Download or read book Main Street written by Sinclair Lewis and published by First Avenue Editions TM. This book was released on 2022-08-01 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Carol Milford dreams of living in a small, rural town. But Gopher Prairie, Minnesota, isn't the paradise she'd imagined. First published in 1920, this unabridged edition of the Sinclair Lewis novel is an American classic, considered by many to be his most noteworthy and lasting work. As a work of social satire, this complex and compelling look at small-town America in the early 20th century has earned its place among the classics.
Download or read book Cities of the Heartland written by Jon C. Teaford and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 1993-04-22 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the 1880s and '90s, the rise of manufacturing, the first soaring skyscrapers, new symphony orchestras and art museums, and winning baseball teams all heralded the midwestern city's coming of age. In this book, Jon C. Teaford chronicles the development of these cities of the industrial Midwest as they challenged the urban supremacy of the East. The antebellum growth of Cincinnati to Queen City status was followed by its eclipse, as St. Louis and then Chicago developed into industrial and cultural centers. During the second quarter of the twentieth century, emerging Sunbelt cities began to rob the heartland of its distinction as a boom area. In the last half of the century, however, midwestern cities have suffered some of their most trying times. With the 1970s and '80s came signs of age and obsolescence; the heartland had become the "rust belt."" "Teaford examines the complex "heartland consciousness" of the industrial Midwest through boom and bust. Geographically, economically, and culturally, the midwestern city is "a legitimate subspecies of urban life.--[book jacket].
Download or read book How Cities Won the West written by Carl Abbott and published by University of New Mexico Press. This book was released on 2011-03-03 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cities rather than individual pioneers have been the driving force in the settlement and economic development of the western half of North America. Throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries, western urban centers served as starting points for conquest and settlement. As these frontier cities matured into metropolitan centers, they grew from imitators of eastern culture and outposts of eastern capital into independent sources of economic, cultural, and intellectual change. From the Gulf of Alaska to the Mississippi River and from the binational metropolis of San Diego-Tijuana to the Prairie Province capitals of Canada, Carl Abbott explores the complex urban history of western Canada and the United States. The evolution of western cities from stations for exploration and military occupation to contemporary entry points for migration and components of a global economy reminds us that it is cities that "won the West." And today, as cultural change increasingly moves from west to east, Abbott argues that the urban West represents a new center from which emerging patterns of behavior and changing customs will help to shape North America in the twenty-first century.
Download or read book Cities of the Mississippi written by John William Reps and published by University of Missouri Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 4 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spectacular modern aerial photographs of twenty-three of the towns dramatically illustrate changes to the urban scene and demonstrate the lasting influence of the initial city patterns on subsequent growth.
Download or read book Fire on the Prairie written by Gary Rivlin and published by Urban Life, Landscape and Poli. This book was released on 2013 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A revised edition of the classic story of race and power, set in Chicago during the 1980s, when this most political of cities elected its first black mayor
Download or read book The Man Made City written by Gerald D. Suttles and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1990-03-21 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With its extraordinary uniform street grid, its magnificent lake-side park, and innovative architecture and public sculpture, Chicago is one of the most planned cities of the modern era. Yet over the past few decades Chicago has come to epitomize some of the worst evils of urban decay: widespread graft and corruption, political stalemates, troubled race relations, and economic decline. Broad-shouldered boosterism can no longer disguise the city's failure to keep pace with others, its failure to attract new "sunrise" industries and world-class events. For Chicago, as for other rust-belt cities, new ways of planning and managing the urban environment are now much more than civic beautification; they are the means to survival. Gerald D. Suttles here offers an irreverent, highly critical guide to both the realities and myths of land-use planning and development in Chicago from 1976 through 1987.
Download or read book Cities of the American West written by John William Reps and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 827 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Description for this book, Cities of the American West: A History of Frontier Urban Planning, will be forthcoming.
Download or read book On the Banks of Plum Creek written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2006-12-21 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Laura and her family move to Minnesota where they live in a dugout until a new house is built and face misfortunes caused by flood, blizzard, and grasshoppers.
Download or read book Prairie Crossing written by John Scott Watson and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2016-01-30 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Carved out of century-old farmland near Chicago, the Prairie Crossing development is a novel experiment in urban public policy that preserves 69 percent of the land as open space. The for-profit project has set out to do nothing less than use access to nature as a means to challenge America's failed culture of suburban sprawl. The first comprehensive look at an American conservation community, Prairie Crossing goes beyond windmills and nest boxes to examine an effort to connect adults to the land while creating a healthy and humane setting for raising a new generation attuned to nature. John Scott Watson places Prairie Crossing within the wider context of suburban planning, revealing how two first-time developers implemented a visionary new land ethic that saved green space by building on it. The remarkable achievements include a high rate of resident civic participation, the reestablishment of a thriving prairie ecosystem, the reintroduction of endangered and threatened species, and improved water and air quality. Yet, as Watson shows, considerations like economic uncertainty, lack of racial and class diversity, and politics have challenged, and continue to challenge, Prairie Crossing and its residents.
