Details

Subject(s)

• Modernism (Aesthetics)—United States—History—20th century [Browse]
• City planning—Social aspects—United States [Browse]
• City planning—United States—History—20th century [Browse]
• Architecture and society—United States—History—20th century [Browse]

Summary note

Modernism in architecture and urban design has failed the American city. This is the decisive conclusion that renowned public intellectual Nathan Glazer has drawn from two decades of writing and thinking about what this architectural movement will bequeath to future generations. In From a Cause to a Style, he proclaims his disappointment with modernism and its impact on the American city. Writing in the tradition of legendary American architectural critics Lewis Mumford and Jane Jacobs, Glazer contends that modernism, this new urban form that signaled not just a radical revolution in style but a social ambition to enhance the conditions under which ordinary people lived, has fallen short on all counts. The articles and essays collected here--some never published before, all updated--reflect his ideas on subjects ranging from the livable city and public housing to building design, public memorials, and the uses of public space. Glazer, an undisputed giant among public intellectuals, is perhaps best known for his writings on ethnicity and social policy, where the unflinching honesty and independence of thought that he brought to bear on tough social questions has earned him respect from both the Left and the Right. Here, he challenges us to face some difficult truths about the public places that, for better or worse, define who we are as a society. From a Cause to a Style is an exhilarating and thought-provoking book that raises important questions about modernist architecture and the larger social aims it was supposed to have addressed-and those it has abandoned.

Notes

Description based upon print version of record.

Bibliographic references

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Source of description

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

Language note

English

Contents

• Frontmatter
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• INTRODUCTION
• PART ONE. The Public Face of Architecture
• CHAPTER ONE. Building for the Public: What Has Gone Wrong?
• CHAPTER TWO. The Prince, the People, and the Architects
• CHAPTER THREE. "Subverting the Context": Olmsted's Parks and Serra's Sculpture
• CHAPTER FOUR. Monuments in an Age without Heroes
• CHAPTER FIVE. Modernism and Classicism on the National Mall
• CHAPTER SIX. Daniel P. Moynihan and Federal Architecture
• PART TWO. The New York Case
• CHAPTER SEVEN. What Happened in East Harlem
• CHAPTER EIGHT. Amenity in New York City
• CHAPTER NINE. Planning for New York City: Is It Possible?
• CHAPTER TEN. What Has Happened to the City Planner?
• CHAPTER ELEVEN. The Social Agenda of Architecture
• Index

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ISBN

• 1-282-15793-0
• 9786612157936
• 1-4008-2758-2

OCLC

• 438732501
• 979970155

Doi

• 10.1515/9781400827589

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