John W. Reps
The Making of Urban America: A History of City Planning in the United States.
Princeton University Press, 1965. First edition. xv/574 pages.
Large-format oblong volume, measuring approximately 11" x 9", is bound in dark brown, with gilt-lettered black spine label. Top edge of text block displays very light, scattered foxing. Name of previous owner appears on preliminary page. Book is otherwise in fine condition, with firm binding, clean and bright interior. Profusely illustrated with maps and city panoramas. Text is in double columns. Price-clipped dust jacket shows loss at bottom of sunned spine panel and wear at edges. Tear is visible at upper inside corner of front panel. Jacket is preserved in mylar cover.
"In the less than 400 years since the first European settlement was made in the New World, a nation has been made and settled. Today giant cities sprawl across the continent -- adequate testimony to the rapid growth that has marked American history.
John W. Reps has chronicled one aspect of that urban growth in this comprehensive history. Guiding his examination is the question: To what extent is city planning rooted in a nation's tradition? The early communication in this country inevitably reflected the European culture and experience from which their founders had emigrated. This tradition shaped to the peculiar needs of the new environment, continued to mark city planning throughout the next centuries. New elements of form were contributed by later, major planning movements, which are examined here through the cities they influenced. Hundreds of American communities and the unique factors affecting their growth are explored in this massive study, which is illustrated by over 300 reproduction."