The Death and Life of Great American Cities: 50th Anniversary Edition (Modern Library)

Published to coincide with the 50th anniversary of its initial publication this special edition of Jane Jacobs’s masterpiece The Death and Life of Great American Cities features a new Introduction by Jason Epstein the book’s original editor who provides an intimate perspective on Jacobs herself and unique insights into the creation and lasting influence of this classic. The Death and Life of Great American Cities was described by The New York Times as “perhaps the most influential single work in the history of town planning. . . . [It] can also be seen in a much larger context. It is first of all a work of literature; the descriptions of street life as a kind of ballet and the bitingly satiric account of traditional planning theory can still be read for pleasure even by those who long ago absorbed and appropriated the book’s arguments.” Jane Jacobs an editor and writer on architecture in New York City in the early sixties argued that urban diversity and vitality were being destroyed by powerful architects and city planners. Rigorous sane and delightfully epigrammatic Jane Jacobs’s tour de force is a blueprint for the humanistic management of cities. It remains sensible knowledgeable readable and indispensable.

Series: Modern Library

Hardcover: 640 pages

Publisher: Modern Library; Anniversary edition (September 13 2011)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0679644334

ISBN-13: 978-0679644330

Product Dimensions: 5 x 1.6 x 7.6 inches

Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds