Max Page

Americans have long had a complex relationship with their nation's largest city. Despite (or perhaps because of) New York City's central role in the financial, social, and cultural life of the nation, many have fantasized and depicted its destruction in print, on canvas, and on the silver screen. In this book Max Page examines nearly two centuries of works depicting New York destruction in an effort to draw out their social and cultural meaning. From it he divines commonalities that say much about our broader anxieties regarding modern society, anxieties that we project onto the city in disaster tale after disaster tale.

Page's examination is chronological, with all the strengths and weaknesses that come with this approach. In the nineteenth century, destruction typically took the form of some sort of natural disaster, a modern-day biblical cleansing that would wipe away the sins Americans already associated with Gotham. By the early twentieth century, some authors offered social criticisms as well as moral ones, as did W. E. B. Du Bois when he penned a short story that used the survival of a black man and a white woman to make a broader statement about racism. The destruction of the city was also sometimes accomplished at the hands of an foreign attacker, a useful way of making political points about preparedness and vulnerability. By the 1960s, the sense of urban crisis came to predominate in many depictions, suggesting that its destruction would come from within rather than without. Though the attacks of September 11 brought a temporary moratorium on such explorations, it was not long before the city was being flooded, frozen, and smashed once again, demonstrating that as long as New York remained America's premier metropolis it would be continued to be targeted by writers, artists, and film makers.

Broad ranging and generously supplemented with illustrations, Page's book is an interesting examination of the meaning behind fictional destruction of New York. The September 11 attacks loom large within his analysis as an intersection between life and the theme of the works in his study, suggesting just how much of our fixation on this day was rooted in the longstanding fixation he examines. Yet his focus is somewhat idiosyncratic, as he excludes many relevant works (such as Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka's novel [b:Warday|985060|Warday|Whitley Strieber|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1205036254s/985060.jpg|3004200]) while important historical events such as the burning of the city during the American Revolution barely rate a mention. As a result the book ultimately proves to be something of a disappointment; while readers interested in New York City or disaster fiction with find points of interest in it, most will finish it wanting more than what the author offers, which is a shame given the promise of his topic.… (altro)

This collection of essays addressing Jane Jacobs' work on cities is very uneven, and none of them really qualify as "reconsidering". None of the essays venture to attack the general truth or current applicability of Jacobs' ideas, even though such critiques do exist. However, some do offer some very useful and intelligent commentary on Jacobs' works, including those she wrote after "Death and Life".

The first essay, Peter Laurence's "The Unknown Jane Jacobs" provides Jacobs' history - who was this woman whose observations of her particular time and place overturned the dogma of the urban planner? Her history is fascinating, and helps explain, while giving her a little more credibility. J.C. Rowin's "The Literary Craft of Jane Jacobs" discusses how Jacobs' use of language helped drive home her message. Any academic interested in producing a general-audience book on their subject ought to read this essay.

The various essays on the urban experience in countries outside North America are worthwhile, even though some of the essayists don't seem to quite grasp the point of Jacobs' ideas, or place their focus on more peripheral issues. The essay on Abu Dhabi is a case in point - the essayist describes how Abu Dhabi somewhat accidentally produced a Muslim working-class version of Jacobs' idealized Greenwich Village, including the fact that the streets were safe, despite the poor, multilingual melting pot population, but then goes on to describe, in relatively positive terms, the Emirate's future plans which would inevitably destroy the best features of what had been created.

The last essay is, in some ways, the worst, as it's a planner, representing his profession, complaining how Jacobs ruined the field and that people don't trust planners, while seeming oblivious to the damage that planners did, and continue to do. Fortunately, the profession isn't all as blinkered as the last essayist, as they did publish the collection, including its gems.… (altro)