ABOUT THIS BOOK

Making Sense of the City explores the ways in which urbanites have attempted to confront the challenges of urban life during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In the spirit of Zane L. Miller, whom this volume honors, the nine contributors focus closely on the words and actions of individuals, institutions, and organizations who participated in the public discourse about what the city was or could be. Through an examination of such topics as city charters, city planning texts, neighborhood organizations, municipal recreation programs, urban government reforms, urban identity, and fair housing campaigns, the authors offer insight into the process through which ideas about the nature of the city have affected action in the urban environment.

Contributing authors are

Robert B. Fairbanks

Patricia Mooney-Melvin

Judith Spraul-Schmidt

Alan I. Marcus

Robert A. Burnham

Andrea Tuttle Kornbluh

Bradley D. Cross

Charles F. Casey-Leininger

Roger W. Lotchin

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Robert B. Fairbanks is a professor in the Department of History at the University of Texas at Arlington. He is the author of For the City as a Whole (The Ohio State University Press, 1998). Patricia Mooney-Melvin is an associate professor in the Department of History at Loyola University Chicago.

REVIEWS

“This is a satisfying book to read. The authors consistently emphasize that changes in urban government and community life are not bound by standard chronologies of American history. The essays are all original and contribute to an understanding of American urban history. A careful reading of all the essays provides general insight into the process by which changing conceptions over time have affected our understanding of the city and community in America and also provides insight into the needs and demands of present-day urban life. The book is an excellent example of the best of contemporary scholarship.” —Charles N. Glaab, University of Toledo

TABLE OF CONTENTS






Introduction                                               1
    ROBERT B. FAIRBANKS AND PATRICIA MOONEY-MELVIN

Chapter One
Reconstituting City Government: Midcentury State Constitution
Making, Defining the Municipal Corporation, and the
Public Welfare                                                11
    JUDITH SPRAUL-SCHMIDT

Chapter Two
The Medieval Image in the Modern Mind: History, Democracy,
and Turn-of-the-Century American Municipal Governance     34
    ALAN I MARCUS

Chapter Three
Advocating City Planning in the Public Schools: The Chicago
and Dallas Experiences, 1911-1928                            57
    ROBERT B. FAIRBANKS

Chapter Four
The Boss Becomes a Manager: Executive Authority and City Charter
Reform, 1880-1929                                            75
    ROBERT A. BURNHAM

Chapter Five
Before the Neighborhood Organization Revolution: Cincinnati's
Neighborhood Improvement Associations, 1890-1940          95
    PATRICIA MOONEY-MELVIN

Chapter Six
Playing with Democracy: Municipal Recreation, Community
Organizing, and Citizenship                                  119
    ANDREA TUTTLE KORNBLUH





Chapter Seven
Making History: The Search for Civic and Cultural Identity
in an American New Town, 1940-1980                          138
    BRADLEY D. CROSS

Chapter Eight
Giving Meaning to Democracy: The Development of the Fair
Housing Movement in Cincinnati, 1945-1970                   156
    CHARLES F. CASEY-LEININGER

Postscript
The Queen City and Its Historian                            175
    ROGER W. LOTCHIN