Media Center: 'The Great Inversion' by Alan Ehrenhalt
WHO:
Alan Ehrenhalt
WHAT:
THE GREAT INVERSION
and the Future of
the American City
WHEN: Published by Knopf April 25, 2012
WHY:
“Intriguing…a hopeful forecast for American cities.
“The conventional model of the post-war American metropolis—a desolate inner city, home to impoverished minorities and immigrants, surrounded by affluent white suburbs—is turning itself inside out, according to this intriguing survey of the new urban geography.
“Ehrenhalt examines a panorama of inner-city districts where well-heeled residents are flocking back in search of nightlife, short commutes, and dense, vibrant communities, including: Chicago’s once gang-ridden, now swanky Sheffield neighborhood; Houston’s Third Ward, in the throes of racially-charged battles over gentrification; and even sprawling, car-bound Phoenix, where a new light rail system may prove a magnet for downtown development. He constrasts these upscaling city precincts with suburbs like Ohio’s Cleveland Heights, uneasily split between leafy subdivisions and dilapidated tenements, and Georgia’s Gwinnett County, a formerly lily-white Atlanta ex-urb that’s now majority-minority thanks to a tide of Hispanic and Asian immigrant strivers.
“Ehrenhalt’s old-school urbanism, reminiscent of the work of Jane Jacobs, intergrates fine-grained readings of street life with shrewd analyses of demographics, crime patterns, transportation systems, housing policy, and zoning and tax regulations to reveal the changing dynamics of metropolitan areas.
“The result is a lucid, provocative, and rather hopeful forecast for American cities—one that illuminates there enduring appeal.” —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
“Provocative.”—KIRKUS
“Engaging.”—Vanessa Bush, BOOKLIST
Media Resources:
About the book | Author bio | Download the jacket
Publicity:
Michelle Somers | 212-572-2082 | msomers@randomhouse.com