Taming Manhattan

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With pigs roaming the streets and cows foraging in the Battery, antebellum Manhattan would have been unrecognizable to inhabitants of today s sprawling metropolis Fruits and vegetables came from small market gardens in the city, and manure piled high on streets and docks was gold to nearby farmers But as Catherine McNeur reveals in this environmental history of Gotham, a battle to control the boundaries between city and country was already being waged, and the winners would take dramatic steps to outlaw New York s wild side.Between 1815 and 1865, as city blocks encroached on farmland and undeveloped space to accommodate an exploding population, prosperous New Yorkers and their poorer neighbors developed very different ideas about what the city environment should contain With Manhattan s image, health, and property values on their minds, the upper classes fought to eliminate urban agriculture and livestock, upgrade sanitation, build new neighborhoods, demolish shantytowns, create parks, and generally improve the sights and smells of city living Poor New Yorkers, especially immigrants, resisted many of these changes, which threatened their way of life.By the time the Civil War erupted, bourgeois reform appeared to be succeeding City government promised to regulate what seemed most ungovernable about urban habitation the scourge of epidemics and fires, unending filth, and deepening poverty Yet in privileging the priorities of well heeled New Yorkers, Manhattan was tamed at the cost of amplifying environmental and economic disparities, as the Draft Riots of 1863 would soon demonstrate. Best Read Taming Manhattan by Catherine McNeur For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr So funny story, I initially received this book as a Christmas present when it first came out years ago after hearing the author on NPR and tweeting about it, however I just now sat down and read it this year I started it as a placeholder while i waited on my next book but I ended up reading the entire thing I never read it because didn t expect to enjoy this book as much I did Particularly given that environmental studies are not necessarily my forte or passion However, McNeur s books is rea So funny story, I initially received this book as a Christmas present when it first came out years ago after hearing the author on NPR and tweeting about it, however I just now sat down and read it this year I started it as a placeholder while i waited on my next b...This is a fascinating look at how NY became the city we know without pigs, cows, and horse manure all over the streets We often take our clean city for granted, but here is the story of how dirty it was and how politicians tried to keep it that w...Catherine McNeur chronicles here how New York was cleaned up and transformed from a health hazard to an emerging world city during the nineteenth century There are some great stories here that are well told and well illustrated With Manhattan s image, health and property values on their minds, the upper classes fought to eliminate urban agriculture and livestock, upgrade sanitation, build new neighborhoods, demolish shantytowns, create parks, and generally improve sights and smells of city liv Catherine McNeur chronicles here how New York was cleaned up and transformed from a health hazard to an emerging world city during the nineteenth century There are some great stories here ...I m torn between 3 and 4 stars here This is an exceptionally well researched work, and very interesting to those who are interested in public policy and planning, particularly in the context of New York City That said, it s pretty dense and dry at times, ...Interesting, though it tended to repeat itself quite frequently Can t promise I would have been as interested if I wasn t living here though.

Taming Manhattan
  • 17 November 2017
  • Hardcover
  • 320 pages
  • 0674725093
  • Catherine McNeur
  • Taming Manhattan