The Death and Life Of Great American Cities

by Jacobs, Jane

Jane Jacobs was born on May 4, 1916, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Her father was a physician and her mother taught school and worked as a nurse. After high school and a year spent as a reporter on the Scranton Tribune, Jacobs went to New York, where she found a succession of jobs as a stenographer and wrote free-lance articles about the city's many working districts, which fascinated her. In 1952, after a number of writing and editing jobs ranging in subject matter from metallurgy to a geography of the United States for foreign readers, she became an associate editor of Architectural Forum. She was becoming increasingly skeptical of conventional planning beliefs as she noticed that the city rebuilding projects she was assigned to write about seemed neither safe, interesting, alive, nor good economics for cities once the projects were built and in operation. She gave a speech to that effect at Harvard in 1956, and this led to an article in Fortune magazine entitled "Downtown Is for People," which in turn led to The Death and Life of Great American Cities. The book was published in 1961 and produced permanent changes in the debate over urban renewal and the future of cities. In opposition to the kind of large-scale, bulldozing government intervention in city planning associated with Robert Moses and with federal slum-clearing projects, Jacobs proposed a renewal from the ground up, emphasizing mixed use rather than exclusively residential or commercial districts, and drawing on the human vitality of existing neighborhoods: "Vital cities have marvelous innate abilities for understanding, communicating, contriving, and inventing what is required to combat their difficulties.... Lively, diverse, intense cities contain the seeds of their own regeneration, with energy enough to carry over for problems and needs outside themselves." Although Jacobs's lack of experience as either architect or city planner drew criticism, The Death and Life of Great American Cities was quickly recognized as one of the most original and powerfully argued books of its day. It was variously praised as "the most refreshing, provocative, stimulating, and exciting study of this greatest of our problems of living which I have seen" (Harrison Salisbury) and "a magnificent study of what gives life and spirit to the city" (William H. Whyte). Jacobs is married to an architect, who she says taught her enough to become an architectural writer. They have two sons and a daughter. In 1968 they moved to Toronto, where Jacobs has often assumed an activist role in matters relating to development and has been an adviser on the reform of the city's planning and housing policies. She was a leader in the successful campaign to block construction of a major expressway on the grounds that it would do more harm than good, and helped prevent the demolition of an entire neighborhood downtown. She has been a Canadian citizen since 1974. Her writings include The Economy of Cities (1969); The Question of Separatism (1980), a consideration of the issue of sovereignty for Quebec; Cities and the Wealth of Nations (1984), a major study of the importance of cities and their regions in the global economy; and her most recent book, Systems of Survival (1993).

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The Death and Life of Great American Cities
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The Death and Life of Great American Cities

by Jacobs, Jane

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First Edition
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1961
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New York: Random House, 1961. First Edition. Fine/Very Good. First edition, first printing. Bound in publisher's original cloth. Light toning to pages and fading to topstain, else Fine. In a Very Good heavily toned and lightly edge-worn dust jacket, unclipped. An empowering work by an inspiring figure, reminding us that our perceived designations between the professional and amateur… Read more about this item
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The Death and Life of Great American Cities

The Death and Life of Great American Cities

by JACOBS, Jane

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First Modern Library Edition
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1969
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Hardcover
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New York: Modern Library, 1969. First Modern Library Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/Very Good. Duodecimo. 4.75 x 7.5 in. 458 pp. Near fine in the original black cloth boards embossed with the "ml" imprint and bright titling on the spine, with a very good dust jacket that has gentle wear and a slightly faded spine. The binding is firm,… Read more about this item
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The Death and Life of Great American Cities

by Jane Jacobs

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1961
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Stated 5th Printing. Book is in Near Fine condition, with cover corners very lightly bumped. Pages clean and tight. Dust jacket is in Very Good+ condition, with some tanning, mostly to spine. Couple of very small tears at top edge of jacket front. Now in Brodart dust jacket protector.
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The Death and Life of Great American Cities

by Jacobs, Jane

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2002-09-10
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ISBN 10
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The Death and Life of Great American Cities

The Death and Life of Great American Cities

by Jacobs, Jane

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Published
1993
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ISBN 10
0679600477
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NY: Modern Library, 1993. (50th anniversary edition); 2rd printing; dj w/unclipped price, in mylar; solid grey c w/gilt spine titles; 458 clean, unmarked pages. Hardcover. Near Fine/Near Fine. 12 vo.
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DEATH AND LIFE OF GREAT AMERICAN CITIES

DEATH AND LIFE OF GREAT AMERICAN CITIES

by Jane Jacobs

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1997
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0679600477
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New York: Modern Library. 1997. Modern Library Edition; Sixth Printing. Hardcover. 0679600477 . Near Fine in a Near Fine dust jacket. ; 7.4 X 4.9 X 1.8 inches; 624 pages .
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The Death and Life of Great American Cities

by Jacobs, Jane

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New York: The Modern Library, 1993. Near Fine/Near Fine. First printing of the Modern Library edition. Signed and inscribed by Jane Jacobs on the publisher's colophon page. Bound in original grey cloth with spine lettered in gilt. Near Fine, with textblock separated from top headband. In a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket with light edge wear, light fading… Read more about this item
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THE DEATH AND LIFE OF GREAT AMERICAN CITIES

by Jane Jacobs

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1961
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Random House, New York, 1961. Second printing. VG+/G+. Dust jacket is price-clipped, age-toned and lightly edge worn with small chips at corners and rubbing to spine. Jacket is in a brand new Brodart clear protective sleeve. Boards are clean. Binding is strong. Text block is tight. Interior is pristine throughout. No writing or markings of any kind. Photos are of… Read more about this item
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The Death and Life of Great American Cities

by Jacobs, Jane

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1969
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E-258: Random House. Very Good in Very Good- dust jacket. 1969. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. Hardcover. 12mo. Random House/Modern Library, New York. 1969. 458 pgs. First Modern Library Edition/First Printing. DJ has light shelf-wear present to the DJ extremities. Bound in cloth boards. Boards have lighjt shelf-wear present to the extremities. Previous owner's name present to… Read more about this item
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THE DEATH AND LIFE OF GREAT AMERICAN CITIES.

by Jacobs, Jane.

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1962
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Random House:, 1962. The first printing, 458 pages. The author "offers the first real alternative to conventional city planning that we have had in this century. The solutions she proposes represent a sharp thinking on the subject and mark this book as an inevitable classic of social thought, to be read by the layman as well as the specialist."… Read more about this item
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The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Modern Library)

by Jane Jacobs

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1993-02-09
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0679600477
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Modern Library, 1993-02-09. Hardcover. Used: Good. Excellent customer service. Prompt Customer Service.
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The Death and Life of Great American Cities

by Jane Jacobs

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1963
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ISBN 10
0394702417
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by Jacobs, Jane

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The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Modern Library Series)

by Jane Jacobs

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1993-02-09
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0679600477
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Modern Library, 1993-02-09. Hardcover. New. 1.8000 in x 7.4000 in x 4.9000 in. This is a hardcover book with a dust jacket.
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The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Modern Library Series)

by Jane Jacobs

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1993
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0679600477
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Modern Library, 1993. Hardcover. As New/As New. As New copy in like dustwrapper. Later (12th) printing of Modern Library reissue from 1993. Pages, covers and jacket are crisp, intact and unmarked. 598 pages with a new foreword by the author and Index. Rigorous, sane, and delightfully epigrammatic, Jacobs's small masterpiece is a blueprint for the humanistic management of… Read more about this item
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The Death and Life of Great American Cities

by Jane Jacobs

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Used:Good
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First Edition
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1993-02-09
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Hardcover
ISBN 10
0679600477
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The Death and Life of Great American Cities

by Jane Jacobs

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2002-09-10
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ISBN 10
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The Death And Life of Great American Cities (Pelican S.)

The Death And Life of Great American Cities (Pelican S.)

by Jacobs, Jane

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ISBN 10
0140206817
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The Colton Letters: Civil War Period 1861-1865

by Gates, Betsey

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Used - VG+/VG
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1st
Published
1993
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Hardcover
ISBN 10
1881502015
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Scottsdale, AZ: McLane. VG+/VG. 1993. 1st. hardcover. 4to . 393pp . NO INTERNATIONAL OR PRIORITY. Slight cant to spine, P O name stamp fep. Couple well-closed tears to 1" to DJ. In mylar. .
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The Death and Life of Great American Cities

by Jacobs, Jane

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1992-12-01
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ISBN 10
067974195X
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