Synopses & Reviews
Many of the oldest and largest Western cities today are undergoing massive economic decline. The State and the City deals with a key issue in the political economy of citiesand#8212;the role of the state. Ted Robert Gurr and Desmond S. King argue that theoreticians from both the left and the right have underestimated the significance of state action for cities. Grounding theory in empirical evidence, they argue that policies of the local and national state have a major impact on urban well-being.
Gurr and King's analysis assumes modern states have their own interests, institutional momentum, and the capacity to act with relative autonomy. Their historically based analysis begins with an account of the evolution of the Western state's interest in the viability of cities since the industrial revolution. Their agument extends to the local level, examining the nature of the local state and its autonomy from national political and economic forces.
Using cross-national evidence, Gurr and King examine specific problems of urban policy in the United States and Britain. In the United States, for example, they show how the dramatic increases in federal assistance to cities in the 1930s and the 1960s were made in response to urban crises, which simultaneously threatened national interests and offered opportunities for federal expansion of power. As a result, national and local states now play significant material and regulatory roles that can have as much impact onand#160;cities as all private economic activities.
A comparative analysis of thirteen American cities reflects the range and impact of the state's activities at the urban level. Boston, they argue, has become the archetypical postindustrial public city: half of its population and personal income are directly dependent on government spending. While Gurr and King are careful to delineate the limits to the extent and effectiveness of state intervention, they conclude that these limits are much broader than formerly thought. Ultimately, their evidence suggests that the continued decline of most of the old industrial cities is the result of public decisions to allow their economic fate to be determined in the private sector.
Review
andldquo;Christian Montandegrave;s turns the location and naming of American state capitalsandmdash;typically the subject of classic geographic trivia memorizationandmdash;into a searching and fascinating examination of how federalism has affected the urban geography of the United States. The book proceeds from some general themes about the origins of capitals in the colonial and early independence eras, to much more specific empirical evidence about the capitals and their growth, and then back to more general themes concerning the capitals today and their relative importance within the US urban system.
American Capitals does a masterful job of organizing its material and making the case for the significance of state capitals as a largely hidden aspect of the US federal and urban experiences.andrdquo;
Review
and#8220;This is a fascinating book, halfway between the cultural geography tradition where Wilbur Zelinsky and Donald W. Meining excelled some decades ago and the more formal French tradition of modelization and theoretical explanation of spatial patterns and urban systems. Christian Montand#232;s provides an enlightening description of the history of the location and planning of US capital cities, as well as the demographic and economic trends. Thanks to Montand#232;s, we now have an original comprehensive geographical understanding of US capital cities, which is indeed a capital topic for those who would like to get a deep understanding of a US territoriality.and#8221;
Review
andldquo;Christian Montandegrave;s brilliantly answers a question few scholars have thought to ask: what do American state capitals mean? The result is a major contribution to our understanding of culture, identity, and urbanity. Montandegrave;s writes with a fine eye for historical developmentandmdash;and local quirks like Squashtown, Montana, or Pigandrsquo;s Eye, Minnesota.
American Capitals is wise, important, meticulous, elegant, illuminating, unexpected, witty, and endlessly fascinating.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;French geographer Christian Montandegrave;s has written a truly comprehensive account of Americaandrsquo;s state capitals. He focuses on how capitals were selected and how they evolved. His research is so thorough that this book will surely become the definitive study on the subject.andrdquo;
Review
"Meticulously researched with notes, references, and generous appendices with data on population, income, economic activities, and a summary of each state capitaland#8217;s history, which makes it a good book to have on your shelf. American Capitals: A Historical Geography makes a welcome contribution."
Synopsis
State capitals are an indelible part of the American psyche, spatial representations of state power and national identity. Learning them by heart is a rite of passage in grade school, a pedagogical exercise that emphasizes the importance of committing place-names to memory. But geographers have yet to analyze state capitals in any depth. In
American Capitals, Christian Montandegrave;s takes us on a well-researched journey across Americaandmdash;from Augusta to Sacramento, Albany to Baton Rougeandmdash;shedding light along the way on the historical circumstances that led to their appointment, their success or failure, and their evolution over time.and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;While all state capitals have a number of characteristics in commonandmdash;as symbols of the state, as embodiments of political power and decision making, as public spaces with private interestsandmdash;Montandegrave;s does not interpret them through a single lens, in large part because of the differences in their spatial and historical evolutionary patterns. Some have remained small, while others have evolved into bustling metropolises, and Montandegrave;s explores the dynamics of change and growth. All but eleven state capitals were established in the nineteenth century, thirty-five before 1861, but, rather astonishingly, only eight of the fifty states have maintained their original capitals. Despite their revered status as the most monumental and historical cities in America, capitals come from surprisingly humble beginnings, often plagued by instability, conflict, hostility, and corruption. Montandegrave;s reminds us of the period in which they came about, andldquo;an era of pioneer and idealized territorial vision,andrdquo; coupled with a still-evolving American citizenry and democracy.
About the Author
Ted Robert Gurr, professor of political science at the University of Colorado, Boulder, is the author of numerous books, including
Why Men Rebel (1970), which received the Woodrow Wilson Award, and coauthor of
The Politics of Crime and Conflict: A Comparative History of Four Cities (1977).
Desmond S. King, lecturer in politics at the University of Edinburgh, is the author of
The New Right: Politics, Markets and Citizenship.
Table of Contents
1and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Capitals: A New Light on American Cities and Territorial Processes2and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Capitals as Places of Memory3and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Geographical Patterns in the Migration of Capitals4and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; In Search of Explanatory Models5and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Capital Choice and the Balance of Power6and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Evolution of State Capitals to the 1950s: The andldquo;Purgatory Yearsandrdquo;7and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; State Capitals since the 1950s: The Renaissance of Forgotten Cities8and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Validating Models through a Chronological and Concrete Analysis: Three Case Studies9and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Losing Status: The Place of Former Capitals in Todayandrsquo;s America10and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; State Capitals Today: Symbols of American Democracyand#160;AcknowledgmentsAppendix 1: Demographic and Historical TablesAppendix 2: A Brief Chronology of Colonial, Territorial, and State CapitalsNotesReferencesIndex