Ocean State Libraries

The Absolutely Worst Places to Live in America surveyed thousands of Americans to find the fifty dirtiest, smelliest, most miserable cesspools, armpits, and tourist traps that make up this great land of ours. The "winners" of this awful distinction include the likes of: · Atlantic City, New Jersey-Come for the slots. Stay for the gang warfare and fourth-rate prostitutes. · Gary, Indiana-Like a sewer populated by 100,000 people. · Carson City,...

Written by one of this country's foremost urban historians, Downtown is the first history of what was once viewed as the heart of the American city. It tells the fascinating story of how downtown-and the way Americans thought about downtown-changed over time. By showing how businessmen and property owners worked to promote the well-being of downtown, even at the expense of other parts of the city, it also gives a riveting account of spatial politics...

Describes the events that led up the industrial revolution.

Street Corner Society is one of a handful of works that can justifiably be called classics of sociological research. William Foote Whyte's account of the Italian American slum he called "Cornerville"Boston's North Endhas been the model for urban ethnography for fifty years. By mapping the intricate social worlds of street gangs and "corner boys," Whyte was among the first to demonstrate that a poor community need not be socially disorganized. His...