Scan barcode
Reviews
Urban Green: Nature, Recreation, and the Working Class in Industrial Chicago by Colin Fisher
em_reads_books's review
4.0
A unique angle on history - Chicago's urban growth as seen via its parks and green space, or alternatively, the rise of American parks and leisure from an urban, working class perspective. It hits the familiar major points of pre-WW2 Chicago history but doesn't dwell on them too long; instead you get stories about company picnics, the city's first Boy & Girl Scouts, labor parades, and German beer gardens. Some especially fascinating bits include the story in the first chapter about an early "urban ranger" and self taught naturalist, and the way immigrants to the city built their identities around urban natural areas.
It's definitely an academic book - the author is advancing an argument and adding to The Literature rather than telling a story - so it's not always the most natural or entertaining reading even when the material is interesting. Worth a read as an added dimension to either Chicago or American nature history, if you're cool with scholarly writing.
It's definitely an academic book - the author is advancing an argument and adding to The Literature rather than telling a story - so it's not always the most natural or entertaining reading even when the material is interesting. Worth a read as an added dimension to either Chicago or American nature history, if you're cool with scholarly writing.
More...