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Everyday America

Cultural Landscape Studies after J. B. Jackson

Chris Wilson editor Paul Groth editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:University of California Press

Published:28th Mar '03

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Everyday America cover

As old as a roadway that was once a Native trail, as new as the suburban subdivisions spreading across the American countryside, the cultural landscape is endlessly changing. The study of cultural landscapes--a far more recent development--has also undergone great changes, ever broadening, deepening, and refining our understanding of the intricate webs of social and ecological spaces that help to define human groups and their activities. Everyday America surveys the widening conceptions and applications of cultural landscape writing in the United States and, in doing so, offers a clear and compelling view of the state of cultural landscape studies today. These essays--by distinguished journalists, historians, cultural geographers, architects, landscape architects, and planners--constitute a critical evaluation of the field's theoretical assumptions, and of the work of John Brinckerhoff Jackson, the pivotal figure in the emergence of cultural landscape studies. At the same time, they present exemplary studies of twentieth-century landscapes, from the turn-of-the-century American downtown to the corporate campus and the mini-mall. Assessing the field's accomplishments and shortcomings, offering insights into teaching the subject, and charting new directions for its future development, Everyday America is an eloquent statement of the meaning, value, and potential of the close study of human environments as they embody, reflect, and reveal American culture.

"The book's interdisciplinary nature is one of its great gifts. The multiple authorial voices meld into a provocative dialogue that could be likened romantically to an urban market or an ideal academic conference. . . . Although J. B. Jackson did not single-handedly create cultural landscape studies in the United States, he profoundly shaped the field and its practitioners. This volume moves the endeavor forward by focusing a critical eye on his legacy. In the years to come, insights gained from it will inform increasingly complex readings of the built forms surrounding us." * CRM: The Journal of Heritage Stewardship *
"Everyday America is a fascinating and at times challenging collection of essays that will be essential reading for anyone working on cultural landscapes for years to come. If the book can be seen as a reflection on the 'state of the field' today, it also has potential to shape it in the sense that those reading it will be urged to rethink their own agendas and methods, which can only serve to reinvigorate studies of cultural landscapes or, at the very least, those of us studying them." * Winterthur Portfolio *
“With this collection of essays, Groth and Wilson pay such a tribute, chiefly by demonstrating how, in the course of his career, Jackson shifted the ways planners, sociologists, policy analysts, anthropologists, landscape architects, historians, and geographers understood the implications of everyday cultural landscapes. . . . Both well-read Jackson scholars and relative newcomers to his works will find this book interesting. It will inspire those unfamiliar with his work to read his own words, as well as those of the many noted authors referenced throughout or who contributed to this volume.” * Material Culture *
"Everyday America considers the shortcomings and blind spots of Jackson and his successors, but on the whole it encourages the direct observation of landscapes and celebrates Jackson’s protean contributions. Given the evidence of insightful scholarship across regions and disciplines that has been inspired and informed by Jackson’s work, it is easy to concur." * Technology and Culture *

ISBN: 9780520229617

Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 25mm

Weight: 635g

395 pages