Civic Wars: Democracy and Public Life in the American City during the Nineteenth Century [Paperback]

Mary P. Ryan (Author)

Price:	CDN$ 27.00 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details
	o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Usually ships within 2 to 4 weeks.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.ca. Gift-wrap available.

Formats	Amazon Price		New from	Used from
Hardcover	--		--	--
Paperback	CDN $27.00		--	--

Product Details

Paperback: 394 pages
Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (Nov 18 1998)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0520216601
ISBN-13: 978-0520216600
Product Dimensions: 2.3 x 1.5 x 0.2 cm
Shipping Weight: 476 g
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #859,032 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

From Kirkus Reviews

Bancroft Prizewinning historian Ryan finds the roots of American democracy at its best in the public passions of New York City, New Orleans, and San Francisco, circa 182580. Ryan (Univ. of Calif., Berkeley) presents a historical response to modern complaints that our democratic institutions are being undermined by a surfeit of diversity and a dearth of civility. ``Democracy is a politics not of unity but of opposition,'' she writes. Political positions derive from social differences and cultural variations, Ryan contends, and the public contests driven by our differences are ``the kinesthetic force that keeps democracy alive and power in check.'' Further, our democracy reaches its fullest expression in our urban centers, with their critical mass of diversity, and the ideal democracy was achieved in the years 182550, when the public could be heard most clearly in cities not yet too big or too dominated by bureaucracies, both public and private. These ascendant bureaucracies value order and uniformity over heterogeneity and argument, and now, in our time, threaten to undermine completely the foundations of American democracy. All of these ideas are summarized with superb clarity in the epilogue. The rest of the book, alas, is not such easy going. Ryan supports her thesis with scrupulous documentation from such sources as letters, diaries, and newspapers. She also goes to great lengths to show the roles played by blacks and women in public life in these cities, no easy task given their absence from most of the standard historical records. The result is a work that seems at times to have the vividness, and also the fragmentary nature, of a jigsaw puzzle in the process of being assembled. A difficult book geared primarily to academicians, but well worth the effort to others who share Ryan's appreciation of America's ``democracy of difference'' and who fear, like her, for its future. (41 b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A deft blend of historical and political scholarship, "Civic Wars examines how use of urban space shaped democracy during the nineteenth century, particularly in the decades surrounding the Civil War. . . . Thoughtfully exploring the roots of important urban and racial issues, Ryan's book is an important addition to the education of anyone interested in American public life."--"Publishers Weekly

See all Product Description

Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
Visiting New York City in 1849, Lady Emmeline Stuart Wortley fumbled for words to capture a place "unlike every city ever beheld before." Read the first page

Explore More
Concordance

Tag this product

(What's this?)

Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.

Customer Reviews

There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.ca

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Share your experience with this product with others

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com ^(beta)

Amazon.com: 4.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant book, Dec 4 2009

By Spega "spega" - Published on Amazon.com

Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)

This review is from: Civic Wars: Democracy and Public Life in the American City during the Nineteenth Century (Paperback)

I recently read another of Ryan's books for a paper I was writing on woman's suffrage. I was so impressed, I looked up all her books. In one sense, "Civic Wars" continues on the theme of Ryan's: "Banners and Ballots" in examining the challenges that have historically stymied feminist historians in that so much of women's influence has consisted in the private (as opposed to public) sphere--making it not only harder to trace, but harder to document as well. But there is a broader analysis here, too--well beyond the scope of women-- examining all the 'have-nots' of society and the means by which they used the levers of public dissent and protest to have a say in their democracy. Ryan is a lucid and compelling writer and in this book she provides ample evidence that in Frederick Douglas' words: "Power cedes nothing without demand." Great book.
P. Abeles

3 of 15 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars WHAT!!!!!!!, Oct 24 2001

By "furious@w-link.net" - Published on Amazon.com

This review is from: Civic Wars: Democracy and Public Life in the American City during the Nineteenth Century (Hardcover)

While this book has terrific content, I did not care for the fact that I had to stop every page and look up words. When I took the GRE I scored in the 96 percentile. I have a strong vocabulary, however, half the time I did not know what Ryan was saying.

This is an interesting book comparing the development of San Francisco, New York, and New Orleans. I would recommend it to anyone studying the 19 Century. You will need a dictionary to read the book, but you will learn a lot.

› Go to Amazon.com to see both reviews 4.5 out of 5 stars