Fleeing the City: Studies in the Culture and Politics of Antiurbanism

Product Description This collection of essays explores the phenomenon of antiurbanism: the antipathy, fear, and hatred of the city. Antiurbanism has been a pervasive counter-discourse to modernity and urbanization especially since the beginning of industrialism and the dawning of modern life. Most of the attention on modernity has been focused on urbanization and its consequences. But as the essays collected here demonstrate, antiurbanism is an equally important reality as it can be seen as playing a crucial role in cultural identity, in the formation of the self within the context of modernity, as well as in the root of many forms of conservative politics and cultural movements. Review " Fleeing the City is a worthwhile project that fills the gap in the existing literature on urbanism. As Thompson points out, there is a lacuna in the extensive scholarship on urbanism. Although there have been numerous critical histories of the suburbs, studies of the city tend to approach the topic from a broadly sympathetic perspective and focus on the legal, architectural, economic, or social factors that have undermined its potential. A new systematic, book-length study of antiurbanism is long overdue and makes a real contribution to our understanding of cities." - Margaret Kohn, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto About the Author MICHAEL J. THOMPSON is Assistant Professor of Political Science and is also on the faculty of Urban Studies at William Paterson University, USA.