The Folklore of the Freeway: Race and Revolt in the Modernist City

Author:   Eric Avila
Publisher:   University of Minnesota Press
ISBN:  

9780816680733


Pages:   248
Publication Date:   21 June 2014
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   Temporarily unavailable   Availability explained
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The Folklore of the Freeway: Race and Revolt in the Modernist City


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Overview

When the interstate highway program connected America's cities, it also divided them, cutting through and devastating countless communities-many of them minority urban neighborhoods lacking the political and economic power to resist the construction. Within the context of the 1960s and 1970s, Eric Avila maps the creative strategies devised by urban communities to document and protest the damage that highways wrought.

Full Product Details

Author:   Eric Avila
Publisher:   University of Minnesota Press
Imprint:   University of Minnesota Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 20.30cm
Weight:   0.318kg
ISBN:  

9780816680733


ISBN 10:   0816680736
Pages:   248
Publication Date:   21 June 2014
Audience:   General/trade ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Temporarily unavailable   Availability explained
The supplier advises that this item is temporarily unavailable. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out to you.

Table of Contents

Contents Preface Introduction: The Invisible Freeway Revolt1. The Master’s Plan: The Rise and Fall of the Modernist City2. “Nobody But a Bunch of Mothers”: Fighting the Highwaymen During Feminism’s Second Wave3. Communities Lost and Found: The Politics of Historical Memory4. A Matter of Perspective: The Racial Politics of Seeing the Freeway5. Taking Back the Freeway: Strategies of Adaptation and ImprovisationConclusion: Identity Politics in Post-Interstate America AcknowledgmentsNotesIndex

Reviews

Eric Avila's in-depth research and his sheer passionate commitment to the subject should make this one of the rare books that succeeds in replacing a widely-accepted narrative. -Robert Fishman, University of Michigan A must-read cultural history of the 'invisible freeway revolts' through which city people of color have demanded social justice in the midst of aggressive urban reforms. Avila provides timely lessons for scholars and urban planners, pointing us to pay closer attention to the aesthetic and expressive forms of these protests, so necssary to achieve spatial justice in American cities. -Arlene Davila, New York University The Folklore of the Freeway fuses art and public policy in a graceful narrative. -KCET- LA Letters Each chapter is rich with details rarely considered, challenging readers to rethink their understanding of growth and development -CHOICE Avila's book is critically important for placing communities of color at the center of the narrative of anti-highway activism. In showing us that culture is affected by political activities like highway construction, he makes a welcome intervention into a historical topic that has often ignored culture and suggests areas for further research. -American Studies Journal Avila's work is an important history of the modernist city and its discontents, transforming the narrative of the freeway revolt. -Journal of American History Eric Avila . . . has written a thoughtful account of the impact of the construction of the American Interstate highway system on the urban barrios and ghettos it often traversed. -Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review The Folklore of the Freeway makes the invisible freeway revolt not only visible, but vivid, clear, and indisputable. -Buildings & Settlements The Folklore of the Freeway offers a provocative account of the cultural history of the freeway in the American city, which interweaves past and present into a compelling narrative that challenges urban scholars to rethink the basic points of reference that have framed the storyline of the freeway revolt. -Urban Studies Avila's book serves not only as a reminder of the role that race and political power played in the placement of urban highways, but as call to remake the highway system more justly. -Planning Perspectives


Eric Avila's in-depth research and his sheer passionate commitment to the subject should make this one of the rare books that succeeds in replacing a widely-accepted narrative. --Robert Fishman, University of Michigan A must-read cultural history of the 'invisible freeway revolts' through which city people of color have demanded social justice in the midst of aggressive urban reforms. Avila provides timely lessons for scholars and urban planners, pointing us to pay closer attention to the aesthetic and expressive forms of these protests, so necssary to achieve spatial justice in American cities. --Arlene Davila, New York University


 ""Eric Avila's in-depth research and his sheer passionate commitment to the subject should make this one of the rare books that succeeds in replacing a widely-accepted narrative."" —Robert Fishman, University of Michigan ""A must-read cultural history of the 'invisible freeway revolts' through which city people of color have demanded social justice in the midst of aggressive urban reforms. Avila provides timely lessons for scholars and urban planners, pointing us to pay closer attention to the aesthetic and expressive forms of these protests, so necssary to achieve spatial justice in American cities."" —Arlene Davila, New York University ""The Folklore of the Freeway fuses art and public policy in a graceful narrative.""—KCET- LA Letters ""Each chapter is rich with details rarely considered, challenging readers to rethink their understanding of growth and development""—CHOICE ""Avila’s book is critically important for placing communities of color at the center of the narrative of anti-highway activism. In showing us that culture is affected by political activities like highway construction, he makes a welcome intervention into a historical topic that has often ignored culture and suggests areas for further research.""—American Studies Journal ""Avila’s work is an important history of the modernist city and its discontents, transforming the narrative of the freeway revolt.""—Journal of American History ""Eric Avila . . . has written a thoughtful account of the impact of the construction of the American Interstate highway system on the urban barrios and ghettos it often traversed.""—Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review ""The Folklore of the Freeway makes the invisible freeway revolt not only visible, but vivid, clear, and indisputable.""—Buildings & Settlements ""The Folklore of the Freeway offers a provocative account of the cultural history of the freeway in the American city, which interweaves past and present into a compelling narrative that challenges urban scholars to rethink the basic points of reference that have framed the storyline of the freeway revolt.""—Urban Studies ""Avila’s book serves not only as a reminder of the role that race and political power played in the placement of urban highways, but as call to remake the highway system more justly.""—Planning Perspectives


The Folklore of the Freeway fuses art and public policy in a graceful narrative. KCET- LA Letters Each chapter is rich with details rarely considered, challenging readers to rethink their understanding of growth and development CHOICE Avila s book is critically important for placing communities of color at the center of the narrative of anti-highway activism. In showing us that culture is affected by political activities like highway construction, he makes a welcome intervention into a historical topic that has often ignored culture and suggests areas for further research. American Studies Journal Avila s work is an important history of the modernist city and its discontents, transforming the narrative of the freeway revolt. Journal of American History Eric Avila . . . has written a thoughtful account of the impact of the construction of the American Interstate highway system on the urban barrios and ghettos it often traversed. Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review The Folklore of the Freeway makes the invisible freeway revolt not only visible, but vivid, clear, and indisputable. Buildings & Settlements The Folklore of the Freeway offers a provocative account of the cultural history of the freeway in the American city, which interweaves past and present into a compelling narrative that challenges urban scholars to rethink the basic points of reference that have framed the storyline of the freeway revolt. Urban Studies Avila s book serves not only as a reminder of the role that race and political power played in the placement of urban highways, but as call to remake the highway system more justly. Planning Perspectives


Author Information

Eric Avila is associate professor of history, Chicano studies, and urban planning at UCLA. He is the author of Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight: Fear and Fantasy in Suburban Los Angeles.

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