{"title":"Alice Sparberg Alexiou","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"devil-s-mile-book-alice-sparberg-alexiou-9781250021380","title":"Devil's Mile","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eAn Amazon Best Book of August\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher's Weekly: \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eFascinating.astutely written and smartly researched.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eKevin Baker, author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Big Crowd: \u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eDevil's Mile\u003c\/i\u003e is a terrific read. Alice Sparberg Alexiou knows her history, and she brings it all brimming to life here in the story of the Bowery, the most notorious street in America.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA fascinating cultural history of New York City's Bowery, from the author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe Flatiron.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eThe Bowery was a synonym for despair throughout most of the 20th century. The very name evoked visuals of drunken bums passed out on the sidewalk, and New Yorkers nicknamed it Satan's Highway, The Mile of Hell, and The Street of Forgotten Men. For years the little businesses along the Bowery--stationers, dry goods sellers, jewelers, hatters--periodically asked the city to change the street's name. To have a Bowery address, they claimed, was hurting them; people did not want to venture there.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut when New York exploded into real estate frenzy in the 1990s, developers discovered the Bowery. They rushed in and began tearing down. Today, Whole Foods, hipster night spots, and expensive lofts have replaced the old flophouses and dive bars, and the bad old Bowery no longer exists.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eDevil's Mile\u003c\/i\u003e, Alice Sparberg Alexiou tells the story of The Bowery, starting with its origins, when forests covered the surrounding area, and through the pre-Civil War years, when country estates of wealthy New Yorkers lined this thoroughfare. She then describes The Bowery's deterioration in stunning detail, starting in the post-bellum years. She ends her historical exploration of this famed street in the present, bearing witness as the old Bowery buildings, and the memories associated with them, are disappearing.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49528538136849,"sku":"GOR009271049","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50423810523409,"sku":"CIN1250021383G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":51099901821201,"sku":"CIN1250021383A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51423974686993,"sku":"CIN1250021383VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1250021383.jpg?v=1751368566"},{"product_id":"flatiron-book-alice-sparberg-alexiou-9780312384685","title":"The Flatiron","description":"Critics hated it. The public feared it would topple over. Passersby were knocked down by the winds. But even before it was completed, the Flatiron Building had become an unforgettable part of New York City. Built by the Fuller Company to be their New York headquarters, their president, Harry Black, was never able to make the public call it the Fuller Building. Head of the country's largest real estate firm, Black made a fortune and lived out a high-profile, ostentatious life that led to divorce, collapse and at last, suicide. This marvellously written book chronicles not just the construction of the building, but the changing technology and culture that characterized New York at the dawn of the 20th century: Madison Square Park shifted from a promenade for rich women to gay prostitutes, photography became an art, motion pictures came into existence; jazz came to the forefront of popular music - and all within steps of one of the city's best loved buildings.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49645137428753,"sku":"GOR013622430","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49874744869137,"sku":"CIN0312384688G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49916524691729,"sku":"CIN0312384688VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51180679627025,"sku":"GOR009424019","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0312384688.jpg?v=1750695689"},{"product_id":"jane-jacobs-book-alice-sparberg-alexiou-9780813537924","title":"Jane Jacobs","description":"Today, we take for granted the wisdom of renovating old factory buildings into malls or condos, of making once decaying waterfronts into vibrant public spaces, of protecting historic buildings under landmark laws, and of building public housing on a human scale rather than as high-rises. In contemporary cities, it is now common for community groups to plant gardens in empty lots and to buy abandoned apartment buildings from the city for a dollar and fix them up.  But these and other urban planning policies and practices have not always been accepted. Before they became widespread, they were the visionary ideas of the writer and urban commentator Jane Jacobs. Best known in the United States for her path-breaking efforts to preserve the character of Greenwich Village, Jacobs is the author of the classic 1961 book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, one of the most influential works ever published in urban studies. The architectural critic Herbert Muschamp wrote in the New York Times that its publication “was one of twentieth-century architecture’s most traumatic events. Its impact is still felt in cities across the land.”    In this analysis of Jane Jacobs’s ideas and work, Alice Sparberg Alexiou tells the remarkable story of a woman who without any formal training in planning became a prominent spokesperson for sensible urban change. Besides writing the seminal book about contemporary cities, Jacobs organized successful community battles in New York against powerful interests. She resisted urban renewal in the West Village in the 1960s, helped defeat the Lower Manhattan Expressway, advocated the pleasures of street life that she called “sidewalk ballet,” and opposed the original Twin Towers plans. She was also active in the anti–Vietnam War movement, which eventually led her to move to Canada. There she continued her grass-roots activism, including helping to prevent the construction of an expressway that would have cut through several neighborhoods in Toronto.  Based on a rich array of interviews and primary source material, this book brings long-overdue attention to Jacobs’s far-reaching influence as an original thinker and effective activist.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50361610207505,"sku":"CIN0813537924G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50899958038801,"sku":"GOR008833374","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52105770533137,"sku":"CIN0813537924VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0813537924.jpg?v=1750914886"},{"product_id":"flatiron-book-alice-sparberg-alexiou-9781250032041","title":"Flatiron","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe marvelous story of the Flatiron: the instantly recognizable building that signaled the start of a new era in New York history.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCritics hated it. The public feared it would topple over. Passersby were knocked down by the winds. But even before it was completed, the Flatiron Building had become an unforgettable part of New York City. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Flatiron Building was built by the Chicago-based Fuller Company--a group founded by George Fuller, the father of the skyscraper--to be their New York headquarters. The company's president, Harry Black, was never able to make the public call the Flatiron the Fuller Building, however. Black's was the country's largest real estate firm, constructing Macy's department store, and soon after the Plaza Hotel, the Savoy Hotel, and many other iconic buildings in New York as well as in other cities across the country. 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It was a time when Madison Square Park shifted from a promenade for rich women to one for gay prostitutes; when photography became an art; motion pictures came into existence; the booming economy suffered increasing depressions; jazz came to the forefront of popular music--and all within steps of one of the city's best-known and best-loved buildings.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50694913261841,"sku":"CIN1250032040G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51021919617297,"sku":"NIN9781250032041","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53517972078865,"sku":"GOR010226448","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":53568083362065,"sku":"CIN1250032040VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1250032040.jpg?v=1750888882"},{"product_id":"devil-s-mile-book-alice-sparberg-alexiou-9781531507268","title":"Devil's Mile","description":"Devil's Mile tells the rip-roaring story of New York's oldest and most unique street  The Bowery was a synonym for despair throughout most of the 20th century. The very name evoked visuals of drunken bums passed out on the sidewalk, and New Yorkers nicknamed it \"Satan's Highway,\" \"The Mile of Hell,\" and \"The Street of Forgotten Men.\" For years the little businesses along the Bowery—stationers, dry goods sellers, jewelers, hatters—periodically asked the city to change the street's name. To have a Bowery address, they claimed, was hurting them; people did not want to venture there.  But when New York exploded into real estate frenzy in the 1990s, developers discovered the Bowery. They rushed in and began tearing down. Today, Whole Foods, hipster night spots, and expensive lofts have replaced the old flophouses and dive bars, and the bad old Bowery no longer exists.  In Devil's Mile, Alice Sparberg Alexiou tells the story of the Bowery, starting with its origins, when forests covered the surrounding area, and through the pre–Civil War years, when country estates of wealthy New Yorkers lined this thoroughfare. She then describes the Bowery's deterioration in stunning detail, starting in the post-bellum years. She ends her historical exploration of this famed street in the present, bearing witness as the old Bowery buildings, and the memories associated with them, are disappearing.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51677471047953,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51677471113489,"sku":"NIN9781531507268","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52815338537233,"sku":"CIN1531507263G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1531507263.jpg?v=1751118344"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-alice-sparberg-alexiou.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}