Divided We Stand

by Darton, Eric

• ISBN13: 9780465017010
• ISBN10: 0465017010
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-01-01
• Publisher: Basic Books

Summary

When the World Trade Towers in New York City were erected at the Hudson's edge, they led the way to a real estate boom that was truly astonishing.Divided We Standreveals the coming together and eruption of four volatile elements: super-tall buildings, financial speculation, globalization, and terrorism. The Trade Center serves as a potent symbol of the disastrous consequences of undemocratic planning and development.This book is a history of that skyscraping ambition and the impact it had on New York and international life. It is a portrait of a building complex that lives at the convergence point of social and economic realities central not only to New York City but to all industrial cities and suburbs. A meticulously researched historical account based on primary documents,Divided We Standis a contemporary indictment of the prevailing urban order in the spirit of Jane Jacobs's mid-century classicThe Death and Life of Great American Cities.

Author Biography

Eric Darton currently teaches writing at N.Y.U.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Part I
Fair Warnings	2	(16)
Maneuvers Toward a City of Towers	18	(20)
Port Authority Rules	38	(22)
Billion-Dollar Baby	60	(28)
Part II
The Coming Thing	88	(24)
The Thing Itself	112	(32)
Being There	144	(20)
Ripple Effects	164	(61)
The Space Between	188	(37)
Selected Bibliography	225	(8)
Index	233