A River and Its City

by Kelman, Ari

• ISBN13: 9780520234321
• ISBN10: 0520234324
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-02-01
• Publisher: Univ of California Pr

Summary

This engaging environmental history explores the rise, fall, and rebirth of one of the nation's most important urban public landscapes, and more significantly, the role public spaces play in shaping people's relationships with the natural world. Ari Kelman focuses on the battles fought over New Orleans's waterfront, examining the link between a river and its city and tracking the conflict between public and private control of the river. He describes the impact of floods, disease, and changing technologies on New Orleans's interactions with the Mississippi. Considering how the city grew distant--culturally and spatially--from the river, this book argues that urban areas provide a rich source for understanding people's connections with nature, and in turn, nature's impact on human history.

Author Biography

Ari Kelman is Assistant Professor of History at the University of Denver.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	vii
Acknowledgments	ix
Prologue: Nature's Highway to Market	1	(18)
A Batture Laid Out for the Particular Use of the Public	19	(31)
Human Genius, Organed with Machinery	50	(37)
The Necropolis of the South	87	(32)
Triumphs in the Cause of Advancement and Progress	119	(38)
An Act of God	157	(40)
Epilogue: The Simple Needs of Automobiles	197	(26)
Notes	223	(30)
Works Cited	253	(20)
Index	273