The Grand American Avenue

In serious fashion, this book praises the grand residential avenue-an icon of American urban design that highlighted American cities in their middle-class, manufacturing heyday from the Civil to Korean wars.

The editors are well trained and well known in their field; Cigliano is author of Showplace of America: Cleveland's Euclid Avenue (LJ 11/1/91). Each of the 12 scholarly essays they have chosen treats a single impressive avenue in a distinct city, such as Fifth Avenue in New York City, Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, and Massachusetts Avenue in Washington, D.C.

When we think of the great streets of Europe we are reminded of community and social cohesion; conversely, these grand residential avenues of America represent conspicuous consumption and social cohesion, which this book now documents.

A long-needed book that will appeal to a wide span of readers, from public library patrons to architectural historians.