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Title: The Rise of the Cities: 1820-1920 (The Drama of American History) by Christopher Collier, James Lincoln Collier ISBN: 0-7614-1051-1 Publisher: Benchmark Books (NY) Pub. Date: 30 October, 2000 Format: Library Binding Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $31.36

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Average Customer Rating: 4 (1 review)

Rating: 4
Summary: The U.S. turns from an agrarian nation into an urbanized one
Comment: At first I thought it was rather strange that the time frame for "The Rise of the Cities" in The Drama of American History series was 1820-1920, but the emphasis of this volume is on the shift in the United States from an agrarian to an urban population. But Christopher Collier & James Lincoln Collier are also describing the rather unique American cities that developed, where populations essentially exploded during the 19th-century (e.g., Chicago was the fastest growing city in the world between 1875 and 1900).

"The Rise of the Cities" is covered in six chapters: (1) The First American Cities looks at their uniqueness; most of them were port cities that thrived on commerce, but by the start of the 19th-century there was a different type of city springing up in the hinterlands where industrialization was key; (2) The Explosion of Cities charts the difference in size and location of the nation's largest cities from 1820 to 1920 as American became a nation of city dwellers instead of farmers; (3) Technology and the City introduces students to the idea of urban infrastructure and also looks at how not only transportation but changes in construction materials altered the look of cities, which became major centers of entertainment for the workers; (4) City Problems looks at how the quick growth of cities resulted in the creation of slums, as well as numerous infrastructure problems; (5) The Failure of City Government is a fascinating chapter that looks at how the political machines, such as Boss Tweed's infamous Tammany Hall, evolved and dominated big city politics; and (6) Reform covers the movement that swept America in the last decades of the 19th-century, through the efforts of muckrakers like Lincoln Steffens and Ida Tarbell, as well as the pioneering work in sociological reform by Jacob Riis, but also a response to catastrophes such as the Galveston Flood and the Triangle Shirt Factory fire.

As with all of the volumes in The Drama of American History series, "The Rise of the Cities" focuses on the big issues of the subject under examination. If I consider this to be the least valuable volume I have read to date then that is certainly because of the topic under discussion rather than how the Colliers present the material. The urbanization of the United States, while important, just does not lend itself to the same sort of analysis as other topics. The book has historic illustrations and photographs throughout and some charts that but the rise of American cities in historical perspective. Even if a teacher is not ample to have their students read these volumes, then they can still benefit from using what the Colliers have put together as a way of developing the central core of this topic. Certainly, a solid classroom lecture on "The Rise of the Cities" could be constructed from what you find here.