Free (ADE-DRM) Segregation: A Global History of Divided Cities [Urban Social Studies]

[ATDrake]

Segregation: A Global History of Divided Cities by Carl H. Nightingale, an associate professor of urban and world history at the University of Buffalo, is his centuries-spanning examination of contemporary trends around the world in urban city segregation by class, race, and other divisions and their roots in historical attitudes and practices as well as modern viewpoints, free for a limited time courtesy of publisher the University of Chicago Press.

This is their featured Free Book of the Month selection for November. It's an accessibly-written academic title which is part of their Historical Studies of Urban America series. Despite the series title, it actually devotes a great deal of space to global regions throughout time and space, from British and French colonialism in India and Southeast Asia to apartheid in South Africa, even going as far back as Ancient Babylon.

Currently free throughout the month of November directly @ the university's dedicated promo page (ADE-DRM probably PDF which I can't check right now since their fulfillment server is down, available worldwide in return for your valid email address)

Description
When we think of segregation, what often comes to mind is apartheid South Africa, or the American South in the age of Jim Crow—two societies fundamentally premised on the concept of the separation of the races. But as Carl H. Nightingale shows us in this magisterial history, segregation is everywhere, deforming cities and societies worldwide.

Starting with segregation’s ancient roots, and what the archaeological evidence reveals about humanity’s long-standing use of urban divisions to reinforce political and economic inequality, Nightingale then moves to the world of European colonialism. It was there, he shows, segregation based on color—and eventually on race—took hold; the British East India Company, for example, split Calcutta into “White Town” and “Black Town.” As we follow Nightingale’s story around the globe, we see that division replicated from Hong Kong to Nairobi, Baltimore to San Francisco, and more. The turn of the twentieth century saw the most aggressive segregation movements yet, as white communities almost everywhere set to rearranging whole cities along racial lines. Nightingale focuses closely on two striking examples: Johannesburg, with its state-sponsored separation, and Chicago, in which the goal of segregation was advanced by the more subtle methods of real estate markets and housing policy.

For the first time ever, the majority of humans live in cities, and nearly all those cities bear the scars of segregation. This unprecedented, ambitious history lays bare our troubled past, and sets us on the path to imagining the better, more equal cities of the future.

[ekbell]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

[B]

Currently free throughout the month of November directly @ the university's dedicated promo page (ADE-DRM probably PDF which I can't check right now since their fulfillment server is down, available worldwide in return for your valid email address)

It's actually an epub this time unlike the last few.

[ATDrake]

Just a reminder that this will probably be the last day to get the freebie, if you're interested.