The American Planner: Biographies and Recollections
“Geographers have long recognized that comprehension of the discipline and its current themes is enhanced by knowledge of past trends in geographic thought and, concurrently, an analysis of historic leaders in the field and their influence. In a parallel sense, through biographical sketches of prominent American planners, embellished with an overview of both their times and urban trends, Krueckeberg’s book provides a perceptive account of how planning achieved its mid-twentieth century stance… [A]n implicit value of Krueckeberg’s biographies is the material provided for inferences on future directions, successes and disappointments in American planning and, consequently, American urban areas.”—Robert D. Swartz,The Professional Geographer“As a contribution to planning history, then, the book can be taken at two levels. At one level, it provides the aficionado with plenty of interesting detail… At a more analytical level, setting individual experiences and actions in context… it provides a record of some of the causes and consequences of the world-views that have contributed to professional planning in the United States.”—Paul Knox,Annals of the Association of American Geographers“InThe American Planner… Donald Krueckeberg of Rutgers University has brought together a disjointed but oddly engrossing collection of biographical sketches about U.S. planning luminaries…The American Planner, he writes, is “about people whose heads were filled with theories and whose hearts were filled with aspirations.” The selections can easily be read separately.”—Harold Henderson,Planning“Since its first publication in 1983,The American Plannerhas been a classroom standby that uses the careers and accomplishments of individual planners to introduce the main themes of city planning history in the United States… The choices broaden the scope of “American planning” chronologically and conceptually, deemphasizing details of professional practice during the early twentieth century and expanding attention to ideas about the characteristics of good community. The essays emphasize intellectual uncertainties and struggles as well as firm prescriptions for city-building.”—Carl Abbott,Journal of the American Planning Association"Abound[s] with detail . . . puts a personal touch to the entire panorama of U.S. planning history."—M. Hebbert,Town Planning Review