In the 1970s the relationship between literature and the environment emerged as a topic of serious and widespread interest among writers and scholars. The ideas, debates, and texts that grew out of this period subsequently converged and consolidated into the field now known as ecocriticism. A Century of Early Ecocriticism looks behind these recent developments to a prior generation's ecocritical inclinations. Written between 1864 and 1964, these thirty-four selections include scholars writing about the "green" aspects of literature as well as nature writers reflecting on the genre. In his introduction, David Mazel argues that these early "ecocritics" played a crucial role in both the development of environmentalism and the academic study of American literature and culture. Filled with provocative, still timely ideas, A Century of Early Ecocriticism demonstrates that our concern with the natural world has long informed our approach to literature.

Originally published in 1957, this volume compares the 20th Century transformation of human life to the revolution which swept early man into the first civilized communities. It shows how each radical new stage of human development grew out of changes in human personality and consciousness, such as the invention of language and symbols, the origins of universal religions and the mechanization of everyday life. Despite the threat that the author foresees from an over-reliance on automation, the book maintains that humanity still has the means, spiritual, personal and technological to create a sustainable future for itself, by increasing the usefulness and freedom of all men.

Originally published in 1898 as To-Morrow: A peaceful path to reform, "the book", writes F.J. Osborn "holds a unique place in town planning literature, is cited in all planning bibliographies, stands on the shelves of the more important libraries, and is alluded to in most books on planning; yet most of the popular writers on planning do not seem to have read it - or if they have read it, to remember what it says." The book led directly to two experiments in town-founding that by imitation, and imitation of imitation, have had a profound influence on practical urban development throughout the world. The book was responsible for the introduction of the term Garden City in numbers of languages - Cite-Jardin, Gartenstadt, Ciudad-jardin, Tuinstad - and set into motion ideas that have helped transform the scientific and political outlook on town structure and town growth. With urban renewal and the development of suburban communities as features of the contemoprary American scene, Garden cities of To-Morrow becomes "must" reading. In the words of Lewis Mumford: "This is not merely a book for Technicians: above all it is a book for citizens, for the people whose actively expressed needs, desires and interests should guide the planner and administrator at every turn." This book was first published in it's current form in 1965.

Originally published in 1957, this volume compares the 20th Century transformation of human life to the revolution which swept early man into the first civilized communities. It shows how each radical new stage of human development grew out of changes in human personality and consciousness, such as the invention of language and symbols, the origins of universal religions and the mechanization of everyday life. Despite the threat that the author foresees from an over-reliance on automation, the book maintains that humanity still has the means, spiritual, personal and technological to create a sustainable future for itself, by increasing the usefulness and freedom of all men.

Originally published in 1898 as To-Morrow: A peaceful path to reform, "the book", writes F.J. Osborn "holds a unique place in town planning literature, is cited in all planning bibliographies, stands on the shelves of the more important libraries, and is alluded to in most books on planning; yet most of the popular writers on planning do not seem to have read it - or if they have read it, to remember what it says." The book led directly to two experiments in town-founding that by imitation, and imitation of imitation, have had a profound influence on practical urban development throughout the world. The book was responsible for the introduction of the term Garden City in numbers of languages - Cite-Jardin, Gartenstadt, Ciudad-jardin, Tuinstad - and set into motion ideas that have helped transform the scientific and political outlook on town structure and town growth. With urban renewal and the development of suburban communities as features of the contemoprary American scene, Garden cities of To-Morrow becomes "must" reading. In the words of Lewis Mumford: "This is not merely a book for Technicians: above all it is a book for citizens, for the people whose actively expressed needs, desires and interests should guide the planner and administrator at every turn." This book was first published in it's current form in 1965.

A collection of essays by the respected social commentator on some problems faced by cities such as New York, Philadelphia, and Paris, on the architecture of Saarinen, Le Corbusier, and Wright, and on city and highway planning.

When Artur Glikson died in July 1966 he was still comparatively unknown; yet paradoxically he had an international reputation that went beyond town planning and architectural circles. As far back as 1955, when he was forty four years old, he was an active participant in the notable Wenner-Gren Conference on "Man's Role in Changing the Face of the Earth," where he presented the first paper in the present book. Seven years later he was the only nonscientist represented in the even more selective Ciba Foundation conference on Man and his Future. Though Glikson attended many other important international conferences, notably the International Seminar on Regional Planning in The Hague in 1957, and the International conference of Landscape Architects in Amsterdam in 1960, he has yet to leave his mark on the thought and practice of architects and planners, his own professional group. The fact that Artur Glikson's activities as a pioneer in sociological plan ning are still relatively unknown, might seem a handicap from the point of this book's getting the public or professional attention that it deserves. But this is perhaps the best reason for bringing out the assembled papers and giving a picture of their background in his personal experience."

When Artur Glikson died in July 1966 he was still comparatively unknown; yet paradoxically he had an international reputation that went beyond town planning and architectural circles. As far back as 1955, when he was forty four years old, he was an active participant in the notable Wenner-Gren Conference on "Man's Role in Changing the Face of the Earth," where he presented the first paper in the present book. Seven years later he was the only nonscientist represented in the even more selective Ciba Foundation conference on Man and his Future. Though Glikson attended many other important international conferences, notably the International Seminar on Regional Planning in The Hague in 1957, and the International conference of Landscape Architects in Amsterdam in 1960, he has yet to leave his mark on the thought and practice of architects and planners, his own professional group. The fact that Artur Glikson's activities as a pioneer in sociological plan ning are still relatively unknown, might seem a handicap from the point of this book's getting the public or professional attention that it deserves. But this is perhaps the best reason for bringing out the assembled papers and giving a picture of their background in his personal experience."

The city's development from ancient times to the modern age. Winner of the National Book Award. "One of the major works of scholarship of the twentieth century" (Christian Science Monitor). Index; illustrations.

"Technics and Civilization" first presented its compelling history of the machine and critical study of its effects on civilization in 1934--before television, the personal computer, and the Internet even appeared on our periphery.

Drawing upon art, science, philosophy, and the history of culture, Lewis Mumford explained the origin of the machine age and traced its social results, asserting that the development of modern technology had its roots in the Middle Ages rather than the Industrial Revolution. Mumford sagely argued that it was the moral, economic, and political choices we made, not the machines that we used, that determined our then industrially driven economy. Equal parts powerful history and polemic criticism, "Technics and Civilization "was the first comprehensive attempt in English to portray the development of the machine age over the last thousand years--and to predict the pull the technological still holds over us today.

" ""The questions posed in the first paragraph of "Technics and Civilization "still deserve our attention, nearly three quarters of a century after they were written."--"Journal of Technology and Culture"

Lewis Mumford - architectural critic, theorist of technology, urbanologist, city planner, cultural critic, historian, biographer, and philosopher - was the author of more than thirty influential books, many of which expounded his views on the perils of urban sprawl and a society obsessed with "technics." Featuring a new introduction by Casey Nelson Blake, this classic text provides the essence of Mumford's views on the distinct yet interpenetrating roles of technology and the arts in modern culture. Mumford contends that modern man's overemphasis on technics has contributed to the depersonalization and emptiness of much of twentieth-century life. He issues a call for a renewed respect for artistic impulses and achievements. His repeated insistence that technological development take the Human as its measure - as well as his impassioned plea for humanity to make the most of its "splendid potentialities and promise" and reverse its progress toward anomie and destruction - is ever more relevant as the new century dawns.

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1922 Edition.

Contributing Authors Include Margaret Mead, Sterling Tracy, Bernard W. Dempsey, And Others. A Symposium By Thirty-Five Economists, Sociologists, And Statesmen.

1922. Utopia has long been another name for the unreal and the impossible. We have set utopia over against the world. As a matter of fact, it is our utopias that make the world tolerable to us: the cities and mansions that make people dream of are those in which they finally live. The more that men react upon their environment and make it over after a human pattern, the more continuously do they live in utopia; but when there is a breach between the world of affairs and the over world of utopia, we become conscious of the part that the will-to-utopia has played in our lives and we see our utopia as a separate reality.

1922. Utopia has long been another name for the unreal and the impossible. We have set utopia over against the world. As a matter of fact, it is our utopias that make the world tolerable to us: the cities and mansions that make people dream of are those in which they finally live. The more that men react upon their environment and make it over after a human pattern, the more continuously do they live in utopia; but when there is a breach between the world of affairs and the over world of utopia, we become conscious of the part that the will-to-utopia has played in our lives and we see our utopia as a separate reality.

This early work is the first book written by the American historian, philosopher, literary critic and humanist, Lewis Mumford. In The Story of Utopias, Mumford deals with The New Age, socialism, social sciences, mysticism and utopia. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

1922. Utopia has long been another name for the unreal and the impossible. We have set utopia over against the world. As a matter of fact, it is our utopias that make the world tolerable to us: the cities and mansions that make people dream of are those in which they finally live. The more that men react upon their environment and make it over after a human pattern, the more continuously do they live in utopia; but when there is a breach between the world of affairs and the over world of utopia, we become conscious of the part that the will-to-utopia has played in our lives and we see our utopia as a separate reality.