NOTE BY THE PUBLISHER. THE story of a great life-saving social revolution, the mightiest in the nineteenth century and one of the most momentous in the history of civilization, is told here for the first time. It is told from the standpoint of the transformation of the City of New York, by a chief actor in the event. Only by forcing ourselves into a receptive mood can we of the present credit the half of what is set before us concerning "The City That Was." The shocked imagination rebels. It seeks relief in assuming that ...
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NOTE BY THE PUBLISHER. THE story of a great life-saving social revolution, the mightiest in the nineteenth century and one of the most momentous in the history of civilization, is told here for the first time. It is told from the standpoint of the transformation of the City of New York, by a chief actor in the event. Only by forcing ourselves into a receptive mood can we of the present credit the half of what is set before us concerning "The City That Was." The shocked imagination rebels. It seeks relief in assuming that even a trained expert, a contemporaneous witness and investigator of the conditions described, in writing after they have passed away, unconsciously yields to the historian's temptation to throw the past into dramatic relief by starting exaggerations. Dr. Smith, however, leaves us no room for doubt. The appalling chapter in which he lays bare the New York of 1864 is a contemporaneous document. It is a physician's report of a systematic medical inspection of New York in that year, as delivered before a Legislative Committee a few months later by the very physician who had directed the inspection. Nevertheless, "The City That Was" is not New York alone. She is but a type. Her condition, with variations, may be multiplied, during the early years of the nineteenth century, by the total of the .cities, towns, and villages in the world. In the work of regeneration some of these anticipated her. Others, including all throughout the territory of the United States, were aroused through her agitation and inspired by her example. As a student of local history, the writer thought himself familiar with the many phases of the growth of New York; but the condition of the City as late as the period of our Civil War, as here depicted, startled him as might a revelation. He believes that no seriously minded man or woman can afford to ignore this volume. We owe it to ourselves and to one another fully to face its lesson. We shall be shocked; we shall be filled with horror; but accepting the city that now is, great as her faults may be, with a new gratitude, we shall turn with anointed sympathy and understanding to any earnest voice that pleads for the city that should be. And, indeed, other volumes which Dr. Smith himself has in preparation, as suggestive and as interesting as this one, may help us on in this direction. FRANK ALLABEN
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Add this copy of The City That Was and the Report Pf the General to cart. $10.00, very good condition, Sold by Peter L Masi - Books rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Montague, MA, UNITED STATES, published 1973 by Scarecrow Reprint Corporation.
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Used-Very Good. Scarecrow Reprint Corporation, Metuchen, NJ, 1973. 312 pages. Illustrated. 9 x 6", hardcover, no dj. Owner name (medical historian Charles Rosenberg), no dj, text clean, tight, Very Good/None.
Add this copy of The City That Was to cart. $18.00, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2022 by Legare Street Press.
Add this copy of The City That Was to cart. $20.00, good condition, Sold by Frost Pocket Farm - IOBA rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Fleetville, PA, UNITED STATES, published 1911 by Frank Allaben.
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Good. First edition (no additional printings listed). Original cloth, 5 ¼ x 7 5/8 inches, 211 pp, illustrated with black and white drawings. Hardcover, good, no dustjacket. Ex-library. Some soil on cloth, corners bumped with cardboard exposed there, spine tanned, 1/8th inch fraying at head and foot. Internally, free front endpaper missing, paste-down has a sheet of blank paper glued to it, front hinge cracked, otherwise tight, clean, relatively crisp, unmarked. Story of the fight against blight and the unsanitary conditions of the 19th century. History; urban planning; urban renewal; slums; New York City; public health; sanitation.
Add this copy of The City That Was to cart. $20.40, new condition, Sold by Paperbackshop rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Bensenville, IL, UNITED STATES, published 2013 by Hardpress Publishing.
Add this copy of The City That Was to cart. $28.30, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2022 by Legare Street Press.
Add this copy of The City That Was to cart. $32.03, new condition, Sold by Booksplease rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Southport, MERSEYSIDE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2013 by Hardpress Publishing.
Add this copy of The City That Was to cart. $32.50, very good condition, Sold by BingoBooks2 rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Vancouver, WA, UNITED STATES, published 1973 by Scarecrow Reprint Corp.
