Videri - User contributions [en]

Twentieth Century United States

2016-02-16T15:03:14Z

LaurelW: /* Book Summaries */

==Book Summaries==
* Donna Alvah. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2010/12/29/women-and-children-first-the-importance-of-gender-and-military-families-in-the-cold-war-era/ Unofficial Ambassadors: American Military Families Overseas and the Cold War, 1946-1965] (2007).
* Luis Alvarez. [[The Power of the Zoot|The Power of the Zoot: Youth Culture and Resistance during World War II]] (2008).
* Karen Anderson. [[Wartime Women|Wartime Women: Sex Roles, Family Relations, and the Status of Women During World War II]] (1981).
* Michael Aronson. [[Nickelodeon City|Nickelodeon City: Pittsburgh at the Movies, 1905-1929]] (2008).
* Eric Avila. [[Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight|Popular Culture in the Age of White Flight: Fear and Fantasy in Suburban Los Angeles]] (2004).
* Beth Bailey. [[America’s Army|America’s Army: Making the All-Volunteer Force]] (2009).
* Beth Bailey & David Farber. [[The First Strange Place|The First Strange Place: The Alchemy of Race and Sex in World War II Hawaii]] (1992).
* Beth Bailey. [[From Front Porch to Back Seat|From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in Twentieth-Century America]] (1989).
* Mark Brilliant. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/californication-race-ethnicity-and-unity-in-twentieth-century-california/ Californication: Race, Ethnicity, and Unity in Twentieth Century California] (2012).
* Amy Bridges. [[Morning Glories]] (1999).
* Laura Briggs. [[Reproducing Empire|Reproducing Empire: Race, Sex, Science, and U.S. Imperialism in Puerto Rico]] (2002).
* Alan Brinkley. [[Voices of Protest|Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, & the Great Depression]] (1983).
* Charlotte Brooks. [[Alien Neighbors, Foreign Friends|Alien Neighbors, Foreign Friends: Asian Americans, Housing, and the Transformation of Urban California]] (2009).
* Catherine Fisher Collins. [[The Imprisonment of African American Women| The Imprisonment of African American Women: Causes, Conditions, and Future Implications]] (1997).
* Robert Caro. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2011/08/12/dog-days-classics-robert-caros-controversial-portrait-of-robert-moses-and-new-york/ The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York](1974)
* Shawn Clements. [[Deaf in America|Deaf in America: Voices from a Culture]](1988).
* Adam Cohen and Elizabeth Taylor. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/dog-days-classics-political-boss-and-midwestern-pharaoh-richard-j-daleys-chicago-legacy/ American Pharaoh: Mayor Richard J. Daley - His Battle for the Nation and Chicago] (2001)
* Lizabeth Cohen. [[A Consumers’ Republic|A Consumers’ Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America]] (2003).
* Lizabeth Cohen. [[Making a New Deal|Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919-1939]] (2008).

* Nancy F. Cott. [[Public Vows|Public Vows: A History of Marriage and the Nation]] (2002).
* Pete Daniel, [[Lost Revolutions|Lost Revolutions: The South in the 1950s]] (2000)
* Mike Davis. [[City of Quartz|City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles]] (2006).
* Mike Davis & Michael Sprinker. [[Magical Urbanism|Magical Urbanism: Latinos Reinvent the US Big City]] (2001).
* Michael J. Dear. [[The Postmodern Urban Condition]] (2001).
* Robert C. Donnelly. [[Dark Rose]] (2011).
* Steven Erie. [[Globalizing L.A.|Globalizing L.A.: Trade, Infrastructure, and Regional Development]] (2004).
* Steven P. Erie. [[Beyond Chinatown|Beyond Chinatown: The Metropolitan Water District, Growth, and the Environment in Southern California]] (2006).
* Elizabeth Ewen. [[Immigrant Women in the Land of Dollars]] (1985).
* Dannelly Farrow. [[Dixie's Daughters]] (2003).
* Barbara Ferman. [[Challenging the Growth Machine|Challenging the Growth Machine: Neighborhood Politics in Chicago and Pittsburgh]] (1996).
* Marcie Ferris and Mark Greenberg. [[Jewish Roots in Southern Soil|Jewish Roots in Southern Soil: A New History]] (2006).
* John M. Findlay. [[Magic Lands|Magic Lands: Western Cityscapes and American Culture After 1940]] (1993).
* Steven Gregory. [[Black Corona|Black Corona: Race and the Politics of Place in an Urban Community]] (1999).
* Jason Hackworth. [[The Neoliberal City|The Neoliberal City: Governance, Ideology, and Development in American Urbanism]] (2006).
* William Ivy Hair. [[Carnival of Fury|Carnival of Fury: Robert Charles and the New Orleans Race Riot of 1900]] (2008).
* Tona J. Hangen. [[Redeeming the Dial|Redeeming the Dial: Radio, Religion, and Popular Culture in America]] (2013).
* Andrew Hartman. [[A War for the Soul of America: A History of the Culture Wars]] (2015)
* Chester W. Hartman. [[Yerba Buena|Yerba Buena: land grab and community resistance in San Francisco,]] (1974).
* Georgina Hickey. [[Hope and Danger in the New South City|Hope and Danger in the New South City: Working-Class Women and Urban Development in Atlanta, 1890-1940]] (2005).
* Richard Hofstadter. [[The American Political Tradition|The American Political Tradition: And the Men Who Made it]] (1989).
* Daniel Horowitz. [[Betty Friedan and the Making of “The Feminine Mystique”|Betty Friedan and the Making of “The Feminine Mystique”: The American Left, the Cold War, and Modern Feminism]] (2000).
* John A. Jakle and Keith A. Sculle. [[Lots of Parking|Lots of Parking: Land Use in a Car Culture]] (2004).
* Daniel Martinez HoSang. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/erasing-race-whiteness-california-and-the-colorblind-bind/ Racial Propositions: Ballot Initiatives and the Making of Postwar California](2010)
* Jonathan Hughes (Editor)& Simon Sadler (Editor).[[Non-Plan|Non-Plan: Essays on Freedom, Participation and Change in Modern Architecture and Urbanism]] (2000).
* Daniel Hurewitz. [[Bohemian Los Angeles|Bohemian Los Angeles: and the Making of Modern Politics]] (2007).
* Marilynn S. Johnson. [[The Second Gold Rush|The Second Gold Rush: Oakland and the East Bay in World War II]] (1994).
* Sharon Foster Jones. [[Atlanta's Ponce de Leon Avenue: A History]] (2012)
* Tony Judt. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2011/01/24/neoliberalisms-license-to-ill/ Ill Fares the Land] (2011).
* Larry D. Kramer. [[The People Themselves: Popular Constitutionalism and Judicial Review]] (2004).
* Joel Kotkin. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2011/03/23/americas-ace-in-the-hole-is-of-course-its-awesomeness/ The Next Hundred Million:America in 2050] (2010)
* Kevin M. Kruse. [[White Flight|White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism]] (2007).
* Matthew D. Lassiter. [[The Silent Majority|The Silent Majority: Suburban Politics in the Sunbelt South]] (2007).
*Gary L. Lehring. [[Officially Gay|The Political Construction of Sexuality by the U. S. Military]] (2003).
* William R. Leach. [[Land of Desire|Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture]] (1994).
* Michael F. Logan. [[Fighting Sprawl and City Hall|Fighting Sprawl and City Hall: Resistance to Urban Growth in the Southwest]] (1995).
* Fredrik Logevall. [[Choosing War|Choosing War: The Lost Chance for Peace and the Escalation of War in Vietnam]] (1999).
* Roger W. Lotchin. [[Fortress California, 1910-1961|Fortress California, 1910-1961: From Warfare to Welfare]] (2002).
* Lisa Lowe. [[Immigrant Acts|Immigrant Acts: On Asian American Cultural Politics]] (1996).
* Robert S. Lynd & Helen Merrell Lynd. [[Middletown|Middletown: A Study in Modern American Culture]] (1959).
* Catherine Lutz. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2012/05/26/3187/ Homefront: A Military City and the American 20th Century] (2001).
* Nancy MacLean. [[Freedom Is Not Enough|Freedom Is Not Enough: The Opening of the American Workplace]] (2008).
* Isaac Martin. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2011/05/04/stalking-the-tax-man-the-pervasive-influence-of-the-property-tax-revolt/ The Permanent Tax Revolt: How Property Tax Transformed America] (2008).
* Douglas Massey & Nancy Denton. [[American Apartheid|American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass]] (1993).
* Elaine Tyler May. [[America and The Pill|America and The Pill: A History of Promise, Peril, and Liberation]] (2010).
* Carol Lynn McKibben. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2012/05/26/3187/ Racial Beachhead: Diversity and Democracy in a Military Town] (2012).
* Lisa McGirr. [[Suburban Warriors|Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right]] (2002).
* James Miller. [[Flowers in the Dustbin|Flowers in the Dustbin: The Rise of Rock and Roll, 1947-1977]] (2000).
* Glen M. Mimura. [[Ghostlife of the Third Cinema|Ghostlife of Third Cinema: Asian American Film and Video]] (2009).
* John Hull Mollenkopf. [[The Contested City]] (1983).
* Maggi M. Morehouse. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/double-victory-from-wwii-to-the-avf-african-americans-and-the-u-s-military/ Fighting in the Jim Crow Army: Black Man and Women Remember World War II] (2000).
* Edward P. Morgan. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2013/01/14/a-mediating-mess-how-american-post-wwii-media-undermined-democracy/ What Really Happened to the Sixties: How Mass Media Culture Failed American Democracy] (2011)
* Charles Moskos Jr. and John Sibley Butler. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2013/02/11/double-victory-from-wwii-to-the-avf-african-americans-and-the-u-s-military/ All That We Can Be: Black Leadership and Racial Integration the Army Way] (1996).
* Andrew H. Myers. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2012/05/26/3187/ Black, White, and Olive Drab: Racial Integration at Fort Jackson, South Carolina and the Civil Rights Movement] (2006).
* Armando Navarro. [[The Cristal Experiment|The Cristal Experiment: A Chicano Struggle for Community Control]] (1998).
* Becky M. Nicolaides. [[My Blue Heaven|My Blue Heaven: Life and Politics in the Working-Class Suburbs of Los Angeles, 1920-1965]] (2002).
* Anthony M. Petro. [[After the Wrath of God: AIDS, Sexuality, and American Religion]] (2015).
* Margaret Pugh O’Mara. [[Cities of Knowledge|Cities of Knowledge: Cold War Science and the Search for the Next Silicon Valley]] (2004).
* Gilbert Osofsky. [[Harlem|Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto : Negro New York, 1890-1930]] (1996).
* Rick Perlstein. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2011/09/15/essence-precedes-existence-the-problem-of-identity-politics-in-hurewitzs-bohemian-la/ Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America](2009).
* Rebecca Jo Plant. [[Mom|Mom: The Transformation of Motherhood in Modern America]] (2012).
* Brenda Gayle Plummer. [[Window on Freedom|Window on Freedom: Race, Civil Rights, and Foreign Affairs, 1945-1988]] (2003).
* Jerald E. Podair. [[The Strike that Changed New York|The Strike that Changed New York: Blacks, Whites, and the Ocean Hill-Brownsville Crisis]] (2002).
* Doris Marie Provine. [[Unequal Under Law|Unequal Under Law: Race in the War on Drugs]] (2007).
* Daniel T. Rodgers. [[Contested Truths|Contested Truths: Keywords in American Politics Since Independence]] (1998).
* David Roediger. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/dog-days-classics-the-wages-of-whiteness-and-the-white-people-who-love-them/ The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class] (1991).
* Adam Rome. [[The Bulldozer in the Countryside|The Bulldozer in the Countryside: Suburban Sprawl and the Rise of American Environmentalism]] (2001).
* Richard Ronald. [[The Ideology of Home Ownership|The Ideology of Home Ownership: Homeowner Societies and the Role of Housing]] (2008).
* Jake Rosenfeld. [[What Unions No Longer Do]] (2014).
* Peter Henry Rossi & Robert A. Dentler. [[The Politics of Urban Renewal|The Politics of Urban Renewal: The Chicago Findings]] (1981).
* Sheila Rowbotham [[Dreamers of a New Day|Dreamers of a New Day: Women Who Invented the Twentieth Century]] (2010).
* Mike Royko. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2011/08/18/dog-days-classics-political-boss-and-midwestern-pharaoh-richard-j-daleys-chicago-legacy/ Boss: Richard J. Daley of Chicago] (1971)
* Roger Sanjek. [[The Future of Us All|The Future of Us All: Race and Neighborhood Politics in New York City]] (1998).
* Jennifer Scanlon. [[Bad Girls Go Everywhere: The Life of Helen Gurley Brown, the Woman Behind Cosmopolitan Magazine]] (2009).
* Bruce Schulman & Bruce J. Schulman. [[The Seventies|The Seventies: The Great Shift In American Culture, Society, And Politics]] (2002).
* Joel Schwartz. [[The New York Approach|The New York Approach: Robert Moses, Urban Liberals, and Redevelopment of the Inner City]] (1993).
*Gary S. Selby [[Martin Luther King and the Rhetoric of Freedom: The Exodus Narrative in America's Struggle for Civil Rights]] (2008)
* Josh Sides. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2012/11/20/making-san-francisco-josh-sides-erotic-city/ Erotic City: Sexual Revolutions and the Making of Modern San Francisco] (2009).
* Nayan Shah. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2012/03/07/intimate-citizenship-the-influence-of-marriage-sexuality-and-transience-on-national-membership/Stranger Intimacy:Contesting Race, Sexuality and Law in the American Northwest] (2012).
* David J. Silbey. [[A War of Frontier and Empire: The Philippine-American War, 1899-1902]] (2007).
* Rickie Solinger. [[Beggars and Choosers|Beggars and Choosers: How the Politics of Choice Shapes Adoption, Abortion, and Welfare in the United States]] (2002).
* Allan H. Spear. [[Black Chicago|Black Chicago: The Making of a Negro Ghetto, 1890-1920]] (1969).
* Todd Swanstrom. [[The Crisis of Growth Politics|The Crisis of Growth Politics: Cleveland, Kucinich, and the Challenge of Urban Populism]] (1988).
* Ronald Takaki. [[Hiroshima|Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Atomic Bomb]] (1996).
* Penny M. Von Eschen. [[Satchmo Blows Up The World|Satchmo Blows Up The World: Jazz Ambassadors Play The Cold War]] (2004).
* Robert Wiebe. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/dog-day-classics-robert-h-wiebe-and-the-search-for-order/ The Search for Order, 1877 - 1920] (1967).
* Andrew Wiese. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/getting-to-the-mountaintop-the-suburban-dreams-of-african-americans/ Places of Their Own: African American Suburbanization in the Twentieth Century] (2004)
* Rhonda Y. Williams. [[The Politics of Public Housing|The Politics of Public Housing: Black Women’s Struggles Against Urban Inequality]] (2004).
* William Appleman Williams. [[The Tragedy of American Diplomacy]] (2009).
* Gwendolyn Wright. [[Building the Dream|Building the Dream: A Social History of Housing in America]] (1983).
*Young B. Marilyn. [[The Vietnam Wars|The Vietnam Wars 1945-1990]] (1991).
*Zimmerman, Andrew. [http://tropicsofmeta.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/the-ties-that-bind-the-transnational-trick-of-immobilizing-the-mobile/ Alabama in Africa: Booker T. Washington, the German Empire, and the Globalization of the New South] (2010).
*Washington Harriet. [[Medical Apartheid|Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present]] (2006)

File:Ponce de Leon Avenue.jpg

2016-02-16T14:57:16Z

LaurelW:

Atlanta's Ponce de Leon Avenue: A History

2016-02-16T03:23:27Z

LaurelW:

{{Infobox book
| name = Atlanta's Ponce de Leon Avenue: A History
| image = [[File:Ponce de Leon Avenue.jpg|200px|alt=Cover]]
| image_caption =
| author = Sharon Foster Jones
| translator =
| country =
| language =
| series =
| publisher = The History Press
| pub_date = 2012
| pages =
| isbn = 978.1.61423.468.5
| oclc =
| congress =
}}

Atlanta’s Ponce de Leon Avenue: A History, by Sharon Foster Jones is less a critical evaluation of Atlanta’s history and more a “who’s who” and a “what’s what” of one of the most famous and ever-evolving roads of the city. Ponce de Leon Avenue reads like a conversation with your local historian—affectionate toward and deeply familiar with the topic. With a lighthearted tone, this book reads quickly, but do not mistake its ease of style with a lack of in-depth research. This account is a trove of knowledge; a history of landscape, transportation, architecture, and economy that could be told of many places around the United States as they developed through the 19th and 20th centuries. While there are noticeable gaps in this book—particularly a lack of racial diversity—the work is one of very few to give such a detailed account of a notable location in Atlanta.

Jones pulls from a variety of sources for this work, both primary and secondary. Among her sources are local radio programming, newspapers, government documents, directories, church records, and even building permits. She complements these local archives with broader resources such as Ancestry.com, websites, and architectural books and other secondary works. Ponce de Leon Avenue, while largely entertaining, has the promise of thorough research to back it up. Unfortunately, at least in the Kindle edition, there are no citations to sourced material within the text. A rather lengthy and diverse bibliography concludes the work, but the lack of specific source identification within the text takes away some of its academic potential or usefulness to scholars who may wish to follow up on Jones’ research.

The narrative style of Ponce de Leon Avenue is nonlinear and the book reads somewhat like memory recall. Drifting from topic to topic, Jones does not follow a chronological structure, but rather introduces new places and new names as they become relevant to the story. While this is a modern example of casual Southern storytelling, this lack of real framework (in addition to the lack of in-text citation), may be challenging to anyone hoping to refer to this work as a scholarly source in itself. There is little signaling for change of topic within the text and, in fact, the narrative often hops from place to place and from time to time. Also, the table of contents is very broadly structured and gives no real thematic cues as to what will be found in the five chapters that the book has been divided into. However, casual readers and researchers alike will likely be grateful to Jones for her painstaking research and attention to detail on a wide range of topics. This work could definitely serve as a springboard for anyone looking for specific themes related to the history of Midtown Atlanta.

The story of Ponce de Leon is intrinsically bound to the story of Atlanta, which is the tale of how a small town came to be one of the most industrialized cities in the South. People who have grown up in Atlanta—and have inevitably traveled Ponce de Leon countless times—may be surprised to learn about the changing landscape of that area, whether due to fire, commercial development, or socioeconomic changes in our society. Those not familiar with the region may find in this book a classic example of Southern storytelling, where the characters are a mix of local or national legend and the locations but one setting in the national historic theater.

Atlanta is the city notoriously plagued and shaped by fire. While most are familiar with General Sherman’s epic fire, it was not the only, nor the most redefining fire Atlanta was to experience. The Great Fire of 1917 affected a range of three hundred acres, affecting white and black residents, rich and poor. Whereas Sherman’s fire destroyed and maimed the landscape, the Great Fire destroyed but then redrew the landscape, physically and economically. Jones spends a good deal of time detailing the fire of 1917, providing a graphic narrative based on first-hand accounts and other historical documentation. This work shows how incredibly architecture and even city planning were affected by this ten-hour inferno.

Many local legends appear in Ponce de Leon Avenue, both human and structural. Influential names like Candler, Adair, and Hartsfield make an appearance in these pages. Mostly, however, readers learn a great deal about locally famous buildings along Ponce, both still standing and long gone. We learn the histories behind many prominent buildings such as Ivy Hall, the Sears, Roebuck building, the Fox Theatre, the Georgia Terrace, the Ford Factory Lofts, and Ponce de Leon Ballpark. Atlanta is a city known for rapid development, sometimes at the expense of our historical buildings. Jones gives vivid and thorough accounts of some of these structures, in addition to providing archival images, so that one can easily imagine these locations in their early days.

With all of its fine points, Ponce de Leon Avenue is lacking in one key area: diversity. The history of Ponce de Leon—which spans along many diverse neighborhoods that have changed over time—is a mostly Caucasian history as told by Jones. African Americans are inseparable from Atlanta history, and Ponce de Leon is a major corridor of Atlanta, so the absence of any substantive tales of the African Americans who have undoubtedly occupied this area is disappointing. The author does speak of blues musician Blind Willie McTell and the Black Crackers baseball team, and briefly mentions Clermont Lounge legend Blondie, but these are only small mentions. In fact, not only are African Americans barely present in this book, but segregation is brought up only a handful of times and with little elaboration. The author makes brief mention of the Atlanta Race Riot of 1906, but only in passing as what appears to be an afterthought in explaining that the segregation of the park on Ponce was common for the time. While acknowledging that “Ponce became a dividing line between the white and African American communities around the 1950s,”[1] Jones does little to explore African American roots, heritage, or contributions to the Ponce community. Considering the wealth of personal information provided on the prominent white settlers, business owners, home owners, and developers, the exclusion of African American history in this work is curious. Jones provides a painstakingly rich history of this area, but in reading this particular account, one learns practically nothing as to the lives of the African Americans that helped shape the Ponce de Leon corridor.

Jones’ passion for the subject matter is apparent and she has a gift for storytelling. This work is a fascinating tale of an Atlanta region that may appeal to a large public audience. However, the lack of racial diversity in an otherwise comprehensive narrative, in-text citations, or even notes stand in the way of this being a complete, scholarly contribution to historical studies. The research done on this book is admirable and draws from a wide range of sources. I would like to see a new edition of this work, which includes all of the lacking elements. I believe that then it would not only be an entertaining read, but could also make a strong contribution to Atlanta historical studies, in general.

[1] Foster Jones, Sharon (2012-05-08). Atlanta's Ponce de Leon Avenue: A History (Georgia) (The History Press) (Kindle Locations 376-377). The History Press. Kindle Edition.

Atlanta's Ponce de Leon Avenue: A History

2016-02-16T03:11:05Z

LaurelW: The history of Atlanta's Ponce de Leon Avenue

Atlanta’s Ponce de Leon Avenue: A History, by Sharon Foster Jones is less a critical evaluation of Atlanta’s history and more a “who’s who” and a “what’s what” of one of the most famous and ever-evolving roads of the city. Ponce de Leon Avenue reads like a conversation with your local historian—affectionate toward and deeply familiar with the topic. With a lighthearted tone, this book reads quickly, but do not mistake its ease of style with a lack of in-depth research. This account is a trove of knowledge; a history of landscape, transportation, architecture, and economy that could be told of many places around the United States as they developed through the 19th and 20th centuries. While there are noticeable gaps in this book—particularly a lack of racial diversity—the work is one of very few to give such a detailed account of a notable location in Atlanta.

Jones pulls from a variety of sources for this work, both primary and secondary. Among her sources are local radio programming, newspapers, government documents, directories, church records, and even building permits. She complements these local archives with broader resources such as Ancestry.com, websites, and architectural books and other secondary works. Ponce de Leon Avenue, while largely entertaining, has the promise of thorough research to back it up. Unfortunately, at least in the Kindle edition, there are no citations to sourced material within the text. A rather lengthy and diverse bibliography concludes the work, but the lack of specific source identification within the text takes away some of its academic potential or usefulness to scholars who may wish to follow up on Jones’ research.

The narrative style of Ponce de Leon Avenue is nonlinear and the book reads somewhat like memory recall. Drifting from topic to topic, Jones does not follow a chronological structure, but rather introduces new places and new names as they become relevant to the story. While this is a modern example of casual Southern storytelling, this lack of real framework (in addition to the lack of in-text citation), may be challenging to anyone hoping to refer to this work as a scholarly source in itself. There is little signaling for change of topic within the text and, in fact, the narrative often hops from place to place and from time to time. Also, the table of contents is very broadly structured and gives no real thematic cues as to what will be found in the five chapters that the book has been divided into. However, casual readers and researchers alike will likely be grateful to Jones for her painstaking research and attention to detail on a wide range of topics. This work could definitely serve as a springboard for anyone looking for specific themes related to the history of Midtown Atlanta.

The story of Ponce de Leon is intrinsically bound to the story of Atlanta, which is the tale of how a small town came to be one of the most industrialized cities in the South. People who have grown up in Atlanta—and have inevitably traveled Ponce de Leon countless times—may be surprised to learn about the changing landscape of that area, whether due to fire, commercial development, or socioeconomic changes in our society. Those not familiar with the region may find in this book a classic example of Southern storytelling, where the characters are a mix of local or national legend and the locations but one setting in the national historic theater.

Atlanta is the city notoriously plagued and shaped by fire. While most are familiar with General Sherman’s epic fire, it was not the only, nor the most redefining fire Atlanta was to experience. The Great Fire of 1917 affected a range of three hundred acres, affecting white and black residents, rich and poor. Whereas Sherman’s fire destroyed and maimed the landscape, the Great Fire destroyed but then redrew the landscape, physically and economically. Jones spends a good deal of time detailing the fire of 1917, providing a graphic narrative based on first-hand accounts and other historical documentation. This work shows how incredibly architecture and even city planning were affected by this ten-hour inferno.

Many local legends appear in Ponce de Leon Avenue, both human and structural. Influential names like Candler, Adair, and Hartsfield make an appearance in these pages. Mostly, however, readers learn a great deal about locally famous buildings along Ponce, both still standing and long gone. We learn the histories behind many prominent buildings such as Ivy Hall, the Sears, Roebuck building, the Fox Theatre, the Georgia Terrace, the Ford Factory Lofts, and Ponce de Leon Ballpark. Atlanta is a city known for rapid development, sometimes at the expense of our historical buildings. Jones gives vivid and thorough accounts of some of these structures, in addition to providing archival images, so that one can easily imagine these locations in their early days.

With all of its fine points, Ponce de Leon Avenue is lacking in one key area: diversity. The history of Ponce de Leon—which spans along many diverse neighborhoods that have changed over time—is a mostly Caucasian history as told by Jones. African Americans are inseparable from Atlanta history, and Ponce de Leon is a major corridor of Atlanta, so the absence of any substantive tales of the African Americans who have undoubtedly occupied this area is disappointing. The author does speak of blues musician Blind Willie McTell and the Black Crackers baseball team, and briefly mentions Clermont Lounge legend Blondie, but these are only small mentions. In fact, not only are African Americans barely present in this book, but segregation is brought up only a handful of times and with little elaboration. The author makes brief mention of the Atlanta Race Riot of 1906, but only in passing as what appears to be an afterthought in explaining that the segregation of the park on Ponce was common for the time. While acknowledging that “Ponce became a dividing line between the white and African American communities around the 1950s,”[1] Jones does little to explore African American roots, heritage, or contributions to the Ponce community. Considering the wealth of personal information provided on the prominent white settlers, business owners, home owners, and developers, the exclusion of African American history in this work is curious. Jones provides a painstakingly rich history of this area, but in reading this particular account, one learns practically nothing as to the lives of the African Americans that helped shape the Ponce de Leon corridor.

Jones’ passion for the subject matter is apparent and she has a gift for storytelling. This work is a fascinating tale of an Atlanta region that may appeal to a large public audience. However, the lack of racial diversity in an otherwise comprehensive narrative, in-text citations, or even notes stand in the way of this being a complete, scholarly contribution to historical studies. The research done on this book is admirable and draws from a wide range of sources. I would like to see a new edition of this work, which includes all of the lacking elements. I believe that then it would not only be an entertaining read, but could also make a strong contribution to Atlanta historical studies, in general.

[1] Foster Jones, Sharon (2012-05-08). Atlanta's Ponce de Leon Avenue: A History (Georgia) (The History Press) (Kindle Locations 376-377). The History Press. Kindle Edition.