The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro: An epic and important–but undeniably hard to read–classic in urban planning. Moses is one of the most infamous people in 20th century planning and in histories of New York, and much of that credit is due to Caro’s classic. In a sprawling, 1,161-page (!) narrative, the author takes us through Moses’ life from an upper-crust childhood and through multiple frustrating challenges of trying to establish a career before he reached the jobs that actually cemented his legacy over a decades-long grasp of power: building parks, beaches, highways (so many highways!), tunnels, and his beloved bridges. Once he got to that point, Moses stayed in place by being openly corrupt, physically and verbally violent toward subordinates, and an avowed racist.
If that wasn’t dramatic enough, his life and pet projects were heavily subsidized throughout early adulthood by his wealthy mother, never seeming to appreciate this advantage or even understand how everyday New Yorkers, the users of his public works, lived without such boosts. As a result, playgrounds weren’t located in poor and working-class neighborhoods, highways were chronically congested from their opening day, mass transit was left without proper maintenance investment for decades, and worst of all, literally thousands of New Yorkers had their homes taken and bulldozed, all because Moses didn’t consider the individual to matter in the face of building great works. Those factors all contribute to the full story of who Robert Moses was, and it’s important that Caro included them in the story, but it does make this hard to read in some points. Nevertheless I am glad this hefty biography exists, for the benefit of the history of planning and what not to do as a practitioner. 5*
On the Clock: What Low Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane by Emily Guendelsberger: This is a pretty solid story on its own, and can be read as an updated take on what the recently passed Barbara Ehrenreich achieved in her Nickel and Dimed–getting a firsthand look at how it works (or doesn’t work) to survive on low-wage entry level jobs by applying and working at them. Guendelsberger chose the decidedly 21st century jobs of an Amazon warehouse picker (in Kentucky) and an AT&T call center worker (in North Carolina), as well as at a McDonald’s in San Francisco, to understand what it took to survive in each of them. This is an intriguing look at what’s happening behind the scenes of these employers, but more than that a realization that generally these workers band together to keep one another going. The major example of this is when two of her call center coworkers even invited the author to move in with her, when they learned she was bouncing between a motel and sleeping in her car, clearly not circumstances that lead to one doing their best at work. 4.5*
Waste: One Woman’s Fight Against America’s Dirty Secret by Catherine Coleman Flowers: More interesting (if somewhat depressing) things I have learned about our country: the clay-heavy soils of Alabama make the use of standard septic systems very difficult, breaking and rendering them ineffective within a few years if not adapted specifically to this area. Why does this matter? Well, many households and small businesses in rural Alabama, including the author’s native Lowndes County, already struggle to get by, and their broken (or simply absent) septic systems are making them sick, causing criminal charges that cause further burdens, and generally not allowing them to live with dignity. If you have heard about the environmental justice movement but not what they are trying to do, Flowers provides great examples on how to turn this problem around in here. 4.5*
If Venice Dies by Salvatore Settis, trans. Andre Naffis-Sahely: A spirited defense of the need to think of Venice as a permanent, treasured home of its longtime residents and not a destination for tourism and commercial interests. The modern day Venice is already threatened by the rising sea, but driving further threats are the massive cruise ships now allowed to dock there and bring thousands of daytrippers at a time. The author is unapologetic in his criticism of the Italian government’s failures, lending a distinctly local expertise to a city that for me is far-flung and that I previously have only known through the lens of other foreigners. 3.5*
Right of Way: Race, Class, and the Silent Epidemic of Pedestrian Deaths in America by Angie Schmitt: This book, Schmitt’s debut, had a great deal of buzz among planners on its release, and I see why. Drivers hit pedestrians every day in the US, often fatally, and while we have extensive records of these horrible crashes, until now there hasn’t been a unifying story of what is happening and why.
Schmitt offers this story at the scale of the individual person, and we learn much more about the frequent victims of driver-pedestrian crashes: people in the growing “Sunbelt” states, poor and homeless people, people with limited mobility, and seniors. This is a helpful call to action, to note that so many crash victims are our vulnerable neighbors. Some chapters also touch on how self-driving vehicles figure into this, which is immediately relevant to me as a planner. 4*
And a bonus #6:
Convenience Store Woman: A Novel by Sayaka Murata, trans. Ginney Tapley Takemori: The food critic Ruth Reichl recommended this title in a long list of food-related fiction, and I’m glad she did! The protagonist, Keiko, is a woman in her mid-thirties that has happily worked in a bustling convenience store since finishing her education, and despite the urgings of her family, ever-turning-over slate of coworkers, and society at large, has no wish to work anywhere else. It is a tale of someone whose life is exactly the size they want it to be, and I think the treatment is done broadly enough that the reader could come to a few conclusions as to why. The main drama occurs when Keiko starts to entangle herself in the life of a new coworker, seeing in his misfortune an opportunity to falsely claim to the world that her life includes what everyone thinks she should want. The setting was richly described, and has a side lesson on how every job entails skilled labor. Wish it had been longer, honestly. 4.5*
Plannerthon 