Overview

The origins of gentrification date back to World War I-only it was sometimes known as “remodeling” then. Dennis Gale’s insightful book, TheMisunderstood History of Gentrification, provides a recontextualization of American gentrification, planning, and policymaking. He argues that gentrification must be understood as an urban phenomenon with historical roots in the very early twentieth century.  Gale uses solid empirical evidence to trace the embryonic revitalization of Georgetown, Greenwich Village, Beacon Hill, and elsewhere back to 1915. He shows how reinvestment and restoration reversed urban decline and revitalized neighborhoods. The Misunderstood History of Gentrification also explains how federal policies such as the Urban Redevelopment Program (later named Urban Renewal), which first emerged in 1949, razed urban slums and created an “urban crisis” that persisted in the 1960s and ‘70s. This situation soon prompted city gentrifiers and historic preservationists to reuse and rehabilitate existing structures. Within a more expansive historical framework, Gale offers a fresh perspective on and debunks misperceptions about gentrification in America.

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9781439920435

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Reviews

"""Gale provokes a much-needed re-examination of gentrification.... [He] offers compelling evidence that gentrification began much earlier and with a greater variety of motivations and outcomes than are generally recognized.... Urban planners, activists, and those interested in urban issues will find that these case studies and subsequent discussion amplify the current understanding of gentrification and its role in urban revitalization.""—History: Review of New Books ""Gale contends that gentrification as a process of neighborhood change first occurred in older northeastern city neighborhoods as early as the 1910s and 1920s.... Three in-depth case studies anchor the book’s central thesis.... Rich in historical detail and analysis, these studies effectively chronicle the transformation of the highlighted neighborhoods while presenting a persuasive case for reconsidering the origin and parameters of gentrification.""—The Metropole ""The Misunderstood History of Gentrification is a critically important addition to the burgeoning literature on the subject. With his broad scholarly vision, Gale delivers on his promise of providing a prologue to contemporary gentrification studies and, in so doing, challenges us to view public post-WWII urban revitalization efforts anew.""—The Journal of Urban Affairs ""Gale offers an intriguing analysis of a previously unrecognized chapter in the history of urban gentrification.... Summing Up: Highly recommended.""—Choice ""[A] valuable historical perspective on American gentrification, something that, thus far, has been lacking.... This highly readable, politically neutral book represents an important contribution to the neighborhood revitalization literature.""—The Journal of the American Planning Association ""This book contributes to the study of gentrification from a research, policymaking, and activist perspective by providing the needed historical context in which this process unfolds, while offering next steps on how to address its geographical variance in different U.S. regions.""—Political Science Quarterly ""The Misunderstood History of Gentrification usefully expands our temporal understanding of a critical term in contemporary urban development.... Gale’s Georgetown case study adds new primary-source material to this conversation. But the author bolsters this story by also mining the secondary literature and postwar policy to place episodes such as Georgetown’s into their proper historical context.... [T]he book offers succinct historical context for urban-planning discussions that all too often focus on the present without adequately learning from the past.""—The Journal of American History"

Author Information

Dennis E. Gale is Emeritus Professor of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University and has taught in the Urban Studies and Public Policy programs at Stanford University since 2010. He is the author of several books including Greater New Jersey: Living in the Shadow of Gotham and Understanding Urban Unrest: From Reverend King to Rodney King.

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