Martin V. Melosi's Books

Urban Public Policy

Historical Modes and Methods

By: Martin V. Melosi

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Urban Public Policy

Historical Modes and Methods

By: Martin V. Melosi

The 1992 Los Angeles riots catapulted the problems of the city back onto the policy agenda. The cauldron of social problems of the city, as the riots showed, offers no simple solutions. Indeed, urban policy includes a range of policy issues involving welfare, housing, job training, education, drug control, and the environment. The myriad of local, state, and federal agencies only further complicates formulating and implementing coherent policies for the city. This volume, while not offering specific proposals to remedy the problems of the city, provides a broad historical context for discussing contemporary urban policy and for arriving at new prescriptions for relieving the ills of the American city. The essays address issues related to public housing, poverty, transportation, and the environment. In doing so, the authors discuss larger themes in urban policy as well as provide case studies of how policies have been implemented over time in specific cities. Of particular interest are two essays that discuss the role of the historian in shaping urban policy and the importance of historical preservation in urban planning.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

217

Publisher

Penn State Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0271044586

ISBN 13

9780271044583

Garbage In The Cities

Refuse Reform and the Environment

By: Martin V. Melosi

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Garbage In The Cities

Refuse Reform and the Environment

By: Martin V. Melosi

As recently as the 1880s, most American cities had no effective means of collecting and removing the mountains of garbage, refuse, and manure-over a thousand tons a day in New York City alone-that clogged streets and overwhelmed the senses of residents. In his landmark study, Garbage in the Cities, Martin Melosi offered the first history of efforts begun in the Progressive Era to clean up this mess.Since it was first published, Garbage in the Cities has remained one of the best historical treatments of the subject. This thoroughly revised and updated edition includes two new chapters that expand the discussion of developments since World War I. It also offers a discussion of the reception of the first edition, and an examination of the ways solid waste management has become more federally regulated in the last quarter of the twentieth century.Melosi traces the rise of sanitation engineering, accurately describes the scope and changing nature of the refuse problem in U.S. cities, reveals the sometimes hidden connections between industrialization and pollution, and discusses the social agendas behind many early cleanliness programs. Absolutely essential reading for historians, policy analysts, and sociologists, Garbage in the Cities offers a vibrant and insightful analysis of this fascinating topic.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

343

Publisher

University of Pittsburgh Pre

Published Date

ISBN 10

0822972689

ISBN 13

9780822972686

Precious Commodity

Providing Water for America's Cities

By: Martin V. Melosi

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Precious Commodity

Providing Water for America's Cities

By: Martin V. Melosi

As an essential resource, water has been the object of warfare, political wrangling, and individual and corporate abuse. It has also become an object of commodification, with multinational corporations vying for water supply contracts in many countries. In Precious Commodity, Martin V. Melosi examines water resources in the United States and addresses whether access to water is an inalienable right of citizens, and if government is responsible for its distribution as a public good. Melosi provides historical background on the construction, administration, and adaptability of water supply and wastewater systems in urban America. He cites budgetary constraints and the deterioration of existing water infrastructures as factors leading many municipalities to seriously consider the privatization of their water supply. Melosi also views the role of government in the management of, development of, and legal jurisdiction over America's rivers and waterways for hydroelectric power, flood control, irrigation, and transportation access. Looking to the future, he compares the costs and benefits of public versus private water supply, examining the global movement toward privatization.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

305

Publisher

University of Pittsburgh Pre

Published Date

ISBN 10

0822977761

ISBN 13

9780822977766

Effluent America

Cities, Industry, Energy, and the Environment

By: Martin V. Melosi

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Effluent America

Cities, Industry, Energy, and the Environment

By: Martin V. Melosi

What's the difference between an anthill and a city?Protection from weather and predators, living and working quarters, transportation networks, food storage capability—all these they hold in common. And while there are obvious differences between humans and ants, both exist in the same space and time dimension—in nature. This simple idea, imagining cities as part of the larger physical world, has driven the work of the historian Martin Melosi for twenty-five years. Melosi is one of a handful of scholars who examine urban history from an ecological perspective, using the city to help define the place of nature in human life. Cities, he maintains, are places where humans live, work, play, consume goods, and make waste—just as humans have in caves, on farms, and in villages. To imagine the city as outside of nature limits what can be known about our past, and our future. Effluent America is a collection of essays spanning this innovative scholar's career and the growing field of urban environmental history. Garbage, wastewater, hazardous waste: these are the lenses through which Melosi views nineteenth- and twentieth-century America. In broad overviews and specific case studies, Effluent America treats the relationship between industrial expansion and urban growth from an ecological perspective. He charts the development of city services, the rationale for their implementation, and how they affected growth. He explores the environmental impacts of unprecedented methods of production, the influence of new forms of energy, and changing patterns of consumption during the Industrial Revolution and beyond. In so doing, he traces how one of the richest nations in the world became also the most wasteful, a juxtaposition of affluence and effluence. Other essays consider the important role of American cities in the history of the conservation and environmental movements. Melosi sketches the reforms and reformers, born out of such urban "quality of life" issues as pollution, sanitation, public health, and the need for greenspace. He also profiles the environmental justice movement, whose response to environmental problems is a question—Who bears the most risk?Urban environmental history is a window on the past, but it also directly informs issues of the present: public health, pollution, the role of government in delivering services, etc. Effluent America is an important volume for students of history and urban affairs, as well as for policymakers and all those concerned about the one world we inhabit.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

343

Publisher

University of Pittsburgh Pre

Published Date

ISBN 10

082297231X

ISBN 13

9780822972310

Atomic Age America

By: Martin V. Melosi

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Atomic Age America

By: Martin V. Melosi

Atomic Age America looks at the broad influence of atomic energy¿focusing particularly on nuclear weapons and nuclear power¿on the lives of Americans within a world context. The text examines the social, political, diplomatic, environmental, and technical impacts of atomic energy on the 20th and 21st centuries, with a look back to the origins of atomic theory.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

576

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

131550975X

ISBN 13

9781315509754

Fresh Kills

A History of Consuming and Discarding in New York City

By: Martin V. Melosi

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Fresh Kills

A History of Consuming and Discarding in New York City

By: Martin V. Melosi

Fresh Kills—a monumental 2,200-acre site on Staten Island—was once the world’s largest landfill. From 1948 to 2001, it was the main receptacle for New York City’s refuse. After the 9/11 attacks, it reopened briefly to receive human remains and rubble from the destroyed Twin Towers, turning a notorious disposal site into a cemetery. Today, a mammoth reclamation project is transforming the landfill site, constructing an expansive park three times the size of Central Park. Martin V. Melosi provides a comprehensive chronicle of Fresh Kills that offers new insights into the growth and development of New York City and the relationship among consumption, waste, and disposal. He traces the metamorphoses of the landscape, following it from salt marsh to landfill to cemetery and looks ahead to the future park. By centering the problem of solid-waste disposal, Melosi highlights the unwanted consequences of mass consumption. He presents the Fresh Kills space as an embodiment of massive waste, linking consumption to the continuing presence of its discards. Melosi also uses the landfill as a lens for understanding Staten Island’s history and its relationship with greater New York City. The first book on the history of the iconic landfill, Fresh Kills unites environmental, political, and cultural history to offer a reflection on material culture, consumer practices, and perceptions of value and worthlessness.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

576

Publisher

Columbia University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0231548354

ISBN 13

9780231548359

The History of Large Federal Dams

Planning, Design and Construction

By: David P. Billington,Donald C. Jackson,Martin V. Melosi

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The History of Large Federal Dams

Planning, Design and Construction

By: David P. Billington,Donald C. Jackson,Martin V. Melosi

Explores the story of Federal contributions to dam planning, design, and construction.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

630

Publisher

Government Printing Office

Published Date

ISBN 10

0160728231

ISBN 13

9780160728235

The Sanitary City

Environmental Services in Urban America from Colonial Times to the Present

By: Martin V. Melosi

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Sanitary City

Environmental Services in Urban America from Colonial Times to the Present

By: Martin V. Melosi

Immersed in their on-demand, highly consumptive, and disposable lifestyles, most urban Americans take for granted the technologies that provide them with potable water, remove their trash, and process their wastewater. These vital services, however, are the byproduct of many decades of development by engineers, sanitarians, and civic planners. In The Sanitary City, Martin V. Melosi assembles a comprehensive, thoroughly researched and referenced history of sanitary services in urban America. He examines the evolution of water supply, sewage systems, and solid waste disposal during three distinct eras: The Age of Miasmas (pre-1880); The Bacteriological Revolution (1880-1945); and The New Ecology (1945 to present-day). Originally published in 2000, this abridged edition includes updated text and bibliographic materials. The Sanitary City is an essential resource for those interested in environmental history, environmental engineering, science and technology, urban studies, and public health.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

372

Publisher

University of Pittsburgh Pre

Published Date

ISBN 10

0822973375

ISBN 13

9780822973379

Water in North American Environmental History

By: Martin V. Melosi

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Water in North American Environmental History

By: Martin V. Melosi

Water in North American Environmental History offers 25 cases studies that explore the range of uses and perceptions of water throughout Canadian, Mexican, and United States history. Water has served a myriad of purposes historically as human sustenance, agricultural irrigation, sanitation, fire protection, military defense, power generation, transportation, and much more. Water and its uses provide an excellent entrée into the study of humans and the environment, not only because water is a vital resource for life, but also because water as a medium is so intimately woven into the everyday experiences of humans and into society’s economic, political, and social fabric. A North American perspective is not representative of the world’s water use, but it is an area with a linked history and many overlapping human and environmental features and concerns. With a continental perspective, the book explores many disparate topics without being confined to the history and experiences of just one country. The chapters are short, but descriptive, and departure points for what they tell us about the human experience in dealing with water and the environmental implications of water use. The text leads students to consider water in relation to society, and to the past. The book will be of interest to students of environmental history, geography, and the environmental sciences.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

305

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Published Date

ISBN 10

1000592588

ISBN 13

9781000592580

America and Its Peoples

A Mosaic in the Making

By: James Kirby Martin

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

America and Its Peoples

A Mosaic in the Making

By: James Kirby Martin

America and Its Peoples, Fourth Edition presents American history in an exciting way, with a spirited narrative, vivid character sketches, and colorful anecdotes. The book highlights the rich ethnic diversity of the American people. Social history-with an emphasis on sports, leisure, and popular culture-is integrated with more traditional coverage of military history, politics, and diplomacy.MARKET Appropriate for anyone with an interest in American history.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

620

Published Date

ISBN 10

0321079876

ISBN 13

9780321079879

Precious Commodity

Providing Water for America's Cities

By: Martin V. Melosi

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Precious Commodity

Providing Water for America's Cities

By: Martin V. Melosi

As an essential resource, water has been the object of warfare, political wrangling, individual and corporate abuse, and commodification, with multinational corporations vying for water supply contracts in many countries. In Precious Commodity, Martin V. Melosi examines water resources in the United States and addresses whether access to water is an inalienable right of citizens and if government is responsible for its distribution as a public good.

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

288

Publisher

University of Pittsburgh Pre

Published Date

ISBN 10

0822961415

ISBN 13

9780822961413

Book's by Martin V. Melosi

Urban Public Policy

Urban Public Policy

Garbage In The Cities

Garbage In The Cities

Precious Commodity

Precious Commodity

Effluent America

Effluent America

Atomic Age America

Atomic Age America

Fresh Kills

Fresh Kills

The History of Large Federal Dams

The History of Large Federal Dams

The Sanitary City

The Sanitary City

Water in North American Environmental History

Water in North American Environmental History

America and Its Peoples

America and Its Peoples

Precious Commodity

Precious Commodity

Username

Password

Username

Password

Password again

Birthday

Email