Skip Navigation
Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates - Ta-Nehisi Coates is a senior editor for The Atlantic, where he writes about culture, politics, and social issues for TheAtlantic.com and the magazine. He is the author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle. More

Born in 1975, the product of two beautiful parents. Raised in West Baltimore—not quite The Wire, but sometimes ill all the same. Studied at the Mecca for some years in the mid-’90s. Emerged with a purpose, if not a degree. Slowly migrated up the East Coast with a baby and my beloved, until I reached the shores of Harlem. Wrote some stuff along the way.

Random Question on Urban Planning

By Ta-Nehisi Coates
Jul 20 2011, 1:00 PM ET Comment

I think I've asked this in comments before, but I want to open it up a bit. Kenneth Jackson's Crabgrass Frontier is the best broad/survey history I've ever read of the formation of American cites and suburbs. Unlike a lot of survey's, Jackson actually takes positions and makes arguments. I've read a lot of books on cities since, but none that take a macro level look at the history.

But Crabgrass was published in almost thirty years ago. There have to have been advances since then. Does anyone know of a more up to date volume that's taken up Jackson's work with the same sort of breadth and depth? I don't polemics or even micro-histories of neighborhoods or cities, but more national works. The more local histories have their place -- Thomas Sugrue's work is king--but I'm asking about something else.

Thoughts?


Presented by

More at The Atlantic

10 Years After Its Premiere, 'The Wire' Feels Dated, and That's a Good Thing A Decade Later, 'The Wire' Feels Dated, and That's a Good Thing
A Message to Law Grads: Instead of Corporations, Help Ordinary People A Message to Recent Law School Graduates
Under Obama, Men Killed by Drones Are Presumed to Be Terrorists Why Are So Few Civilians Killed by Drones?
Sex Selection in America: Why It Persists and How We Can Change It Sex-Selective Abortion Persists in America
A Blow, but a Softer One, to the Defense of Marriage Act A Blow to the Defense of Marriage Act

Join the Discussion

After you comment, click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be asked to log in or register.
blog comments powered by Disqus
View All Correspondents

The Biggest Story in Photos

Afghanistan: May 2012

Jun 1, 2012

Subscribe Now

SAVE 59%! 10 issues JUST $2.45 PER COPY

Facebook

Newsletters

Sign up to receive our free newsletters

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

Ta-Nehisi Coates
from the Magazine

Why Do So Few Blacks Study the Civil War?

Ta-Nehisi Coates is an Atlantic senior editor.

Fade to White

A filmmaker maps Austin’s shifting ethnic landscape.

The Legacy of Malcolm X

Why his vision lives on in Barack Obama