From the Publisher
Mosher blends her skills as a geographer, historian, and storyteller to create a deep history of a most unique locale. In Capital's Utopia, the story of Vandergrift becomes a crucial and unexplored intersection between industrial land use and community planning all wrapped in the issues of economic class and paternalism that defined the Gilded Age. Through iron, railroad, and finally steel, readers will follow Vandergrift's surprising relevance in the Olmsted tradition of community planning. Mosher makes superb use of primary historical sources, including tables utilizing demographic census and tax assessment data and a superb selection of maps, community diagrams, photos, and sketches from the original plans.—Brian Black, The Pennsylvania State University
Brian Black
Mosher blends her skills as a geographer, historian, and storyteller to create a deep history of a most unique locale. In Capital's Utopia, the story of Vandergrift becomes a crucial and unexplored intersection between industrial land use and community planning all wrapped in the issues of economic class and paternalism that defined the Gilded Age. Through iron, railroad, and finally steel, readers will follow Vandergrift's surprising relevance in the Olmsted tradition of community planning. Mosher makes superb use of primary historical sources, including tables utilizing demographic census and tax assessment data and a superb selection of maps, community diagrams, photos, and sketches from the original plans.
Brian Black, The Pennsylvania State University