Bulldozer : demolition and clearance of the postwar landscape / Francesca Russello Ammon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ammon, Francesca Russello, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bulldozers--History--20th century.

Bulldozers.

History.

Physical Description:

xiii, 383 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm

Other Title:

Demolition and clearance of the postwar landscape

Place of Publication:

New Haven ; London : Yale University Press, [2016]

Summary:

Although the decades following World War II stand out as an era of rapid growth and construction in the United States, those years were equally significant for large-scale destruction. In order to clear space for new suburban tract housing, an ambitious system of interstate highways, and extensive urban renewal development, wrecking companies demolished buildings while earthmoving contractors leveled land at an unprecedented pace and scale. In this pioneering history, Francesca Russello Ammon explores how postwar America came to equate this destruction with progress. The bulldozer functioned as both the means and the metaphor for this work. As the machine transformed from a wartime weapon into an instrument of postwar planning, it helped realize a landscape-altering "culture of clearance." In the hands of the military, planners, politicians, engineers, construction workers, and even children's book authors, the bulldozer became an American icon. Yet social and environmental injustices emerged as clearance projects continued unabated.This awareness spurred environmental, preservationist, and citizen participation efforts that have helped to slow, though not entirely stop, the momentum of the postwar bulldozer.

Contents:

Bulldozers at war. "A dirt moving war" : engineers and Seabees as World War II heroes

Prime movers : equipment manufacturers prepare for postwar prosperity

Bulldozers at work. Grading groves and moving mountains : suburban land clearance in Orange County, California

"Armies of bulldozers smashing down acres of slums : urban renewal demolition in New Haven, Connecticut

"The intricate blending of brains and brawn : engineering the postwar highway boom

Bulldozers of the mind. Unearthing "Benny the Bulldozer" : children's books and tonka trucks

Bulldozers as paintbrushes : earthworks and building cats in conceptual art

Toward a culture of conservation.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Albert M. Greenfield Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9780300200683

0300200684

OCLC:

930799443