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

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ammon, Francesca Russello, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bulldozers.

Bulldozers--History--20th century.

Landscape changes--United States--History--20th century.

Landscape changes.

Lost architecture--United States--History--20th century.

Lost architecture.

United States.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (400 pages)

Other Title:

Demolition and clearance of the postwar landscape

Place of Publication:

New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, [2016]

Summary:

The first history of the bulldozer and its transformation from military weapon to essential tool for creating the post-World War II American landscape 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:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction. A Culture of Clearance

Part One. Bulldozers at War

Chapter 1. "A Dirt Moving War"

Chapter 2. Prime Movers

Part Two. Bulldozers at Work

Chapter 3. Grading Groves and Moving Mountains

Chapter 4. "Armies of Bulldozers Smashing Down Acres of Slums"

Chapter 5. "The Intricate Blending of Brains and Brawn"

Part Three. Bulldozers of the Mind

Chapter 6. Unearthing "Benny the Bulldozer"

Chapter 7. Bulldozers as Paintbrushes

Conclusion. Toward a Culture of Conservation

Notes

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 29. Feb 2020)

Other Format:

Print version: Ammon, Francesca Russello, author. Bulldozer : demolition and clearance of the postwar landscape

ISBN:

9780300220544

9780300200683

0300200684

OCLC:

945663066