Take a break from reading about murder rates in Philadelphia, and look at this book by Steven Conn, Metropolitan Philadelphia: Living with the Presence of the Past. Conn examines how the past impacts the present in Philadelphia and its surrounding suburbs. Despite the impact of deindustrialization, Conn finds, "The city is, it goes almost without saying, much, much more than the sum of its countable parts. When we start to look at those more elusive things - like ethinic diversity and racial integration, like intellectual ferment and cultural vitality - Philadelphia during the last generation looks remarkable indeed, while the suburbs seem to lag well behind." (p. 252) Conn argues "Philadelphia needs a healthy region in order to survive, and its suburbs need a healthy city in order to prosper... The stakes for thinking regionally are high indeed." (p.11) His use of history to help us understand the regional mandate for the future makes interesting and entertaining reading for local residents, as well as student in sociology, education, American studies and history.
(Vairo Library F158.3.C66 2006)