Main entry:

Ammon, Francesca Russello, author.

Title & Author:

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

Publication:

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

Description:

xiii, 383 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Part one. Bulldozers at war. "A dirt moving war" : engineers and Seabees as World War II heroes -- Prime movers : equipment manufacturers prepare for postwar prosperity -- Part two. 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 -- Part three. 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.

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.

ISBN:

9780300200683 (cloth ; alk. paper)
0300200684 (cloth ; alk. paper)

Subject:

Bulldozers History 20th century.
Landscape changes United States History 20th century.
Lost architecture United States History 20th century.
Bulldozers Histoire 20e siècle.
Paysages Modifications États-Unis Histoire 20e siècle.
Monuments disparus États-Unis Histoire 20e siècle.
Bulldozers
Landscape changes
Lost architecture
Planierraupe
Zerstörung
Umgestaltung
Symbol
United States
USA

Form/genre:

History

Holdings:

Location: Library main 292737
Call No.: BIB 237161
Status: Available