Great American Cities Past and Present

This book opens with a hyperbolic paean: "people are attracted to cities, are drawn to build them, as if it is genetic code." Cities "are the great things, the wild things, the jaw-dropping wonders about which all men and women dream." Unfortunately, there's no discussion of these ideas; instead, photos of North American cities taken at different times in history highlight the changing metropolis—Jacksonville, Fla. in 1913, 1921, 2006, and 2008; Cleveland, Ohio in 1951 and 2005; Quebec in 1901 and 2005, and so on. Bigger cities get bigger spreads, but the book is admirably democratic: a city is interesting, it seems, simply because it exists and changes over time. Perhaps Sapp and Solomon are right, but their framework is lacking and reveals an endemic problem. The photo spreads feel random; why this shot and not another? Why that year? And since the book's purpose is to compare and contrast, it's disappointing that paired photos (the Flatiron area in 1915 and 2009, for example) often don't match up. One is perplexed, and, as often happens when confronted with a missed opportunity, left to consider how this promising idea could have been better executed. (Aug.)