Song of the City: An Intimate History of the American Urban Landscape

The indefinite singular article (an ) would be more appropriate in the subtitle of this paean to one of the Northeast' s oldest and most vibrant cities: Philadelphia. In Song of the City: An Intimate History of the American Urban Landscape, urban planner and activist Nathaniel Popkin walks the city' s 135 square miles, offering vivid descriptions (Like a heaving stomach, the bursts of noise come and go ) of the cityscape. And from the regulars at Abby' s Desert Lounge to attendees at Blue Bell Hill' s third annual neighborhood history night, the 12 members of the House of Prestige (Father Prestige' s Germantown shelter), and impatient tram riders, Popkin buttonholes his fellow citizens, and recounts their stories. (Aug. 1)