"Alexander Wood asks a deceptively simple question about New York City in its most iconic period of growth from the 1880s to the 1930s: "Who did this?" In chronicling the labor of architects, builders, contractors, and construction workers, Wood compels our attention to the physical and social...

Introduction: Neighborhoods -- Beyond the Backlash: Organizing against Real Estate Abuse in a "Transitional" Urban Neighborhood -- The FHA in the City: Red Lines and the Origins of the Urban Reinvestment Movement -- It's Our Money: Defending Financial Common Sense in a Collapsing New Deal Order...

Downtown America was once the vibrant urban center romanticized in the Petula Clark song-a place where the lights were brighter, where people went to spend their money and forget their worries. But in the second half of the twentieth century, "downtown" became a shadow of its former self,...