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Tearing Down the Streets : Adventures in Urban Anarchy - J. Ferrell

Tearing Down the Streets

Adventures in Urban Anarchy

By: J. Ferrell

Paperback | 7 December 2001 | Edition Number 1

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From New York to San Francisco, Times Square to the Tenderloin, local police clash with graffiti artists, disorderly young people, radical environmentalists, and the homeless on city streets in an attempt to create a sense of urban order and safety. Pundits talk about "quality of life crime" opponents talk about the "Disneyfication" of America's cities. Drawing on Jeff Ferrell's ongoing field research in a variety of cities, including Denver, San Francisco, New York, Phoenix, and Flagstaff, this lively account of Ferrell's adventures as a participant and researcher inside the worlds of street musicians, homeless punks, militant bicycle activists, high risk "BASE jump" parachustists, skateboarders, outlaw radio operators, and hip hop graffiti artists, explores the contested day-to-day dynamics of public life and public space. Along the way the book takes on a remarkable range of contemporary public controversies involving these underground groups, documenting the ways in which their on-the-street anarchist politics and cultural self-invention shape resistance to new forms of spacial and legal control, and tracing the roots of this resistance through a subversive past that stretches from the Paris commune of 1871 to the punks of the 1970s. This look at extreme urban culture asks "whose city is it?" and argues that a disorderly urban culture is a better alternative than the Disneyfied city.
Industry Reviews

'Provides an energetic and highly informed look at environmental and political movements to nonviolently 'reclaim the streets' - Publishers Weekly



'Strongly recommended for anyone interested in cities and city life.' - Choice



'...provides and energetic and highly informed look at environmental and political movements to nonviolently 'reclaim the streets.' - Publishers Weekly



'...those who have felt themselves being smothered for the sake of an artificial community will find it difficult not to share his sympathies...' - Booklist



'His firsthand field experience and passion add insight to his discussion of the daily lives of these groups and give his personal accounts excitement and interest.' - Mindy S. Wilson, Contemporary Sociology

Other Editions and Formats

Hardcover

Published: 7th December 2001

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