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"Refreshing, provocative, stimulating and exciting . . . It fairly crackles with bright honesty and common sense."-The New York Times

"One of the most remarkable books ever written about the city . . . a primary work. The research apparatus is not pretentious-it is the eye and the heart-but it has given us a magnificent study of what gives life and spirit to the city."-William H. Whyte, author of City: Rediscovering the Center

Information about the author

Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) was a writer and activist who championed new approaches to urban planning for more than forty years. Her 1961 treatise, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, perhaps became the most influential American text about the inner workings and failings of cities.