Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania [Postcard History Series] Book

This history of NYC's iconic public park reframes its history as one of a battle for space by classes. From its very founding, which cleared out black and irish communities to make room for a place for the city's elites to compete with European elites in beauty, as well as push for a social setting for elites to mingle and the idea that all residents of the city would benefit by access to seeing a natural environment. The poor immigrant and black residents of the city were systematically excluded from both participation in the park, through informal policies such as carriage access and formal running of the park by the better classes, to explitly banning of large public gatherings or popular recreational activity such as picnics or sports by the poor. It builds upon Rosensweig's work around how struggles for access to recreation is just as important as workplace struggles, and how space is harnessed for elites if not unchallenged.