Reviews for Archaeology of Class in Urban America

The average rating for Archaeology of Class in Urban America based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-07-20 00:00:00 Norman Greenhalgh From beginning to end, this book took me six years to read. But that's largely because I got bogged down in the "Progressive Social Thought" chapter and set the book aside for half a decade. Even now that I've read the whole thing, I don't entirely get the discussion of Dewey and Croly. They don't appear to have had much direct influence on judicial interpretation of the First Amendment. Author David Rabban's point seems to be that they should at least serve as an example of the plusses and minuses of progressive approaches to free speech, a point that is at best semi-availing. Or maybe it was just that I find the courts interesting and the ivory towers less so. In any event, Rabban's history of the development of freedom of speech prior to World War One is a fascinating read for anyone with an interest in the subject.

Review # 2 was written on 2018-07-04 00:00:00 Michael Heffer I don't agree with all of Professor Rabban's conclusions but his work illuminates an important piece of American 1st Amendment tradition and evolution that is often glossed over by post-WWI political and scholarly thought.