Free City: A Novel

By Eric Darton

Book Overview

When the World Trade Towers in New York City were erected at the Hudson's edge, they led the way to a real estate boom that was truly astonishing. Divided We Stand reveals the coming together and eruption of four volatile elements: super-tall buildings, financial speculation, globalization, and terrorism. The Trade Center serves as a potent symbol of the disastrous consequences of undemocratic planning and development.This book is a history of that skyscraping ambition and the impact it had on NewYork and international life. It is a portrait of a building complex that lives at the convergence point of social and economic realities central not only to New York City but to all industrial cities and suburbs. A meticulously researched historical account based on primary documents, Divided We Stand is a contemporary indictment of the prevailing urban order in the spirit of Jane Jacobs's mid-century classic The Death and Life of Great American Cities.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393039803
• ISBN13: 9780393039801
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.59 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 4.7" x 7.1"

Customer Reviews

Perfect Little Purple Book

I read Free City two years ago, and I've recently reread it simply because I wanted to experience the beauty of Eric Darton's language and ideas once again. The altruism of the unnamed inventor (I think of him as Leonardo) versus the open, selfish greed of his benefactor, Roberto, makes for a brain-twisting, delightful allegory of good and evil. How far will the inventor go to thwart Roberto's lust for power? And is Adela a witch? And, if so, is she a good witch or a bad witch? And what of the duck? Why was HE blessed with speech when his brethren can only quack? Mmmm? Makes one wonder. Which is why I love this book. If you want to exercise those sluggish brain cells, read this book. Also, to the publisher: I can understand why this book is sold-out. What I don't understand is why you haven't reissued it yet!

Outrageous

It is outrageous that FREE CITY is not in print. The world needs it. There is no other book like it; not only is it hilarious and entertaining, it warps the way one understands our world. Track it down; you will not be disappointed.

A new medieval mystery: fun, suspenseful & thought-provoking

FREE CITY is a brilliant book. Darton weaves mysticism, science, superstition, and commerce into a mystery that's tragic, funny, and oddly optimistic. His characters are complicated and sympathetic -- even Friedrich, a fowl I found too preposterous at first and then wound up really liking. Darton's medieval inventor writes: "I am hopeful -- though the ingredients commingled within are not uniformly wholesome -- that the reader may draw something of nutritive value from this roiling stewpot." I was thoroughly nourished.

This book stimulates the mind and expands the senses.

Free City stimulates the mind and frees the senses, thereby expanding them. Reading, as someone once said, is thinking with another man's [sic] mind. Eric's mind is a great one to think with.