City lights : illuminating the American night
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
City lights : illuminating the American night
(Landscapes of the night)
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001
Available at 6 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
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  Fukushima
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  Tochigi
  Gunma
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  Tokyo
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  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
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  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Today's cities shine brightly at night, illuminated by millions of street lamps, neon signs, and incandescent and fluorescent bulbs burning in the windows of office blocks, apartment buildings and homes. Indeed, the modern city is in large part defined by this brilliance. In contrast, cities before the end of the 19th century were dominated by shadows and darkness, their oil lamps mostly ineffectual against the night. The introduction of modern lighting technologies in the 1870s - at first natural gas and later electricity - transformed urban life in America and around the world. This promethean story and its impact on the shape and pace of life in the American city is recounted by John A. Jakle in this work. Jakle reveals how artificial lighting became a dynamic instrument that altered every aspect of the urban landscape and was in turn shaped by the growth of America's automobile culture.
He examines the technological and entrepreneurial innovations that made urban illumination possible and then explores the various ways in which artificial lighting was used to enhance - for reasons of commerce, safety, aesthetics and mobility - such public spaces as streets, festivals, world's fairs, amusement parks, landmarks and business districts. From the corner street lamp to the dazzling display of Broadway's "Great White Way", this volume offers an investigation into the geography of the night.
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