The Dallas Myth: The Making and Unmaking of an American City

(Paperback)

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Description

The Dallas Myth challenges the popular assertion that Dallas is a 'city with no past'a myth that contends that Dallas has no reason to be, has no limits, and sprang from nothing at all. Harvey J. Graff scrutinizes the city's origin myth and its governance ideology, known as the "Dallas Way," looking at how these elements have shaped Dallas and served to limit democratic participation and exacerbate inequality.

Reviews

"Harvey Graff begins by telling us that living in Dallas challenged all that he knew about cities. This richly-researched and beautifully-written book does the same for the rest of us. Its provocative historical analysis of space, growth, economics, politics, culture, and memory offers an uncommonly lucid account of inequality, segregation, and their denial." Ira Katznelson, author of When Affirmative Action Was White
"The Dallas Myth is an entertaining and meditative reflection on history and the imagination, written with the clear, grounded intelligence of a leading historian at the top of his game." Michael Frisch, author of Portraits in Steel
"The Dallas Myth is a terrific bookbold, persuasive, and important. ... It is interesting how Dallas emerges with a personality, almost like a character in a story." Michael B. Katz

Author Bio

Harvey J. Graff is Ohio Eminent Scholar in Literacy Studies and professor of English and history at The Ohio State University. He is the author of numerous books on urban studies, literacy, and the history of children and adolescence, including The Legacies of Literacy: Continuities and Contradictions in Western Culture and Society, The Labyrinths of Literacy: Reflections on Literacy Past and Present, and Conflicting Paths: Growing Up in America.