Jane Holtz Kay (1938–2012)

Curl up with this wonderful book and see where Boston has been. Beautiful homes and businesses that have been lost to history. Some due to fire, some due to neglect, and some due to process. From the home of John Hancock to Scollay Square.

A classic exploration of the car culture; the author proposes that the car culture has taken over America, and that we can take it back. Very well done book.

This book uncovers the ugly side of car culture: Harmful environmental effects, destruction of walkable and bike-friendly communities, high taxes required to maintain the enormous roadway infrastructure, fossil-fuel depletion, thwarting of viable mass-transit alternatives, urban sprawl, injuries and deaths in collisions, etc. It is well written and researched. Car culture is deeply entrenched in the U.S., but Kay offers useful suggestions for beginning the difficult task of undoing it.

Fantastic photographic retrospective of vanished places in a city that is both stiflingly stodgy and persistently innovative in its architecture and urban form.