In this multidisciplinary work, Ahearn (comparative literature and French studies, Brown U.) draws on findings from a range of social sciences and the insights of "unconventional" literary
texts in order to propose interdisciplinary juxtapositions and conflicts that illuminate aspects of urban life. Eight chapters are presented in sections addressing the early expression of
modern urban sensibility in the writings of foundational sociologists Georg Simmel and Emil Durkheim and the literature of Charles Baudelaire and Bertolt Brecht; intersections between Chicago
School sociological studies of urban African American and Jewish urban experiences and Richard Wright's Native Son and Saul Bellow's The Adventures of Augie March; and social science writings
on the "post-industrial," the "dual city," and the "information society" as they relate to Tony Morrison's Jazz, works by Mexican-American and Chinese-American women writers Sandra Cisneros and
Fae Myenne Ng, and other writings. Annotation 穢2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
