Genius of Common Sense: Jane Jacobs and the Story of the Death and Life of Great American Cities

Three books, all written by women in the early 1960s, changed the way we looked at the world and ourselves: Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, and Jane Jacobs's The Death and Life of Great American Cities. All three books created revolutions in their respective spheres of influence, and nothing affected city planning and architecture - or the way we think about how life is lived in densely packed urban centers - more than Jane Jacobs's far-sighted polemic. H…