Unique among the patriotic anthems of nations, the lyrics to “America the Beautiful” proclaim, “Thine alabaster cities gleam,/ Undimmed by human tears!” The song intriguingly presents a nation where even suffering endemic to the human condition cannot dim the radiance of its settlements. Scoff at the sentimental lyrics dressed in dated language as you will, but that vision still carries political weight and imaginative energy. It’s the perfect song to keep in mind while reading Alex Krieger’s City on a Hill.
This is not because Krieger subscribes to a jingoistic notion of the supremacy of American cities over all others—quite the contrary. Krieger’s focus is on how our nation’s thinkers have reacted positively and negatively to utopian city visions. A practicing architect, planner, and professor, he brings enormous erudition to the promethean task of clarifying the sometimes shadowy role of these visions as he chronicles the ways that they have strongly shaped urban policies and designs. In this carefully argued and cinematically sweeping history, Krieger offers plentiful examples of how romantically perfectionistic ideals have influenced, for better or for worse, the creation of factory towns like Lowell, Massachusetts, and inspired religiously themed settlements like New Harmony, Indiana. In a fresh understanding of New Orleans, Krieger notes that for three centuries its citizens had been sure their town could resist the effects of nature.
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