Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. CONTENTS ix
3. ILLUSTRATIONS xi
4. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xv
5. Introduction. Beyond Decline: Assessing the Values of Urban Commercial Life in the Twentieth Century 1
6. Chapter 1. City Beautiful or Beautiful Mess? The Gendered Origins of a Civic Ideal 13
7. Chapter 2. Fixing an Image of Commercial Dignity: Postcards and the Business of Planning Main Street 42
8. Chapter 3. “Mrs. Consumer,” “Mrs. Brown America,” and “Mr. Chain Store Man”: Economic Woman and the Laws of Retail 78
9. Chapter 4. Main Street’s Interior Frontier: Innovation amid Depression and War 124
10. Chapter 5. “The Demolition of Our Outworn Past”: Suburban Shoppers and the Logic of Urban Renewal 166
11. Chapter 6. The Hollow Prize? Black Buyers, Racial Violence, and the Riot Renaissance 203
12. Chapter 7. Animated by Nostalgia: Preservation and Vacancy since the 1960s 255
13. Conclusion. “The Lights Are Much Brighter There” 312
14. List of Archival Collections 319
15. NOTES 321
16. INDEX 421