Showing titles in Urban

Step inside the American housing crisis where displaced families battle soaring evictions and systemic corporate greed. Perfect for your daily commute, this urgent, empathetic narrative transforms abstract economic policies into deeply personal stories of survival. You will walk alongside gig...

Demystify the modern housing crisis and navigate today's brutal real estate market with clear, actionable economics. Whether you are actively house hunting, struggling to afford rent, or just trying to make sense of alarming headlines, this grounded deep-dive replaces anxiety with practical...

Dive into the gritty urban history of an engineering marvel that turned a chaotic harbor town into a global empire. Perfect for your daily commute, this high-energy narrative captures the raw ambition and fierce political battles that built a city beneath the streets. Discover how rival...

'Ambitious and engaging' THE SPECTATOR 'Lyrically readable yet highly informative ... a story of resilience, strength and humanity's innate resourcefulness' DAILY MAIL 'A thoughtful, open-hearted, deeply reported book about what we need to live' CAL FLYN A moveable city in the Arctic Circle...

A Quill & Quire Fall 2026 Nonfiction Pick In Edgelands, Somali-Canadian writer Mohamed Abdulkarim Ali, author of Angry Queer Somali Boy, explores what it means to live life on the margins, in the city and beyond, and offers a unique perspective on the way we live now. “Edgelands will break you...

An extraordinary investigation into shade, this “compelling . . . conversation-starter draws examples from history, city-planning and social policy” (NPR) to change the way we think about a critical natural resource that should be available to all. “Thought-provoking . . . Bloch, an...

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES AND THE ATLANTIC’S TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR Through the “revelatory and gut-wrenching” (Associated Press) stories of five Atlanta families, this landmark work of...

An eye-opening investigation into how our ever-expanding urban highways accelerated inequality and fractured communities—and a call for a more just, sustainable path forward “Megan Kimble manages to turn a book about transportation and infrastructure into a fascinating human drama...

From the Haitian-style “shotgun” houses of the 19th century to the lavish high-rises of the 21st century, a walk through the streets of America’s neighborhoods that reveals the rich history—and future—of urban housing The Philadelphia row house. The New York tenement. The Boston...

A meticulously reported, character-driven, unforgettable investigation of a time when nothing was certain and everything was at stake, by the acclaimed sociologist and best-selling author Eric Klinenberg “A gripping, deeply moving account of a signal year in modern history, told through the...

WINNER OF THE MIDLAND AUTHORS AWARD FOR HISTORY LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR The "illuminating" (New Yorker) story of the Great Chicago Fire: a raging inferno, a harrowing fight for survival, and the struggle for the...

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD A “vivid and frank” (NPR) account of the crack cocaine era and a community’s ultimate resilience, told through a cast of characters whose lives illuminate the dramatic rise and fall of the epidemic “A master class in disrupting a stubborn...

Shortlisted for the Zócalo Book Prize Named one of the best books of the year by The New Yorker and The New Republic “Consistently entertaining and often downright funny.”—The New Yorker “Wry and revelatory.” —The New York Times "A romp, packed with tales of anger, violence, theft...

In this exhilarating look at cities, past and future, Ben Wilson proposes that, in our world of rising seas and threatening weather, the natural world may prove the city's savior. Since the beginning of civilization, humans have built cities to wall nature out, then glorified it in beloved but...

One of The Economist’s Best Books of 2023 The secrets to successfully planning and delivering ambitious, complex projects on any scale—from home renovation to space exploration—by the world's leading expert on megaprojects. Nothing is more inspiring than a big vision that becomes a...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER FINALIST FOR THE WRITERS' TRUST SHAUGHNESSY COHEN PRIZE FOR POLITICAL WRITING From the Globe and Mail tech reporter who revealed countless controversies while following the Sidewalk Labs fiasco in Toronto, an uncompromising investigation into the bigger story and what the...

From the acclaimed author of Imagine Wanting Only This—a timely and moving meditation on isolation and longing, both as individuals and as a society. One of Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2021 There is a silent epidemic in America: loneliness. Shameful to talk about and often...

An engaging account of the uniquely creative spirit and bustling cultural ecology of contemporary Los Angeles How did Los Angeles start the 20th century as a dusty frontier town and end up a century later as one of the globe's supercities - with unparalleled cultural, economic, and technological...

In a captivating tour of cities famous and forgotten, acclaimed historian Ben Wilson tells the glorious, millennia-spanning story how urban living sparked humankind's greatest innovations. “A towering achievement.... Reading this book is like visiting an exhilarating city for the first...

A cautionary tale of Wall Street's push to turn homes into assets, Underwater is a powerful, incisive story that chronicles the crash and its aftermath from a fresh perspective—the forgotten, middle-class homeowner. His assignment was to write about a real-estate frenzy lighting up the Redneck...