Clara Irazaacute;bal and her contributors explore the urban history of some of Latin Americarsquo;s great cities through studies of their public spaces and what has taken place there. The avenues and plazas of Mexico City; Havana; Santo Domingo; Caracas; Bogotaigrave;; SaTHORN;o Paulo; Lima; Santiago; and Buenos Aires have been the backdrop for extraordinary; history-making events. While some argue that public spaces are a prerequisite for the expression; representation and reinforcement of democracy; they can equally be used in the pursuit of totalitarianism. Indeed; public spaces; in both the past and present; have been the site for the contestation by ordinary people of various stances on democracy and citizenship. By exploring the use and meaning of public spaces in Latin American cities; this book sheds light on contemporary definitions of citizenship and democracy in the Americas.
#4253758 in eBooks 2008-01-17 2008-01-17File Name: B000SIW7VE
Review
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. Good parts and not so good parts.By Rosemary ThorntonFirst; the plusses. The print is good and clear and the pictures are nicely reproduced with good contrast and clarity. The floorplans are also easily legible; including those wee tiny numbers; denoting room dimensions.The very best feature of this reproduction of a 1923 "Beautiful Bungalows" book (originally published by The Builders Journal); is page 71. There; in delicious detail; is the explanation of why those two-story bungalows (oft-seen in California) are known as "Airplane Bungalows" (or as the article reads; Aeroplane Bungalows).Ive never seen this information in print before and I found the explanation completely enchanting. They even show a photo and a graphic; explaining this unique term. For those who dont know the reason; Ill give you a sneak peak.According to this book (reprinted by Dover Publications); The second story of the aeroplane bungalow "occupies only a central space and the wide overhangs of the roof give a winged appearance."So there you have it.And bear in mind; the aeroplane of 1923 was a double-winged "bi-plane" and thats the look theyre talking about. Quite interesting; eh? That little tidbit; reproduced in photos; graphics and word; made this $10 book well worth the price. And thats a good thing because the rest of the book was a little boring.As youll see from my reviews; I read a lot of books from this time period and a lot of books on historic architecture; but this one didnt grab me. Its really a compilation of various bungalows built in different parts of the country. These were architect-designed homes built on suburban (spacious) lots and each house is given two or three pages. So there arent that many designs. And the designs that are shown are snoozers (with few exceptions). Theyre uninspired; run-of-the-mill; vanilla-flavored designs. Nothing too exciting here.Unlike the text in kit home catalogs (my personal favorite) the text in this book is dry. For instance; "As this plan shows; this bungalow contains quite a large size living room. The house illustrated; although simple in design; is attractive by reason of the proprotioning of windows and dormers; together with their resepective placing" (p. 35).Yawn. Id much rather read; "Youll have the happiest housewife in America if you invest $55 a month in this quaint kit home..." (which was typical language found in the kit home catalogs).For those who are obsessed with this topic and love; love; love to read anything and everything about 1920s houses; this is a nice little addition. But its not a good historic reference and the homes are boring and lack zing and theres very little history and/or info in this book.Rose Thorntonauthor; The Houses That Sears Built0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. Bungalow plain and simple.By Eric RogersThis book did not meet my needs. While the book is well done and well put together I did not care for it. The drawings are well done but all rather plain homes and quite small. Very thin volume with period advertisements in the back.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. I was very pleased with this productBy markI was very pleased with this product. It a very accurate representation of the color displayed on the site. Also; it is very difficult to find similar item in a retail store Finally; cam when it was estimated