Down with the Cities!

Nakashima, Tadashi, 1920-Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 260K words
Chapters: 26

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Down with the Cities! by Tadashi NakashimaAuthor: Nakashima, Tadashi, 1920-,Language: English, Class: HT: Social sciences: Communities, Classes, Races, Release Date: Jul 1, 1996

Editor's review

This is a work of social criticism written in English by the Japanese scholar Tadashi Nakashima (b. 1920), released as an e-book by Project Gutenberg. Its classification number HT (communities, classes, races) indicates that it addresses questions of how cities and human groups are organized, and the title "Down with the Cities!" itself carries a strongly critical tone. For readers interested in critiques of urbanization, the history of social thought, and how twentieth-century Japanese intellectuals expressed their views to the outside world in English, this small book offers a rather uncommon historical slice. Its value lies not in providing systematic theory but in presenting a polemical mode of writing: treating the city as an object that must be questioned and even negated. Readers should keep its era and context in mind and should not apply its judgments directly to contemporary urban problems. It is suitable as supplementary material for courses in urban sociology and intellectual history, and also for readers who enjoy argumentative pamphlets for a commute or an afternoon's short read.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in critiques of urbanization and the history of social thought
Scholars studying twentieth-century Japanese intellectuals' writing in English
Teachers and students of sociology and urban studies as supplementary reading
Readers who enjoy argumentative pamphlets and want to finish an English book in a short time

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking systematic urban theory or data-supported research
Practitioners who need contemporary urban policy recommendations
Readers whose English reading is not yet proficient and who hope to start with easy bestsellers

Reading tips

Read the title and table of contents first to grasp the author's core argument, then decide whether to read closely or skim.
Note the author's definition of "the city" as you read, to avoid conceptual slippage.
Read alongside an introductory work on urban sociology to identify the polemical elements.
After finishing, write a short review explaining which judgments belong to their historical context and which still deserve discussion.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book a novel or an academic work?

Judging by its Project Gutenberg classification number HT (social sciences: communities, classes, races), it is a work of social criticism rather than a novel. The title has a polemical tone, and the content is closer to a critical discussion of urban life and human organization; it should be read as intellectual commentary rather than literature.

How difficult is the English?

The author wrote in English, and the publication date is early, so the sentences tend to be formal, but the book is short. Readers with university-level English reading ability can finish it with a dictionary. It is advisable to sample the first few pages; if there are more than ten unfamiliar words per page, read the introduction or a review first before tackling the main text.

Do the book's views still have value today?

Its value lies more at the historical and intellectual-history level: it shows how a twentieth-century Japanese author expressed a negative attitude toward the city in English. Its specific judgments carry the limitations of their era and should not be taken directly as conclusions about contemporary urban problems, but as comparative material they still leave room for discussion.

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About the author

Nakashima, Tadashi, 1920- Author · 1920

Nakashima, Tadashi (1920– ) is a Japanese author about whom little reliable public information is available; only his birth year, 1920, can be confirmed. One work by him is currently held in the collection, Down with the Cities! Judging from its title, the book carries a strong strain of social criticism and an anti-urban stance, likely addressing the drawbacks of urbanization, the pressures of modern city life, and arguments for returning to the countryside or dispersing settlement. Its tone may be blunt and polemical. Because translations, reviews and biographical materials are lacking, his reception and influence in Chinese-language contexts are difficult to assess, and readers can glimpse his concerns mainly through this title. Overall, he is a sparsely documented author whose work centers on urban critique and is best understood in light of its historical context.