Meet Me by the Fountain

An Inside History of the Mall

Meet Me by the Fountain
Alexandra Lange
RRP:
NZ$ 42.99
Our Price:
NZ$ 34.39
Hardback
h235 x 156mm - 320pg
14 Jun 2022 US
International import eta 7-19 days
9781635576023
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
A portrait--by turns celebratory, skeptical, and surprisingly moving--of one of America' s most iconic institutions, from an author who "might be the most influential design critic writing now" (LARB). Few places have been as nostalgized, or as maligned, as malls. Since their birth in the 1950s, they have loomed large as temples of commerce, the agora of the suburbs. In their prime, they proved a powerful draw for creative thinkers such as Joan Didion, Ray Bradbury, and George Romero, who understood the mall' s appeal as both critics and consumers. Yet today, amid the aftershocks of financial crises and a global pandemic, as well as the rise of online retail, the dystopian husk of an abandoned shopping center has become one of our era' s defining images. Conventional wisdom holds that the mall is dead. But what was the mall, really? And have rumors of its demise been greatly exaggerated? In her acclaimed The Design of Childhood, Alexandra Lange uncovered the histories of toys, classrooms, and playgrounds. She now turns her sharp eye to another subject we only think we know. She chronicles postwar architects' and merchants' invention of the mall, revealing how the design of these marketplaces played an integral role in their cultural ascent. In Lange' s perceptive account, the mall becomes newly strange and rich with contradiction: Malls are environments of both freedom and exclusion--of consumerism, but also of community. Meet Me by the Fountain is a highly entertaining and evocative promenade through the mall' s story of rise, fall, and ongoing reinvention, for readers of any generation.
A deeply researched history of the American shopping mall . . . Lange concludes by examining the possibility that the mall might be reborn as something more than simply a shopping space by incorporating offices, hotels, and even educational centers . . . The mall is dead-but it may yet live again, as Lange' s instructive book capably shows. * Kirkus Reviews * A thought-provoking cultural history . . . Lucid and well researched, this is an insightful study of an overlooked and undervalued architectural form. * Publishers Weekly * This thorough, culturally aware history will surprise and inspire audiences who may feel they already know the story of the shopping megaplex . . . Despite malls' sometimes problematic past, Lange envisions an inspiring, community-oriented repurposing of these monuments to consumerism . . . her hope and optimism for more diverse and sustainable mall uses will inspire readers to see these behemoth structures as a vital and versatile resource for the future. * Shelf Awareness Pro * An architectural page-turner. This insightful, witty, and smart book captures everything compelling and confounding about the American mall. * Roman Mars, co-author of THE 99% INVISIBLE CITY * A mall is not just a mall in this fascinating, far-reaching history. Alexandra Lange nimbly navigates sweeping changes in American society, explaining so much more than how and where we shop, and-much like the architectural institution at the book' s center-providing plenty of fun along the way. * Julia Cooke, author of COME FLY THE WORLD * Alexandra Lange is the poet laureate of mall culture, and her book is as delightful as a cold Orange Julius. While it is deeply researched and full of fascinating insights, it never discards all of the things that made the mall the hub of social life that it once was. This book makes me want to listen to Muzak and stroll past a Sharper Image all over again. * Rachel Syme, staff writer, The New Yorker * The shopping mall is an American tragedy but also a triumph. This book shows both its sides with generosity and tenderness. * Ian Bogost, author of PLAY ANYTHING * If you want to understand America, look no further than the mall-that is, if you can still find one. With Meet Me by the Fountain, Alexandra Lange brilliantly explores how these places we thought were just churches built for worshipping at the altar of capitalism actually represent everything we are, aren' t, want to be, and never knew we could have been. * Jason Diamond, author of THE SPRAWL * Lange' s work brings together topics that are generally covered in isolation . . . weav[ing] those strands together for a broader view of how design has contended with evolving ideas of childhood . . . Her book is essential. * Los Angeles Times on THE DESIGN OF CHILDHOOD * The Design of Childhood is like a secret guidebook to a landscape in which we all dwell, but so often fail to see. * Tom Vanderbilt, author of TRAFFIC and BEGINNERS * [A] captivating design history. * Nature on THE DESIGN OF CHILDHOOD *
Alexandra Lange is an architecture critic and the author of four previous books, including The Design of Childhood. Her writing has also appeared in publications such as the New Yorker, New York Magazine, the New York Times, T Magazine, and CityLab, and she was previously the architecture critic for Curbed. She holds a PhD from the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University and has taught design criticism there and at the School of Visual Arts. She lives in Brooklyn.
Status: Indent title, imported to order
ISBN-13: 9781635576023
Published: 14 Jun 2022
Published In: United States
Imprint: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Format: Hardback
Height: 235mm
Width: 156mm
Pages: 320

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