The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power
Deirdre Mask, 2020
St. Martin's Press
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250134769
Summary
An exuberant and insightful work of popular history of how streets got their names, houses their numbers, and what it reveals about class, race, power, and identity.
When most people think about street addresses, if they think of them at all, it is in their capacity to ensure that the postman can deliver mail or a traveler won’t get lost.
But street addresses were not invented to help you find your way; they were created to find you. In many parts of the world, your address can reveal your race and class.
In this wide-ranging and remarkable book, Deirdre Mask looks at the fate of streets named after Martin Luther King Jr., the wayfinding means of ancient Romans, and how Nazis haunt the streets of modern Germany.
The flipside of having an address is not having one, and we also see what that means for millions of people today, including those who live in the slums of Kolkata and on the streets of London.
Filled with fascinating people and histories, The Address Book illuminates the complex and sometimes hidden stories behind street names and their power to name, to hide, to decide who counts, who doesn’t—and why. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1980 (?)
• Where—Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
• Education—B.A., J.D., Harvard University; M.F.A., National University of Ireland
• Currently—lives in London, England, UK
Deirdre Mask graduated from Harvard College summa cum laude, and attended University of Oxford before returning to Harvard for law school, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. She completed a master’s in writing at the National University of Ireland.
The author of The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power (2020), Deirdre's writing has appeared in the New York Times, Atlantic, and The Guardian.
Originally from North Carolina, she has taught at Harvard and the London School of Economics. She lives with her husband and daughters in London. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Read Deirdre Mask’s fascinating deep dive into the world of Mill Lane and Martin Luther King Street and you will begin to realise just how important these geographical markers are, how pregnant with meaning, and what a difference they make to everything from the proper functioning of society to questions of wealth, poverty and democracy.… Highly entertaining.
Sunday Times (UK)
(Starred review) [E]ntertaining…. [F]luid narration and impressive research…. [Mask] profiles a remarkable array of activists, historians, and artists…. This evocative history casts its subject in a whole new light.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review) Engaging, illuminating, and with highly relevant current subject matter, this book is recommended for all readers, especially fans of popular history and politics. —Margaret Heller, Loyola Univ. Chicago Libs.
Library Journal
(Starred review) [I]mpressive…. Mask combines deep research with skillfully written, memorable anecdotes to illuminate the vast influence of street addresses…. A standout book of sociological history and current affairs.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
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