The Address Book
What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power
St. Martin's Press · Print & ebook · January 26, 2021
Finalist for the 2020 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction | One of Time Magazines's 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 | Finalist for the Goodreads Choice Awards, Best History & Biography 2020 | Longlisted for the 2020 Porchlight Business Book Awards "An entertaining quest to trace the origins and implications of the names of the roads on which we reside." —Sarah Vowell, The New York Times Book Review 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.
We earn from qualifying purchases.
- Who it’s for
- A nimble look at how street addresses quietly organize social life.
- Genres
- Human Geography, Race & Ethnic Relations, Cities & Urban Planning
- Published
- St. Martin's Press, January 26, 2021
Nearest books
Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved.
EvictedMatthew Desmond46% match
Poverty, by AmericaMatthew Desmond49% match
Winners Take AllAnand Giridharadas47% match
How the Word Is PassedClint Smith51% match
Invisible ChildAndrea Elliott47% match
CasteIsabel Wilkerson54% matchShares Race & Ethnic Relations
The MessageTa-Nehisi Coates49% matchShares Race & Ethnic Relations
Invisible WomenCaroline Criado Perez47% match
For younger readers: Accountable, The Color of a Lie, Streetcar to Justice
Start with three books, and this one can be the first.
Members get a new edition every morning: a route out from their books to essays, research and talks, with the reason for each.
Start with this bookAbout this book
Finalist for the 2020 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction | One of Time Magazines's 100 Must-Read Books of 2020 | Finalist for the Goodreads Choice Awards, Best History & Biography 2020 | Longlisted for the 2020 Porchlight Business Book Awards "An entertaining quest to trace the origins and implications of the names of the roads on which we reside." —Sarah Vowell, The New York Times Book Review 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.
Continue reading
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.
Street-Level Lens
A nimble look at how street addresses quietly organize social life.
Come here for
- street addresses as social clues
- identity, race, wealth, and power in one lens
Expect
- urban history with clear sociological bite
- compact, classroom-friendly framing
Where it sits
| Cities & Urban Planning | 52% |
|---|---|
| Human Geography | 31% |
| Race & Ethnic Relations | 30% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Modern History
- Population & Demographics
- Social Class
- Authors
- Deirdre Mask
- Publisher
- St. Martin's Press
- Published
- January 26, 2021
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Reading lane
- Modern History