| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 111.1

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 111.1 | The History Cooperative

Harold L. Platt. Shock Cities: The Environmental Transformation and Reform of Manchester and Chicago. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2005. Pp. xvi, 628. $49.00.
This book is a transnational study of Manchester and Chicago in the mid-to-late 1800s. Author Harold L. Platt, borrowing from historian Asa Briggs, uses the term "shock cities" to describe Manchester and Chicago at the dawn of the new industrial era in Britain and the United States. By examining two pivotal cities at the outset of industrialization, Platt can make useful generalizations about urban growth worldwide.	1
Unlike many urban historians, who emphasize economic growth and comparative advantage, Platt stresses urban space, health, and environment in his two cities. Manchester and Chicago had similar urban problems: poor housing, sooty air quality, bacteria-infested drinking water, and periodic natural disasters such as fires and floods. Both cities emerged in the 1800s with some improvements, but many problems still remained, Platt argues, because of poor political leadership (especially in Chicago) and too strong a commitment to individualism.	. . .

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