| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 90.1

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 90.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

The Making of a Modern City: Philanthropy, Civic Culture, and the Baltimore YMCA. By Jessica I. Elfenbein. (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2001. xiv, 179 pp. $55.00, ISBN 0-8130-2435-8.)

This slender volume boldly acclaims the prominence and significance of the Baltimore YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association). From 1852 to 1932, it partnered with "business, industry, and the churches" to "develop" the city and set an urban "public agenda"; it had a "critical" role in the formation of a city "meritocracy" and the "making of modern philanthropy." The Y "reshaped public culture" and left an imprint felt "across the country [United States] for years to come" (pp. 1–7 passim, 90, 118).

The claims are unsubstantiated, but eight thematically organized chapters do document the Y's presence among diverse ranks and races and in varied and unexpected Baltimore settings.

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