Capital's Utopia

"The incorporation of historical geography enhances this engaging micro-study of US industrialization."

"A richly written, vivid description of the complex relations between capital, individual agents, and place-making in a period of industrial restructuring."

"I highly recommend this book, thoroughly enjoyed reading it, and expect that many others will do the same."

"Mosher's fine book examines one of the most important ways that technological change shapes human society."

"This is a wonderful book that places an important model city in the larger context of the constantly evolving societal and geographical relations between capital and labor."

"Mosher has written an excellent book. Her prose is clear and unencumbered by jargon and appropriately illustrated with photographs, maps, and data tables."

"Mosher blends her skills as a geographer, historian, and storyteller to create a deep history of a most unique locale. In Capital's Utopia, the story of Vandergrift becomes a crucial and unexplored intersection between industrial land use and community planning all wrapped in the issues of economic class and paternalism that defined the Gilded Age. Through iron, railroad, and finally steel, readers will follow Vandergrift's surprising relevance in the Olmsted tradition of community planning. Mosher makes superb use of primary historical sources, including tables utilizing demographic census and tax assessment data and a superb selection of maps, community diagrams, photos, and sketches from the original plans."