ancient cities

Ja c k s o n, ke n n e t h t.
Kenneth T. Jackson, one of the most prominent
U.S. urban historians, has strongly influenced the
agenda of the field and also made active collaborative
and institutional contributions. His work covers
the broad sweep of U.S. urban history and more
specific topics, especially New York City, where he
is Jacques Barzun Professor of History and the
Social Sciences at Columbia University. Throughout
his career, Jackson has shown an ongoing concern
with linking the processes of urban organization
and form with larger historical questions.
Born in 1939, Jackson earned his PhD from the
University of Chicago in 1966 and a year later
established his interest in the conflicts between
social ideologies and urban life in his first book,
The Ku Klux Klan in the City, 1915–1930 (1967).
His most widely read work remains Crabgrass
Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States
(1985). The book addresses belief systems and
public policies that contributed to the rise of the
suburbs, along with the built and spatial forms that
resulted. Jackson argues that the dominance of
suburbia in the United States can be attributed to a
constellation of causes ranging from the ideological
to the economic. He especially sees economic forces
working together to make suburban housing less
expensive in the United States than elsewhere, with
four factors being dominant: inexpensive transportation;
abundant, cheap land; government subsidies
for loans and infrastructure; and low-cost construction
methods. In the years since its publication,
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this broad interpretive synthesis has encouraged
much subsequent scholarship and remains foundational
for the study of urban history.
In addition to scholarly monographs and articles,
Jackson has made numerous collaborative
contributions to the field and worked to promote
organizational and institutional development. His
work with photographer Camilo Jose Vergara
resulted in several exhibitions and the book Silent
Cities: The Evolution of the American Cemetery
(1989). Among his many editorships, particularly
notable for urban history is the monumental
Encyclopedia of New York City (1995). More
recently, Robert Moses and the Modern City: The
Transformation of New York (2007), coedited by
Hilary Ballon, calls for a reevaluation of that longmaligned
city builder.
Institutionally, Jackson has contributed actively
to urban history and U.S. history generally.
Beginning in the mid-1960s, he played a major role
in the Columbia University Seminar on the City, an
important forum for discussion and scholarship.
He has also headed several professional organizations,
notably the Urban History Association and
the Organization of American Historians, and he
is currently president of the New York Historical
Society and director of the Lehman Center for
American History. Finally, Jackson’s many documentary
and media appearances have helped bring
urban history to a wide and diverse audience.
Robert Buerglener
See also New York City, New York; Suburbanization;
Urban History