Whyte's work remains a living and usable handbook for improving our cities, our countryside, and our lives.

Whyte's work remains a living and usable handbook for improving our cities, our countryside, and our lives.

The Spirit of Cities presents a new approach to the study of cities in which the focus is placed on a city's defining ethos or values. The style of the book is attractively conversational and even autobiographical, and far from current social science positivism. For a lover of cities--and perhaps even for one who is not--The Spirit of Cities is consistently good reading.